The /e/OS Installer arrives!

[Manoj]

@Dez

when wi the code be inserted into the installer

The easy-installer code is now with the community. Any device addition will have to be done by users on the forum with development experience.
What that also means is except for bugs fixes the /e/ dev team will not be adding any devices or making any enhancements to the code.
The installer already supports 5 Samsung devices. So adding more devices should not be difficult for those with development experience. There are a few users who have already started work on adding devices so the wait should not be long I guess.

[Dez]

Ok. Thank you. I guess I will do some more research and maybe do a little posting to reach out and see. Idk. It’s quite possible I may just say to heck with this Samsung Note 9 version and sell it, then get maybe a OnePlus. Have any recommendations on where to obtain maybe a “like new” version at a great price? Lol. I’ve only read one review/article on it the other week on Reddit, but it’s a phone sold primarily overseas in Europe, correct? And quite expensive too I read…

It’s just so unfortunate that as many great attributes the US has, having the right to privacy OR even trying to go about obtaining that privacy by way of hardware needs (phones we can change/customize to get ride of privacy concerns) or then the software needs…I’m realizing the US is QUITE behind the times and slowly marching into the land of captivity, handled like a heard, and the creation of a zombie like country. YIKES! That’s scary and saddening just to type that out…sigh I digress…

[piero]

a second-hand FairPhone looks like a good candidate…

[Popescu]

Haven’t you read the other comments? If so you would know that even with a S9 on android 9 it’s problematic to try to install /e/ andoid 8 on it…
“Buy one with android 8 on it”? And how do you possibly do that in 2020 little genius? Most people update their devices, you know

[piero]

@Popescu

Most people update their devices, you know

I don’t think so, basic users are afraid to this

@Popescu

Haven’t you read the other comments?

I could be wrong cause English is not my natural language, but I think I have understood :

@archje

The installation based on stockROM Android 9 to /e/ OS Oreo 8.0.0 is then possible. Recently I accompanied a /e/ user during the installation.

Do it now! The time is cheap …

[Popescu]

I think you’d be surprised. It’s a really basic thing to do even for basic users. I could still try to ask though but to obtain a trustworthy answer about that is not easy.

[archje]

@Popescu

I’ve read that it’s better not to try to install /e/ nougat on an up to date smartphone.

@Popescu

I guess I’ll have to buy a S7 and wait for android 8 update of /e/ on this model.

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@Popescu

I think you’d be surprised. It’s a really basic thing to do even for basic users. I could still try to ask though but to obtain a trustworthy answer about that is not easy.

@archje

The installation of the current /e/ build e-0.7-n-2020020540083-dev-herolte on a Galaxy S7 SM-G930F with StockROM Android 8.0.0 and Security Patch Level Dec. 2019 (G930FXXS7ESL9) however worked well, as expected.

In the meantime I also changed two devices (S7 and S7 Edge) with different OS versions of StockROM Oreo 8.0.0 to /e/ OS e-0.7-nougat.

@archje

The installation based on stockROM Android 9 to /e/ OS Oreo 8.0.0 is then possible. Recently I accompanied a /e/ user during the installation.

In fact @Popescu , I’m surprised. At the same time, I wonder why you ignore rigeros facts and interpret my information as not “trustworthy answer”.

Of course, you are free to think what you like. But if you trust neither yourself nor others, you have two options: try it out according to the principle of “trial and error” or wait for weeks until all the facts are as you thought and hoped. Since you’ve already decided, there is no need for any further assistance from me.

[Popescu]

You didn’t understand my comment. I never said that the informations you were giving were not trustworthy. I was only answering Piero’s comment telling me to buy a S9 from a “basic user that would have been too afraid to update his S9”. So I was only saying that it would be difficult to obtain a trustworthy information about that before actually buying it. It actually surprises me that you took it against you since I’ve been grateful for your explanations.

From my point of view, it appears to be so difficult to have the right conditions to be able to successfully install /e/ android 8 on a S9 stock android 9, needing an exact security patch (an information nearly impossible to obtain from a basic user), that it’s as good as not possible since I don’t feel like playing lottery with that amount of money.

