#2881 2026-04-06 01:14:21

Döbbie03

Resident Metalhead

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 4,134

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I do not trust GUGL or iAnything.

Neither do I, but I have become accustomed to how iPhone works. I can see myself on Graphene OS before the end of the year though.

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                                       - Theodore "Ted" Logan
"Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that everybody liked, they left that to the Bee Gees."
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chroot

Member

Registered: 2024-12-12

Posts: 134

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I do not trust GUGL or iAnything.

Neither do I, but I have become accustomed to how iPhone works. I can see myself on Graphene OS before the end of the year though.

iPhone (iOS) is a little better than Android with GSM in terms of privacy.

mcarni

Member

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 34

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

just a quick question as I value the opinions from this forum on anythign tech related

i have not seen anyone mentioning LineageOS and i am wondering if there is anything that you guys don't like about it and that i should know

i am asking because have installed lineageos and other alternative roms on my phones for some years and i am happy with it
sometimes it is easiers, sometimes it is more a pain in the a** depending whethere there is an official lineageos release or not but I cannot complain

in most of the cases i have installed the version with no google apps so I have to do everything through F-Droid https://f-droid.org/

I wish I could but too many professionals (doctors, dentists, pharmacies etc) in this GForsaken 3rd world country work with WhatsApp. 

In my case i had to install Whattsapp through Aurora  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/ , never had issues with it

I do have some troubles with bank apps, but usually with a bit of tinkering they can be solved...

i don't want to promote or advocate, i am genuinely curious to hear your opinion

M

Jimbo_G

Member

From: France

Registered: 2017-05-12

Posts: 346

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with LineageOS, it's just that so few people use anything other than stock Android or iOS, even on here. I have a phone running Ubuntu Touch which works okay for my needs, but I've never met anyone else who uses it.

Martin

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2015-10-01

Posts: 816

Website

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with LineageOS, it's just that so few people use anything other than stock Android or iOS, even on here. I have a phone running Ubuntu Touch which works okay for my needs, but I've never met anyone else who uses it.

Tell us more about your Ubuntu Touch experience.

/Martin

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"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein

chroot

Member

Registered: 2024-12-12

Posts: 134

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

just a quick question as I value the opinions from this forum on anythign tech related

i have not seen anyone mentioning LineageOS and i am wondering if there is anything that you guys don't like about it and that i should know

i am asking because have installed lineageos and other alternative roms on my phones for some years and i am happy with it
sometimes it is easiers, sometimes it is more a pain in the a** depending whethere there is an official lineageos release or not but I cannot complain

in most of the cases i have installed the version with no google apps so I have to do everything through F-Droid https://f-droid.org/

I wish I could but too many professionals (doctors, dentists, pharmacies etc) in this GForsaken 3rd world country work with WhatsApp. 

In my case i had to install Whattsapp through Aurora  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/ , never had issues with it

I do have some troubles with bank apps, but usually with a bit of tinkering they can be solved...

i don't want to promote or advocate, i am genuinely curious to hear your opinion

M

The main hurdle of using those Android w/o GSM systems is payment. There's no way to use your phone to make payments in a secure way like Google Pay and Apple Pay. Other than that, they are 100% usable.

mcarni

Member

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 34

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with LineageOS, it's just that so few people use anything other than stock Android or iOS, even on here. I have a phone running Ubuntu Touch which works okay for my needs, but I've never met anyone else who uses it.

it just sounded strange to hear about graphene and not about lineageos, i assumed lineage had a bigger audience than graphene, maybe i am wrong...

The main hurdle of using those Android w/o GSM systems is payment. There's no way to use your phone to make payments in a secure way like Google Pay and Apple Pay. Other than that, they are 100% usable.

this makes sense, i don't use my phone to pay

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with LineageOS, it's just that so few people use anything other than stock Android or iOS, even on here. I have a phone running Ubuntu Touch which works okay for my needs, but I've never met anyone else who uses it.

Tell us more about your Ubuntu Touch experience.

/Martin

yep, @Jimbo_G please let us know, that would be very interesting

as always, great discussions here at BL

M

F3

Member

From: Purgatory

Registered: 2026-03-31

Posts: 9

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

@mcarni:  Below is my orignal post in which I mentioned Lineage among other Android alternatives:

Compared to other distrohoppers, I suppose my hopping has been low key. I've tried everything I want to try and now I know that'll keep me anchored to a distro.

