Getting familiar with kitchen work for possible future developers

[crazaytalent]

So I had the thought... with all the great chefs and rom developer (i.e. Kaos, Big Jew, etc) out there, moving on up to the latest and greatest in hardware like the touch pro... the development of new custom roms for devices like the vogue and mogul, is going to start to slow down and maybe even come to a halt, leaving us to possibly have to fend for ourselves and start building our own roms.
So the intention of this thread is for all those user out there (like myself) who have been curious or interested in eventually learning how to do this themselves... either personally or to share w/ the community; to have a place to learn the skills and whats needed. Now I'm no chef/developer, but i have been doing research into the subject and have come across some pretty useful information on this subject... but as I am not an expert at this I will not be providing it all at this time, however what I am posting is what I feel to be a really good starting place, to begin experimenting and playing around on your own home computer, as I have been...

I invite, welcome and hope any and all current and skilled chefs and developers to add any and all information you feel would be useful and to any knowledge you can provide to those of us who may have questions down the line...

Now, I stress to you... this thread is not intended for noobs or people unfamiliar with custom roms, the flashing process or the understanding of what a kitchen is... Neither I nor anyone here at spj or associated with this thread is resposible for anything you do with your device, nor will we be held liable.

I'd like to thank RSTOYGUY over at PPCgeeks for providing me with such useful and informative information and the permission for which I am sharing with this community... I by no means take credit for all the hard work he's done, putting this information together for the community...

To all spj staff lease feel free to close this thread if deemed inappropriate for any reason
That being said... lets get down to buissness!

--------- New Post Merged on 10/12/2008 at 0344 --------

Customizing a Custom Rom: Adding/Removing Programs
INTRO
------------------------------------------------------
With this tutorial, I assume you have the correct Rom version and Radio version. If you do not already have
general 'Rom-Flashin' knowledge and DO NOT already flash your rom on a regular basis...This may not be for you.

The purpose of this tutorial is to assist you in customizing your choice of custom roms.
This is intended to:
-- Limit the time running UserCustomization when flashing.
-- Show you how to add/remove programs to your favorite roms.
-- Works with the PPC-6900. It should also work on the ppc-6800, ppc-6700....

This not intended to:
-- Teach you to become a rom chef.
-- Help deviants steal an accomplished chefs rom and call it your own.
-- Make any chef unemployed.
-- Teach you how to make custom regedits, or any other fancy chef stuff.


Quite a few rom chef's have spent month's customizing their rom. This means refining registry entries, picking and choosing what programs to include, maintaining current programs versions. These folks have put countless hours into these. I have my own rom preference. I personally prefer OMJ's rom and his customizations. And honestly, I don't use a couple of programs my chef chooses, and I usually add a couple of my own programs. This tutorial will help you cut down on the time that UserCustomization takes. We all know the benefits of a Custom Rom! This brings the art to the end user level.

Which brings up...USING THIS TUTORIAL IS YOUR CHOICE! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY HAPPEN TO YOU OR YOUR DEVICE! NOTICE: YOU CAN POSSIBLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE OR LOSE SLEEP ONCE YOU CATCH THE KITCHEN BUG! Ok, let's begin...


A couple special thanks to:
ImCokeMan - for his Rom unlocker(s)
DogGuy - his kitchen...Bepe - BuildOS...All others involved in the kitchen
Old_Man_Jenkins (& most other recent chefs) - for him unwittingly allowing me to chop up their kitchens!
...and several others, thanks, you know who you are!

Terminology
--------------------------------------------
Here is a brief explanation of some terms I will use.
OEM - In the rom world, this is the same as a cab file so OEM_directory is the same as file.cab.
..\OEM - This is the directory in the kitchen that you will copy your OEM directorys into to add programs to your rom.
..\SYS - This is the directory in the kitchen that you will delete directorys from to delete programs from your donor rom.
..\RUU - This is where your finished flashable NBH file will reside when your done.
NBH - your in the upgrade thread...search...

PREPARE
------------------------------------------------------
Files you will need:
1-Download and install install a kitchen from the FTP. Extract the exe/rar file and install to a directory. This will be your kitchen directory. For this tutorial, we will use c:\kitchens. The kitchen can be found here.
Titan Kitchen: DogGuy Kitchen Beta4.rar
Vogue Kitchen: Vogue_Kitchen_tools.rar
Diamond Kitchen: DIAM_blank_kitchen.rar
Raphael Kitchen: RAPH_blank_kitchen.rar


2-Locate your favorite chef.nbh file and copy it to your kitchen root directory. I did say copy! (Quick recovery when things go wrong)

3- Download OEM_PPCGeeks.rar (EDIT: This archive is now called PPCKitchen_OEM.rar as of July 2008 ) Extract this file to your drive be sure to extract using original directorys. Look through it and familiarize yourself with the directory names. (These are your OEM's) Later I will refer to this location as your PPCGeek_OEM folder.
Again they were, the kitchen, donor rom, and oem packages.

