eOS Install Process

Hi, folks;

I have seen plenty of discussions about a few third-party operating systems, and assumed that it would be a somewhat straightforward process to make that transition at some point. I’m now looking seriously at taking that step, and it seems like the actual step-by-step instructions are a little hard to track down.
Given that there’s at least some risk of getting into some trouble with this, I was hoping someone would take a glance at my own interpretation of what I’ve found and let me know if I’m overlooking anything critical.

For starters, the walkthrough here says that they have added support for the FP5, but their actual list of devices still doesn’t mention it. I’m skimming back through the pages I have open, and somehow I’m not finding the link that sent me here.

That last guide does seem to have the best instructions I’ve seen so far, but was still a little worrying. It’s only there that I’ve learned about the dates on the security patch level being what leads to a phone becoming a paperweight, and then only after I opened the little ‘details’ section - that section describes three ways to do the process incorrectly, but only has one line in the middle saying that anti-rollback errors are ignored when the bootloader is unlocked. I assume that is the safest option.

Unlocking the bootloader then relies on your device being in developer mode, and that you download some third-party tools as well, correct?

The rest of the instructions seem fairly manageable, but getting to this point has felt like a bit of a bumpy ride. I thought I should ask for a little feedback before doing anything potentially irreversible. Are there any other risks I should be keeping an eye out for?


I am doing this from a Linux Mint PC that has been my primary home machine for around five years. Up until around 14 years ago I worked in tech at a university, but all of our device support was Windows-based. I mention that just to say that I’m more comfortable than average with this stuff generally, but feel like I’m a bit in the woods when trying to navigate the documentation I’m finding for systems outside of the mainstream market.

Thanks very much.

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I haven’t found the point of “added support for the FP5”. Maybe I’ve missed that. But AFAIK the easy installer still doesn’t support FP5 unfortunately (so I think the list of devices is correct).

Correct.

I wouldn’t express it like that. I’d rather say "you’ve to enable developer mode to enable OEM unlocking there. And if you closely follow the instructions you’ll also need ADB debugging, which you also find the the developer mode settings.

I think your Linux Mint should already contain “fastboot” and “adb” (I assume these are the “third party tools” you’re referring to). If not you can install them using the Mint packet installer.

Agreed. Keep asking in case of more doubts!

I don’t think so. If you are ok with the decision of not relocking your device (and always deny that, in case you phone might ask for relocking during the installation process), then I don’t see major risk.

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I appreciate the quick response; I feel mostly reassured.

Glad to know that leaving the bootloader unlocked is not frowned upon; I was leaning in that direction.
You do appear to be correct about them not mentioning FP5 in that walkthrough. I guess I just saw somewhere that it had been included by somebody, and fabricated the rest in my messy human brain.

Again, thank you. If it weren’t for the resources here, I might not have spent as much time looking for where things could go badly wrong. Think I’ll give this a proper try tomorrow.

Support for the Fairphone 5 was added in /e/OS Easy Installer version 0.20, but was quickly removed again in version 0.20.1 after some Fairphone 5 users ran into serious trouble with it.

The whole Easy Installer is being switched to a web version now, but’s it’s in alpha state currently (see the highlighted warning on the page).

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Hi again;

I’ve started this, and am running into some sort of silly problem interpreting the instructions. In the ‘Unlocking the Bootloader’ section here, I’ve done the ‘fastboot flashing unlock’ step (6), and then after rebooting, it says to run ‘fastboot flashing unlock_critical’ (9).

At this point, though, step 6 cleared the developer options that I had enabled on the phone, which meant - I assumed - that I had to download the tool and unlock everything again. All I get, though, is a message saying it is ‘waiting for any device’.

Suggestions, anyone?

Yes, that’s correct. All locking and unlocking of the bootloader does a factory reset. But it shouldn’t change the status of the “OEM unlocking”. So you should still be able to unlock the critical partitions.
So when you get “waiting for any device” you’re still in fastboot mode with the phone and connected via your USB data cable (as you were for step 6)? In case you are, did you just try to select the “reboot into fastboot” option (options are changed with vol-up-down keys and selected with on/off button) to restart into fastboot?

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Thank you again. With one linux prompt open and ‘waiting’, I used the adb reboot bootloader command in another. The install is running now, for better or for worse.

For me, at least, it wasn’t immediately clear from that guide that I was supposed to leave the phone at the first loading screen for a few of those commands.

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As far as I can tell, everything finished very successfully. I’ve made a call and sent a text, and everything else should just be getting used to the little differences in a new system.

Very big thank you for the help.

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Congratulations for successfully installing the system! :+1:
In case of questions regarding the new system you may also ask here, or (maybe better) open a new topic or ask on the Murena forum. :slight_smile:
Maybe just a few general hints… (don’t know how deeply you’ve already dived into the system):
In case you migh not like the default launcher (“desktop layout”; which is IMO quite similar to iPhone layout) then you might try out a different launcher.
Did you already have a look at the “advanced privacy” settings? For a probably rather easy experience with that system you might as a start enable app-tracker and fake geolocation (with exceptions probably) and disable Hide IP adress… (I think that’s even the default)
Enjoy!

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Looking forward to it! I
I already looked at the fake geolocation and a couple other options. I’ll definitely circle back and look at these suggestions again, but from a fresh install like this, my first strategy is usually to try and muddle through with as many default settings as possible.

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