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Using only open-source software on Android

androidpolice.com

41–50 of 84 posts

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#41

> There are no FOSS clients for Plex, Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify. Hm... there's a client that is suspiciously absent from that list... > In other words, I couldn't listen to any of my music, unless I copied the MP3 files from my Plex server to the phone's internal storage. I couldn't stream any TV shows or movies, either. Ok, that's just technically inaccurate. The author didn't want to use a particular open-source ap…

What client are you referring to?

I've used VLC on android to stream media from my DLNA server. Is that what you're talking about? Or is there a better solution available? (I've found VLC to be unstable in this configuration, it often crashes for reasons I haven't yet bothered to dig into.)

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#42
post #41

> There are no FOSS clients for Plex, Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify. Hm... there's a client that is suspiciously absent from that list... > In other words, I couldn't listen to any of my music, unless I copied the MP3 files from my Plex server to the phone's internal storage. I couldn't stream any TV shows or movies, either. Ok, that's just technically inaccurate. The author didn't want to use a particular open-source ap…

What client are you referring to? I've used VLC on android to stream media from my DLNA server. Is that what you're talking about? Or is there a better solution available? (I've found VLC to be unstable in this configuration, it often crashes for reasons I haven't yet bothered to dig into.)

Maybe Kodi?

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#44
post #19
post #6

"...and Firefox on Android still isn't a great experience..." As a daily FF on Android user, I am not sure what he is finding issues with. I wish he would elaborate so his issues can get fixed.

I have a Nexus 6 updated with the latest OS version and FF. I spend about 90% of my browsing time on HN, LinkedIn, and a couple of miscellaneous other news sites. I observe the following problems: Loss of UI, where the only thing I see is either a white or black screen. Swiping up or down as if to scroll or refresh "peels back" some of this to reveal the web page underneath, but it doesn't become functional unless I…

i think this is an oreo issue if u just google "oreo lag android" many things will pop up

do this

go to developer options > opengl > OpenGL Skia

also through boot recovery delete chache my nexus 5x became much faster

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#45
post #19
post #6

"...and Firefox on Android still isn't a great experience..." As a daily FF on Android user, I am not sure what he is finding issues with. I wish he would elaborate so his issues can get fixed.

I have a Nexus 6 updated with the latest OS version and FF. I spend about 90% of my browsing time on HN, LinkedIn, and a couple of miscellaneous other news sites. I observe the following problems: Loss of UI, where the only thing I see is either a white or black screen. Swiping up or down as if to scroll or refresh "peels back" some of this to reveal the web page underneath, but it doesn't become functional unless I…

I'm on a Note 3 (great phone, 5 years old) with a Snapdragon 800 vs your Snapdragon 805. Seems we both have 3GB RAM.

I do notice that links in FF are harder to hit accurately compared to Chromium - am guessing Chromium increases the hit area on buttons or uses some intelligence to look for the button closest to a touch... because it seems like it's just being forgiving on my sloppy touches (as opposed to FF being inaccurate). Admittedly a better UX in that respect regardless.

Otherwise I don't have any of these issues, FF is completely smooth for me. I wonder if you have some other software causing a problem, maybe FF add-ons?

(EDIT: I'm also on LineageOS 14.1 which is based on Nougat so maybe the sibling comment about Oreo is onto something)

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#46
post #21

A much better rule imo, which I've had success with, is "no software from the Big Five" rather than FOSS-only. This has a bigger impact on actual privacy concerns and gives you more leeway when it comes to media apps, etc.

Sorry, which are the Big Five? Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon... Apple?

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#47
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm. I recently wanted to try Chrome for Android but after several vibrating ads I migrated back to Firefox.

Interesting, I've only ever seen these on Pornhub... ;)

Interesting, I've only ever seen Pornhub on Pornhub... ;)

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#49
I tried this for a while and I consider the experiment failed.

No closed source means no Whatsapp, etc. Let's face reality, no-one is using XMPP ;)

In the end I started the policy "Prefer open-source software on Android", which works pretty well:

* Note taking using orgzly

* Tasks using opentasks (https://github.com/dmfs/opentasks)

* File Sync using Syncthing

* Contacts, Calendar using davdroid & nextcloud

* Firefox for browsing (this is a no-brainer)

Re: Using only open-source software on Android

#50
post #49

I tried this for a while and I consider the experiment failed. No closed source means no Whatsapp, etc. Let's face reality, no-one is using XMPP ;) In the end I started the policy "Prefer open-source software on Android", which works pretty well: * Note taking using orgzly * Tasks using opentasks ( https://github.com/dmfs/opentasks ) * File Sync using Syncthing * Contacts, Calendar using davdroid & nextcloud * Firefo…

Try Telegram instead of WhatsApp. It's a good drop-in replacement.
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