[archje]

@Popescu

You didn’t understand my comment.

»You didn’t understand my comment.« or your comment is imprecisely formulated and thus leads to misunderstandings. It is a favorite pastime of many people to blame others for their own dissatisfaction. Become active, take responsibility and improve their situation.

The “right prerequisites” to successfully run /e/ Android 8 on an S9 stock Android 9 are given, as countless successful installations prove.

Buy a deGoogled /e/ phone from the e.foundation or a used one from privat with preinstalled /e/ OS and you have no risks when changing the operating system.

Advertise a purchase request in the category Sell / Swap with concrete, clear requirements and how much you are willing to pay for it.

[piero]

@Popescu

From my point of view, it appears to be so difficult to have the right conditions to be able to successfully install /e/ android 8 on a S9 stock android 9,

If you are really interested by the /e/project
DON’T WAIT !

@archje

If you have a S9+ with Android 10 with update until March 2020 at the latest, a stockROM Android 10 downgrade to stockROM Android 9 is possible. And you can switch from stockROM 9-pie to /e/ OS /e/ for star2lte dev (oreo).

[Popescu]

It is imprecisely formulated and yet you immediately take it against you without a single element refering to you. That’s quite an irrational reaction to be honest.

The right prerequisites to succesfully install /e/ android 8 on an S9 stock Android 9 are given and particularly difficult to meet since it is necessary to have the exact security patch required.

Unfortunately the S9 from their website is still too expensive for me. It is normal to find them more expensive than market price to support the project but the difference is too important for me since this refurbished phone’s price is the same as new from the store.

I’d gladly advertise a purchase request but most answers wouldn’t be trustworthy since I’d have to request an exact security patch and the vast majority wouldn’t even know what it’s about. That’d be too risky for me.

I feel sorry that you judge necessary to be salty in your answers as if me stating the mere reality would threaten the whole project you’re working on. Going on about how it is perfectly possible to achieve it without taking in account the reality of most people interested in your project won’t help to make it user firendly and adopted in larger scales. That’s a pity because /e/ is really interesting. Since I feel anger in your answers and you keep your mind closed, I don’t think it’s necessary to go on with this exchange. Still, thank you for your answers.

[Popescu]

Thanks a lot for this information, yes I’m genuinely interested in this project. Unfortunately the S9+ is too big for me.

[archje]

@Popescu

Since I feel anger in your answers and you keep your mind closed, I don’t think it’s necessary to go on with this exchange.

My mind is wide awake and I know what I want and what I’m doing.

Now that the S9+ is suddenly too big for you - tell me a concrete price you are willing to invest in a /e/ phone and I guarantee you the worldwide delivery of a Samsung phone with current /e/ OS ROM pre-installed within 24 hours (day of shipment).

[piero]

Archje is personally very involved in welcoming and accompanying new users. He takes time and does research in order to provide clear, precise and documented answers.

For 5 months, you have been asking questions on the forum, (s7 then s9) without taking the step. Archje and other users answer you patiently.

Here is my last proposal if you think that the Galaxy s9 is too expensive and not compatible enough, i advise you to buy a Galaxy s4 or s5 for 50€ or 100€, you will be able to try /e/OS without any particular complications and at a lower cost.

Translated with the help of www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[archje]

The Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 “jfltexx” or S5 SM-G900F “klte” are very robust devices and have a future, because they are officially supported by the LineageOS Project.

For the S4 even LineageOS 17.1 (Android 10) is already available and runs amazingly fast.

The S5 is currently supported with weekly LOS 16.0 (9-pie) updates and will get LineageOS 17.1 in the near future, because the head developer “haggertk” is working hard on it.

So /e/ Built Team can still generate a /e/ fork with known effort.

[Popescu]

There is nothing sudden in that, I’ve always hated big phones.

