Hi All,

I came across this tablet. It would solve
a lot of issues with my wife being able
to run her favorite ARM android apps
and on a linux system with no google or
firmware spyware.

https://fydetabduo.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVMqhZPqxz4

Your thoughts?

-T

On 08/05/2023 07:56, T wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I came across this tablet. It would solve
> a lot of issues with my wife being able
> to run her favorite ARM android apps
> and on a linux system with no google or
> firmware spyware.
>
> https://fydetabduo.com/
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVMqhZPqxz4
>
> Your thoughts?

The YT video and just about every comment on it is 5 months old. At
present it's vapourware - "Expected delivery time: Q4 2023". You can
pre-order it if you want to risk $599.

--

Jeff

Am 08.05.23 um 08:56 schrieb T:
> Hi All,
>
> I came across this tablet. It would solve
> a lot of issues with my wife being able
> to run her favorite ARM android apps
> and on a linux system with no google or
> firmware spyware.
>
> https://fydetabduo.com/
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVMqhZPqxz4
>
> Your thoughts?

Did you already ask *her* about it?

--
Gutta cavat lapidem (Ovid)

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I came across this tablet. It would solve
> a lot of issues with my wife being able
> to run her favorite ARM android apps
> and on a linux system with no google or
> firmware spyware.
>
> https://fydetabduo.com/

Fyde OS is a spin of Google's ChromeOS but running on non-Chromebook
hardware, so it's still Googled.

(it is fine as a tablet OS - I put it on a Surface Pro 2 and it works
nicely. But you do need a Google account etc, and most of the Chrome apps
are driving you towards Google services. Less so if you use entirely
Android apps, but you still need a Google Play login to install them)

Theo

On 2023-05-09 00:19:28 +0000, Theo said:

> Less so if you use entirely
> Android apps, but you still need a Google Play login to install them)

That's wrong.
Why that's wrong has been explained many times on this newsgroup.
Please run a search before you reply because its an age old common myth.

On 5/8/23 00:19, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 08/05/2023 07:56, T wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I came across this tablet. It would solve
>> a lot of issues with my wife being able
>> to run her favorite ARM android apps
>> and on a linux system with no google or
>> firmware spyware.
>>
>> https://fydetabduo.com/
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVMqhZPqxz4
>>
>> Your thoughts?
>
> The YT video and just about every comment on it is 5 months old. At
> present it's vapourware - "Expected delivery time: Q4 2023". You can
> pre-order it if you want to risk $599.
>

I missed that. Damn! Thank you for the catch.

So, I figure three or four months after going
into general production before revisiting it
and its reviews.

On 5/8/23 09:12, Your Name wrote:
> On 2023-05-09 00:19:28 +0000, Theo said:
>
>>  Less so if you use entirely
>> Android apps, but you still need a Google Play login to install them)
>
> That's wrong.
> Why that's wrong has been explained many times on this newsgroup.
> Please run a search before you reply because its an age old common myth.

I presume that means you can directly
download and install a lot of Android apps?

On 08/05/2023 17:25, T wrote:
> On 5/8/23 00:19, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> On 08/05/2023 07:56, T wrote:
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I came across this tablet. It would solve
>>> a lot of issues with my wife being able
>>> to run her favorite ARM android apps
>>> and on a linux system with no google or
>>> firmware spyware.
>>>
>>> https://fydetabduo.com/
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVMqhZPqxz4
>>>
>>> Your thoughts?
>>
>> The YT video and just about every comment on it is 5 months old. At
>> present it's vapourware - "Expected delivery time: Q4 2023". You can
>> pre-order it if you want to risk $599.
>>
>
> I missed that. Damn! Thank you for the catch.

You're welcome.

> So, I figure three or four months after going
> into general production before revisiting it
> and its reviews.

Which year did you have in mind? ;-)

--

Jeff

On 2023-05-09 04:26:53 +0000, T said:

>>>  Less so if you use entirely
>>> Android apps, but you still need a Google Play login to install them)
>>
>> That's wrong.
>> Why that's wrong has been explained many times on this newsgroup.
>> Please run a search before you reply because its an age old common myth.
>
> I presume that means you can directly
> download and install a lot of Android apps?

More than that. You don't need a google play login to get google play apps.
That's a myth that has been debunked hundreds of times already on this ng.

