[Android General] The Gingerbread Man:
The purpose of this thread is to have a place where people can discuss Franco's kernel and the application Franco Kernel Updater and ask questions here. I will provide some FAQs and their answers here also. This thread is more aimed at those who may inexperienced at making software modifications to their devices and I will warn you once you have unlocked your boot loader your warranty may be void and ultimately you as the end user are responsible for your device. This way the development threads can be kept clean, easy to follow and not miss important information which can easily get lost in the jungle of posts. I will allow off topic in this thread for general kernel / app / settings related chitter chatter too.

I personally want to thank everyone involved, each who I have mentioned and others who I might of missed (sorry if I have!) for each person has played their role and contributed information and advice to other members of XDA, perhaps unregistered lurkers too! This is a summery of the best information I could find and been putting together over a number of weeks and I am sharing my knowledge as others shared with me back when I was new and inexperienced, enjoy my thread! :D

Moderator Disclaimer

This thread isn't aimed to be an advertisement but a place to learn.

Information about the kernel

People generally change kernels for battery savings and to add features the stock one doesn't offer. Franco's kernel has several advantages over the stock one in terms of battery saving saving features, one of my favourite being the removal of MPdecision which in lay-mans terms changes the min and maximum speed the CPU can run at based upon live battery temperature checks. Franco's hot plug driver always keeps 2 cores online and always them to scale from 300mhz to 2.3ghz and based upon load conditions will online cores 3 and 4 if required. When you touch the screen the screen the CPU speed is boosted to approximately 1.5ghz for just over a quarter of a second and when load is reduced the CPU speed is able to lower quickly back to lower speeds thanks to his tuned interactive governor. Franco has created a governor for the GPU named interactive which works very much like how the CPU equivilant does. Franco has added some newer drivers for WiFi which also helps reduce idle battery drain while your on a busy WiFi network. Franco has also added an interface where you can boost microphone, speaker and headphone gain levels for audio enthusiasts as well as an interface to allow screen calibration and load pre set profiles to improve your experience with how your display looks! There's clock speed control, voltage control, governor control, hot plug control. You get the idea its full of cool features which can be controlled with the paid Franco.Kernel Application (see later in the thread for most infos)!

Our Developer

Franco is a no nonsense kind of guy, not a fan of buzz words and often tells it as it is kind of guy. He works exclusively on the nexus line. Generally the phones see more attention than tablets and owns and supports all the nexus phones and tabs from Galaxy Nexus right through to the latest Nexus 5. Special thanks to [MENTION=4267798]JNewms[/MENTION] for being Franco's tester while he was awaiting shipment of his Nexus 5 so we didn't miss our favourite kernel in that time!

AllYourBasesAreBelongToUs

So to actually run Franco's kernel you need to install it, there's a few ways;

1 use the FKU application to auto flash or download a zip (see below)

2 flash zip manually in recovery, navigating to the file and installing it

3 flashify application on play store by [MENTION=4446775]cgollner[/MENTION] using the application to navigate to the file and reboot into it. This is very handy for .img files ;)

4 fastboot flash boot (filename here).img (requires working adb and fastboot aswell as drivers from Google SDK manager

Guide to fast boot

Franco Kernel Updater (FKU) application help

So you may want to know where you can access Franco's application, it can be bought through google play store. The app will allow you to download and flash a kernel to your device, it will allow to make a whole range changes to the kernel settings but bear in mind it already comes with settings for the best balance between performance and battery life automatically pre-set.

2 Android Pit bear in mind this version might not be as up to date as the Google Play Store Version.

3 But i don't want to pay for an app! Don't sweat it there is a free version on google play store. This free version will only download and flash kernels, you cannot configure the kernel settings in this one but you can use scripts / init.d if you are comfortable working at that level. Please bear in mind this isn't compatible with with all Franco's supported devices yet like the One Plus One.

4 You can find the IMGs and Zips to download and flash the kernel from Franco's server

Beta Version APK

There is a beta tester programme which Google introduced some time around when Jelly Bean was launched. Franco allows users to test the new features which don't always work as its for testing purposes and to gain feed back before the regular app is released to the main public. The beta application updates are managed through Google play store so when a new beta version is pushed you download it through the play store as a normal app update. Beta testing can only take place for downloads from Google Play Store not any other download site.

Sounds good how do i join?

There's three things you need to do before you can get on the beta programme

1 Purchase the paid application as its this one which gets updated

2 You need to be prepared to join Google+ and become part of Franco.Kernel community

3 Click here and choose to become a tester then follow the link to update via play store.

Please note this system is designed by Google not Franco. Some people feel this forces people into using a social media which they might not want to use but unforntunatly its the only way to join the beta programme. The good thing is your Google account used to sign in on your device will have G+ account asosiated with it already and G+ ships with most roms these days.

Applicationz Management

There's been a fair amount of discussion about the per app mode service being killed by swiping away the fku app from recent apps (multi task key), this is due to a bug Google introduced in 4.4.1 but wasn't really made apparent till 4.4.2 arrived.

It is best practice to not swipe away apps from your recent as in doing so you will kill any back ground service an app is running. Android manages RAM different than windows, you don't need loads of free ram for a smooth operating system. If you want to exit an app its best to press the home key or if you really to actually fully close it use back key. Exiting an app using back key shouldn't kill its back ground service.

Whatz is the Per App Modez?

You can set the behaviour you might like for certain apps to either limit max - min CPU speeds, gov controls. Anything you want to be different than the normal CPU set up that you use. Hence, per app mode. Good for gaming or light apps, or if you under clock normally it could give you full speed with the camera for instance, be creative!

(Nexus 5 Only)

[MENTION=4860519]Tzfardaya[/MENTION] has kindly taken the time to make a dedicated thread about per app modes, sharing kernel settings and per app modes by downloading and importing other peoples settings for other guys try on their own devices.

Can I Greenify FKU appz?

You can but this will prevent the per app mode service from running in the back ground. That service doesn't hurt your battery or ram even if you don't use it. If your per app mode settings aren't getting applied and you use Greenify double check you haven't disabled it 'by accident'.

What doez this button do?

If you long press any item it will explain its purpose then you can choose to set it on boot if you so desire

How do I set on boot in the app?

Press the phone icon to the right of an item so that two arrows appear. This means it is set on boot. Press it again to un-set on boot to return to default settings after a reboot. Check out the image above.

If you have anything set on set on boot and your using SuperSu with notifications you should actually see one / two Franco kernel updater has been granted super user permissions toast notifications appear. If super user notifications are disabled I find easily within a minute they are set just double check back very shortly after if your not sure.

I'm new here whatz the best settingz for battery and performancez?

The default values will always have the best balance between performance and battery life. How ever feel free to play with various settings to your own preferences.

Device Specific FAQs

I'll post some repetitive questions and answers here, click link for your specific device. A huge thanks to [MENTION=4478812]ApriliaM3[/MENTION] for the extra posts to help get this much more organised!

Universal

One Plus One

Nexus 5

Nexus 7 2013

Nexus 4

Nexus 10

Nexus 7 2012

Galaxy Nexus

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