[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

Just for the record, I was able to sell my Pro 1x for 650€ on german ebay ... end of story.

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

8 hours ago, claude0001 said:

You can run Linux Firefox or Thunderbird on UBTouch just like you can on Android: Using some Unix container technology and without any hardware acceleration. This leaves you with no real advantage over a Termux setup on Android, and is of course not what the "Real-Linux-in-your-Pocket"-promise of Ubuntu Touch once made people expect ...

Yeah, that was exactly what I came to realize. I wanted to give it a try, as said, to give my funding for the Pro1 X campaign some sense. I still think the campaign anf Pro 1X is cool, despite all the struggles they and we went thru. But I already run a Astro Slide with Termux X11 on Android there, and that works surprisingly well, without me being forced to jump thru hoops getting, e.g., 2FA banking apps to work, which simply run on main Android.

Also, in the past maybe two years, I found myself using the keyboard, Linux environment less and less, so there is really no point for me to even considering to migrate to the Pro 1X, be it on Ubuntu Touch, Android, or anything. I stick to my Astro Slide, and just hope the (real-)Linux-on-a-(real-)Phone journey is not dying.

As a matter of fact, my Pro 1X is now listed on ebay, and I am willing to give a discount to any Linux enthusiast from this community, would someone be really interesed .. if so, just post or PM.

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

Thanks @claude0001 and to the whole forum. I went from stock Android to Ubuntu Touch and back, without rendering my device (even more) useless.

And while Ubuntu on a phone is nice, it really is far less powerful then I have imagined. No Firefox, no Thunderbird, ages away from running docker ... it sure works, it's also actually nice, but by no means could that ever be my daily driver in that setup.

Still, as I waited almost 4 years for this device, I wanted to give it a try. At least I squeezed out the guide, hoping this is helpful for another lost Linux-Phone person out there.

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

3 minutes ago, claude0001 said:

Have you performed the steps listed in section "Repair sensors/ folder in persist.img" of this post:

I understand those steps are necessary after flashing back to stock from UBTouch. Note that you need to root the device.

Also, please not that I never tried Ubuntu on the Pro1X, so I never had to do this procedure myself. Just trying to point you into what I think is the right direction ...

yeah .. I read all this 6 weeks ago, and finally had some time in my hands last night, and started right away ... since when isn't that a smart idea !?!?! 😄

Thanks, as posted right above, I think I have a path forward ... thanks!

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

2 hours ago, Dr.Colossos said:

So, here comes finally my "guide" ...

Disclaimer: I failed! I now got an incomplete keyboard, special keys are not working, and sensors seem to be off, as the screen in restored Android *does no longer rotate* when I open the keyboard. I have an IMEI for slot 1 and 2 according to system settings, though. Any help to resolve this, would be very much appreciated ...

The "guide" will follow in the next post, shorty ...

I think I only need to ...

adb shell
su
restorecon -vRF /mnt/vendor/persist/sensors/
reboot

... but for that, I first need to root ... I will update all this later today, or later this weekend.

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

How to flash Ubuntu Touch and revert back to stock Android

0. Warranties, Guarantees

1. There are none. Proceed at your own risk. If you loose data, or damage your phone, even beyond repairs, you, and only you are to blame. Please read the full guide first before doing anything with your phone. Only proceed if you think you are capable of doing each part of it. Do not proceed if you feel unsure.
2. Again, no warranties, no guarantees, that this is working for you, and that your device is usable after following this guide.

1. Assumptions

1. This guide assumes you have the F(x)tec Pro1 X, not some other phone, e.g. its predecessor being the F(x)tec Pro1.
2. This guide assumes your main machine is running Ubuntu. This guide was specifically written for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Nothing really is specific to Linux or Ubuntu, so with slight adaptations, most of this would work under Windows, too, but I won't cover this here.
3. This guide does not assume you want to back up any data. If you wish to do so, you need to find out yourself.

