[Captivate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mac11700:
It takes more than a couple days of reading to get a understanding on how all of this works on the Captivate.There really isn't any crash course to take to accomplish what you want.Time is your friend..not your enemy on this..The more time you take..the more information you have before you.

Each phone (this includes yours) reacts differently to all the various themes..kernels..modems..and roms

. Each person that does this..needs to find the best combination that will give them what they are hoping to achieve...ie: looks..speed..stability..battery life..download speed..gps..ect...

What you have to do..is find a rom you are interested in..read the thread from start to current..and then decide if what is being said about it will match your wants & needs.Then find out what modem works best on your phone ... in your area... to give you the best signal reception.. download speeds..voice clarity..and battery life. Same for the kernels..which one will work properly with the modem..that gives you good stable performance without changing your download speed..Both must work in conjunction with each other.

Everyone has favorites..on each item..and just because a certain combination works superbly for my phone..doesn't mean it will work for you..The beauty of Android..is you have the chance to change each part to make your phone perform as you want it..You have a multitude of choices...so..where to begin...

For a starting point..here is what I would do..Ensure your phone has the 3 button recovery..If it does..download the correct Odin..If it doesn't..download the Odin with the 3 button recovery fix in it..Download and install the correct drivers for your phone..Read the entire Odin threads for each..from start to finish..and memorize the proper sequence of how to properly flash back to stock..Download the update.zip file to your PC..as well as the 1 click root program..this way you have both...the update.zip file gives you root very easily..and having that file will save you a lot of time..and the 1 click root/un-root if you need to return to 100% stock for some reason..It's a real good idea to learn how to do all of this before you flash any custom rom..Then you can start prepairing to change your phone..flying blind on doing this can lead to messing up your phone..so..be prepared to invest a lot of time reading everything you can first..

Make several folders on your pc/mac that will contain different roms...theme...kernels...modems..gps tweaks...wi-fi fixes..then start filling those folders up..

Then you can learn how to flash themes..roms..kernels..and modems..and you do that by reading and studying how to on each of those threads..There is a ton of information to go over...

Now you have a idea of why folks won't just say what you should do...There is so many different combinations to choose from..and for a n00b it is overwhelming..but you have to start by having an idea of what you want..what you want it to look like..and how you want it to perform..and then assemble the various items..and then assemble it yourself..Many of the Custom roms..have attempted to do this for you..and many prefer having someone do it for them..than attempt to learn how to do it for themselves....Some are full featured roms..others are stripped down version..that you have to download what you need for it..In the end..many of us have take a little from each..and mix and match to get our phones where we want them to be..because of what I underlined above..There is a lot more to learn..but..in time..you will..cause we all do learn new stuff about them everyday we work with them..The more you learn..the more you can change..

Hope this helps

Mac