Speaking of distros, has anyone experimented with Android alternatives, such as CalyxOS,  GrapheneOS, LineageOS, /e/OS, iodé?

I decided to de-Google my life in 2025 and haven't looked back. I now run GrapheneOS on a Pixel 8a and look forward to see how Graphene and Moto work together in the future.

mcarni

Member

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 34

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

@mcarni:  Below is my orignal post in which I mentioned Lineage among other Android alternatives:

Compared to other distrohoppers, I suppose my hopping has been low key. I've tried everything I want to try and now I know that'll keep me anchored to a distro.

Speaking of distros, has anyone experimented with Android alternatives, such as CalyxOS,  GrapheneOS, LineageOS, /e/OS, iodé?

I decided to de-Google my life in 2025 and haven't looked back. I now run GrapheneOS on a Pixel 8a and look forward to see how Graphene and Moto work together in the future.

ops... sorry, i must have missed this...

as an apology i will tyr to provide my personal feedback ;-)

distrohopping on the computer is still going, not as strong as it used to be
I once had a dedicated partition (labelled "DH" ... )
then i made my own custom grub to boot live isos
nowadays i enjoy the convenience of ventoy to boot isos for quick testing
on top of the next-to-try list i have redox redox and cachyos

on the phones i tried lineageos (official and unofficial) with and without google apps, plus some more roms (i.e. evolution-x, cr-droid)
I am very curious about postmarketos but i guess it is too early to be usable .. at least by me
nowdays i am very stable on lineageos official with no gapps and only f-droid (basically i use the phone only to phone/message + whattsap)

basically, on the computer, i have my preferred setup but i keep distrohopping when there is something new to try, on the phone, i am the opposite i try to be as stable as possible

M

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,639

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

A new version of AntiX, 26, has just come out and I've been trying it. I don't personally like the new colour schemes and wallpaper, but those are easily changed and apart from that AntiX is much the same as it always was and is working well.

I'm thinking of installing a few low resource applications in AntiX and keeping it around for when I need a lightweight distro to use (this is a 14 year old computer now, so it needs some help sometimes).

Last edited by Colonel Panic (2026-04-08 20:21:22)

hhh

Gaucho

From: High in the Custerdome

Registered: 2015-09-17

Posts: 16,848

Website

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

@brontosauruxrex installed PopOS! with Cosmic and posted in the scrot thread, I and @chroot have responded...

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 96#p149996

I am looking forward to installing this and seeing if it can be stripped at all.

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I don't care what you do at home. Would you care to explain?

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,164

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I wish I could but too many professionals (doctors, dentists, pharmacies etc) in this GForsaken 3rd world country work with WhatsApp. 

In my case i had to install Whattsapp through Aurora  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/ , never had issues with it

OH!  That's good to hear.

I know nothing about Graphene OS, LineageOS or F-droid or Aurora so I'm in the dark here. 

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Debian 12 Beardog, SoxDog and still a Conky 1.9er

Jimbo_G

Member

From: France

Registered: 2017-05-12

Posts: 346

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I use Ubuntu Touch on a secondhand Pixel 3a, one of the recommended devices. Ubuntu Touch is now maintained by a community of volunteers called UBports. They’ve been allowed to keep the Ubuntu logo but I think there is no longer an official connection with Ubuntu/Canonical.

Overall I’m happy with it but my needs are very basic. The Pixel 3a takes good photos, the web browser works, and the Telegram app is fine. There’s a Matrix app which kinda works, meaning Signal is in theory available but I’ve never tried. There is a Whatsapp web app but you need to periodically log in to Whatsapp on another (Android or iOS) phone. The phone itself works well enough, with just an occasional random reboot.

Development is continuing and the community is quite active. I’m not sure what I’ll go for on my next device - I’m quite pessimistic on the future of phone OS’s, just because there seems to be so little demand, and many people (and even whole countries, as mentioned by Sector11) are totally locked in to Whatsapp etc.

For most people I think there is a general awareness that on a PC you could possibly use Linux instead of Windows, but for phones they don’t even realise there’s an alternative.

mcarni

Member

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 34

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

I wish I could but too many professionals (doctors, dentists, pharmacies etc) in this GForsaken 3rd world country work with WhatsApp. 

