pro1-x How to start a new Pro1 X without Google ?

[JJB 25]

Hello,

just got my new Pro1-X (ordered >2 years ago I guess).
It was completely drained and not able to charge or boot. Thanks for Charging dead Pro1X to help out. It worked.

But now I face a screen asking me for google credentials.
What the.... AFAIR LineageOS was meant to work without Google using FDroid, MicroG and stuff.
Now, why do I need to enter Google credentials ?

I tried skipping but it only leads me to the next login page.

So how can I start using this phone with a Google free approach and no Google login ?
Any help ?

And in case the Pro1X is not served with FDroid or and loading environment starting on a shell (actually I don't know because I can't pass starting it), how can I supply an environment for start using it with OpenSource Apps ?

I have been coding like 20 years ago, so I would prefer not to write code. Is it the only chance ? DO I need to code something ?

Edited July 1 by JJB

[Hook 3,031]

Probably, this is the best place to start (hence it being in the pinned "Start Here" thread.  :-)  Only Stock Android requires you to have Google.

 

[claude0001 1,343]

1 hour ago, JJB said:

And in case the Pro1X is not served with FDroid or and loading environment starting on a shell (actually I don't know because I can't pass starting it), how can I supply an environment for start using it with OpenSource Apps ?

Building on @Hook's answer: I believe the Pro1-X still always comes with official (i.e. googlified) Android, no matter what OS you ordered. You have to flash a Google-free variant yourself. Take a minute to read about the procedures and options, following the various links on that entry point he posted.

You will probably want to flash LineageOS 21. Choose between the official version without GApps or substitutes, or the derivative LineageOS-MicroG. I have always only used the former myself. For guidance, follow the very good instructions on the LineageOS wiki. Once booted, install F-Droid using the apk downloaded from their website and you are good to go with an up-to-date and completely Google-free OS.

[Kilrah 11]

Correct, they all come with the stock android with Google, but as usual you don't need to login to do the onboarding, I skipped it myself.

[JJB 25]

29 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Correct, they all come with the stock android with Google, but as usual you don't need to login to do the onboarding, I skipped it myself.

Unfortunately it does not allow me to skip. It always loops back to the google login screen.

[JJB 25]

2 hours ago, claude0001 said:

Building on @Hook's answer: I believe the Pro1-X still always comes with official (i.e. googlified) Android, no matter what OS you ordered. You have to flash a Google-free variant yourself. Take a minute to read about the procedures and options, following the various links on that entry point he posted.

You will probably want to flash LineageOS 21. Choose between the official version without GApps or substitutes, or the derivative LineageOS-MicroG. I have always only used the former myself. For guidance, follow the very good instructions on the LineageOS wiki. Once booted, install F-Droid using the apk downloaded from their website and you are good to go with an up-to-date and completely Google-free OS.

Sounds good. I guess I will need to try this.
I hope it's not too complicated needing a lot of insider knowledge on those devices and tools.

I wonder why they make you choose the OS (I chose Lineage) and there's so much fuzz about all the different OS they offer, if in the end they all send out android anyway.

[Hook 3,031]

16 minutes ago, JJB said:

Sounds good. I guess I will need to try this.
I hope it's not too complicated needing a lot of insider knowledge on those devices and tools.

I wonder why they make you choose the OS (I chose Lineage) and there's so much fuzz about all the different OS they offer, if in the end they all send out android anyway.

It's a long story, if you care to read through the updates on IGG.  The 25 cent recap is:

1. The Pro1x was intended to be simply a Pro1 with a different color and more memory with your choice of OS.  The OS images already existed for flashing the phones during manufacturing.

2. The company that was supplying their SD 835 chips took their money, but never provided the chips.

3. FxTec had to redesign the phone with a different chip, given their financial constraints.

4.  Although prototypes and source code were provided to developers, there was insufficient time for images for Lineage and UT to be available before manufacturing had to start.

5.So all phones were flashed with Android.

And that was before the worst of the shipping problems hit.

[JJB 25]

36 minutes ago, Hook said:

It's a long story, if you care to read through the updates on IGG.  The 25 cent recap is:

1. The Pro1x was intended to be simply a Pro1 with a different color and more memory with your choice of OS.  The OS images already existed for flashing the phones during manufacturing.

2. The company that was supplying their SD 835 chips took their money, but never provided the chips.

3. FxTec had to redesign the phone with a different chip, given their financial constraints.

4.  Although prototypes and source code were provided to developers, there was insufficient time for images for Lineage and UT to be available before manufacturing had to start.

5.So all phones were flashed with Android.

And that was before the worst of the shipping problems hit.

I C and now we install those images ourselves. But are those images already aligned with the Pro1X or do we need to fondle around with additional firmware and stuff ?

[claude0001 1,343]

48 minutes ago, JJB said:

I hope it's not too complicated needing a lot of insider knowledge on those devices and tools.

It's not. Just follow the LineageOS wiki precisely.

1 minute ago, JJB said:

But are those images already aligned with the Pro1X or do we need to fondle around with additional firmware and stuff ?

