[26/09/2019] /e/ on pinebook, lineage derivative
#1
I work with /e/ and over the last months I've been working on porting the pinebook to /e/


I'm publishing a first really early version of the OS you can try on your pinebook.

Download

https://ecloud.global/s/W67mXRYxmfBxL2i

Archive:
12-09-2019 https://ecloud.global/s/PPcRrgxYdd2trso


Source repository:

https://gitlab.e.foundation/a64/


This was tested on a pinebook 1080p

As for ayufan build, you can change it to batch 1 or 2, and you can try it on other devices


Please tell me which issues you encounter

one that I already know are screen flickering on the pinebook 1080p
you can "fix" it (not a real fix) by enabling the "disable HW layer" in dev options

also
Camera has bad colors


Installation guide

With a linux computer

Extract the gz archive

insert a microsd of at least 8gB

then

Code:
sudo fdisk -l

Try to find your micro sd

should be something like /dev/sdX
be sure you've found the right device, next step will remove everything on it

then

Code:
sudo dd if=extacted-file-path of=/dev/sdX

replace X wil the letter you've found in previous step
#2
(09-12-2019, 07:05 AM)Phie Wrote: I work with /e/ and over the last months I've been working on porting the pinebook to /e/


I'm publishing a first really early version of the OS you can try on your pinebook.

Download
https://ecloud.global/s/PPcRrgxYdd2trso



This was build thanks to ayufan's code, all my modifications can be found on my git repository

https://github.com/PhieF

but it's quite a mess for now, I'm working at cleaning them and making a tutorial to build /e/ sources will then be posted in /e/ gitlab

This was tested on a pinebook 1080p

As for ayufan build, you can change it to batch 1 or 2, and you can try it on other devices

Be aware that this is an eng build, so don't keep it for daily use
Please tell me which issues you encounter

one that I already know are screen flickering on the pinebook 1080p
you can "fix" it (not a real fix) by enabling the "disable HW layer" in dev options

also
Camera has bad colors

Hi @Phie 
Thank you for posting this, very apprecaited.

Will you be porting to the PinePhone too? have you pre-ordered a PinePhone dev unit yet?
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


#3
Hi,

we would be more than happy to port it to the pinephone but we don't have a unit yet, would it be possible to provide it to us ? Thank you
#4
I started testing this image on my 1080P PB last night. It's pretty solid! It runs almost as well as my Manjaro install (very close.)

I have found that the home/launcher is difficult to work with on the PB. I couldn't figure out how to add new apps to the drawer widget, and while I could easily remove apps from the dock, replacing them with other apps was nearly impossible. I was also surprised that a long click didn't provide context menus as expected (ie long pressing a link to get the option to open in a new browser tab.)

I also noticed that relatively often the screen flashes a thick red border. I imagine this is a visual indicator of stress on the available resources.

Thanks for your work on this! It's nice to have a version of N boot on this laptop. It feels more appropriate for the hardware and its limitations than most of the other images I've tested.
#5
(09-13-2019, 12:46 AM)Phie Wrote: Hi,

we would be more than happy to port it to the pinephone but we don't have a unit yet, would it be possible to provide it to us ? Thank you

Hey, developer pre-orders were recently announced - if you could drop a line at info@pine64.org,  provide a link to your project as well as reference the work you've already done for the Pinebook.

Thanks
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


#6
After using this quite a bit since posted, I thought I'd give some impressions for anyone interested in this img.

After installing Nova Launcher, this quickly became the best (in my opinion) OS option for the Pinebook, as far as usability!

I've been getting great battery life, easily double that of Manjaro. Since Manjaro lacks suspending still, it would constantly drain the battery when closed. Often times I'd have to leave it charging when idle, so I could use it at whatever point. Today, I brought the PB to work (w/o the charger) and left it on my desk for about 3 hours. When I opened it up to search something, Android reported it having 99% battery left. [ADDENDUM:] I left the PB closed overnight on my coffee table (wihtout charging,) and brought it to work with me again. When I opened it, Android reported 75% battery remaining, and Settings estimated another 3 days of charge remaining!

As with every instance of Android with a mouse, there are certainly somethings that take getting used to. The notifications drawer can be hard to scroll through when a lot of notifications start piling up. (I'm sure we all know how much fun click-and-dragging can be with the PB trackpad.) In my efforts to alleviate an abundance of notifications, I found that Notification preferences do not hold the settings for notifications display. For that, you'll want to long click on a notification from the drawer.

