/e/ is really cool for old phones! - there are falling out now some devices like OnePlus One and S4 mini. There are R builds available - but it would be cool, if they where official.
And in general - I also prefer in Linux minimal builds like antix core or alpine standard - it would be nice to have a build for every phone without LibreOffice Viewer, Pdf Viewer, MagicEarth and Advanced Privacy, Radio, LibreOffice Viewer, Pdf Viewer, MagicEarth, Advanced Privacy, Voice Recorder, Tasks.
MicroG is enough - then I really have my phone in my hands!
/e/ could provide all those apps for installation, if somebody really needs them - the apps are installed in userdata and not in system - so the system partition stays with some free space - I have no glue about Android, but in Linux I would not go over 90% usage for rootā¦
I did also experiment with āextra minimal appsā a while ago (before /e/OS version 1.0 arrived). The ROM is out of date now, some of the links within the post may be of interest.
Then try LineageOS for Microg. There is not a lot of difference between it and /e/OS with the apps you mention removed.
You can add the upstream apps on which /e/'s apps are based - QKSMS, K-9 Mail, Nextcloud sync client, Nextcloud Notes. You have F-Droid instead of App Lounge, and you can install Aurora Store for non-FOSS apps from the Google Play Store, and you have a fairly minimal build. And if itās s devuce officially supported by Lineage, youāll get OTA updates too
@petefoth - yes I know - but itās not about me - I tell you the story - Iām a director and lighting designer, and I teach lighting for dancers and actors at a university.
Last week we also talked about āprivacy and mobileā and I told them about /e/. One had a Oneplus One still with original Cyanogen on it and I flashed that then 2 days later with /e/ in 5 minutes. And he immediately installed all the apps that were essential for him - great - a relatively small effort for me.
The Oneplus One is relatively often on āebayā or āwillhabenā for 30 / 50 ā¬. All look now that they also get a Oneplus Oneā¦
So, if I now have to flash Linage + all the other things, then it takes not 5 minutes but at least 2 hours.
For the dancers and actors who have very little money, the cheap phones are great, but only if that is very easy to do and updates are also easy to importā¦, from system technology, they have absolutely zero idea. I would find it very unfortunate if these old phones fly out from /e/.
I agree with your presentation of what is the advantage of /e/ @kultex . A one-stop flash will mostly do it without a need to explain much.
Defaults are powerful. How would you bring this to a minimal build? with a capable App client, that can handle the installation of lists of apps within both the āFirst Time Setup Wizardā and later through the App.
Then I think a minimal build in /e/ has a higher chance to succeed with broader audiences and you do not give up on the ease of someone else choosing good defaults.
(to act on lists of apps today you need the command line)
@tcecyk wonderful idea! - nothing against it. I am just fighting for not leaving behind those phones, because of too small system partition.
And regarding to the /e/ OS list, I would also make a color flag system, how easy it is to flash !and! how easy it is to change the battery. Like Samsung phones exept the J 7 and the S4 ājfltexxā the batteries are strongly glued and its easy to brake the phone, when you are not experianced - the LG G3 has a changeable battery, but is a hell to flash - so all those phones I would give red flags.
ok from 269 supported devices we now have 209 supported devices - so the Oneplus One is officially out. My beacon has a Snapdragon 801 with 64 GB - eg the Nexus 7 has a worse CPU and only 16 GB - the Nexus is still in.
Whats a bout repartitioning the system partition for the Oneplus One, when a minimal /e/ OS build is not imaginable for the developers?
This is done for the Nexus - why not for the Oneplus One!
