Got some newbie questions

[alikhan2004]

Whats up my fellow X7 users, I am new to this android mini computer thing so please go easy on me if I ask a stupid question. I got tired of waiting for a jailbreak to come out for the Apple TV 3 So I decided to get a android box so after doing alot of research I ordered my X7 from geekbuying.com and I should get it in a couple days but I had some questions. I will mainly use the unit for XBMC so if the questions can be answered with the best option for XBMC to run smoothly would be great.

1. Should I flash another ROM or keep it stock?
2. What would be the best ROM?
3. If I do decide to go with a custom ROM should I flash the newest stock 005 firmware prior to flashing custom ROM?
4. Do I have to root the X7 before I can flash the custom rom?
5. I downloaded the Finless 1.6 ROM but there's so many options(boot, kernal and parameter) which one should I go with?

Thanks in advance with all the help.

[BaDTaG]

Whats up my fellow X7 users, I am new to this android mini computer thing so please go easy on me if I ask a stupid question. I got tired of waiting for a jailbreak to come out for the Apple TV 3 So I decided to get a android box so after doing alot of research I ordered my X7 from geekbuying.com and I should get it in a couple days but I had some questions. I will mainly use the unit for XBMC so if the questions can be answered with the best option for XBMC to run smoothly would be great.

1. Should I flash another ROM or keep it stock?
2. What would be the best ROM?
3. If I do decide to go with a custom ROM should I flash the newest stock 005 firmware prior to flashing custom ROM?
4. Do I have to root the X7 before I can flash the custom rom?
5. I downloaded the Finless 1.6 ROM but there's so many options(boot, kernal and parameter) which one should I go with?

Thanks in advance with all the help.

I will try to cover all your points.

1. That depends on your needs. But for xbmc only i would say keep nit stock.
2. Depending on your needs again. But i like struzus rom nice and clean. But i think you shuld start using finless rom.
3. No
4. No
5. Leve it standard and read the included redme.txt file you only have to change the kernel for the one you want. My advice try no OC first. 720p or 1080p

[diegocaxudo]

I recommend you to flash a custom rom. custom ROMs are modified by the developers to immprove performance and they also come pre-rooted most of the time.
finless 1.6 is the best I'v seen so far. the readme file tells you all your options (pick a kernel [1080p or 720p and the clockspeed, I think you should go with 1800/600/720] pick a boot [if kernel is 720p pick 720p boot and pick the boot that installs airpin if you want it]). the 1.6 and many other come pre-rooted wich means that after flashing them you'll have a rooted machine but you dont need root. hope this helped!

[BaDTaG]

If you choos the 1800/600/720 you will woid your waranty plus OC can damage the hardware. I am not saying you will damage it but you will get no support if you do.
For a noob stock is the way to go. Unles you got the money to spare!!

[diegocaxudo]

If you choos the 1800/600/720 you will woid your waranty plus OC can damage the hardware. I am not saying you will damage it but you will get no support if you do.
For a noob stock is the way to go. Unles you got the money to spare!!

thanks for pointing this out to me, I have experiece with other android miniPCs and also with OC kernels but this is the first time I buy a minix product and I diidn't know this would void the warranty.
but you, alikhan2004, should still consider the finless rom even with a non-OCed kernel

[alikhan2004]

Thanks for the replies and great information everyone...I actually got my X7 today and decided to flash my unit with the Finless 1.6 ROM and used the following files: boot1080air, kernel_stock_1080 and parameter(I assume it was a 4gb because it didn't say 4 on the file name and the other files had a number greater then 4). I installed XBMC and it runs extremely slow and the videos lags. I downloaded XBMC straight from the official website should I get a different XBMC or use different kernals while flashing?

[diegocaxudo]

Thanks for the replies and great information everyone...I actually got my X7 today and decided to flash my unit with the Finless 1.6 ROM and used the following files: boot1080air, kernel_stock_1080 and parameter(I assume it was a 4gb because it didn't say 4 on the file name and the other files had a number greater then 4). I installed XBMC and it runs extremely slow and the videos lags. I downloaded XBMC straight from the official website should I get a different XBMC or use different kernals while flashing?

as you may or may not kow, it's not a x7 problem the problem is xbmc for android that...., well let's just say that it could be a lot better you could try other video players or there;s a custom version of xbmc for android (XAF) that is the same aas the normal xbmc but plays all your videos using mx player (http://www.xbmcandroid.com/)

[alikhan2004]

as you may or may not kow, it's not a x7 problem the problem is xbmc for android that...., well let's just say that it could be a lot better you could try other video players or there;s a custom version of xbmc for android (XAF) that is the same aas the normal xbmc but plays all your videos using mx player (http://www.xbmcandroid.com/)

Thanks for the quick reply...I didnt know android is not fully compatbile with xbmc yet but I'll give XAF a try. I have another question should I consider overclocking? if I dont care about the warranty.

[alikhan2004]

I also ordered a Neo A2 air mouse and thats not working properly also is there any issue with the air mouse not working properly with the Finless ROM?

