Anyone using /e/OS? It's a de Googled version of Android -

[Gustav Schuchardt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5LW1dNtsLU
https://archive.vn/wip/foyNI

Fairphone sell the Fairphone 3 with /e/OS preinstalled and /e/ themselves sell a range of Samsung devices (archive). You can also download it for a bunch of devices (archive). Is this the spiritual successor to LineageOS or is it a scam by the Chinese to sap our vital bodily fluids?

 

[Aidan]

No but I have a Sony phone and none of those hipster de-googled android OS's are supported for it and I've been too lazy to just give it a whirl...
I am curious but not going to immediately install this. Phones are the devil's spyware

 

[Kosher Dill]

Is this the spiritual successor to LineageOS

Looks like it's actually just a fork of LineageOS. I'm not seeing the appeal, unless you have a phone that LOS doesn't support but they do.

 

[SSF2T Old User]

According to the specs on the website, the Galaxy phones with this OS do support up to 4G LTE, so at least it's a step up from Replicant, which only did 3G with spotty calls.

 

[Crankenstein]

Just use a Blackberry running BBOS10.

 

[lemmiwinks]

Thanks. I'm interested in keeping an eye on this. Mind you, if I were doing anything on my phone that required any security, I would not be considering it. I think The most significant difference between Lineage and /e/OS is that /e/ has NextCloud baked-in, and pre-configured to use /e/Foundations servers.

I do wonder who is paying for the servers and why.

The advantage to using this over a similar suite of OpenSource software on top of LineageOS is convenience, but it undermines the main point of using NextCloud after de-googlefication, in that you still don't have control of your own cloud data. The /e/Cloud also has a bunch of open source implementations for document editing, email, and other functions of the Google Cloud that would be inconvenient for a general user to admin. Most people who use NextCloud do so to have full control of their data (contacts, calendar, documents etc) on a server they control. AFAIK, that's the whole point of NextCloud/OwnCloud.

Spoiler: Here is a list of the included applications and features from the product description

/e/ cloud includes drive, mail, calendar, contacts, notes, tasks and office. It’s built upon NextCloud, Postfix, Dovecot and OnlyOffice.

• Web-browser: an ungoogled fork of Chromium, built from Bromite patch-sets, with specific /e/ settings
• Mail: a fork of K9-mail for better user experience, some bugfixes and support for oauth, with OpenKeyChain for PGP encryption support
• SMS: a fork of QKSMS
• Camera: a fork of OpenCamera
• Dialer: default Android dialer application
• Calendar: a fork of Etar calendar, that fixes crashes with calendar invitations
• Contact: default Android contact application
• Clock: a fork of Android deskclock application
• Gallery: default Android gallery3d application
• Filemanager: Android documentsui application
• Sound recorder: default LineageOS sound recorder
• Calculator: default Android calculator2 application
• Keyboard: default Android keyboard
• Android application installer is /e/ application installer

Other preinstalled applications:

• Maps: MagicEarth (read the FAQ about its license)
• Weather: a fork of GoodWeather for a modified user interface, using data fetched from Open Weather Map
• PDF reader: PdfViewer Plus
• Notes: a fork of NextCloud Notes to support /e/ online accounts
• Tasks: OpenTasks

http://archive.vn/c6eSA

 

[PimpKramer]

I was using a similar project called LineageOS for microG which is pretty much the same thing as /e/ just minus the iOS homescreen copy and their preinstalled apps. Both these projects are based off the microG framework which is a reimplementation of various Google services that keeps the google service parts of apps functioning.

It was pretty nice having the choice between Mozilla's and Apple's location services as well as a notably better standby time after choosing to only ping the notification service every 5-10 minutes. Most of my apps are FOSS and on F-Droid and getting social media apps off apkmirror was easy enough so it more or less "just werked".

 

[BooneHelm]

I've been following /e/ for a few years and always wanted to try out their OS. Hopefully by the time I upgrade the phone they'll have a more fleshed out product. There are a few red flags though. In the video he shows that you can't write notes offline, you have to sign up for their service. That's pretty fucking dumb.

 

[The Real SVP]

What is the appeal of google free Android? I only bother with Android, and a smartphone, because I have a business need for some playstore exclusive apps. If it wasn't for those I'd rather have a real Linux.

 

[Aidan]

What is the appeal of google free Android? I only bother with Android, and a smartphone, because I have a business need for some playstore exclusive apps. If it wasn't for those I'd rather have a real Linux.

Privacy

 

[The Real SVP]

Privacy

But why bother with Android at all, then? Wouldn't a normal Linux install be even better in that regard?

 

[Aidan]

But why bother with Android at all, then? Wouldn't a normal Linux install be even better in that regard?

I'm not aware of any useful "normal Linux installs" for mobile devices.

 

[garakfan69]

I'm not aware of any useful "normal Linux installs" for mobile devices.

There is postmarketOS but it supports far less devices than something like LineageOS.

 

[Don Yagon]

Something I found in my browser history. Judging from that, /e/ seems to be a total scam, and at most another pajeet ROM with a few preinstalled apps.
Would've archived it, but archive.md started shitting itself with recaptchas once again, and I already get hour-long chimneys and bridges.

 

[annoyingfuck]

I'm guessing you've never spent time on XDA, it's full of OS that are 'de-googled'. All of my devices have alternative OS on them, and have for years.

It's just another custom rom, the 'chinese' bullshit just comes from the launcher they picked for simplicity, you can use any launcher you want.

 

[The Fool]

No but I have a Sony phone and none of those hipster de-googled android OS's are supported for it and I've been too lazy to just give it a whirl...
I am curious but not going to immediately install this. Phones are the devil's spyware

Same

I'm still on the fence if I should try it and risk bricking it or not.

 

[lemmiwinks]

Something I found in my browser history (edit: Archive Link). Judging from that, /e/ seems to be a total scam, and at most another pajeet ROM with a few preinstalled apps.
Would've archived it, but archive.md started shitting itself with recaptchas once again, and I already get hour-long chimneys and bridges.

I was wondering where they got all the money for servers and like 12 employees (nevermind, what they need that many people for) for what is essentially a ROM.

Another crowdfunding heist should've been the obvious answer.
(Edit: I want to add that this isn't inherently bad, it sounds a lot like the ideas behind Cyanogen Org,)

I'm guessing you've never spent time on XDA, it's full of OS that are 'de-googled'. All of my devices have alternative OS on them, and have for years.

It's just another custom rom, the 'chinese' bullshit just comes from the launcher they picked for simplicity, you can use any launcher you want.

In fact, you can use that specific launcher if you choose to do so. I believe it is forked from a defunct ROMs launcher, but in any case it is currently available on F-Droid's repo https://f-droid.org/en/packages/foundation.e.blisslauncher/ .

Spoiler: Edit, again.

Something that I just noticed is that the President of /e/ and proprietor of the original crowdfunding campaign is the same guy who created Mandrake Linux, one of the first distros I ever used, back in the 90's. My trust is slightly elevated.

The crowdfunding figure was not outrageous for a project like this (he asked for $25K and raised like $200K). The first quote and reply in this comment was written the day this thread was made, and saved as a draft. I don't remember why I decided not to post it that day, but I vaguely remembered I wanted to look into the e/foundation more. I apparently forgot all about it until now.

It would be interesting to hear what someone who is familiar with both the tech, and Non-Profits has to say about it. If anyone has any current articles or info beyond what is on their website I would be interested in seeing that. It doesn't seem like 200K is a huge number for something like that (a Non-Profit) considering I see obvious bullshit get millions fairly regularly on those sites.