Few Questions..

[ugadawgs23]

Sorry in advance-I'm sure im posting this in the wrong forum but screw it.
Anyways, I've had a motorola droid since around a month after it came out, but I have just started to get to all the amazing stuff you can do with it.

SO.. I've been looking through youtube videos, websites, and all the other crap out their and I have found a bunch of stuff that I just have no idea what in the heck it is. For example..


1. Rooting. Ok I have no idea what that is, but from what i've seen is it something like jailbreaking an iPhone? What does it do once you root it or whatever? Also, what is the obvious difference between rooted and unrooted apps/roms/whatevers.

I also saw that there is some potential risk involved when doing this. What is it and I'm assuming that I will screw it up when/if I try it out. Any foolproof way or something?



2. Cyanogen - Is this a theme or an app or what? I read about it a bunch but im still kinda lost. Explanation would be nice.

3. Rom Manager - What do I do with that? It's supposed to be for rooting things or something, at least I think, and I just have no idea how to use it.

4. AKP Files (It might be APK I'm not sure) - What do I do with those and what are they? I recently DL'd Swype Keyboard off of the internet and am amazed with it, but I don't know what makes these different from everything else.

5. An app called SetCpu - I've seen it in use in youtube videos, mainly from the droid-live guy. I can't seem to change my settings at all on it or pretty much do anything with it, yet he has completely changed it. How do you change it and what are the benefits/results from doing it?

6. Any apps that can take a picture of the current screen of the phone or something? I've looked and haven't found any.

I'm sure I'll come up with more for later, but that's all I think I got now. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[LtKen]

1) I didnt make the thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/632-what-root-means-stop-asking.html

2) Cyanogen is a ROM (fancy term for OS) development team. Their website is cyanogenmod.com

3) ROM Manager lets you easily switch between different ROMs by different developers. I think you can root with it, but I've never done so

4) APK files are Android Packages -- they're basically executable archives. It's the Android version of the MSI file

5) SetCPU is for rooted users who have an OC Kernel installed, and lets you control the core speed of your phone. Useless to you until you do some work


Have fun

 

[ugadawgs23]

Thanks for the quick reply, few more questions now..

What is OCKernal? An App I'm assuming?

If/when I root my phone and get a new ROM or whatever, I'll have to re-do my homescreens, right?

 

[LtKen]

Overclockable kernel. Kernel being the lowest level of software between the OS and the hardware.

Depending on your current version of Android, you'll likely need to re-do everything.

 

[ugadawgs23]

Thanks again, and once again I'll sound like the idiot I am, but how do I find out my current version?

 

[ugadawgs23]

Just found that actually. What is the Build Number or ESE thing?

 

[LtKen]

More versioning information.

 

[ugadawgs23]

Ok, and you might not know this, but which do you(or anyone) prefer out of Helix 2 or LauncherPro for home screens?

 

[ugadawgs23]

Also, is the link you posted about rooting my phone work with the most recent update? Wanna make sure before I accidentally brick my phone.