The Pro1X images at lineageos.org are ready-to-run ports of the OS, that support all the Pro1-X's hardware already and are updated OTA once per week (if you let them). No worries.

The biggest obstacle can be to find a PC and USB port that supports fastboot reliably. Can be a bit of trial-and-error. This is not specific to the Pro1s though, and you might also just be lucky ... 

[JJB 25]

Sorry for bothering, as I am new to all this cellphone modification.
Guess I will have some more questions on this.

- Does the LineageOS have something like the "Advanced Privacy" from /e/OS which needs to be considered on installation ?
Found this one link but I'm not so sure if it is as updated as the pure lineage version. The dates are a but confusing.
Anybody having experience ?

- The LineageOS  install guide says:  "Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality. Make sure that you can send and receive SMS and place and receive calls (also via WiFi and LTE, if available), otherwise it won’t work on LineageOS either! Additionally, some devices require that VoLTE/VoWiFi be utilized once on stock to provision IMS."

Now, as I was not able to run it first time due to that google topic I guess this is something to skip. And as I have a brand new phone I hope I can assume the Pro1X won't need that. Or is it known to have issues here ?

Edited July 2 by JJB

[EskeRahn 5,464]

48 minutes ago, JJB said:

- The LineageOS  install guide says:  "Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality. Make sure that you can send and receive SMS and place and receive calls (also via WiFi and LTE, if available), otherwise it won’t work on LineageOS either! Additionally, some devices require that VoLTE/VoWiFi be utilized once on stock to provision IMS."

Now, as I was not able to run it first time due to that google topic I guess this is something to skip. And as I have a brand new phone I hope I can assume the Pro1X won't need that. Or is it known to have issues here ?

The point with this step is to assure that everything hardware wise is working in your specimen, not to waste time on troubleshooting on Lineage, if it is a faulty specimen, that slipped through their QC. Or a connector managed to pop out during transportation, perhaps before you even got it.

But it is not a MUST, seen in the sense that things wont work if you did not do it. It is just a fairly simple step, that might ease debugging any trouble.

[claude0001 1,343]

1 hour ago, JJB said:

Does the LineageOS have something like the "Advanced Privacy" from /e/OS which needs to be considered on installation ?

Just my personal opinion: I wouldn't bother with any derivative distributions and just use upstream official LineageOS. If you use that without GApps, it's pretty close to /e/-OS. The main thing they might have added is disabling AGPS (you decide whether that is a good thing.)

The main security (and thus privacy) concerns with the Pro1-X are the ageing Qualcomm binary blobs, taken from Stock Android and stuck in 2022. No open-source project can change anything about that anyway ...

[JJB 25]

Before I start flashing the device with the Lineage version, I want to make a backup of the device.
I already read in some posts, that the backup is possible here: Link but there is no guarantee if it can be restored, right ?

And FxTec tells that they "shipped our Pro1-X’s with 'OEM unlocked'".
Does that mean the bootloader is unlocked as needed for backup and changes ?
And how to tell if the recovery boot option is available.

Sorry for this kind of basic questions. But I am just starting with all this.

[claude0001 1,343]

1 hour ago, JJB said:

I already read in some posts, that the backup is possible here: Link but there is no guarantee if it can be restored, right ?

Correct. The recommendation of backing up your partitions is lore from the early days of the Pro1-X and is largely obsolete now.

To my knowledge no one has found a way to actually restore backed-up partition images. In some cases trying to do so seems to actually have caused the very troubles the backups should protect you from.

If you want to flash LineageOS: Just look at the instructions at lineageos.org. They are up-to date with all required steps, including unlocking the bootloader and flashing the initial recovery image. My advice is to just follow that guide line-by-line, and to not try to find your own ways based on what you have been reading here and in other places ...

Edit: What I wrote above relates to the so-called "device" partitions. See the full discussion here. Independently of that, you will of course want to backup any personal data (contacts, pictures, etc.) before flashing LineageOS as the procedure will wipe the user partition. However, I recommend to do that backup on the filesystem level rather than pull an image of the entire partition.

Edited July 5 by claude0001

[Kilrah 11]

I did back up using the edl method but yeah it's likely pointless anyway. Bootloader is unlocked by default and there is a recovery but it's not able to do adb.

[Hook 3,031]

The backing up of the Persist partition doesn't apply to Lineage. I don't believe Lineage messes with the partition.

[JJB 25]

10 hours ago, claude0001 said:

Correct. The recommendation of backing up your partitions is lore from the early days of the Pro1-X and is largely obsolete now.

To my knowledge no one has found a way to actually restore backed-up partition images. In some cases trying to do so seems to actually have caused the very troubles the backups should protect you from.

If you want to flash LineageOS: Just look at the instructions at lineageos.org. They are up-to date with all required steps, including unlocking the bootloader and flashing the initial recovery image. My advice is to just follow that guide line-by-line, and to not try to find your own ways based on what you have been reading here and in other places ...

Edit: What I wrote above relates to the so-called "device" partitions. See the full discussion here. Independently of that, you will of course want to backup any personal data (contacts, pictures, etc.) before flashing LineageOS as the procedure will wipe the user partition. However, I recommend to do that backup on the filesystem level rather than pull an image of the entire partition.

