USB-Stick, Adoptable Storage, Read/Write MicroSD,...?

[fai8753]

I’ve been wanting to get a FP 2 for some months now, but I’ve been waiting for FP (Open) OS to reach a level somewhere near the CM 13.0 I’m using at the moment. I think it may be time to give up this hope. I’d still at least try to get along with its short-comings. There are some basic features I need for everyday use though, so I want to make sure whether at least these things would work:

1. I have a key file for my password database on a (Micro)USB-Stick. Can FP (Open) OS read this?
2. I love the adoptable storage feature. I guess, FP (Open) OS doesn’t have it. There have been some changes in Android so that some apps can’t read from external MicroSD (not adopted) anymore. Syncthing e. g. is the app my setup relies on the most and it has this problem. Can it read/write MicroSD on FP (Open) OS?

There’ll probably be more coming to my mind, I just started thinking about it…

[TobiasF]

Adoptable storage (that means extending the internal storage with the SD card) is not available on Fairphone (Open) OS because that feature was introduced on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Fairphone (Open) OS is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Work on a new, Marshmallow-based Fairphone (Open) OS is almost finished so the “adoptable storage” feature will probably be there in a few months.

The “write protection” on SD cards can easily be removed after switching on root in Fairphone Open OS.

The Fairphone 2 supports an external SD card reader (according to my tests), but destroyed an USB stick of mine. (So the external key file should be placed on a SD card, not an USB stick.)

[fai8753]

Work on a new, Marshmallow-based Fairphone (Open) OS is almost finished so the “adoptable storage” feature will probably be there in a few months.

Oh nice, I didn’t expect that!

So the external key file should be placed on a SD card, not an USB stick.

I’d have to get that working, because the file is on an USB stick. I use it on many other devices.

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What about WiFi based profiles? Is there a way to get that on FP Open? Those are amazing on CM.
Are there any major tweaks on FP Open compared to AOSP? Especially things that are worse?

I remember the strange swipe dock on FP1 for example… EDIT: Forget about that part. I just saw “Catapult” on F-Droid, which is the CyanogenMod/LineageOS launcher.

[Stefan]

Maybe you can contribute to the Lineage OS porting effort:

Porting CyanogenMod to FP2

This is a Wiki topic, feel free to contribute using the green pencil symbol in the top right corner. Continuing the discussion from Fairphone 2 and CyanogenMod, please ask your question on this topic. If you need help or want to contribute, feel free to join the dedicated matrix.org room #wearefairphone:matrix.org or the #wearefairphone IRC channel on Freenode.net (the two are bridged so you only need to join one of them). This topic explains how to build CyanogenMod for Fairphone2. It …

[fai8753]

What about WiFi based profiles? Is there a way to get that on FP Open?

It looks like F-Droid available Easer is going to take care of that! Nice

[fai8753]

Does Android Auto work on FP Open? Does this even make sense without proprietary apps? Is there a way to just mirror the screen?

[ChuckMorris]

Android Auto is a proprietary Google app and only works with installed GMS (and a bunch of other Google apps).

[fai8753]

Huh. I thought it was a feature of Android. Thanks.

[fai8753]

Work on a new, Marshmallow-based Fairphone (Open) OS is almost finished so the “adoptable storage” feature will probably be there in a few months.

Does this work on the recent FP Open OS? What about micro USB sticks or USB sticks with OTG adaptors?

[TobiasF]

Work on a new, Marshmallow-based Fairphone (Open) OS is almost finished so the “adoptable storage” feature will probably be there in a few months.

Does this work on the recent FP Open OS?

No, Fairphone Open OS 17.04.0 is still Lollipop, not Marshmallow.

What about micro USB sticks or USB sticks with OTG adaptors?

I haven’t tried it yet.

[fai8753]

NOW it’s time… I guess. Do MicroUSB-Sticks and adoptable storage work on FP Open now?

[AnotherElk]

I’ve been wanting to get a FP 2 for some months now, but I’ve been waiting for FP (Open) OS to reach a level somewhere near the CM 13.0 I’m using at the moment.

In the meantime, this awesome community ported LineageOS 14.1 based on Android 7 to the FP2, and many prefer that already compared to Fairphone Open OS.

NOW it’s time… I guess. Do MicroUSB-Sticks and adoptable storage work on FP Open now?

Adoptable storage is a feature of Android 6, so yes, that works, you can setup your Micro SD card in the phone in that mode.

I don’t know about Micro USB sticks, but I could read normal USB sticks via a Micro USB OTG adapter just fine even back in the days with Android 5.