In this episode, we look at how to get a free smartphone operating system on the Fairphone 3 (and many other phones), thanks to a great free OS called /e/.
Shownotes
The LXCast episode #2 on the Fairphone 3 when it came out
Two solutions for a free OS:
1 lineage OS – free android with the Gapps removed
2 the /e/ project !! A „de-googled“ operating system – actually a fork of lineage OS – this is what I‘m going to talk about here.
Background articles
An article about /e/ on ZDNet (2019)
The research paper on Google Data Collection by Professor Douglas C. Schmidt, Vanderbilt University (2018) – learn how and how often normal Android phones send your data to Google servers.
Another background article on tracking (in German) based on research from a Norwegian journalist
More about /e/
/e/ uses MicroG services, a replacement for Google’s libraries on /e/ with purely open-source implementations.
The man behind the /e/ project: Gael Duval, pioneer of Open Source, Mandrake, Ulteo…
Gael’s article outlining his vision for /e/
You can buy a FP3 and an FP3 + with /e/ pre-installed here
Installing /e/ on your phone
Over 110 devices supported: from Asus to Google, to Oneplus and Xiaomi
https://doc.e.foundation/devices/
Privacy ratings of apps: https://exodus-privacy.eu
Alternative Android Launchers:
I recommended you add these apps:
Antennapod – podcast client
FairEmail or simple email
Fennec (Firefox)
Signal
Newpipe for watching youtube without being tracked
Backup and Recovery
Backup via adb is apparently broken… Not the fault of /e/!!
You cannot simply flash a new recovery, such as TWRP, to flash images or backup, instead, you can use this method launching TWRP from your PC
How to support /e/ OS
Donate or become a member to keep the project going
That’s all for this episode, feel free to add any comments below!
Credits: Theme Music: Jazzhar, “Room with a View” CC-BY-SA, check him out on Jamendo and on Free Music Archive
