[Samsung Galaxy Tab A series ROMs, Kernels, Recover] gooberdude:
Merry xmas or happy xmas!

MERRY XMAS! or HAPPLY XMAS! in the UK

Did not have time to format this thread, spent too much time sorting out this ROM TWRP backup. Too many updates between when I started and now, some of which effected how things functioned for me. I recommend keeping Magisk 19, though 20.1 seems stable enough for most peeps.

This ROM is made to be the most compatible and efficient over stock and other modded ROMs I have come across in the years of owning android devices. Many say my ROMs are bloated, with too much cross compatibility. Well, actually they are not. Compare your currently running rom with osmonitor, and watch how services stack up live after reboot or cold start up. Take note of system and osmonitor services. I try my best to keep both osmoniter services on top of the stack as much as possible. The only way to do so, is to have a balance of Samsung system apps and Google apps, and the addition of services that some ROMs have missing. Stripping android of some tied in services may be a band aid to get more ram, or remove active services running in background... but if the system has hooks to the missing app or service, it will constantly try and pole the missing service and will slow some processes. Osmonitor will show how smooth your system truly is. Bloated or not... I have removed for the most part Google Music, Video, and Games. They are updated as much as play services, so what is the point in placing them into ROM, when an update will add them into user space. Basically I bake my ROMs to be left alone untouched either uodates, and leave user apps that are updated out of the rom, thus the lack of a built in browser, and an older version of maps. You don't need to update maps, as it has no compatibility issues over the mix of the newest Google apps and mix of older unsupported Samsung apps.

Yes, most all apps on this ROM are updated up to the latest version, as of 14/12/19.

NOTE... NO BUILT IN BROWSER. WHY WASTE ROM SPACE ON A BROWSER THAT MAY NOT BE USED OR WILL BE UPDATED SOON BY THE USER. MAPS IS OVER A YEAR OLD, AND HAS NO EFFECT ON USE, UNLESS YOU WANT TO USE MORE OF THE UPDATED FEATURES WITH THE NEWER MAPS APP. TO KEEP GOOGLE FROM UPDATING SYSTEM FILES, YOU CAN PLACE OVER 700MB OF MUSIC OR YOUR FAV VIDEO TO KEEP GOOGLE INSTALLER CACHE LIMITED, AND WILL REQUEST APP REMOVAL WHEN INSTALLING APPS FROM PLAY STORE. I USE MIRROR SITES TO UPDATE BY SIDE LOADING. ALSO FREEZE PLAY SERVICES FOR INSTANT APPS IF NOT USING INSTANT APPS. IT'S INSTALLED AS A SYSTEM APP, SO IT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY LOAD INTO USER ROM SPACE BY GOOGLE AND WASTE SPACE. IF LEFT UNFROZEN GOOGLE WILL AUTO UPDATE.

Below is some more images of what to expect... having app permissions, all apps are monitored and blocked from starting, unless they are hooked into the system. Usually all side loaded and user play store added apps are blocked to run at start up, unless the app has an option for the user to enable or disable auto start up. If an app has auto startup, like chrome for example... it will not auto start, since it was side loaded or installed as a user app. Thus no browser is baked into the rom. The active apps shown in a few images are from a minute after reboot. The optional Kid's Mode app is manually added, and will run for a short birthday check and close, if installed. I recommend freezing smart card services if not using it. Also any of the few apps that are shown as running, that are not of use can be frozen, and used later on when needed, without need to install at a later time.

