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Progress on /e/, the de-Googled Android fork

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Re: Progress on /e/, the de-Googled Android fork

#6
> We are also announcing this week an “/e/ easy installer” that will make the flashing process much more easier, by pluging the smartphone to a PC and launching a dedicated application that will make most of the job.

Why do phones require device-specific builds and ROM flashing just to install a different OS? Why isn't there a phone out there with a normal boot loader that allows me to install whatever OS I want like I can on a PC?

I have a perfectly good phone, but I know I'm going to have to buy a new one eventually just because the manufacturer will stop supporting the hardware. Meanwhile, I have decades-old PCs that are running just fine.

Privacy is important. Removing Google from the picture is great. But I don't see this, LineageOS, or anything else taking off until we have a more accessible solution for installing mobile operating systems. An application that streamlines the flashing process is nice, but I don't think that's enough.

Re: Progress on /e/, the de-Googled Android fork

#8
post #6

> We are also announcing this week an “/e/ easy installer” that will make the flashing process much more easier, by pluging the smartphone to a PC and launching a dedicated application that will make most of the job. Why do phones require device-specific builds and ROM flashing just to install a different OS? Why isn't there a phone out there with a normal boot loader that allows me to install whatever OS I want like…

>Why do phones require device-specific builds and ROM flashing just to install a different OS?

Capitalism. And reasons that Google/Apple want you locked to their operating system, their hardware.

Prove me wrong.

Re: Progress on /e/, the de-Googled Android fork

#9
post #6

> We are also announcing this week an “/e/ easy installer” that will make the flashing process much more easier, by pluging the smartphone to a PC and launching a dedicated application that will make most of the job. Why do phones require device-specific builds and ROM flashing just to install a different OS? Why isn't there a phone out there with a normal boot loader that allows me to install whatever OS I want like…

The problem's not the bootloader (pretty much all Android kernels use the same bootloader format), it's that the hardware introspectable by software, and the device tree passed in to make up for that isn't designed to be used by anybody other than the OEM in the first place.

It's like the days of when Linux didnt support ACPI well, but now everything is behind ACPI tables instead of PCI config space.

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