Getting aquainted with the kitchen structure
------------------------------------------------------
Now lets take a quick look at the Kitchens directory structure. Everything will reside in the c:\kitchen directory. There are six directorys inside the Kitchen
..\
..\Logs
..\OEM
..\ROM
..\RUU
..\SYS
..\tools
There are only two directorys that we are concerned with. The only two we will be working with is ..\OEM and ..\SYS. The OEM directory is what you add your OEM_Programs to, and the SYS directory is where you can delete files from. Be carefull what you delete! Unless you can identify a directory as an OEM, DO NOT DELETE IT!

Getting to know the kitchen programs...the basics
--------------------------------------------------------
There are three files in the kitchen root directory you will use.

PrepIt.bat - Deconstructs the Donor Rom
BuildOS.exe - Builds the operating system portion. Combines the OEM's and System files.
BuildIt.bat - Builds your rom. Packages everything together and copies your new rom to the RUU directory.

That's right. Five easy steps:
1- PrepIt
2- Add/Remove Programs, I mean OEM's
3- BuildOS
4- BuildIt
5- Flash your Rom
__________________

--------- New Post Merged on 10/12/2008 at 0301 --------

1- Deconstruct donor rom
-----------------------------------------
By now you have installed the kitchen, copied the donor rom and had a few quick pointers.
Let's get started...

Run PrepIt.bat

Some click on it out of windows explorer, and some run it from the dos command prompt. I have only had issues with ..\Tools\OEMizer.exe not doing it's thing in the proper directory. (which I never use...btw) Maybee that could be another tutorial. Windows seems to handle either for me just fine.

Tip: Contrary to popular myth, when you deconstuct a rom, the directory names for the OEM's stay the same and are easily identified!

2- ADD/Remove Programs...OEM's
-----------------------------------------------
This is the way I start.
Open up two copies of Windows Explorer.exe. I split my screen with one window on the left side, and one on the right side. On the left is the c:\kitchens directory, and of course the right window is your PPCGeeks_OEM folder.

ADD PROGRAMS- simply drag your OEM from the right PPCGEEKS_OEM directory and drop it into the c:\kitchen\OEM folder

REMOVE PROGRAMS - This is a little more complicated...

Here is the best way to approach it. In the left window, open the c:\kitchen\SYS folder, and the right window should still be your PPCGeeks_OEM directory. When you see a program you want to delete, simply delete the whole directory or folder.

IF YOU DON"T SEE THE FOLDER NAME IN THE LEFT AND RIGHT WINDOWS...IT MAY NOT BE SAFE TO DELETE!!!

I can't cover each and every OEM here, but from what I have seen, most everyone has the same stuff as far as OEM's go. Did I say pretty much the same stuff? Good. Once you have added and deleted what you want move on to step 3.

3- BuildOS
----------------------------------------------------
This step adds/removes OEMS that you selected in step two.
In your left window, change back to the root c:\kitchens directory and run BuildOS.exe
This should have brought up a new window, this is the BuildOS program. In the window you should see most of the OEMS that you added. YOU WILL NOT SEE OEM's THAT WERE ALREADY IN THE DONOR ROM, and they will be added for you. Place a check mark to the right of the program that you have added. Please check all the programs you want included in the build. Next click that green arrow in the upper left of the window. This will create the OS. You will see the green progress bar to the bottom right. When it is done, BuildOS will say "Done." in the lower left corner. Now you can close BuildOS.

Things that can go wrong....
Most common are duplicate files in OEM's. In this case, BuildOS will display an error. I am not prepared in this tutorial to outline every duplicate. Normally you search your C:\kitchens directory for the offending filename and delete one of the two. This is the reason I suggest using the PPCGeeks_OEM package, the nice folks at ppckitchen.org have done this for you.

4- BuildIt
-----------------------------------------------
In your left window, got to the kitchen root directory and run BuildIt.bat

When this is finished, so are you! You will find your new rom in the ..\RUU folder. It is named...

..\RUU\RUU_Signed.nbh

...This file is what most of you are used to downloading and flashing. You can now run ROMUpdateUtility.exe and test your new creation, change your pagepool, etc...

5- Flash It
-----------------------------------------------
Congratulations! You have successfully Customized your Custom Rom!


Edit: If at any time you do something wrong...

1 - The kitchen renames your donor rom to Input.nbh in the root directory. So all you have to do is go back to step one and start over.
__________________
If this post was helpfull, let me know by clicking Thanks!

[puertoblack2003]

i have no problems with this at all.After all this is the place to learn and share, so feel free and post away and if anybody wish to post and get together then do so.

