[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shorttripp86:
Alright, I'll try and redeem myself from that douchey response from earlier. I'm sorry for the unneeded grumpiness, but my I'm having phone issues - and I'm sure you'll come to understand this feeling now that you're learning this stuff, and I assume will go on to flash rom's, kernel's, and inevitably recovery files via ODIN.

Here are some definitions I've "kanged" (Kang means to take somebody else's work and put it to good use. Credit is expected but occasionally not given. -djmcnz <Nexus One>) together definitions and definitions from xda members, community write-ups, and general android development guides.

Here we go...

ROMs

"First thing is a ROM - Basically in the phone world these are packages of data that contain mostly all of your stuff on the phone such as apps, settings, contacts, and all sorts of other data. The devs here at XDA develop custom roms that are streamlined and reconfigured to work better than the stock ones. They also remove all the junk apps that Verizon and Samsung include on the phone including satan himself - Bing.

[Deodexing ROMs] is just a way of re-working some of the phone's file system to allow installation of themes and other things that require a deodexed rom, it doesnt affect anything else afaik.

Some ROMs also include themes. Themes are basically just re-skins or recreations of the android UI, which are usually more intuitive and customized than the stock ones. You can always try different themes with almost any rom, its up to you which ones you like."​

Kernels

"[Kernels] are essentially the coding and underlying framework that the phone pretty much runs on. They control MANY aspects of the phone and how they work, custom kernels are what really turn the speed up on this phone."​

** ROM & Kernel definitions from Bawb3's <Fascinate> Beginner's Guide here: Fascinate Beginner's Guide / FAQ**

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Radio (Modem/Baseband)

"The Radio [Modem/Baseband] is the software part of your device that is powering on/off and controlling your radio interfaces. This includes Bluetooth, 2G/3G Phone, WiFi, GPS..... And it also includes Radio BootLoader and other device specific firmwares needed for using your radio interfaces and for interfacing them with the OS (Windows Mobile/Android)."​

**Radio (Modem/Baseband) definition from kholk's <HTC> Radio thread here: (RADIO) The HTC HD2 Master Radio Thread**

Radio (Modem/Baseband) Alternate Description

"The Radio [Modem/Baseband] is the part of the phone that deals with mobile connections. It handles talking to the 3G network, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The radio contains software that controls how it operates, and newer versions of radio firmware are made available from time to time. These updates are transparent to the user, although users who elect to install custom software can update their radio using an update.zip file [or "radio/modem".tar file] made available by members of the modding community.

Flashing the radio is potentially risky, and you should NEVER pull the battery out of a phone that is flashing the radio. If you do so, it is possible your phone will be bricked. Nevertheless, it can give improved battery life, signal strength and data performance, so is often done by users moving to later versions of ROMs.

Care should be taken to only flash the correct type of radio to a phone. NEVER attempt to flash a CDMA phone with a GSM radio or vice-versa. It is likely you will brick the phone if you attempt to do so."​

**Alternate <non-xda> Radio (modem/Baseband) definition from here: Alt. VROM Radio Definition**

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Voodoo Lagfix

"In a nutshell, voodoo is a substitute kernel for the Galaxy S i9000 variants, and in due time for the rest of the Samsung Galaxy S family (Captivate, Vibrant etc...). The kernel provides improvements over stock user experience such as :

Lagfix - Convert /data and /system file partitions from RFS to EXT4 to increase performance and virtually kill the lag that we all hate so much.

Display/Color/Sharpness - Enhance and fine tune the amazing Super Amoled screen to provide the best results in different situations.

Sound - Improve Galaxy S sound by leveraging it’s top of the line audio chip, the way it’s meant to be leveraged.

Voodoo comes as “root ready” - You need only to install Superuser from market, and you phone is rooted.

Optimized Samsung TwLauncher - No slowness. (if you already have a different launcher, this will not prevent you from using it.)

ClockworkMod Recovery - Voodoo comes with built in version of CWM. To access it, turn on your phone while pressing VolumeUp+Home+Power

Improved ADB Shell - Support tab compleition and more.

For more info visit http://project-voodoo.org"​

**Voodoo Lagfix description from <non-xda> Voodoo Community Write-Up here: Voodoo Community Write-Up (Gdoc)**

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ODIN

"What is ODIN? There is a longer answer, but lets just say what it really is. It's a very simplistic program you install on your PC. With this program and a few files you can very easily restore your phone to stock. Some suggest doing this EVERY time you go from Rom to Rom.

Why do they do this? Because when you are on one ROM and you go to another, there may be "ghosts" from your previous ROM impacting the performance of your new build. That said, I have never done this... and I have never had an issue. Your choice. How to use ODIN will be in the guides section (eventually)."​

**ODIN description from s15274n's <Vibrant> guide here: Noob Guide: HOW TO ROOT/ODIN/FLASH/RECOVER**

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ClockworkMod Recovery (CWM)

"ClockworkMod Recovery is based off the eclair recovery image. Features include Nandroid backup, adb shell, advanced update.zip options (ignore asserts and signature checks), and file browser for choosing update.zips (you can now organize your stuff by directory.)"​

**CWM Recovery description from Koush's <Nexus One> thread here: ROM Manager & Clockwork Recovery**

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NOTICE:​

I take ZERO credit for any of the above mentioned programs. All credit goes to the original program developer(s). This is a list of definitions and descriptions. I have included referenced member citation, and links to the original post/thread/site. Original program developer(s) or cited xda member(s), please let me know if you would like something removed from this post​

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TheTinRam, I hope this helps and makes up for for my sour mood earlier.