noob with questions on Roms & themes

[PbSandman7]

I am hoping to get some insightful information on roms and themes. I am a little new to all of this so bear with me if possible. I have rooted,4ever rooted my bionic. I also just installed TB, Root explorer and safestrap so I can have the recovery and the abilitly to flash themes, roms.. etc. My first question is, can you just install a theme or do you have to flash a theme on top of a specific rom.. assuming they are compatible?
When you run a Rom and/or theme, does it carry all of your current apps and programs along with it? I like the looks of some themes that are available but also want to keep the current functionality of my phone, current apps, etc. I did some searching but didn't find much along these lines but I thought I read a little while back that you don't want to install apps on a different rom..? It can create problems.
I just installed safestrap this morning so I haven't had much time to mess with it. Install was simple of course. In the safestrap app is the "install recovery" the starting process to creating a nandriod backup? I want to make sure I do that correctly first, before I starting flashing stuff.
I will probably have more questions along the way but I think this is a good start.

thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Droid Firefighter]

1. Themes are ROM specific and can only be flashed on top if their respective roms.

2. Apps will be deleted because you have to wipe data and cache before flashing a new ROM. Back up your apps with tb then you can reinstall them and restore data through tb.

3. You shouldn't have any problems with apps running on a new ROM. I for one have never had an issue in two and a half years.

4. I can't help with safestrap because I don't use it but you HAVE to create a backup. That its your "safe place" should you have a problem flashing a new ROM.

This post is Incredible 2!

 

[Concistency]

To help with safestrap...

You have a safe and unsafe system. When you boot into the recovery it will be in "unsafe" mode. Go ahead and make a backup then of your stock rom, or the current stable rom your using. You can then change the safe mode to "safe" and then it will automatically create a backup just in case. Once your in the safe mode, you can flash another rom the same way as always. You can toggle back and forth. When in the "safe boot menu" don't use the "quick toggle safe system". Don't recommend that.

How to create a backup:

Scroll down to "backup and restore"
Then select "backup"

Flashing a Rom:

"wipe data/factory reset"
"wipe cache partition"
"mounts and storage" --> "format /system"
"advanced" --> "Wipe dalvik"
"install zip from sd"

Theme:
When you install a theme, it generally only requires cache and dalvik wipe, sometimes no wipe at all.

 

[PbSandman7]

Awesome, thanks guys. That seems fairly straight forward.
Any idea what the latest news is on the Theory ROM? I was doing some reading through because that was the ROM I wanted, as it seems to be popular, people like its fuctionality..etc. It appears the designers are no longer a part in it? Does this mean that we now have to wait.. or flash to the 901 update which it "appears"as if that's what it is designed around? Kind of stinks if that's the case.

 

[Concistency]

Awesome, thanks guys. That seems fairly straight forward.
Any idea what the latest news is on the Theory ROM? I was doing some reading through because that was the ROM I wanted, as it seems to be popular, people like its fuctionality..etc. It appears the designers are no longer a part in it? Does this mean that we now have to wait.. or flash to the 901 update which it "appears"as if that's what it is designed around? Kind of stinks if that's the case.

There are downloads for good th3ory roms such as purity, kinext, or the other names, their in the forum. Also mastur_mods has some a good theme to overlay which looks pretty good. Then there is the ICS4BIONIC alpha.

 

[Stelv]

The older Th3ory roms will not work properly if you are on the 901 OTA from Motorola. You will have to edit some files to get the radio to work. There is a pre-made 901 compatible kintetx that already has the files modified for 901 if that is what your are on. The premade 901 roms are at the bottom of the following thread in the OP .901 radio working with custom rom! - RootzWiki. I do recommend safestrap, but if you want webtop to work on a lapdock it will not work in safe system.

 

[PbSandman7]

Fortunately at this point I am not on the 901 update. It appears to be somewhat troublesome, at least at this point. Now if only the TH3ORY ROM links would work... I could experiment with my first ROM. Hopefully they will get the server up and running soon. I know some of us are getting anxious to try it out.:icon_ lala:

 

[stephen_lacman]

I'd highly recommend the eclipse rom. Its very fast and smooth, add some nice functionalities (like toggles in the notification tray), and has a gorgeous UI. Plus, the battery life is excellent. Best of any rom I've tried. there are both versions for those on 893, and for 901.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[PbSandman7]

I might give eclipse a try at some point. I decided to flash the new Theory KIN3TX ROM at this point, it had awesome reviews and theory tends to have the best of all worlds. Its my first rom and I really like it so far. No bugs, fast, cool layout, all of the above. Added Blur and have flashed both the ICS tpax and Mastur_mods theme. Its a tough call between those two, as they both have some nice features... all is fun so far!