Going through instructions I find "Make sure your computer has adb and fastboot". Got the sources but the installation instructions of adb tells "Download the USB drivers" where I would find a list "Get OEM drivers" which does not include FxTec Pro1X.

• I found a link inwhich includes the "Qualcomm_USB_Driver_V1.0.exe".
  I am not sure, could it be that this is the necessary OEM USB driver ?

Additionally it tells me to "Enable USB debugging on your device" as one of the initial steps. But actually I cannot start the device itself, that was a reason to flash the other OS.
Which brings me back to the beginning of my original question.

Now... what am I missing ?

Edited July 5 by JJB

[Kilrah 11]

1 hour ago, JJB said:

which does not include FxTec Pro1X.

Android USB driver is generic, no need for a specific one. 

1 hour ago, JJB said:

Going through instructions I find "Make sure your computer has adb and fastboot"

https://androidmtk.com/download-minimal-adb-and-fastboot-tool

 

1 hour ago, JJB said:

Additionally it tells me to "Enable USB debugging on your device" as one of the initial steps. But actually I cannot start the device itself, that was a reason to flash the other OS.

Just boot in bootloader manually, hold volume down while powering up.

Nothing different from any other android phone really.

Edited July 5 by Kilrah

[chrissv 7]

I might be missing something as well, but I had no troubles booting this phone without a Google account, even on stock Android? Just dont connect it to wifi or put a SIM in it, and it will say something along the lines of "since you dont have an active connection, you cant use a google account, press continue to get started".

After that, just enable developer options (You can follow the steps for "setting up adb" here: https://wiki.lineageos.org/adb_fastboot_guide#setting-up-adb ).
When this is done, issue 'adb reboot bootloader' and your phone should restart to bootloader.

[JJB 25]

7 hours ago, chrissv said:

I might be missing something as well, but I had no troubles booting this phone without a Google account, even on stock Android? Just dont connect it to wifi or put a SIM in it, and it will say something along the lines of "since you dont have an active connection, you cant use a google account, press continue to get started".

After that, just enable developer options (You can follow the steps for "setting up adb" here: https://wiki.lineageos.org/adb_fastboot_guide#setting-up-adb ).
When this is done, issue 'adb reboot bootloader' and your phone should restart to bootloader.

Tried that. Not working. It's looping the Google Services login again and again.

[JJB 25]

...

Edited July 7 by JJB

[Kilrah 11]

The driver is on the Google page you linked yourself.

Enter bootloader as described here 

 

Edited July 6 by Kilrah

[claude0001 1,343]

15 hours ago, chrissv said:

I might be missing something as well, but I had no troubles booting this phone without a Google account, even on stock Android?

Fully agree. When I first got my Pro1-X, there simply were no Google-free OS options yet. Still, I remember I was able to start the phone without linking it to any Google account.

Edited July 7 by claude0001

[JJB 25]

Rewriting my comment. Maybe I am not precise enough.

Hello,

I currently feel stuck with:

- Cannot login without Google account
  (it keeps me looping like forever between start page and Google login, there is no skip button, there is only "accept Google Services" even if WIFI is blocked for that MAC address specifically)
- Cannot start bootloader with Power + Volume down
  (Maybe I am doing this wrong, seen something about having the right timing)
- Cannot enable developer options and USB debugging on device as login is not possible
  (as this is part of the installation instructions I don't want to skip it, but how to do as I am not "in" the device)
- Cannot find USB Drivers
  (the mentioned page refers to OEM USB driver which do NOT include Pro1X or FxTec, can't find the mentioned generic driver and the Google USB Driver is meant for Google devices like Nexus, Pixel etc.)

Hope that's more precise now.

Any ideas ?

Following https://wiki.lineageos.org/adb_fastboot_guide and https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/pro1x/install/ now seems a bit difficult.

[claude0001 1,343]

2 hours ago, JJB said:

there is only "accept Google Services"

As far as remember, you do have to "accept" the Google terms, even if you skip connecting the device to a Google account. That's probably because the Google Services are already installed in the Stock ROM, whether you want to use them or not. It's been a long time for me though ...

That being said, the only point with enabling USB debugging in Stock Android is to trigger that initial reboot to the bootloader, which you can indeed also just do manually with the "Volume Dn + Power" combo.

While there really is no special trick about it, let me try a step-by-step:

1. Power off the device.
2. In powered-off state, press and keep holding "Volume Down".
3. Long press the power button to start the device, still keeping Volume Down pressed.
4. Keep "Volume Down" pressed until the bootloader screen appears.

Concerning adb and fastboot: I unfortunately have always only run the tools from a Linux PC (that being the natural environment for building Android), where installing them is trivial. The requirement for that USB driver is specific to Windows, so I unfortunately cannot help much there. However, afaik (and as @Kilrah wrote several times) there is nothing specific to the Pro1-X there. That "Google OEM driver" simply enables some low-level serial communication with the phone that is standard across all Android devices.    

Edited July 7 by claude0001