The Pixel 3a is where ferdiOS is developed. It is the device the kernel tree is built against first, the one every nightly image is smoke-tested on, and the one to buy if you want the fewest surprises.
It helps that Google shipped it with an unlockable bootloader, published the factory images, and then sold so many of them that a working handset now costs less than a decent keyboard. Nothing about this port required a single leaked blob.
Installing
Enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging in Android’s developer options, then unlock the bootloader. This wipes the device.
fastboot flashing unlock
Download the newest passing build for pixel3a from the Images page and write it to the
boot and system partitions.
xz -d ferdios-pixel3a.img.xz
fastboot flash boot ferdios-pixel3a-boot.img
fastboot flash system ferdios-pixel3a.img
fastboot reboot
The first boot resizes the root filesystem and takes two or three minutes. Log in as
ferdi with the password printed on the console.
Known issues
- The fingerprint reader has no driver and is unlikely to get one.
- VoLTE is unavailable, so calls fall back to 3G where carriers still run it, and fail where they do not.
- The front camera is not wired up in
libvermeeryet.