Linux Based ROMs are Now Available for Nothing Phone 1

While Nothing Phone 1 isn’t shy of custom ROMs, as it has been blessed with quite a few AOSP ones, however, a few tech enthusiasts were eagerly awaiting the Linux-based ROMs. Well, it seems their prayers have finally been answered as not one, not two, but three Linux ROMs have just made their way, with two of them shipping in with the Waydroid support as well.

For the unaware, this means you can easily run most of your Android apps [APKs] in the Linux ecosystem. Likewise, these ROMs use the Android libraries/binaries through libhybris. So, without any further ado, let’s make you aware of the features, bugs, and installation steps of these ROMs. Follow along.

  • Linux Based ROMs are Now Available for Nothing Phone 1 The Prerequisites
  • How to Install Ubuntu Touch ROM on Nothing Phone 1 What Works Bugs Unsupported [Can’t/Won’t Fix] Download Ubuntu Touch Screenshots How to Install Ubuntu Touch on Nothing Phone 1 How to Install WayDroid Tips How to Go Back to Nothing OS
  • How to Flash Linux Droidion ROM on Nothing Phone 1 What Works What Doesn’t Unsupported [Can’t/Won’t Fix] Bugs Download Linux Droidion ROM for Nothing Phone 1 Screenshots Installation Steps How to Install WayDroid Tips How to Go Back to Nothing OS
  • How to Flash Linux PostMarketOS on Nothing Phone 1 What Works What Doesn’t Bugs Download PostMarketOS for Nothing Phone 1 Installation Steps How to Go Back to Nothing OS

Linux Based ROMs are Now Available for Nothing Phone 1

nothing phone 1 linux rom - 1

All these three ROMs have been developed by XDA Senior Member Nonta72, so the entire credit goes to him. Moreover, before starting, please take a complete device backup. Likewise, you should be on the stock Nothing OS; custom ROMs as a base will not work. Droidwin and its members wouldn’t be held responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or if anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps.

The Prerequisites

These requirements are common for all the three Linux-based Custom ROMs.

  1. First off, download and extract the Android SDK Platform Tool.
  2. Then enable USB Debugging & OEM Unlocking on your device.
  3. Now unlock the bootloader on your device and connect it to PC.
  4. Then open Command Prompt inside platform-tools and type in adb reboot bootloader
  5. This will boot the device to the Fastboot Mode. Verify it using: fastboot devices
  6. If you don’t get any serial ID, then install the Fastboot Drivers.

We are now done with the requirements. You may now refer to the desired Linux based ROM and flash it onto your Nothing Phone 1.

How to Install Ubuntu Touch ROM on Nothing Phone 1

What Works

[] Display (60Hz only for now) [] GPU acceleration [] Manual brightness [] Touchscreen [] RIL (SMS and calls) [] Mobile data (tested up to 4G, I don’t have 5G) [] USB SSH [] Ubports recovery with adb [] Touchscreen in recovery mode [] Wi-Fi [] BT (BT audio too) [] Flight mode [] NFC [] GPS [] Earphones [] Loudspeaker [] Microphone [] Volume control with volume keys [] Double-tap to wake [] Flashlight [] Hardware video playback [] AppArmor [] Online and offline charging [] RTC Time [] Shutdown / Reboot [] Auto-rotation [] Secure lockscreen [] Camera (front & back) [] Video recording [] Waydroid & Libertine containers [] Sensor (Accelerometer/Gyroscope) [] Wireless external display [] MTP & ADB in userspace (you must be on a Linux host to access MTP) [] Vibration (partially working)

Bugs

[] 90Hz and 120Hz display refresh rate [] Tap/Double-tap to wake is broken on Ubuntu 24.04

[] Camera quality is far behind Android (also limited to 12MP) [] Battery life isn’t as on Android (but still good enough) [*] Auto-brightness work,s but it’s not stable/accurate

Unsupported [Can’t/Won’t Fix]

[] UDFPS (Underdispay fingerprint is apparently not supported by UT) [] Glyphs interface (not sure how to fix these) [*] Dual SIM functionality (only 1 SIM at a time)

Download Ubuntu Touch

You may now get hold of the ROM from below:

  • Ubuntu Touch 24.04 (LATEST): DOWNLOAD

Screenshots

linux ubuntu touch nothing phone 1 - 2

How to Install Ubuntu Touch on Nothing Phone 1

  1. Download and extract the ROM using 7-ZIP on Windows.
  2. If you’re on Linux, then extract it via the below command: tar xvf rom-name.tar.xz
  3. Now boot the device to Fastboot mode [as explained above]
  4. Then double-click on FlashUT_on_Windows.bat to install the firmware (if you’re on Windows).
  5. If you’re on Linux, open a Terminal and navigate to the folder where you have extracted the firmware, and then run ./FlashUT_on_Linux.sh
  6. The flashing will now start and could take a few minutes.
  7. Once done, the device will automatically boot to the OS.

How to Install WayDroid

Simply download and install the Waydroid Helper app from Open Store and follow the on-screen instructions.

Tips

  • Never wipe data in Recovery Mode or use the “Reset” option in Ubuntu Touch settings! This will delete your rootfs, and you’ll need to push ubuntu.img to /data again.
  • The keyboard tap sounds still play even in silent mode. So, you should maybe just disable it (disabled by default).
  • After opening the camera app for the first time, you may see a black screen. Just close it and open it again.

