General ?s about kernel, oc, and setCPU

[boone82]

I've tried to read as much as possible to educate myself on this topic, but I think I've actually confused myself even more!
First of all, is a different-than-stock kernel necessary? If I do flash one, is there a best one or do I need to experiment?

What does setCPU do and is this a necessary download? Is this what gives you the ability to overclock?

What exactly does overclocking do... just make the phone faster? What gets faster? Where am I going to notice it? And what do I do to make sure temps are okay?

And lastly... what are the negative ramifications? Are there any?

Sorry for being such a noob!

[Bear in NM]

OK, I'll take a stab. Gotta help the NM folks out....

There are lots of threads on Oc'ing. Essentially the entire phone will run or appear to run faster. The web may or may not get faster, but all activities on the phone (User Interface) will be speedier/snapier. Generally speaking folks like the OCing as the phone is intentionally underclocked in stock form. You will see lots of threads on the benchmark applications which measure speed and response, but it really up to the end user to try things out besides these benchmark applications. You will notice a speed difference. You will likley also notice an difference in heat and battery life. Usually for the worse, but everyone's mileage will vary. You need to do a little searching for kernels and the relationship to overclocking.

If you flash a custom rom or even the frg22d "stock" rom, you will get some kind of OC. Likley between 800 and 1 gig. All of the roms vary this amount, as not all phones behave properly with higher speeds.

As to Setcpu, right now I think that there are only one or two roms where you can easily tweak your speeds without setcpu. Even with these, you have to be a somewhat advanced user to understand the nuances and steps. Setcpu is pretty cheap, and IMHO is one staple application. An application that most root users can benefit from using. basically, you can get by without it, but you need to have a decent skill set. The rom of your choice will come with an overclock kernel of some speed, and Setcpu is how you manage the speed, set preferences, etc.

The downsides are usually heat, certainly a change in battery life, and the usual warning to running things faster than they are "designed". Possibly a shortened phone life, but this has really not been confirmed. really can't be, without some kind of crazy longterm test.

My experience is that the web, as I use it does not change. The response of my phones screen, menus, doing "things" on the phone, certainly faster. The area that can be a pitfall for folks is rooting, flashing a rom and then jumping headlong into immediately flashing new kernels. In general, it is good to run a new rom for a while to see how things are going. Then, back things up, then experiment with new kernels and different speeds.

Craig

[boone82]

Wow!! Thanks Bear, that's exactly what I was looking for! Very helpful and informative. I just flashed Ultimate Droid 8.0 and so far it seems to be noticeably faster. Not a lot, but I can certainly tell. I'll just stick with it the way it is for now and not worry about different kernels for the time being. I'm not super techy and crazy about this stuff anyway, but like the idea of something different every once in a while so I'm having fun with it.
Since you knew so much about that, I'm assuming you're pretty well versed on a lot of this so can I ask you one other question...? A few days ago, I tried out BB v0.5 and liked it as well, but I'm trying a few to see what I like most. There was a wired and wireless tether feature in the settings of that ROM. Maybe this is a lot to ask, but is there any way to get certain features from some roms and put them into others??

[furbearingmammal]

Stock kernel can be oc'd to 800MHz under Android 2.2. If you want faster or lower-voltage you need a new kernel. You must run SetCPU to overclock under 2.2.

Overclocking will make your phone snappier and more pleasant to use, but you'll generate more heat and drain the battery faster. Using a low- or ultra-low voltage kernel (if your phone can run them) will offset this to some degree.

[Bear in NM]

Boone,

Pulling "stuff" from one rom and placing in another can work to some limited extent. Depends on whether the "feature" is just an ap, or is more integrated in to the UI. Many times the "feature" can be traced back to the/a source like XDA developers where you can get the original app/installation. Things like scripts can be pulled out as well, if they are basic. A good example is something like the add blocker scripts. The original maker started out with the tweak on XDA. Then he went to app. But his original thread is available to pull info/files from.

Tethering is a bit more complicated, as there are features that must be built into the specific kernel for particular tethering methods. Luckily most of the kernel dev's understand that many many folks want to tether, either via the native methodology, or via the app route. I just cheated and paid for PDAnet way back when, so I can pretty much do as I please, no matter the rom.

Craig

[furbearingmammal]

Tethering you can get from the links in my sig.

[djembeman]

Tethering you can get from the links in my sig.

The app "Wireless Tether" from the market works great for me. This isn't the same one you are referencing is it? For wired USB Tether, which works either way, non-rooted or rooted I like PdaNet.

Update: Yes, it does appear to be the same Wireless Tether app.

[furbearingmammal]

It's newer. You have to be rooted, which you are, to use it, but it's got more options, more compatibility, and the market app is based on the latest "stable" release which is months old.

[furbearingmammal]

PDA Net is great, don't get me wrong, but the wired tether app from my sig only requires a driver on an XP computer has a LOT more functionality.

[djembeman]

PDA Net is great, don't get me wrong, but the wired tether app from my sig only requires a driver on an XP computer has a LOT more functionality.

I run PdaNet on my Mac, so the wired tether app will do me no good, I guess except for if I'm running my Windows 7 partition, but I've also tested "Easy Tether" for when I'm running windows and it seems to work just fine too.