Fairphone 2 and CyanogenMod / LineageOS

Hi, I ordered a Fairphone 2.

Because I search for a fair alternative in almost every direction, this includes reducing
the dependency from large companies like Google.
Thus, I would expect sustainability also for the software… :wink:

Unfortunately I find it hard to get details about this.
I saw somewhere that the phones are rooted, which is good, and in the shop, there is a statement in that Android 5.1 is used.
(BTW, I really had trouble to find these specifications. Strangely there is NO hint for technical specifications of FP2 at fairphone’ss home page).

But I am really wondering whether I can/should use the original Android provided for FP2 or switch to CyanogenMod.
I saw some discussion here:

But what I really would like to have is a FAQ entry regarding the question whether and how I can deal with CyanogenMod with FP2.

So here are my requests:

  • Please add a section regarding what sustainable development means for you regarding software
    ** OS version(s), updates, rooted OS, …
  • Please add easy to find links to technical details and the stuff above.
  • Please say something regarding CyanogenMod. At least in the FAQ.

In any case, if somebody could elaborate on using CyanogenMod with FP2 now, that would be very helpful. I would like to use CyanogenMod the moment I have FP2 in hands unless tis doesn’t make sense. Any hint would help.

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If you go to fairphone.com/phone and scroll to the end of the animation you’ll get a link to the full specs.

FP2 will actually not come pre-rooted, but unlocked and easy to root. (How exactly is not known yet).

We don’t know much about alternative OSs yet. Fairphone are working closely with some FOSS communities, but it will depend on the communities if and when they create ports for the FP2 and how well they will work.

This is a community led forum, for requests please contact Fairphone directly.

Since afaik not a single final prototype of the FP2 is produced yet I don’t think anybody can tell you much about this.

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Please note that this a community forum, as mentioned in the welcome topic:

If you want to see changes to the main website, support are the people to ask.

Probably the most up-to-date info is in this blog post. Other than that, there are a number of discussions about FP2 software, like the one here. The latest we know is in this post by Joe, who does work for fairphone. In short FP2 will come without root and with Google Apps pre-installed and it will be up to the user to change if desired.

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These are very easy to find right on the preorder page.
http://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone2.html#technical-specifications

You may want to read this blog post :slight_smile: Opening up Fairphone to the community: Open source Fairphone 2 - Fairphone

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Although it has been some weeks, there has been an intensive debate going on about your topic. I summarized the most important topics in a reply to somebody else below:

In short, your questions are answered by @paulakreuzer. He basically summarizes what’s known to the community at this point. Since it has been quiet in this regard and there have been quite some questions from (potential) customers of FP2 for more openness, I am hoping for Info on the blog soon. ‘Summer’ has ended already some weeks ago. :slight_smile:

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Now that the Fairphone 2 arrived - what about a CyanogenMod-Version? Does anybody know if someone is working on that case? I hate Google and the bunch of Apps and really like to use an alternate OS. I got my FP2, but I can’t use it because of the Google Apps and the missing privacy features :-/

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Is Fairphone currently also working together with the CyanogenMod community to bring a version of CM to the FP2 like they do with the Jolla community?

I would love to see an “official” CM on the FP2!

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If you want to get rid of Google, use the open source version of Fairphone2 OS.

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One doesn’t want CM because one wants to get rid of gapps, it’s because it delivers a very different user experience, privacy settings, themes and more.

Klaus

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Regarding this thread i want to ask my questions as they were refering to the FP2 as well here:

Title: “porting cm to a new device - whats needed and difficulties”

"Hey,

i’m just curious about what the title describes. First of all.

What do i really need:

-kernel sources

-binary blobs (extractable)

-recovery / boot.img (extractable)

Let us just talk about the fairphone 2. Additional to the things
mentioned we get the full source code of the OS (which i do not need?).

Where do the difficulties lie? For my understanding we just take the
kernel sources, the official cyanogenmod (e.g.) source code, the binary
blobs and the recovery / boot.img.

How difficult would it be to port Cyanogenmod to the fairphone 2.

Why is it difficult to port a device with existing (again cyanogenmod
just as an example) cyanogenmod to a newer Cyanogenmod (Android)
version?

I ask this to estimate/evaluate/judge (don’t know the right term) the
effort needed to do this. I think i’d be able to do that if i put enough
work into it (i “speak” c and java), but i just need some answers.

Especially for example why it is more difficult to port Android 6
instead of Android 5 (which is the currently running Android version)."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/porting-cm-to-device-whats-difficulties-t3291530/post64769472#post64769472

Thanks!
bigCrash

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I would also like that very much…! I’ve been using CM for some time before my FP1 and I was really happy. Recently I installed CM 13 on my old Samsung just to try and it’s awesome!

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I’m also waiting for CM13 on FP2 to order mine :slight_smile:

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It might be a very long time…

Maybe you can share your interest also on Cyanogenmod’s forum? :slightly_smiling:

http://forum.cyanogenmod.org/topic/121473-fairphone-2-chances-of-support/

@keesj begon to port CM12 on FP2. The sources are here : https://github.com/keesj/cm12-device-fairphone-fp2

Maybe @keesj has more information about that? Or more globally, why FP2 could not be released with CM (even with Google App)?

Are there a legal (Google or Qualcomm) issue? Or it is a technical or strategic choice to prefer AOSP?

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This has been explained a couple of times already: the porting projects are community-based projects that will be facilitated, but not implemented by Fairphone. So, the reason is that the limited man- and woman power in the Fairphone company.

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Ok, but why AOSP and not Cyanogenmod (with Privacy Guard and a lot a usefull improvement)?

Do you have links who explain that ? (Not generally but particularly to cyanogenmod)

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I have no knowledge about official explanations about this. But I expect this to be a stratetigal decision that was taken a long time ago already. However, according to this poll (already more than half a year old) enthusiasm for CM is not very high.

Thanks for your answer. But the poll and people may be not very objective. A lot a people request SailfishOS… but how many really have tryed SailfishOS? How many devices are supported? Sailfish (Jolla) communication is nice and attractive and they are also good reasons to like Sailfish OS (even is not 100% opensource). However note that, in the poll, more people request CM that Fairphone or Google Android. (And there is other insteresting poll too).

That said, more and more devices are sell with Cyanogenmod directly (OnePlus devices, YU Yureka, YU Yuphoria, Andromax Q, Lenovo ZUK Z1, Wileyfox Swift, Wileyfox Storm, BQ Aquaris X5). I still do not understand the choice of Fairphone (and why there are so many Google apps pre-installed).

Lets talk about it.

Btw is there a enthusiast rom maintainer in the room?

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I’d love to see CM support for the FP2, as I’m rather sure I don’t want to live without the features of CM anymore.

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