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I came across this tablet. It would solve
> a lot of issues with my wife being able
> to run her favorite ARM android apps
> and on a linux system with no google or
> firmware spyware.
>
> https://fydetabduo.com/

Nothing available there as yet. All you can do is pre-order something,
and hope it eventually shows up, but no idea how long you'll wait.
Also, there is a dearth of info at the web site, so not sure how you can
base any decision on nebulous info. Not much on the OS, either, in
their tech specs; however:

FydeOS is a cloud-first operating system ...

raises my eyebrows. Sounds like a Chromebook variant without the Google
stuff. I do use cloud services, but I really don't want my OS to be
oriented to the cloud first.

You'll have to do online searches to see if anyone has more in-depth
reviews of FydeOS. I found:

https://fydeos.io/

but both sites look like they were composed by neophytes. Oh, I just
realized the navbar at the bottom wasn't part of their diagram, but
links to other web docs. That site has a community section for help.

If you're planning on using some Android apps, read:

https://fydeos.io/faq/how-to-run-android-apps-in-fydeos-for-pc/

T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> Your Name wrote:
>
>> Theo said:
>>
>>> Less so if you use entirely Android apps, but you still need a
>>> Google Play login to install them)
>>
>> That's wrong.
>> Why that's wrong has been explained many times on this newsgroup.

Oh, here we go. Looks like a wasbit sockpuppet.

> I presume that means you can directly download and install a lot of
> Android apps?

Instead of the Google Play Store to get Android apps, you go to the
FydeOS store to get what apps they have there. I gave a link to their
help page in my other reply on what you need to do to get Android apps.

On 2023-05-08 21:58:50 +0000, VanguardLH said:

> Instead of the Google Play Store to get Android apps, you go to the
> FydeOS store to get what apps they have there. I gave a link to their
> help page in my other reply on what you need to do to get Android apps.

I've never heard of FydeOS but I wouldn't say anything about it without
looking it up first. Is this the link for what you speak about?
https://fydeos.io/

Going there, it seems to be an operating system for something.

It's a confusing web site of pink and white drawings so I click on ?
https://fydeos.io/help/

And then on faq.
https://fydeos.io/faq/

The FAQ seems to say it's mostly for PC's to give it a chrome-like OS.
I looked to see if Android hardware is supported and it seems it's not.
https://fydeos.io/download/you/

Therefore I'm not sure why you brought it up in response to me explaining
that you don't need the google play store app on Android to load apps on
Android (even those from the google play store). It's a myth that you do.

What does FydeOS have to do with loading apps onto an Android phone?

VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> > Your Name wrote:
> >
> >> Theo said:
> >>
> >>> Less so if you use entirely Android apps, but you still need a
> >>> Google Play login to install them)
> >>
> >> That's wrong.
> >> Why that's wrong has been explained many times on this newsgroup.

On ChromeOS? This is not an Android device.

ChromeOS is very locked down, unlike Android.

(I am not so familiar with ChromeOS, so maybe there is a way. But all the
sources I found said you need a Google account to operate a ChromeOS device)

> Oh, here we go. Looks like a wasbit sockpuppet.
>
> > I presume that means you can directly download and install a lot of
> > Android apps?
>
> Instead of the Google Play Store to get Android apps, you go to the
> FydeOS store to get what apps they have there. I gave a link to their
> help page in my other reply on what you need to do to get Android apps.

There are maybe 2-3 dozen apps in the FydeOS store, and half of them are in
Chinese. None of them were worthwhile even trying out, although there were
a few familiar webapps (Twitter, Spotify, that kind of thing). The only app
I installed from there was the 'enable Android mode'.

FydeOS (the company) has its own cloud account system, but it's possible to
skip that and not create one.

Theo

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
>
>> T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Your Name wrote:
>>>
>>>> Theo said:
>>>>
>>>>>  Less so if you use entirely Android apps, but you still need a
>>>>> Google Play login to install them)
>>>>
>>>> That's wrong. Why that's wrong has been explained many times on
>>>> this newsgroup.
>
> On ChromeOS? This is not an Android device.
>
> ChromeOS is very locked down, unlike Android.
> (I am not so familiar with ChromeOS, so maybe there is a way. But
> all the sources I found said you need a Google account to operate a
> ChromeOS device)
>
>> Oh, here we go. Looks like a wasbit sockpuppet.
>>
>>> I presume that means you can directly download and install a lot of
>>> Android apps?
>>
>> Instead of the Google Play Store to get Android apps, you go to the
>> FydeOS store to get what apps they have there. I gave a link to
>> their help page in my other reply on what you need to do to get
>> Android apps.
>
>
> There are maybe 2-3 dozen apps in the FydeOS store, and half of them are in
> Chinese. None of them were worthwhile even trying out, although there were
> a few familiar webapps (Twitter, Spotify, that kind of thing). The only app
> I installed from there was the 'enable Android mode'.
>
> FydeOS (the company) has its own cloud account system, but it's possible to
> skip that and not create one.
>
> Theo

https://fydeos.io/faq/
Can I use the Google Play Store?

