Some of the SGS had the 3 button method ( Volume button  + Home + Power key ) to reboot into Recovery or Download mode disabled –  which is essential to install any kernels or ROMS. 

The trick was to enable the 3 Button Fix and it becomes easy to install ROMS. In my previous failed attempt I tried to accomplish the same using adb and bricked my phone. ( http://venkat2.blogspot.com/2011/09/android-adventures-how-i-bricked-my.html ) 

1. Root SGS

This is quite simple. Download SuperOneClick from shortfuse ( http://shortfuse.org/?page_id=2 ) and root the phone.

2. Enable the 3 button fix

If you can go to download / recovery mode with the 3 buttons you can skip this step. Use the below link and it worked without any hiccups : http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/fix-3-button-combo-download-recovery-mode-in-samsung-galaxy-s-gt-i9000/. Has links to Odin and a PDA file which will enable the 3 buttons.

There is a similar article in androidadvices.com – you can give it a pass.

One word of caution : ALWAYS read the comments before you get your hands dirty. I read horror stories of some Samsung Galaxy S 4G ( newer models ) that got completely bricked as this is not supported.

3. Now I can install ROMs using Clockworkmod. The instructions in cyanogenMod wiki were so straightforward it was as simple as installing Ubuntu ( from Version 6 I guess ) and the whole process was done under 2 minutes.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S

Here are some screenshots – I could not take the lock screen though – it came out blank. There are 5 “pages”. The one in the middle is the landing zone.

To the left I put my “fun” stuff

Further left is google+, twitter and facebook.

To the right of my home is “work”

Yet to organize better. And guess what – the bottom tray – even that is configurable. The = sign is the calculator – yet another reason why android can never beat iOS. I can drag any app to this dock – something I could not do in Froyo ( don’t know if this is a Gingerbread thingy or Cyanogenmod’s gift )

And so far the phone responds really fast and had no app crashes. I doubt if there is any improvement on battery life – it is already visibly down ( had a 1.2 hour run today morning with GPS and music player on ), and was playing music at home through an amplifier after that. I saw a setting where I can switch the CPU for performance or battery.. right now it is in optimal setting.

And btw – these things void your warranty – but totally worth doing it. If you have a SGS and want it rooted just ping me – I can help you.

Finally – great work Cyanogenmod team – simply amazing.