NOTE... WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. MY DEFAULT IS SET WITH THE SYSTEM MODEL AS A J5, INSTALL TO SDCARD DISABLED, HOSTS FILE ENABLED, AND STOCK SETTINGS UI (WITH ENHANCEMENTS). THIS IS A PROPER SETUP FOR MOST ALL NEEDS. SO CHANGING THEM WILL EFFECT HOW THE SYSTEM WILL FUNCTION IF UNAWARE OF THE LIMITATIONS. ALWAYS INSTALL AN APP WITHOUT ENABLING INSTALL TO SDCARD. ENABLE INSTALL TO SDCARD BEFORE GOING INTO APP MANAGER TO SET THE APPS INSTALL LOCATION. ONCE MOVED TO SDCARD, DISABLE INSTALL TO SDCARD. BY FOLLOWING MY METHOD, MOST ALL APPS WILL PROPERLY FUNCTION WHEN MOVED TO SDCARD. USING PHONE SETTINGS UI WILL HAVE SOME BUGS. ALL OF WHICH ARE MINOR, AS THE HOOKS TO SOUND AND MOTION ARE FOR PHONES, NOT TABLETS. MOST OF THE ADDED FEATURES ARE ON THE DEFAULT PAGE. KID'S MODE AND GALAXY STORE WILL NEED TO HAVE THE DEVICE BOOT WITH STOCK BUILD.PROP. THOUGH MOST OF THE APPS IN GALAXY STORE WILL PROPERLY UPDATE WITH THE J5 MODDED BUILD PROP. JUST A SAFETY PRECAUTION WITH UPDATING KID'S MODE FUNCTIONALITY AND UPDATING APPS. SOME ARE NOT CROSS COMPATIBLE BETWEEN TABLET AND J5 PHONE. THE MODEL OF J5 I USE DOES, AS OF THIS TIME, KEEP COMPATIBILITY VERY HIGH, SO JUST BE AWARE OF LIMITATIONS. I HAD TO REMOVE UNIVERSAL SWITCH AND DIGITAL CLOCK WIDGET, TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE APPS PACKAGED IN THIS ROM.

WHAT YOU GET IS...

UPDATED & FASTER WIFI DRIVERS

UPDATED MANUFACTURER DB FOR MINOR LINK

ADDED MISSING BT PROFILES

TI BACKUP & SOLID EXPLORER SUPPORT APKS, FOR SIMPLE ENABLING OF PRO VERSIONS

MAXIMIZED USABLE RAM IN COMPARISON TO STOCK, WITHOUT LOOSING COMPATIBILITY

14/12/19 OPEN GAPPS NANO

GOOGLE TTS

ANDROID AUTO

WEBVIEW

INSTANT APPS SERVICES

BACKDROP FOR DAYDREAM

YOUTUBE - VANCE (LATEST VERSION)

GEAR SVOICE SERVICES

WEARABLE SERICES

WEARABLE (GEAR)

GALAXY STORE

SIDESYNC4.0

KIDS MODE APPS (MINUS KID'S MODE AND KID'S STORE)

LEGO KID'S MODE

UPDATED SAMSUNG PUSH SERVICES

ADDED SAMSUNG SNOTE4 AND SYNC

S-VOICE

VOICE RECORDER

ENHANCED GALLERY PHOTO EDITOR WITH VIDEO EDITOR LITE - BOTH WILL FUNCTION WITHIN CAMERA

CAR MODE

J5 THEME'S STORE AND THEME'S

PHONE VIDEO PLAYER WITH DNLA AND POP OUT VIDEO. (MISSING BUTTONS, BUT FUNCTIONAL WITH CAREFUL SELECTION)

VARIOUS ENHANCEMENTS CARRIED OVER FROM PAST BUILDS, WITH A FEW MORE TWEAKS.

UPDATED MENU FOR SELECTING OPTIONS IN SMANAGER.

ADDED SAMSUNG FEATURES FROM PHONES, THOUGH NO DIALER FEATURES DUE TO HARDWARE LIMITATIONS.

PLUS A QUICK AND DIRTY TOUCHWIZ LAUNCHER SORTER TO POPULATE HIDDEN APPS (CAR MODE AND THEME STORE), WITHIN THE SMANAGER MENU. MUST REBOOT AFTER APPLYING.

ALL BASED FROM MY CURRENT DAILY DRIVER MODDED ROM. MINUS APPS THAT ARE FOR PERSONAL USE.

HERE ARE THE DOWNLOADS LINKS...

XMAS ROM

https://mega.nz/#!Y6RWiA7I!4Z9ho5ssTLXVfu6seV1vbe9EuLNFU4V5Me-mKt2kdrs

LANGUAGE FILES

https://mega.nz/#!ljg2yaYS!3grr_SyZxkH9HlXZ8CcuXqc3kLT_MKeog8VuKyBTlmU

SCRIPT MANAGER TI BACKUP DATA FILE

https://mega.nz/#!NqhSmYLY!RI8zc52cQcaT00V1fw6Bwr2CmI8_a6OmeRrhSM2FUeo

Here is the data for pasting into settings.db from SQlite app.

Wifi;SilentMode;Location;AutoRotate;SideKey;PowerSaving;Bluetooth;Location;MultiWindow;Brightness;AllShareCast;SBeam;Sync;SmartStay;DoNotDisturb;UltraPowerSaving;AirplaneMode;CarMode;TouchSensitivity;DrivingMode;