How to Go Back to Nothing OS

To revert to NothingOS, boot your device to Fastboot and flash the stock boot.img and vendor_boot.img file. Then reboot your device. It will ask for a factory reset, do so [compulsory], after which, the device will boot to the stock OS.

How to Flash Linux Droidion ROM on Nothing Phone 1

What Works

[] Display (60Hz only for now) [] GPU acceleration [] Manual brightness [] Touchscreen [] RIL (SMS and calls) [] Mobile data (tested up to 4G, I don’t have 5G) [] Ubports recovery with adb [] Touchscreen in recovery mode [] Wi-Fi [] BT (BT audio too) [] Flight mode [] GPS [] Earphones [] Loudspeaker (buggy! see bugs section) [] Microphone [] Flashlight (buggy! see bugs section) [] Hardware video playback [] AppArmor [] Online and offline charging [] RTC Time [] Shutdown / Reboot [] Auto-rotation (4-way rotation) [] Secure lockscreen [] Front and back cameras [] Video recording (buggy! see bugs section) [] Waydroid [] Sensor (Accelerometer/Gyroscope) [] Vibration

What Doesn’t

[*] 90Hz and 120Hz display refresh rate

Unsupported [Can’t/Won’t Fix]

[] Underdispay fingerprint []Glyphs (not sure how to fix these) [*]Dual SIM functionality (only 1 SIM at a time)

Bugs

[*] Camera quality is far behind Android (also limited to 12MP). The default camera app is really bad! You can install Ubuntu Touch camera from the terminal with “sudo apt install lomiri-camera-app”. Or just install your favorite camera app from the Google Play Store inside the Waydroid container. The default Android camera in Waydroid works better.

[*] Battery life isn’t as on Android (but still good enough)

[*] Volume changes doesn’t work. When you press on volume buttons, the UI shows changes but the actual volume stays at 100%. So, it’s either 0% or 100%.

[*] Video recording with droidian-camera or lomiri-camera-app is really bad and unstable. You should just use an Android Camera app for recording.

[*] Flashlight from status bar doesn’t work sometimes. You have to activate and deactivate it to get it working. Also flashlight intensity change doesn’t work.

[*] Auto-brightness works but it’s not stable/accurate.

Download Linux Droidion ROM for Nothing Phone 1

You may now get hold of the ROM file from the below link:

  • DOWNLOAD

Screenshots

Linux Based ROMs are Now Available for Nothing Phone 1 - 3 Linux Based ROMs are Now Available for Nothing Phone 1 - 4

Installation Steps

  1. Download the ROM from above and extract it on your PC.
  2. You may extract it via TAR on Linux or 7-ZIP on Windows.
  3. Now boot your device to Fastboot mode [as explained above].
  4. For Windows users, double-click on Flash_on_Windows.bat to launch the Installer.
  5. For Linux, navigate to the folder containing the extracted files and run ./Flash_on_Linux.sh
  6. Once the installation is done, you’ll see the Droidian logo for a few seconds and then a black screen. That’s expected.
  7. After that, the device will boot to the newly flashed OS.

How to Install WayDroid

Simply download and install the Waydroid Helper app from Open Store and follow the on-screen instructions.

Tips

  • Never wipe data in Recovery Mode or use the “Reset” option in Ubuntu Touch settings! This will delete your rootfs, and you’ll need to push ubuntu.img to /data again.
  • The keyboard tap sounds still play even in silent mode. So, you should maybe just disable it (disabled by default).
  • After opening the camera app for the first time, you may see a black screen. Just close it and open it again.

How to Go Back to Nothing OS

To revert to NothingOS, boot your device to Fastboot and flash the stock boot.img and vendor_boot.img file. Then reboot your device. It will ask for a factory reset, do so [compulsory], after which, the device will boot to the stock OS.

How to Flash Linux PostMarketOS on Nothing Phone 1

What Works

Almost Everything

What Doesn’t

– Fingerprint – Auto-brightness – Of course, the glyphs don’t work, and I highly doubt they ever will – Probably more (needs testing)

Bugs

– On some DE, wifi disconnects frequently. Use the latest builds with the GNOME Mobile DE or Plasma Mobile – General UI lags on all DE – Camera quality is horrible – Probably more, depending on which DE you choose.

Download PostMarketOS for Nothing Phone 1

  1. Go to the ROM’s GitHub page and head to its Actions tab.
  2. Click on the most recent successful nightly build.
  3. Scroll down and download the “nothing-spacewar-testing” archive.
  4. You’ll get an .xz file. Unpack it using TAR on Linux/Unix or 7-ZIP on Windows.
  5. You should get a boot.img and a rootfs-nothing-spacewar.img.

Installation Steps

  1. Open CMD inside platform-tools and use the below command to perform a reset: fastboot -w
  2. Then flash the boot.img file via the below command: fastboot flash boot boot-nothing-spacewar.img
  3. Now flash the rootfs to the userdata partition via fastboot flash userdata rootfs-nothing-spacewar.img
  4. Now erase vendor_boot and dtbo via the commands: fastboot erase vendor_boot and then fastboot erase dtbo
  5. Now type in the below command to boot to the newly flashed OS: fastboot reboot NOTE: The default password for login is 9229

How to Go Back to Nothing OS

To revert to NothingOS, boot your device to Fastboot and flash the stock boot.img and vendor_boot.img file. Then reboot your device. It will ask for a factory reset, do so [compulsory], after which, the device will boot to the stock OS.

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