The Google Play Store requires appropriate licenses from Google for
distribution. Apps distributed through the Google Play Store are often
dependent on Google’s service framework and will not function properly
if they are not officially authorised by Google to be installed into
the operating system.

However, you can configure Google Mobile Services manually by methods
provided by https://opengapps.org/. We have hence packaged an Open
GApps configurator app (available in FydeOS Web Store) that could
allow you to finish the configuration in a few simple steps.

It should be noted that this feature is currently in experimental
stage and availability cannot be guaranteed.

https://fydeos.io/docs/manual/manage-your-apps/add-apps-and-extensions/install-android-apps-on-your-fydeos-device

https://fydeos.io/pricing

They don't list the OS they provide on their mobile tablet probably
because the device price includes their FydeOS.

https://store.fydeos.com/

23 web apps
1798 extensions
214 themes
101 Android apps (*)
(*) Apparently you can get apps from the Google Play Store, too, as
noted in their FAQ, but it doesn't look to be click-and-install simple.

FydeOS is not a de-Google clone of Android. In fact, you can't even get
a mobile version of FydeOS as noted at their pricing web page.

However, other than getting the FydeOS yourself to setup on some
hardware platform, the OP was looking at their pre-configured laptop
which is vaporware.

They are secretive as to on what base OS they wrote FydeOS. Best I can
find is it is a tweaked de-Googled Chromium OS.

On 2023-05-10 03:44:56 +0000, VanguardLH said:

> https://fydeos.io/faq/
> Can I use the Google Play Store?

I suspect the answer is "yes" for all Android phones (even Amazon ones),
but I'd call it a qualified "yes" because you have to know a tiny bit about
how Android works to understand that "yes", and most people don't know it.

They can't believe you can install everything that is on the Google Play
Store site directly from the Google Play Store site, without using the
Google Play Store app. If they don't know that by now, they never will.

> The Google Play Store requires appropriate licenses from Google for
> distribution. Apps distributed through the Google Play Store are often
> dependent on Google's service framework and will not function properly
> if they are not officially authorised by Google to be installed into
> the operating system.

Probably only 1 out of 100 Android users will understand that paragraph.

GSF isn't as cryptic as they made it sound because you know exactly which
apps incorporate Google Services Framework (GSF) and which that do not.

It would be interesting to find a statistic of what percentage of apps on
the Google Play Store site incorporate GSF (much like net framework or C++
runtimes are incorporated into Windows apps), but I try to avoid them.

I'd say about 10% to maybe about 25% of the apps I look for on the Google
Play Store site have GSF in them but I'd also say 98% of the time you can
find an equivalent app on the Google Play Store site that doesn't have it.

> However, you can configure Google Mobile Services manually by methods
> provided by https://opengapps.org/. We have hence packaged an Open
> GApps configurator app (available in FydeOS Web Store) that could
> allow you to finish the configuration in a few simple steps.
>
> It should be noted that this feature is currently in experimental
> stage and availability cannot be guaranteed.

I used it a few times on an older Android and I didn't have problems.

>
> https://fydeos.io/docs/manual/manage-your-apps/add-apps-and-extensions/install-android-apps-on-your-fydeos-device
>
> https://fydeos.io/pricing
>
> They don't list the OS they provide on their mobile tablet probably
> because the device price includes their FydeOS.
>
> https://store.fydeos.com/
>
> 23 web apps
> 1798 extensions
> 214 themes
> 101 Android apps (*)
>
> (*) Apparently you can get apps from the Google Play Store, too, as
> noted in their FAQ, but it doesn't look to be click-and-install simple.

For any Android phone, you can always get every app that is on the Google
Play Store site for your phone, whether or not you use the Google Play
Store app itself to do it. Probably 1 out of 100 Android users know this.

Since you're going to ask how, you can get the apps directly from the
Google Play Store site or you can get them from any other copycat site.

Your choice.

