Bringing the Android kernel back to the mainline

Post by izacus » Wed, Nov 21, 2018, 8:49 AM UTC

bubblethink wrote: post #54

izacus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article actually addresses that - why would Google (or Samsung or anyone really) risk device issues by doing this kind of upgrade? What is there to gain on a running device except angry users due to breakages of already working functionality? There's an upwards trend of people DISABLING updates because they tend to break tools they use in daily lives.

>What is there to gain on a running device except angry users due to breakages of already working functionality? That's true, but regular distros are also faced with the same dilemma, and you see both cases. RH will patch a kernel to death ship of Theseus style for a decade, whereas Canonical offers newer stable kernel releases (although they also maintain the original kernel that the distro shipped with). Canonical…

Post by Jnr » Wed, Nov 21, 2018, 9:35 AM UTC

fartcannon wrote: post #66

pdimitar wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems we're on the same page but we argued different parts. IMO the original statement implied some ill will from Apple -- a myth that has been debunked pretty quickly. That's what I was arguing against.

Oh get off it. Either Apple didn't know they were ruining last gen phones, which means they're incompetent at best or they knew and chose to do it anyways which makes them actively malicious.

Post by scns » Wed, Nov 21, 2018, 9:44 AM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #80

pedrocr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't that Apple isn't good at doing updates. The very next sentence points out explicitly that they do that above and beyond everyone else in the space. The point is that you're locked in to a specific HW+SW ecosystem at the mercy of the vendor. If you like that ecosystem that may be great service to you, I'm pointing out that the #1 computing platform has only that choice and that's not the case in all th…

And the suggestion for the best way to run Lineage OS was to buy a phone from Google - so you’re locked in to buying one phone from one manufacturer.

Post by Vinnl » Wed, Nov 21, 2018, 10:53 AM UTC

nextos wrote: post #31

pedrocr wrote: post #12

When I buy a laptop I install whatever is the latest version of Ubuntu on it and am done. When I buy an access point I install whatever is the latest version of OpenWrt on it and am done. I've tried to do the same thing with phones using LineageOS but it's hopeless. Devices are often half broken and are never guaranteed to continue being supported because of this kernel mess. It seems there's slow progress being made…

There's a compromise solution to achieve something equivalent. And I say so after having tried many possibilities. Buy a Pixel or any other phone that supports AOSP (Sony does too, with some caveats) and install plain AOSP. It's not perfect as you need a bit of infrastructure to compile it yourself and keep OTA updates. But it's the most practical secure and privacy-respecting option, I think.

Post by kingosticks » Wed, Nov 21, 2018, 11:16 AM UTC

snazz wrote: post #64

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, iPhone 3g is ancient. Released 2008. If I get an x86 laptop from 2008, I can install a modern Ubuntu on it with approximately 0 effort. If anything, it'll usually be better than cutting-edge hardware because the drivers have already been developed and released in a stable Linux version. iOS still loses this comparison.

This. I managed to build recent Linux on a Pentium MMX Mobile (IIRC) laptop from 1998. A cell phone from 5 years ago can't handle a modern operating system, but a 1998 laptop can run Xorg just fine.