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Librem 5 USA

puri.sm

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Re: Librem 5 USA

#91

Post by seba_dos1 »

wander_homer wrote: post #81
fghtr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Librem 5 costs that much: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground/ Upd: quote from the Purism forum: "First hardware kill switches; first replaceable cellular modem and Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth (on M.2 cards); first smart card reader (for 2FF OpenPGP card); first running 100% free software; only current phone to offer convergence as PC without special hardware" https://forums.puri.sm/t/will-the-librem-5-be-a-white-elepha..…

> first running 100% free software That's false, the phone requires non-free software for things like the modem to work.

It does not; from the system perspective it's just a USB-on-M.2 peripheral that works perfectly well with free software such as Linux, libqmi, ModemManager, oFono or fsogsmd.

You don't usually say "printing requires non-free software" just because your USB printer runs some non-free firmware inside, even though it's technically true.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#92

Post by newnewpdro »

criddell wrote: post #68
newnewpdro wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because no such baseband module exists.

Is that one module more complicated than the entire rest of the phone that the Purism team has already put together?

Yes, Purism doesn't (and can't) make such components, they're a system integrator at best.

Intel recently sold their cellular modem division to Apple for $1B. That would be an example organization capable of producing a baseband.

https://apnews.com/c77b1824b5094ac3ac82f6836134f592

Re: Librem 5 USA

#93

Post by seba_dos1 »

kop316 wrote: post #88
lostgame wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why the downvotes, here - it’s incredibly valid that a phone of this price should be able to place a normal phone call - it also should’ve been a priority for the developers.

The down votes are because it can place and receive phone calls, there is just a bug that doesn't allow audio on the call. EDIT: according to someone below, that bug is fixed too. In addition, the backers getting the phone now were explicitly told that the software isn't polished yet, and that they are getting beta hardware. The backers were offered also to be allowed to wait for a later batch if they wanted to. It d…

Also, you can already get call audio working if you get latest packages from git or CI.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#94

Post by kop316 »

seba_dos1 wrote: post #93
kop316 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The down votes are because it can place and receive phone calls, there is just a bug that doesn't allow audio on the call. EDIT: according to someone below, that bug is fixed too. In addition, the backers getting the phone now were explicitly told that the software isn't polished yet, and that they are getting beta hardware. The backers were offered also to be allowed to wait for a later batch if they wanted to. It d…

Also, you can already get call audio working if you get latest packages from git or CI.

Ohh good to know! I'm not in any hurry so I will just wait for the official updates.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#95

Post by lilSebastian »

blihp wrote: post #52
icefog wrote: post #12

I'm unsold on spending $2,000 or even $700 on a new phone, but I also care deeply about privacy and security. Is there any strong reason to choose "Librem" over a cheaper Android running LineageOS or GrapheneOS? They can be purchased for a fraction of the cost and have been quite reliable for me.

Any Linux phone is going to be expensive vs. an Android phone for what you're going to get given the low unit volumes. For some, privacy is worth a premium. For others, the ability to just run Linux will be. That said, I'm probably going to go for the PinePhone as I just don't see the value add of the Librem. $2k is nuts for the dubious value of assembling a device in the U.S. (both because of our current issues and…

> Any Linux phone is going to be expensive vs. an Android phone

$150 is fairly comparable

https://store.pine64.org/?product=pinephone-braveheart-limit...

Re: Librem 5 USA

#96

Post by ocdtrekkie »

icefog wrote: post #73
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AOSP is not an open source project, despite the name. It is an export of the parts of the proprietary Android project which Google sees fit to release to the general public. Android is developed in secret and then the AOSP version is exported out of it. As such, AOSP is definitely still very much "made by an ad company".

AOSP is absolutely open source: the code can be viewed, modified, built and deployed as desired. There's good reason to be skeptical of Google-developed software, but your characterization of AOSP as "not open source" is simply not tenable.

Android versions in development are not open to contributions or community participation. Android is developed in secret behind closed doors. The end product AOSP spits out is open source, but to call it an open source project would be an extreme mischaracterization. And it is developed by Google, an ad company, not the community that eventually uses it.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#97

Post by icefog »

paulcarroty wrote: post #90
icefog wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is no matter what custom flavor of Android you run, you are still running an OS made by an ad company designed from the ground up to spy on you. LineageOS and GrapheneOS are based on AOSP, which is an open source project not really "made by an ad company". I agree with your latter point about supporting their hardware and typically buy used phones/computer for that same reason.

Does LineageOS & GrapheneOS provides source code for all closed kernel drivers include modems? How many people they can assign for serious Android security audit (>million lines of code)? So, better be realistic about resources. Lineage even used Google DNS & Google internet checkers a lot of time, and probably uses it now. And I even don't started talking about general Google Play store apps, sending user data to Ch…

What does any of this have to do with whether or not AOSP is open source? The Play Store isn't even part of AOSP nor Lineage/Graphene, so the point of that tangent is even less clear.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#98

Post by unlinked_dll »

kop316 wrote: post #88
lostgame wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why the downvotes, here - it’s incredibly valid that a phone of this price should be able to place a normal phone call - it also should’ve been a priority for the developers.

The down votes are because it can place and receive phone calls, there is just a bug that doesn't allow audio on the call. EDIT: according to someone below, that bug is fixed too. In addition, the backers getting the phone now were explicitly told that the software isn't polished yet, and that they are getting beta hardware. The backers were offered also to be allowed to wait for a later batch if they wanted to. It d…

That's absurdly pedantic. If it can't use audio during a phone call, then the device is incapable of making phone calls.

That's like arguing you have a functioning heart because it's connected to your veins but can't pump blood.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#100

Post by tluyben2 »

seba_dos1 wrote: post #91
wander_homer wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> first running 100% free software That's false, the phone requires non-free software for things like the modem to work.

It does not; from the system perspective it's just a USB-on-M.2 peripheral that works perfectly well with free software such as Linux, libqmi, ModemManager, oFono or fsogsmd. You don't usually say "printing requires non-free software" just because your USB printer runs some non-free firmware inside, even though it's technically true.

> You don't usually say

Some people (me as well) do. It is very frustrating that we have this legacy thing where any radio devices are ‘protected’ like this.

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