Tech Freedom

Free Your Phone: Install your chosen degoogled ROM

Tech Freedom supports the following AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROMs:

Tech Freedom
GrapheneOS Logo
 
Tech Freedom
HavocOS Logo
 
Tech Freedom
CalyxOS Logo
 
/E/ OS Logo
 
LineageOS Logo
 
TEch Freedom
Lineage for microG Logo
 

There are more options than just this, but this is the corner of the space that I know much of anything about.

Your options are limited by which device you choose to work with, I wish that weren’t the case, but there it is. Recent (Gen 4 and later) Pixel devices will have the best support in general, as they are the easiest to modify.

 

LineageOS and its variants are the most broadly compatible (if your device can be bootloader unlocked, you can probably put LineageOS on it).

One thing to keep in mind with vanilla LineageOS and HavocOS is that they do not come with microG or any other gapps implementations, so your battery life may suffer a bit due to the workaround necessary for push notifications.

Bottom line: Pixel phones are the most flexible.

Most other devices will be limited to either /e/ OS or Lineage/ Lineage for microG.

Now that you have selected your ROM, you can follow the directions below, use the associated Web Installers, or simply follow the device-specific directions supplied by your ROM’s developer(s).


Follow the directions for your device from the ROM’s developer. It will probably go something like this:

Computer side (don’t touch your phone until you do this)
1) Download ROM to computer
2) Install ADB/fastboot to computer

Arch Linux ADB/Fastboot install
Debian/ Ubuntu ADB/Fastboot install

 

Video for windows ADB/ Fastboot install

3) Connect data cable to computer
4) open your command line interface (powershell or terminal)

Phone side prep
1) 

How to enable developer options on your phone

2) 

OEM Unlock enable

3) 

USB Debug Enable

4) connect to a computer
5) give debug permission to computer

Computer side (after debug permissions)
1) type adb devices, if something shows up, you’re likely good.
2) type adb reboot bootloader (this will cause the phone to reboot and look something like this)

Fastboot example

3) type fastboot devices, if your device shows up, perfect
4) type fastboot oem unlock (will have some variation, but follow what the install instructions for your device and ROM say) then grant permission on the device.
5) type fastboot boot (filename and path to the recovery file for your device, which you should’ve downloaded with the ROM zip file earlier, should be able to drag and drop the file into your commandline environment) the file should transfer and the phone should boot into the recovery for your ROM

two recovery options (LineageOS Recovery and TWRP)

Then, back on the phone, once in recovery for your ROM, follow directions, but usually they require you to format the device, and clear the dalvik cache.

After that, prepare your phone to receive a sideloaded update.

Then on the computer, type:
adb sideload <filename.zip>

(or drag and drop the file into your command line or terminal after you type adb sideload  .

and wait, it may not reach 100%… most of the time, it only claims to get to 47%, but the image is flashed, so from there, you tell it to reboot the system (phone), and wait.

Your first boot will likely take 5-20 minutes, depending on your device.

And viola, you have a degoogled phone.

Most of this can be skipped if you choose to go with GrapheneOS, or CalyxOS which have web based installers. All you need to do there, is the initial prep (unlocking and allowing debug permissions for the computer).

How to Degoogle Your Factory Unlocked Android

How to Install GrapheneOS on a Pixel 3XL

How to Flash Back to Stock on a Pixel 3XL

How to Install LineageOS on a Pixel 3XL

How to Install LineageOS on a OnePlus 6

thoughtful young black man working on laptop in outdoor cafe and drinking coffee

How to get Tech Freedom, One Step at a Time

Below is the Way to Tech Freedom through Linux

As we begin the journey toward tech freedom with our computers, it is important to take things one step at a time. 

Jesus saves and so do we

1) First things first, back up all of your files (docs, music, pictures, videos, etc) to some external media (flash drive, network storage, external hard drive/ssd).

2) Then, research about distributions (distros) and display environments (DE)/ window managers (WM) to see which ones strike you as workable for you, Linux is all about variety and making your computer work for you.

Quick suggestions:
Most distros have multiple DEs.
The DE is what you really interact with, and many can look either very similar to either windows or MacOS by default. Some are more easily customized than others, and some may overwhelm you with that (here’s looking at you, KDE), and others are becoming less and less tweakable (hey there, GNOME). Others are forks of one of these two (Cinnamon and Pantheon are both forks of GNOME that go in opposite directions).

There are 4 main families of distros: Debian/Ubuntu based (Mint, any spin of Ubuntu, Pop!OS, DraugerOS, Elementary, ZorinOS, etc), Arch (Manjaro, Vanilla Arch, Garuda, etc), RHEL (Red Hat, Fedora, Silver blue), and SUSE (OpenSUSE [desktop], and enterprise). There are others, many, many others. Don’t get overwhelmed. Talk to me, my brother, Lone Ranger, or Dale Gribble for help sorting it all out.

3) take your pick, or maybe 2 or 3, and download them to your computer.

4) Then download

Balena Etcher

 insert a blank >8 GB flash drive or SD card, and install or open the program you selected, and flash the distro and DE of your choice.

5) reboot your machine.

5a) in win 10+, hold the shift key as you click reboot, to bring up the system restore menu, then click “Boot from device” and select the media you just flashed and hit OK.

5a1) if in an older version of windows, reboot and enter either the boot selection menu (ESC or F1, usually, as it initially powers back on) or the bios setup utility (F8-F12, depending on the system manufacturer). And go to boot options, then select the first option and change it to boot from USB. Save & exit. Reboot.

5b) if on Mac, reboot, then as it power cycles, hold the option key and select your USB (will have the USB logo on it, and should be orange)

6) Boot with proprietary drivers, just in case tech freedom

tech freedom

7) explore the live environment to see if it is good for you. The live environment will give you a pretty clear picture if your hardware will work out of the box, and whether your combination of DE/WM and Distro will work for you.

8) if it isn’t, reboot, unplug the flash drive, and go back to Windows, as you haven’t made any changes to your system yet, then repeat steps 4-7 until you are happy with what you see in the live environment, then

9) double click install or run installer on the desktop.

9a) if you don’t have any apps or programs on windows that won’t work in Linux, or can’t be replaced with FOSS, then you’re likely to need to dual boot. I will post a separate guide on that later.

9b) if that is not the case, then you can just install it over the top of windows and wipe that sucker out. 😉

Once it finishes, you will be prompted to restart the computer, and as it shuts down, it should tell you to remove the flash drive, so that it can boot from your hard drive/ SSD. If it boots, this leg of your journey is a success.

 

When this is complete, your computer will have tech freedom, but what about your mobile device(s) and the rest of your digital life?