I suggest replacing the Bliss launcher with another option, mostly due to the app drawer. It has one located on the main page, but my attempts to scroll through it continually changed to the next home screen page and not the next page of the app drawer. Bliss didn't seem to offer any alternate app drawer options, such as in the dock. Another reason I chose to change launchers is the dock in Bliss. It was extremely easy to remove apps from the dock, but would not let me drag new apps into it.

If you use a Gmail address, I don't suggest the included email app. Every time it tries to contact Google for the server info, after giving it my email address, the app crashes. (This is an established issue for microG. Looking further into it, on my install FakeStore is not making any permissions requests and is thus not spoofing the Play Store. Digging around some more I found the solution to the lack of permissions for spoofing, Using Terminal emulator, type:
Code:
su
pm grant com.android.vending android.permission.FAKE_PACKAGE_SIGNATURE
then go back to mircoG settings > Self-Check. This resolved the spoofing permissions in microG, but not the ability to log into any Google apps. Attempting to do so afterward will cause the app to crash. However, I did start receiving notifications from Hangouts. This nightly build of GmsCore is reported to resolve this issue, but currently I'm having issues getting it to install. (I added the FDroid repo for microG, but my last attempt to downgrade to a previous version failed.)

Customizing colors for parts of this build can be frustrating or downright impossible, if you do change launchers. (I didn't notice these settings in Bliss, but is very noticeable with Nova.) There seems to be a lack of a color picker, so any attempt so far to choose a color has resulted in a dimmed screen with a bar just above the nav bar, with just "✓ Background Color" and no options to actually choose any colors.

The preview in OpenCamera is a bit bluer than reality. I haven't done enough digging yet to see if there's a setting I can change to help correct it, though.

Overall, for anyone looking for an OS that will allow their Pinebook to be a viable laptop for basic use (surfing, videos, streaming,) I highly recommend this Android build. It's incredibly fast (I've been running it from an SD card the whole time.) The 3rd party app store has almost every app the Play Store has (that I've searched for.) And though they are not installed as part of the build, Aptoide and FDroid have done well to fill the gaps. Did I mention this incredible battery life? (3 hours of off-and-on use today, and I still have 93% left!) Everything has been very snappy so far, and this build has all the major bases covered. If I wasn't planning to sell my PB when my PBP arrives, I'd happily erase Manjaro and install this onto the emmc.

@Phie this build is great! I'm sure plenty of people will love this option if brought to the PinePhone, too!
#7
Thanks for this feedback !
blisslauncher is part of /e/ but will get better for laptops
I will look at other things you've mentionned !

@Luke
Thank you, I will send a mail !
By the way now our official repo for the pinebook is here
https://gitlab.e.foundation/a64/
#8
(09-18-2019, 06:37 AM)Phie Wrote: Thanks for this feedback !
blisslauncher is part of /e/ but will get better for laptops
I will look at other things you've mentionned !

Thanks for going through it! I can't wait to try the next iteration.

This is my introduction to /e/, and I know some people who might really like it's de-Google-fication. Does /e/ typically offer OTA updates? (I know that's unlikely for the Pinebook, but I have a feeling a few friends will ask.)
#9
Thank you

The new release introduce a better support for micro G and now works in selinux enforced
#10
(10-01-2019, 06:55 AM)Phie Wrote: Thank you

The new release introduce a better support for micro G and now works in selinux enforced

I can't wait to try it out and run it through its paces, again! Thanks for your efforts in making this image available to us!


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
Smile PrimeOS for Pinebook 1080p teamprimeos 0 2,200 11-08-2021, 08:37 AM
Last Post: teamprimeos
  Lineage + pinebook, havin an issue when porting it Phie 5 8,588 01-18-2021, 09:02 AM
Last Post: mindao
  Privacy of Android and Chromium on new PineBook Clea 3 6,037 10-15-2019, 09:19 AM
Last Post: tophneal
  Android for 1080p Pinebook? Tomash 7 10,554 09-09-2019, 07:30 AM
Last Post: tophneal
  Bliss OS for Pinebook tllim 61 88,786 07-08-2019, 06:34 PM
Last Post: tllim
  Stock Android for 1080P Pinebook pineadmin 1 5,479 11-24-2018, 09:45 AM
Last Post: ramboton
  Android 7.1 (Pinebook) pineadmin 50 73,838 05-30-2018, 03:13 PM
Last Post: Wizzard
  Android 6.0.1 (Pinebook) 20170605 pineadmin 6 12,499 12-30-2017, 06:55 AM
Last Post: milkaca
  Android 7.1 (Pinebook) v0.3.3-r59 pineadmin 3 7,795 05-09-2017, 04:59 AM
Last Post: Luke
  Pre-release android 7.1 for Pinebook Luke 0 5,154 04-22-2017, 10:58 AM
Last Post: Luke

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)