2. Prerequisites

1. You need the Platform Tools package, you can install them with `sudo apt-get install adb fastboot`
2. You must have USB debugging enabled on your F(x)tec Pro1 X. If this is not yet done, please do so, by following one of the various guides in the internet, e.g, as explained in 3. in this pdf linked at
 

3. Flashing Ubuntu Touch

1. In Ubuntu terminal, do `sudo snap install ubports-installer --edge` to install UBports installer
2. Run `ubports-installer`
3. UBports will tell you, that your device is not supported, but the process still works, no worries

4. So click "Select device manually", and from the list, choose of course "F(x)tec Pro1 X"

5. Confirm that your device is unlocked ...

6. ... and click "Install" ...

7. ... with the following options set, and click "OK"

8. Sit tight, and let the installer do it's thing ... this will take less then maybe 5 minutes ..

4. [Optional] Restore the stock ROM (this requires a machine running Windows OS)

1. You need to follow the guide linked @ Pro1-X: Flashing Stock Android with QFIL (Windows PC only), and while it looks and reads tedious, it really does work well - at least did for me. Just be sure to not miss any of the mandatory steps
2. Despite the process under 4.1. being successful and your Pro1-X will happily boot into Android, you will notice that some things won't work properly, like screen rotation, keyboard backlight, maybe more. This is because your sensors partition has been nuked by the Ubuntu Touch installation.
3. Therefore, you now must also root your phone, as described in detail here @ https://community.fxtec.com/topic/3690-pro1-x-rooting-with-magisk/ to be able to fix those issues in the next step. So, go ahead and root your Pro1-X.
4. With the phone now being rooted, finally issue these commands from a Linux terminal.

adb shell
su
restorecon -vRF /mnt/vendor/persist/sensors/
reboot

5. After the reboot is done, you should have a fully working Pro1-X again, with stock Android 11. Congratulations!

If you find any errors in this guide, please ping me. I went through this process myself as described, and with some help from the forum here, I made it work. I hope you can too!

Thanks!

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

So, here comes finally my "guide" ...

Disclaimer: I failed! I now got an incomplete keyboard, special keys are not working, and sensors seem to be off, as the screen in restored Android *does no longer rotate* when I open the keyboard. I have an IMEI for slot 1 and 2 according to system settings, though.Any help to resolve this, would be very much appreciated ...

The "guide" will follow in the next post, shorty ...

I got it all (?) back working ... I will update my guide below ...

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

@Hook thanks for your comment.

I indeed misinterpreted the restore parts of that thread, I thought the warning under (1) would also apply to the section "Repair sensors/ folder in persist.img" (2), but now after re-reading, I am pretty sure you are right, that are two totally different things.



I could go the "restorecon" way, I even could dig up a Windows machine somehow, but not too familiar with that OS anymore ...

I will ponder a bit more, on how to proceed. I always wanted to have "Convergence", i.e., run all my tools on one machine, and one machine only, but I doubt that I would reach that with Ubuntu Touch on the Pro 1x (I am actually rather close with Termux X11 and proot Debian). And I am not sure if the experiment to veri/falsify this is worth risking to shred a device I could resell for maybe close to 600€ ...

No matter how I decide, I will post again ...

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

3 hours ago, suicidal_orange said:

Glad you wrote this, I was considering trying it too but sounds a bit scary.

Yeah, perhaps someone with more experience can chip in, and clarify, if this really is the case. There is really no point in basically making the device unusable for non-Ubuntu usage ... if I am left uncertain on this, I fear I need to sell it on ebay .. would be sad, now as I finally got this thing ... I do not have the highest expectations, but it does look, feel like a decent phone to me ...

Anybody can share his/her insights on Ubuntu-flashing and it's consequences ..?

Cheers

[Ubuntu Touch OS for Fxtec Pro1]

Hi everyone, after waiting 4 years, I finally got my phone.

Now, I'd like to give Ubuntu Touch a try, afterall, I am running on Ubuntu since 10.04.

However, reading here in the forum, I am under the assumption that if I flash Ubuntu, I will no longer be able to go back to stock Android or LineageOS with working sensors, as the Ubuntu flash messes with the persist partition.

One can back up those (cf. guide here), but there is no way to restore them ...

So, if my experience with Ubuntu Touch is miserable, I might try to sell this thing ... which simply won't work, if the device is basically broken due to non-working sensors. What are my options here ..?

• Stick with stock ..?
• Go for Ubuntu and eventually break it?
• Go for Ubuntu, and there is actually a way to restore stock with working sensors, etc ..?

Thanks for any insights!
Cheers