[General Questions and Answers] Mecklenburg:
I have multiple upgrade/update questions and have searched exhaustively on this and other forums. Maybe there's no issue because in forum responses, the mechanics are never discussed. I see "just do a software upgrade", then "thanks, worked great", but not how to retain user configuration through an upgrade.

I have a Viewsonic G-Tablet (UPS300-2-2) and I have loaded CWM 0.8 and successfully flashed VEGAn-TAB GingerEdition STABLE RC1. This ROM has the beta VTL.launcher.

I've also spent several days loading music, video, wall paper, links, home-pages etc, and once I had it the way I liked it, backed up using CWM.

It all works fairly well, except I have problems with SDcard2 losing data, corrupting my partition, causing boot-loops, etc. So I avoid using the external SD slot. Should upgrades become available, I will want to try to fix this problem.

So my questions are (given all the time invested);

1) will CWM restore data as well as settings (will it restore downloaded apps, video & music stored on SDcard or SDcard2, or are these left untouched when ROM is flashed)? - answer; neither CWM nor Titanium will restore data such as downloads, books, videos, music or pictures. These will have to be copied over again. I found CWM to be a very effective backup and restore tool; all applications, settings, passwords, and vtl.launcher layouts. The advantage with Titanium is that you a) don't have to boot into APX mode, b) you can select all applications or individually to backup or restore, c) you can choose to backup just settings/data.

2) will VTL.launcher 1.6.2 retain beta launcher settings, my home page layouts (I'm required to uninstall beta VTL.launcher before installing 1.6.2)? - answer; both launchers can coexist, just flip between them by pressing home key. New launcher adds catalogs. New launcher does not use beta version settings, so home pages need to be reconfigured. To move settings from beta 1.5 to 1.6.2, I saved Launcher layout and settings (Menu-More-VTL Settings), then restored. The widgets didn't work right, but the layouts were fine, so I just reinstalled all the widgets under 1.6.2 and all is working fine. Note in this post that gojimi does not require beta uninstall before installing 1.6.2, and in fact beta cannot be uninstalled if included with ROM

3) Now that I see Android 3.0, can I update to that, or does this require a new ROM? I'm using v2.3 Android with VEGAn-TAB - answer; a new ROM will required to integrate the OS with the hardware. A ROM upgrade also appears to erase all data on SDcard, so externally stored backups are necessary. If re-flashing to root, CWM may also need to be reinstalled (see references in this thread).

4) What is a kernel (vs. a ROM)? why would I want to upgrade this? - answer; my ROM uses PERSHOOT's kernel, which has been updated since the ROM was released. Advantages are slight, but it may fix the standby problem (requiring reboot after x-min in standby), and other hardware specific enhancements.

5) If I upgrade a ROM (VEGAn-TAB RC1 to RCx for example), will I keep my old settings? - answer; no, updating a ROM (device specific Kernel + Android OS) will wipe everything on your internal SDcard. Use Titanium to selectively restore applications after re-imaging with new or updated ROM.

Thanks in advance.