Well, I have finally made the change and have rooted my phone using the excellent and stupidly easy to use Ace Hack Kit. Having done this, I also found a hint that I can return it to stock if I really need to. El Presidente at androidforums.com has been very helpful. Some pages of use for future reference:
- [GUIDE] DHD All things root roundup sticky at androidforums
- Specific CyanogenMOD steps for installing that ROM
- Changing the CID (not sure I will need this, also it is used for possibly reverting to stock)
I am currently working through the steps making backups and backing up my backups.I am probably confusing myself, but I will soon be moving to CyanogenMod 7.1. I used it on my HTC Hero whilst my phone was being repaired and really liked it. It should fly on the beefier Desire HD. I am hoping for better battery life with the new setup. I still sometimes have days where I am dead before 5pm, particularly if I am not at home for the day.
Now I understand a little more (oops) I realise that I should have rooted my phone when it was in its pure Orange state, since that would give me a stock ROM to return too (not sure how you put back the old recovery mode but I think that link above answers that question. I’d have backed up the stock Orange ROM, now I will be backing up the old HTC ROM that I am using that does not match my phone’s CID (Carrier ID, which in my case is ORANG001).
I’ve just hit reboot to recovery. More to follow.