[diegocaxudo]

Thanks for the quick reply...I didnt know android is not fully compatbile with xbmc yet but I'll give XAF a try. I have another question should I consider overclocking? if I dont care about the warranty.

I would consider overclocked kernels, it looks like everyboy is happy wit them and it really improves general performance (including video playback)

I also ordered a Neo A2 air mouse and thats not working properly also is there any issue with the air mouse not working properly with the Finless ROM?

I haven't noticed any air mouse problem with the fiinless rom, but I've noticed that the a2 doesnt work on roms other than the stock rom, but the finless 1.6 rom is based on the stock 005 soo i don't know what could be the problem, I dont own an a2 but I was thinking about buying one so I asked if the a2 was working with the 1.6 and I got a reply saying it was, you should probably go to the 1.6 rom thread and post your problem to see if anybody has a fix

I don't know if this will hlep but you should try connecting your usb reciver to a usb hub or a usb extension cable if that doesn't help you can try re-flashing te rom (sometimes this fixes some problems with bugs that are unusual)

[alikhan2004]

I would consider overclocked kernels, it looks like everyboy is happy wit them and it really improves general performance (including video playback)



I haven't noticed any air mouse problem with the fiinless rom, but I've noticed that the a2 doesnt work on roms other than the stock rom, but the finless 1.6 rom is based on the stock 005 soo i don't know what could be the problem, I dont own an a2 but I was thinking about buying one so I asked if the a2 was working with the 1.6 and I got a reply saying it was, you should probably go to the 1.6 rom thread and post your problem to see if anybody has a fix

I don't know if this will hlep but you should try connecting your usb reciver to a usb hub or a usb extension cable if that doesn't help you can try re-flashing te rom (sometimes this fixes some problems with bugs that are unusual)

diegocaxudo I really appreciate you helping meI did fix my air mouse issue which was bad batteries but what kernals should I use to overclock.

[diegocaxudo]

diegocaxudo I really appreciate you helping meI did fix my air mouse issue which was bad batteries but what kernals should I use to overclock.

I would use the 1800CPU/600GPU/720ddrRAM, I dont use 1080p because the my tv is 720p anyways an the 720p is just a bit faster (is not a big difference is just that I use my android miniPcs mostly for gaming and I dont really need the 1080p)

also, I think there are some problems with the icon ant text size on 1080p, I'm not sure but I think that there ares some fixes (I havent really tried any of that because i have and 1080p 24" monitor that would turn my device into a desktop pc I prefer using it as a media player with my 720p tv)

[alikhan2004]

Hey diegocaxudo I got busy with work and never got a chance to flash my X7. I sat down today to flash my unit but I'm so confused on which file is the kernal and which one is the boot also is the parameter file with no number in front of it a 4gb file and is that what you recommend flashing my device with? also let me know if I'm doing this correct do I use the kernel_phja_1080_vsfsam as the boot file and kernel_phja_1080_vsfsam_cpu1800h_gpu600_ddr800 as the kernel?

[diegocaxudo]

Hey diegocaxudo I got busy with work and never got a chance to flash my X7. I sat down today to flash my unit but I'm so confused on which file is the kernal and which one is the boot also is the parameter file with no number in front of it a 4gb file and is that what you recommend flashing my device with? also let me know if I'm doing this correct do I use the kernel_phja_1080_vsfsam as the boot file and kernel_phja_1080_vsfsam_cpu1800h_gpu600_ddr800 as the kernel?

First you need to choose the resolution, 720p or 1080p, I use 720p. Once you have coosen the resolution pick a kernel, I use 720p 1800h/gpu600/ddr720. now you need to decide if you need airpin if not, choose a no_air boot.img. If your kernel is, for example, a 720p kernel, you need to pick a 720p boot. If you use a 1080p kenel there's also a boot.img with large icons and text (this fixes a problem of small icons and small text that the 1080p kernel has but I read that the "large" boot may cause some compability problems with google play). Finally, the parameter file that says "parameter" is th one that has 4gb for apps, I think that's perfect (at least for me) but If you need more space for apps you can use another one, just try not to exaggerate because If you dont have enough space for data (like with the parameter14 file) you will probably get som bugs. Always remember that each app saves data so I think you'll probably neeed more space for data, some games like real racing 3 (for example) are only a couple of MBs but after the download it'll download like 1gb of data.

[alikhan2004]

Ok so I flashed my X7 two times because the first time it flashed perfectly fine but my X7 wouldn't turn on but it did show the android on my screen in recovery and it was formatting cache, data etc. like any android device when you flash a ROM. So when I flashed it the second time I did exactly what I did it the first time and it did the same thing went to recovery and did all the other things but this time it did boot up but now when I install something from the Play Store it doesnt show the icon in the app drawer but it does show up in the apps section in settings and also it does show it installed in the play store. What am I doing wrong? I used the following files to flash parameter, boot720no_air and kernel_phja_720_vsfsam_cpu1800h_gpu600_ddr800. I decided to go with the 720 as well even though my TV is a 1080 because when I flashed it with the 1080 the first time everything was too small on the screen.