In my case i had to install Whattsapp through Aurora  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/ , never had issues with it

OH!  That's good to hear.

I know nothing about Graphene OS, LineageOS or F-droid or Aurora so I'm in the dark here. 

in few words, graphene and lineage are the operating systems, these will replace the OS currently on your phone.
i don't know about graphene, but when you install lineage you might choose to install google apps or leave them out.
If you do so you end up with a phone that has no store at all, so you need something that lets you browse which apps you want to install (if any).
fdroid lets you browse through foss apps, you will not find whattsapp here but it will allow you to install aurora which works as a kind of proxy (not sure if this the right word...) to access google store and install apps. in aurora you will find whatsapp

if you need any help, let me know...
M

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,164

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

if you need any help, let me know...
M

Thank you kindly.  I'll keep this in mind.

If I brick this phone my wife will kill me.
https://ibb.co/S4PQW7m9
But I woild like nothing better that to get rid of: Samsung's One UI and Android

I do have an LG K40, Android 9, that I could try it on. 
- cameral broken - worked for about 3 months.
https://ibb.co/ZRxBq3QL
https://ibb.co/99hLZ9xX

And a very old LG Leon, a little 4"er, running Android 5.0.1
USE:
- emergency Flashlight and
- an Alarm clock
- HappyDevs Friendly Sudoku
- camera works - quality sucks.
https://ibb.co/YFST25tH

The LG Leon would be perfect!
· Small, carry it almost anywhere
· just a phone
· with an offline Sudoku game - PERFECT for doc waiting room!

BTW:  F-Droid and WhatsApp:
https://f-droid.org/en/pa/ckages/io.kue … ppwebtogo/

Last edited by Sector11 (Yesterday 15:52:42)

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Debian 12 Beardog, SoxDog and still a Conky 1.9er

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 13,173

Website

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

^Come to think of it, after my recent migration to a Motorola, I now have an unused Huawei P10 lite with Android 9. Might be interesting to try something on that, if any of those OS alternatives will work on such old hardware.

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...elevator in the Brain Hotel, broken down but just as well...
( a boring Japan blog (currently paused), now on Bluesky, there's also some GitStuff )

Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 2,918

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

BTW:  F-Droid and WhatsApp:
https://f-droid.org/en/pa/ckages/io.kue … ppwebtogo/

As @chroot and @mcarni wrote above, you have to download the latest apk file from here.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/  4.8.1(scroll down)
By clicking on the apk in your downloads folder on your phone, it will be installed.
Everything will then be explained to you in the app.    You need your login details for your *guugl* account. 

Last edited by unklar (Today 09:08:48)

mcarni

Member

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 34

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

...
I do have an LG K40, Android 9, that I could try it on. 
...

And a very old LG Leon, a little 4"er, running Android 5.0.1
...

...
I now have an unused Huawei P10 lite with Android 9. Might be interesting to try something on that
...

I might have some not so positive news.
I did a bit of reasearch... didn't have much time... more research might be needed... but usually combining some xdaforums and lineageos website search gives a decent idea of how supported the phone is...

LG Leon has a dedicated page on xda forums, but the latest roms seem very very old
I would not know if it makes sense to try that path
Very interestingly there is a page for this phone (assuming it is the same phone: LG Leon LTE) also on postmarketos, actually 2:
https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/LG_Leon_LTE_(lg-c50)
https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Qual … stallation
i don't have any experience with postmarketos but this is something that seems extremely interesting...

for the LG K40 i could not find anything that inspired enought trust...

for the Huawei P10 lite, the situation is different
I am quite sure i had a P9 lite and i remember that the main issue was to be able to unlock the bootloader
there was a bit of an internet stir as huawei decided to stop providing bootloader unlock codes
@johnraff i would be happy to be wrong, but i seem to find that if you have not unlocked the bootloader it will be difficutl to get that done now... (still take it with a pinch of salt... more reaserach would be needed...)
if your phone's bootloader is unlocked i would try the to play with the rom on the dedicated xdaforum page
i believe i was running an unofficial lineages of from one of the developers there (DarkJoker360) it seems he is not active currently but it seems that someone picked up some of his work (see also GSI ported crDroid)

sorry for the lack of positive news...
hope this can somehow help a bit

M