That’s a strong proposition. I’m thankful for you to still try to find a solution despite the difficulties. It all depends and the specs and state of the phone.
I’m looking for a phone in good state (no scratch on the screen and still a good battery life) with at least 4gb or maybe 3gb of memory and not bigger than a S9. For a /e/ second-hand phone comparable to the S9 specs, I’d gladly pay 330 euros and 160 for something comparable to a S7. It doesn’t have to be a Samsung.

[Popescu]

I know that he is very dedicated to helping and informing and I admire that to be honest.
Still the possibilities weren’t satisfying for me.
Thank you for this suggestion but those are quite old phones and second-hand phones of that age would probably have some state problems and low specs. So I’m not interested in these options. If I can’t find a suitable option, I’ll just wait for /e/ S7’s version to be migrated to android 8 and use the easy installer.

Thank you for your answers

[archje]

@Popescu

That’s a strong proposition. I’m thankful for you to still try to find a solution despite the difficulties. It all depends and the specs and state of the phone.

I’ve outsourced my offer to sell / swaparea and expanded it to Position⁴.

[Popescu]

Thank you very much for taking all that time to answer me. The A5 and S8 look interesting but what would be their prices?

[AntoineGuichard]

I have tried the easy-installer. For a long time, I could not get it to detect my phone. I was getting stuck on the screen “Looking for your device”.

After searching around and some trial and error, I finally managed to get it to detect the phone and to proceed to downloading the necessary files.

I went back and forth to replicate it, to confirm what the solution was.

Not sure if that is specific to my setup (using easy-installer 0.8.3-beta on Ubuntu 18.04, connecting to a Galaxy S7 running Android 8.0.0).

I had to combine three things I had failed to understand I had to do (I may have missed some info on that?).

1. on the desktop, I had to manually give USB access to the easy-installer.

2. on the phone, I had to enable the “USB debugging mode”.

3. on the phone, when the easy-installer launched “Looking for your device”, I had to respond to a pop-up to confirm that I allowed USB debugging from my desktop

Give USB access to the easy-installer

On the desktop, I had to manually give USB access to the easy-installer, and reboot after doing so (for some reason it would not work until had done a reboot).

Once I had installed the easy-installer, I had to do:
sudo snap connect easy-installer:raw-usb
sudo reboot

Maybe this access is normally granted automatically, but for some reason it did not happen on my ubuntu 18.04?

Enable USB debugging

The action “Enable the Developer mode (Part 1)”, with its 3 steps, worked fine and resulted in the Developer mode being enabled (or rather, actually, in my case, telling me that it was already enabled).

The action “Enable the Developer mode (Part 2)”, again with 3 steps, I found a bit confusing. First about what it was meant to do, since the Developer mode had already been enabled by the previous action. So I understood the objective of the action being to do whatever would be the result of performing the action’s third and last step “Tapping on Android debugging”. First problem, searching for “debug” did not return any “Android debugging” entry I could tap. It did return a “USB debugging” entry, but tapping it was only taking me to the list of “Developer options” settings and showing me the current setting for “USB debugging”, but not actually changing any settings.

What I actually ended up doing in lieu of this “Enable the Developer mode (Part 2)” is more like:

• Enable USB debugging
  • Open the settings menu again
  • Type “Debug” in search bar
  • Tap on “USB debugging” search result
  • Enable/allow “USB debugging”

Allow USB debugging access from my desktop

When the easy-installer launched “Looking for your device”, a pop-up appeared on the phone, but I had missed it because it did not stay very long. It asked to confirm that I allowed USB debugging from the specific desktop the easy-installer was “calling from”. I needed to see it and to tap OK for the easy-installer to find and recognise the phone.

If the pop-up had disappeared, I could make it reappear by disabling and re-enabling USB debugging in “Developer options” settings.

Maybe some we could have some warning about this step on the “Looking for your device” screen?

/

Hope this helps. Happy to do further testing, or provide documented test report with screenshots.

Now, once I got past these hurdles, the installation failed…

It could be linked to my device and Android build. Possibly related to S7 install trouble. But I will look into that another day.