[Superman369]

Great idea man. I was actually thinking of doin somethin like this myself. Good job bro

[crazaytalent]

Thanks puertoblack2003 and ofcsu1... I was a lil hesitant about posting, but I figured like you said this is a placce for learning and sharing, and as Im learning, i would like to give back and helpp the community grow... I searched and didnt find anything in the tutorials section regarding this, so i figured why not.... maybe one day, you'll be seeing zay's custom rom posted up somewhere...lol!

Hopefully others will find this helpful too...

[kaos]

problem being is....Kitchens are not really coming out anymore for mogul and touch as of late...so basically you guys will end up reworking kitchens that have already been worked...Unless you know how to port xip.

secondly not everyone will have same oems...lol some like myself have vip status...I get some extra stuff normal users dont...As well as my oem folder contains like 500 oems...learn to use oemizer...helps for most part...but things needing to be truly baked in need to become modules...now thats a whole different ball game...A true chef just doesnt check some boxes and build...shits complicated...

[crazaytalent]

Thanks Kaos... i appericiate your feedback, and im sure your right... truth be told, I did come across some info on both how to port xip and even on using oemizer... but I was just putting up some seemingly basic stuff so that for people just starting out like me to get used to it... i didnt want to overload anyone just yet, just trying to generate interest...

And as your right about the fact that new kitchen aren't coming out... but what there is, should be more than enough to keep the new learners occupied and interested in their older generation devices as interest in them fades out...

at least until we cant get those upgrades ourselves...lol!

[Evolancer13]

i kno what a kitchen is!... A place where you eat!? lol. i need to learn these terms..

[crazaytalent]

lol...

well maybe this post will be a good place to start learning them...

[iamdasht19]

“ Originally Posted by crazaytalent ”

Thanks puertoblack2003 and ofcsu1... I was a lil hesitant about posting, but I figured like you said this is a placce for learning and sharing, and as Im learning, i would like to give back and helpp the community grow... I searched and didnt find anything in the tutorials section regarding this, so i figured why not.... maybe one day, you'll be seeing zay's custom rom posted up somewhere...lol!

Hopefully others will find this helpful too...

exactly a place to leatrn and teach... i dont understand why more poeple dont post some stuff up because than we would really be in business here at spj :> great share bro and hopefully this will turn into something great sicne we do have many great chefs that are members, staff, and teem htc rom developers :>

[crazaytalent]

“ Originally Posted by D/\SH ”

exactly a place to leatrn and teach... i dont understand why more poeple dont post some stuff up because than we would really be in business here at spj :> great share bro and hopefully this will turn into something great sicne we do have many great chefs that are members, staff, and teem htc rom developers :>

Definatly... that is the hope... really just wanna get some dialogue goin and a lil more attention to this, so that hopefully we can get more of the community involved... appreciate the feedback

[Evolancer13]

so when do i start learning?

[DJCaSpER]

ok i just downloaded Ervius Visual Kitchen V1.8.1 i'm no chef but would really like to start to becoming one for my self and as well for spj. with saying this do i download the rom i want and load it into the kitchen or what. because i had downloaded the new rom 23409 and i could not figure out how to load it in. i would really ike help in this.

--------- New Post Merged on 8/9/2009 at 0429 --------

dam i just noticed that the last time somone posted in this thread was almost a year ago. this is a really great thread for learning.

[iamdasht19]

“ Originally Posted by DJCaSpER ”

ok i just downloaded Ervius Visual Kitchen V1.8.1 i'm no chef but would really like to start to becoming one for my self and as well for spj. with saying this do i download the rom i want and load it into the kitchen or what. because i had downloaded the new rom 23409 and i could not figure out how to load it in. i would really ike help in this.

--------- New Post Merged on 8/9/2009 at 0429 --------

dam i just noticed that the last time somone posted in this thread was almost a year ago. this is a really great thread for learning.

well the reason for that is because all the info that you would ever need and all the things that you could ever dream of for cooking is all at the specialty site of rom flashing called ppckitchen.org..... i would def reccomend using the mass amount of info that they have there for flashing....... it would take forever to type out all the information for flashing on their boards.

[GokuSS3]

“ Originally Posted by kaos ”

problem being is....Kitchens are not really coming out anymore for mogul and touch as of late...so basically you guys will end up reworking kitchens that have already been worked...Unless you know how to port xip.

secondly not everyone will have same oems...lol some like myself have vip status...I get some extra stuff normal users dont...As well as my oem folder contains like 500 oems...learn to use oemizer...helps for most part...but things needing to be truly baked in need to become modules...now thats a whole different ball game...A true chef just doesnt check some boxes and build...shits complicated...

HAHA got that right altho making OEM packages are not easy by far , and some app are hard to make into OEM folders. As a first timer i would know. Hopefully on my next rom I won't have to build off someone else OEM i can totally create my own lol!!!!!! An Crazytalent this will be very helpful to who ever is thinking about doing there own rom or fun or too release. Thanks