[8125, K-JAM, P4300, MDA Vario ROM Development] quicksite:
Let me see if I understand the HardSPL vs Soft SPL choice:

Thanks Ivan... I just read the instuctions several times. I can just say right off that distilling this down to a single wiki entry has removed a great deal of the anxiety -- and hats off to those who constructed this - as well as those whose prior work formed the basis for the underlying info. Many months before, when Windows6 had just come out, and carriers like T-Mobile opted to not support it on their Wizard device (MDA), the inital reverse engineering that took place here to first successfully create a windows6 rom was fascinating... but the steps back then to try it yourself were filled with warnings about bricking phones... Then later, when then iphone first came out, it seemed to me that the windows6 upgrade for a Wizard/MDA was then scripted and reliable -- but everyone's expectations were rasied with the introductuin oif some very cool functionality of the iphone, including the sldie2unlock function, as well as the scroll with a finger brush movement.

At that time, there were people on YouTube who within 2 days had emulated the slide2unlock functions onma Windows Mobile device, and for me the question then was "how much of that iphone functionalituy can be replicated for these windows based devices?". This is part of why I held up digging in. Then lo and behold the HTC Touch appeared, and I read people here requesting owners to publish the ROM - and amazingly now that has been all cracked and merged into (apparently) some of these Windows6 ROMS.

I am in awe of the enterprising abilities of the pros here. And now am ready to follow the process. Seems to me I am going to get a far greater phone as a result than many which T-Mobile is selling as their new state of the art.

The one thing I would like to parrot back to see if I digested fully:

As for whether to use HardSPL or SoftSPL, this is what I understood:

(1) USING HARD SPL:

Pros: Once installed, you can then try ROM/upgrade after ROM/upgrade without intermediate steps of needing a separate loader. Useful if you want to try various ROMS til you find the one that best meets your needs. This is possible because HardSPL tricks your device into thinking it hads CID permanently unlocked,

Cons: If you have to return the phone to carrier for warranty work or replacement, in order to not void your warranty you must first return the ROM to be the carrier's official version, and you must then uninstall HardSPL, so there are no traces of "tampering".

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(2) USING SOFT SPL:

Pros: If you have to retunr the phone to carrier, your warranty is preserved by simply restoring the Carrier's official ROM first.. and since HardSPL to not overwrite any CID information, there is nothing to uninstall.

Cons: If you want to try various ROM versions XDA developers have created and shared here, there are extra steps required each time you want to try a new ROM... whereas if you'd installed HardSPL, there would be no intermediate steps.

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Do I have this correct? If so, what am I missing -- because it seems like a simple choice and that HARD SPL provides much greater ease and flexibility. And as for restoring the phone to Carrier's warranty compliance, as I understand, you STILL have to prep the phone before returning it to carrier. In case of using Soft SPL, you simply have to restore the official ROM, then done. Whereas, if used HARD SPL, you have to do that as well, AND uninstall HARD SPL. have I got this right?

if so, from what I read, the one additional step required is to run Start-sSPL.exe, whiuch sounds to me like it is automated - such that as long as you follow directions, HARD SPL uninstalls.

I *do* see the language "Removing HardSPL - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!" -- and I saw also "If your SPL is still 2.21.olip then you did something wrong and are prob staring at a pretty expensive paperweight."

But what I did NOT see is: "Running Start-s-SPL.exe is buggy and not reliable, so to play it safe, we recommend using SoftSPL."

So I just would like to get a reply to this before I proceed. (thanks!)

And thank you ROCOAFZ for giving me the shortand steps if I had had a G3 model. All the help here is phenomenal.