/e/ OS ROM

Did I understand correctly in the Android 10 announcement that you’ve secured kernel source and the porting can begin? If so is there a github you can link us to? I’m largely worthless but owe a great debt to the open source community and would love to use this at least as an attempt to contribute - to ubports in particular, my back up phone is an ancient bq aquarius that is still amazingly running current versions of ubuntu touch because of their efforts.

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Yes - that’s true. We are figuring out what portions of the code can be made open source to kickstart custom ROM development. Stay tuned.

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New member, so I’ve only just seen this. But yes, I would certainly be interested in a non-google phone!

As a factory option (OK, I realise that complicates production & logistics), or even a manufacturer approved ROM image I could flash myself, it would remove some of the uncertainty and hassle of following this path.

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I’ve just pre-ordered three (2 + 1) teracube 2e and I would really like to be able to install Lineage (or whatever de-googled ROM). Just wanted to highlight that originally I originally had to order 6 units, but my privacy-concerned friends did not find infos about a de-googled ROM for the device and decided not to purchase.

Take into account that a lot of oneplus/fairphone users buy them specifically because shipped with de-googled ROMs. Considering Teracube’s prices, quality and commitment for the environment, you could definitely attract a wide audience!

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Have patience :sunglasses:

That being said, the unofficial GSI-based /e/ ROM works decently with the Teracube One, at least.

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We have plan to support custom ROM and GSI dev/usage. In particular lineage+microG for the privacy-focused users. We are also having early talks with the /e/ team. However, we are still in a very preliminary stage and we certainly don’t want to drive the hype and not able to deliver. As you can imagine, our team has a lot on our plates and we don’t want to spread ourselves too thin.

Here are somethings that we will most likely get done with additional stretch goals from the OS support perspective:

  1. Support GSIs: Theoretically, thanks to Treble, these work out of the box like Teracube One
  2. Open source kernel
  3. Root instructions
  4. Stretch goal 1: Support VoLTE (IMS) on GSIs
  5. Stretch goal 2: Support Lineage and other custom ROMs
  6. Stretch goal 3: Working /e/ OS.
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Thanks for continuing to explore this. Given how hard it is to flash for ordinary users even for Lineage-supported devices, it would be great to have a company out there that actively supports and encourages privacy-focused alternatives.

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Teracube uses Mediatek SoC, which is problematic when it comes to custom modifications and source code availability. Although there are GSI roms available for Mediatek phones, they are not as stable and complete, and it’s harder to develop for Mediatek due to frequent lack of (SoC manufacturer-updated) kernel source, up-to-date drivers aligned with future Android versions, and Mediatek Android modifications.

Judging by the specs and information (or more lack of it) on the website, I assume that Teracube hardware is created and manufactured by an ODM manufacturer, which most likely means that the software is also created and supported by them (@Sharad, please correct me if I’m wrong). Chinese are known to depreciatingly write custom per-model software, which hardens upstreaming and unification.

I hope I’m all wrong here, but I guess /e/ won’t even accept the proposition to make an OS for Mediatek device, let alone with closed/missing sources. As far as I know, no official LineageOS exist for any phone based on Mediatek SoC, for example.

For me, alternative ROMs are not (only) about de-googling, but mostly about long-term software support. My mom uses OnePlus One from 2014, which was released with Android 4.4, but it’s still, 7 years later officially supported by LineageOS and capable of running LOS 17.1 based on Android 10.

Sharad and Teracube worked very hard to get sources for us from MediaTek.

Can you check the source tree here and see if we’re missing anything?

Also, they’re Taiwanese.

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Hi, while waiting for my Teracube 2E I was wondring which of the listed stretch have been done or will be done :slight_smile: Any update with regards to them?

Actually few of the stretch goals are already working:

  1. GSIs with VoLTE working. Check out here.

  2. There is already a custom ROM for T1. We are in touch with few custom ROM developers who will soon start work on T2e as well.

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would love to see PureOS compatibility! im done with these Tech Giants and their constant listening… Terracube is a company i would love to stand behind!

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That’s great! So - just to be sure to get it right - is the linked discussion referring to GSIs on the Teracube 2E? Or the reasoning is that since GSIs work on the T1, they are expected to work on the 2E.

Thank you very much!

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More this than having TeraCube 2E specific GSIs/testing.

The general idea behind the GSI (Generic System Image) is that it should be mostly hardware/device agnostic, provided the platform is/was Project Treble compatible (though this doesn’t always hold 100% true).

More recent PHH GSIs have been behaving far better with MediaTek platforms, so the hope/idea is that this will hold true going forward.

The instructions to install the GSI and custom roms might be slightly different due to a different filesystem structure. We will get those out soon.

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PureOS would be a lot harder for many reasons. However if you are interested in linux, stay tuned :slight_smile:

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Please take my money, the most important market right now is linux privacy phones, this spying bs has gone on far enough.

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Hi @Sharad , is there an ETA for such instructions? :sweat_smile:
I am looking forward as I received 4 teracube 2E for me and my family. Still haven’t used them though, waiting for being able to install the LineageOS GSI.

I’m following up with someone who was able to install GSI. Will provide instructions soon.

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Here you go :slight_smile: - [Advanced users] How to install Lineage (or any) GSI on 2e

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