These are notes to myself - and anyone else who finds them useful. Before starting, I booted the Google OS to install the latest firmware and an eSIM. After a few days of enduring Google's naggy software, I was ready to commit to installing something better. I tried using the Web Installer. It managed to flash some of the partitions and then failed with: Failed to execute 'claimInterface' on 'USBDevice' So I used the CLI instructions which were comprehensive. Worth re-reading them a few…
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I don't know if this is a bug, or just the way the world works now. Several of the people who live in my phone use artistic black and white headshots. They look very cool. But my Android phone shows their image with inverted colours - so they look like pure shite. Here's what my very real human girlfriend looks like when I ring her to go for brunch: Come the evening, my phone switches to Dark Mode™ - so this is what she looks like when I ring her for a late-night booty call: What's c…
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It's always a bit concerning when a new icon suddenly appears at the top of your phone's screen. Without any warning, my ageing OnePlus 5T - which now runs LineageOS - started showing this: I know that, from right to left, it is showing me my battery percentage, WiFi strength, and that I'm using work mode. But what's the weird circle? ZOOM! ENHANCE! Well, that's not much help, is it! Buried in the Android Automotive documentation is some information on how to "Customize Status Bar…
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Should my bank be able to block me from using their Android app, just because my phone is rooted? I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that... yeah, it's fair that they get to decide their own risk tolerance. Sage of the Internet, and general Sooth Sayer, Cory Doctorow once gave an impassioned speech on "The Coming War on General Computation". I'll let you read the whole thing but, I think, the salient point is that some people want to restrict the maths we're allowed to do on our…
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My OnePlus 5T is beginning to show its age. After replacing the battery a few years ago, I felt it was time to upgrade its software to Lineage 20. Everything went smoothly - but there are a few niggles you should be aware of. Some of these are Google's fault - they truly have contempt for their users - and some could be fixed by Lineage if there were sufficient demand. I've mostly posted this list so that someone from XDA can tell me I'm an idiot and there's an easy fix for all of these…
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This is a quick guide on how to upgrade your Shamu from CyanogenMod to LineageOS. Download everything In order to upgrade, you'll need to download the experimental and the nightly build. These can be downloaded from https://download.lineageos.org/shamu. Store them in the root of your SD card Flash Experimental If you need to know how to access recovery, you can find the information at http://wiki.lineageos.org/shamu_install.html First, flash the experimental zip file. Then reboot. All…
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