> FydeOS is not a de-Google clone of Android. In fact, you can't even get
> a mobile version of FydeOS as noted at their pricing web page.
>
> However, other than getting the FydeOS yourself to setup on some
> hardware platform, the OP was looking at their pre-configured laptop
> which is vaporware.
>
> They are secretive as to on what base OS they wrote FydeOS. Best I can
> find is it is a tweaked de-Googled Chromium OS.

If I wanted to de-Google a phone, and I've done it a few times, I would
load a custom ROM but if I wasn't rooted what I would do (and I've done
that also) is just delete the Google apps and services I don't want.

I'd replace the apps with apps that I do want, which for almost every
Google app has a one-to-one correspondence, simply because everyone wants
to get rid of Google apps so developers have already made de-googled
replacements for every Google app out there (as far as I am aware).

An example is you don't use the GMail app, you use K-9 mail or whatever.
You also don't allow any accounts on your phone, not Google. Not Samsung.

Probably 1 of 100 Android owners know this can be done and probably 1 of
1000 have done it so they are the only ones who know how easy it is.

The rest are scared. The rest believe in myths. The rest are always wrong.
It's much easier to de-Google Android phones than most people think it is.

If you have any questions, just ask, but don't bother asking if you're too
scared for basic things like delete Google apps and accounts on the phone.

It's so easy. But 999 out of 1000 people are afraid to break the rules.

Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

> If I wanted to de-Google a phone, and I've done it a few times, I would
> load a custom ROM but if I wasn't rooted what I would do (and I've done
> that also) is just delete the Google apps and services I don't want.

It's been discussed how to use package manager in an ADB shell to
uninstall apps, including Google apps, and without rooting. Is that
true of removing services, or is rooting needed for those?

> The rest are scared. The rest believe in myths. The rest are always wrong.
> It's much easier to de-Google Android phones than most people think it is.
>
> If you have any questions, just ask, but don't bother asking if you're too
> scared for basic things like delete Google apps and accounts on the phone.
>
> It's so easy. But 999 out of 1000 people are afraid to break the rules.

I wouldn't mind experimenting on a spare phone. I don't want to risk my
primary phone. I used to keep my old phones, but not anymore. I'd have
to plan on saving an old phone on which to do the experiments.

Alas, after looking at new smartphones, I'm disappointed. Improved?
Yes, but still not enough bang for the buck. My phone was released back
in 2016, discontinued in 2019, and its maker, LG, left the mobile device
market. Yet it still works, and currently is my only phone, so not on
what I want to experiment. The way it looks now, I probably won't get
rid of (stow) my old and only phone until I'm forced to, like 4G gets
dropped (my phone doesn't support 5G), just like when I lost a Motorola
Razr flip phone years back when 2G died, and why I moved to my current
phone. If it still works, I keep using it. One of my 2 cars is 20
years old now. The other is 6 years old. Both work very well.

VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
>
> 23 web apps
> 1798 extensions
> 214 themes
> 101 Android apps (*)
>
> (*) Apparently you can get apps from the Google Play Store, too, as
> noted in their FAQ, but it doesn't look to be click-and-install simple.
>
> FydeOS is not a de-Google clone of Android. In fact, you can't even get
> a mobile version of FydeOS as noted at their pricing web page.
>
> However, other than getting the FydeOS yourself to setup on some
> hardware platform, the OP was looking at their pre-configured laptop
> which is vaporware.
>
> They are secretive as to on what base OS they wrote FydeOS. Best I can
> find is it is a tweaked de-Googled Chromium OS.

To reprise, it's Chrome/Chromium OS [*]. Chromium OS is not de-Googled in
the sense that the whole OS is driving you towards Google services: unlike
Android you can't do very much without a Google login. There are a few apps
(ok, 23 in the above list) which are frontends for other websites. It is
possible to use it entirely as a browser, ie no local apps, everything's a
webpage, in which case you could use other web sites apart from Google.

On Chromebooks with official Chrome OS it's possible to run Android apps,
but most third party Chromium OS systems can't run them. FydeOS does manage
to enable them, but if you install that subsystem via the FydeOS store it
does so by installing a series of Android compatibility libraries, *plus GSF
and the Play Store*. So now you have a double Googled device: Google stuff
in the Chrome OS and Google stuff in Android's GSF. This is a very long way
away from a degoogled device.

Theo

[*] I'm not clear on whether there is Google tracking in the base OS or not.