Does the newest /e work on Xiaomi Note 8T (Willow)?

Hi Community!

I want to move away from Google once and for all, and I came across /e as an option for my 2019 Redmi Note 8T.

In the forum, people complained about not being able to receive calls after installing /e. THAT would be a reason to stay away from /e…

Can someone here please tell me whether the current build fixed that problem? I could’t find a changelog with regard to this question.

One other thing: can I upgrade my phone to MIUI firmware for Android 11? Or does that not matter?

Looking forward to your answers!

Thanks in advance,
Oliver

Hi @Goldtop_57 welcome to the /e/ forum.

When we get an evolving phone like this it is good to know the reliable device codename. Did the device code change for 2019?

A link to the report you mention would be useful. Asking on that thread might be productive too. :slight_smile:

Getting Started on /e/OS

The device was always named Willow.

I installed e 19 on my phone and I can accept calls so far.

What doesn’t work is a connection to my laptop via usb. I would like to use myphonexplorer to restore my data to the phone.

I set USB options to data transfer, no change.

Any ideas anyone? That would be appreciated…

The USB notification is silent and very thin in the unrolled top bar

.

Can You boot to TWRP as a workaround ?
MTP is enable by default in TWRP !

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hm, I have to manually set USB to file transfer. By default, it is off.
How would booting to twrp help?

MyPhoneExplorer Client is also available on Aurora store.

I can install it, but it doesn’t connect to the pc. PC says no device connected via USB

Linux ou bien Windows ?

Bien Microsoft, lol…

My question was stupid : you have a problem, and it could be related to a driver issue,
So it is…

if you have selected a “special” driver for the OS install, try to select another for daily use… or is it time to update android driver in Windows device manager ?
are you really sure of the cable ?

The cable is the same I used before to flash /e.

I don’t really understand your quoted section…

I had the PC installed with the current USB-drivers as recommended before the flash.

I can connect Myphoneexplorer via WIFI, but USB connectivity would be nice for possible future flashes…

Try a Windows reboot

When using Windows and you are unsure if drivers are an issue you can open a Windows device manager window before you connect your device. Now connect the device. you will be looking for the device appear “healthy” or with a :warning: indicating drivers required.

Update with device attached should fix this for you.

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Ok. USB works, the PC recognizes the phone and I can copy paste data.

The problem seems to lie with MyPhoneExplorer, that could connect to the phone before flashing, and cannot do so now.

SOLUTION: I used the WIFI option to connect Myphoneexplorer to the phone.

Thank you all for your input!!!

AFAIK willow is similar to ginkgo but with NFC. Although the hardware is nearly the same, it has its own name and different ROMs for most OS. Personally, I would not flash a ginkgo rom to a willow device - you might get away with it … but at the very least NFC won’t work, and I don’t know what writing a ginkgo image would do… hopefully not brick it.

Hoping for a RN8T (willow) version in 2022. my RN4 (mido) install is good, but that hardware is old now.

Hi @chuqli, welcome to the /e/ forum. This post [ROM][9.0.0][UNOFFICIAL][8T/willow] LineageOS 16.0 [STABLE] [NFC] | XDA Forums has some information (which you may already know) about the relationship between Willow and Ginkgo.

Thanks for the reply. Not seen it before but reading it seems to suggest (or at least some posters are asking) for a build specific to their device … though in the linked thread the ROM was willow and the other posters were asking for ginkgo.

Some other ROMs on XDA do claim to be unified (i.e. both willow and ginkgo) but other XDA posts state “Do not flash ginkgo builds on willow and vice versa as they include firmware inline and will brick your device”

Obviously, don’t want to brick my willow device…

You might notice, I was uncertain about this device when I answered the OP! I certainly agree, “do not flash on a device with different device code”.

When it comes to building /e/, a builder will look for the correct device tree. What is still uncertain to me … do these two devices share the same device tree?