**** **** **** **** **** I just typed up a load of stuff on my phone, only to hit the options key on swiftkey, then when I pressed back to get off the popup options that came up it closed the test box that I was writing in


.
Anyways, I'll try and rewrite what I remember

(on my PC where I don't have a options key on the keyboard

).
Quick CWM related question - if you do a backup using CWM - what exactly does it backup, the entire ROM + settings, apps and data? I.e. if I upgrade to a newer version of Lite'ning in the future but wipe my phone, can I restore the earlier backup to keep my data?
I'm not sure what exactly CWM backs up, obviously it backs up the ROM should you want to go back to it for whatever reason, but apps/settings etc I don't know.
You should download "Titanium Backup * root" though. It backs up all of your settings/contacts/apps and game install files/apps and games settings and saves etc, basically everything other than the ROM. It's very easy to use and once you've done a backup you can just copy the files onto your PC (well I assume you can, they're stored on the SD card part of the phone which is what you access when you connect your phone to the PC) and delete them from your phone to get the space back until you need to put them back on to restore them (you can copy the CWM backup to your PC aswell).
There's a paid for version of it as well, but it isn't needed the free version has no adds (well, it doesn't for me using adfree anyways, not sure about without adfree) and allows you to backup everything an unlimited amount of times (but you can only have one current backup at a time, atleast that's all you can have on the phone, you might be able to copy everything to PC, then create a new backup on say a different ROM with different apps/settings etc).
Stupid question alert - can someone give me an idiots summary of ROMs and rooting? I keep hearing these terms in relation to Android phones but I don't really get it.
I'm assuming they're hacks of some sort to allow you to fiddle settings?
So, some of the following might be slightly/completely incorrect or missing a bit of information, because as I said in my last post I'm very new to Android (had my SGS2 for not even 3 weeks), or because I typed it out last time so I just imagine that I've typed it out again this time

.
Rooting is the term used to get "root" or full admin access to your phone, so that you can access all the files (ie the ones on the "root" of the device), rather than just the ones on the SD card that you see when you attatch your phone to the PC.
Having access to these extra files and settings means that you can change any setting you want or add/remove any feature you want using the right commands/apps. For example the app that I mentioned just above, Titanium Backup, when this gets granted root access it's able to access and backup all the settings/contacts etc for your phone that without root access it wouldn't be able to see (atleast I assume it can't normally see that part, I know that it needs root for other stuff, but from what I've seen just using it to backup requires root due to certain things that it can backup) the files that they're stored in nevermind copying every file to another part of your phone.
Rooting will also allow you to add (or maybe rooting adds it, I'm not sure as I rooted my phone using Lite'ning ROM, which doesn't require root, and gives root access as soon as it's flashed) ClockWorkMod Recovery (called CWM by most people) to your phone.
CWM replaces the default recovery options (accessed by Volume UP+Home+Power). It has all the options that were available in the default recovery program (all 4 of them

), and adds new ones. Some of the options it adds are backing up your current ROM (a ROM is basically the operating system of the phone, or something like that anyways, but I'm sure you knew that part

) or restore a previously backed up ROM, flashing a new kernel (I'm still unsure what the kernel actually is, I think it's the main part of what makes the ROM work or something, like what controls the phone hardware after the OS tells it what you wanted it to do) or ROM and some other stuff. CWM is what most (all the ones I've looked at other than Lite'ning ROM, which is why I initially put Lite'ning on my phone, to root and get clockworkmod recovery installed) custom ROMs/kernels need to be flashed with.
Custom ROMs can be anything from a stock ROM with a theme added to it (so that it's easier for people to install without having to install loads of different apps and stuff, since once you've rooted and have CWM installed flashing a new ROM is very easy), or a ROM that has had every unneeeded app removed from it and/or new features/bug fixes added/applied to it.
All ROMs (I think, asleast the vast majority, as it would take a lot of unnecessary work for little gain) are based on a stock ROM (ie one that Samsung has released or, as is the case with the current KGx (Android 2.3.4) based ROMs, had leaked to a site/developer), or are based on a custom ROM which has been created using the aforementioned method.
Many ROMs are either buggy (to varying degrees) or have features missing that the creator either hasn't had time to implement yet, or hasn't worked out how to implement yet, especially since the SGS2 is still fairly new so developers/cookers(chefs? people that just change stuff in a ROM, rather than writing actual code, or something like that anyways, only seen the term used a few times so still not exactly sure).
Well, I hope that helps explain bit a bit better for you, there'll be stuff missing that I don't understand (I still don't understand the vast majority of the stuff on the XDA Forums

), or simply forgot about (as I think of things to type when writing something then forget about it once I've wrote what I was doing all the time

) but either me or someone else will be happy to fill in anything that's missing

.
Ok so im back on stock rom and kernal. if i want to put lite ning rom back on how would i go about it? Clear cache and wipe data first then install lite ning rom with odin as normal? Because ive been getting a.lot of boot loops when putting lite ning on.
Sorry for grammer im on phone.
When I broke mine (same as you, bootlooping) I reflashed the stock KF7 ROM, after that (flashing the stock ROM should do a factory reset/cache clear, so I didn't do a seperate one) I just turned the phone on, to make sure it wasn't bootlooping, didn't even press the Android to start the initial setup of the phone then restarted the phone in download mode and flashed Lite'ning again.
The phone (with Lite'ning ROM reflashed) booted up fine after that, with all settings etc. wiped.
I think aslong as you factory reset (clearing cache and dalvik(sp?, the one in advanced options in CWM) cache are fine I think) BEFORE installing Lite'ning it should be fine I think (it should be since my phone was essentially factory reset before hand, only difference being it had been booted once, it didn't have any settings saved or anything), as long as you're not doing the factory reset during a bootloop then reflashing Lite'ning.
Eurgh, longer post than I thought, hope everything is understandable, because my mind often goes off on a tangent when I'm explaining things

, and also because I've wrote too much, so cba going back to check whether what I wrote makes sense/is correct

.
Edit: Decided I could be arsed checking it, added/deleted some so it should be readable (it is to me, but I wrote it, so obviously I know what I meant

)