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A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

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Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#22

I'm a FP3 and /e/ user for about half a year now. And well, it works for me but frankly there are some issues. Nothing I'm not willing to take, but it's different to the premium android device with google services before. The Appstore provides some apps. But not all of them and some are quite outdated. They seem to get their APKs from https://info.cleanapk.org/ . Some apps just don't work or stop reacting to touches.…

I am also a Fairphone 3 user but I don't notice many issues. Are you sure you are updating /e/ ? I am on verions 0.11 now and it is very rare to have a crash or something else. I also believe apps are updated quite frequently now.

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#23

/e/ is a great idea, but it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth how the /e/ foundation hides the contributions of the free software projects they rely on. https://microg.org/ is the core that makes it possible to create the /e/ distribution, but good luck finding that in any of /e/'s promotional material.

References to LineageOS (which /e/ is a fork of) and microG can be found on their "Getting Started" page [1]. I wouldn't call that "hiding". Also, don't they fund microG development since a couple of weeks?

I too am critical towards /e/ because I think that they have done very little own work for now. But hiding their reliance on other OSS projects isn't something I'd call them out for.

[1]: https://e.foundation/get-started/

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#24
post #3

Off topic: how is one supposed to search for "/e/"? Is there some alternative spelling? On topic: I like that /e/ foundation is selling new and refurbished phones with the OS installed. It (hopefully) gives them some income and it helps get this OS in hands of users who would rather not tempt the goddess of bricks.

I think searching e foundation is the easiest.

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#25

/e/ is a great idea, but it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth how the /e/ foundation hides the contributions of the free software projects they rely on. https://microg.org/ is the core that makes it possible to create the /e/ distribution, but good luck finding that in any of /e/'s promotional material.

From the FAQ: "/e/ is forked from LineageOS. We’ve modified several parts of the system (and we’re just getting started): installation procedure, settings organization, default settings. We’ve disabled and/or removed any software or services that were sending personal data to Google (for instance, the default search engine is no longer Google). We’ve integrated microG by default, have replaced some of the default applications, and modified others. We have added a synchronization background software service that syncs multimedia contents (pictures, videos, audio, files…) and settings to a cloud drive, when activated."

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#26
post #23

/e/ is a great idea, but it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth how the /e/ foundation hides the contributions of the free software projects they rely on. https://microg.org/ is the core that makes it possible to create the /e/ distribution, but good luck finding that in any of /e/'s promotional material.

References to LineageOS (which /e/ is a fork of) and microG can be found on their "Getting Started" page [1]. I wouldn't call that "hiding". Also, don't they fund microG development since a couple of weeks? I too am critical towards /e/ because I think that they have done very little own work for now. But hiding their reliance on other OSS projects isn't something I'd call them out for. [1]: https://e.foundation/get-…

They were removing LineageOS headers from files and when called out just added "and others" instead.

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#27

/e/ is a great idea, but it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth how the /e/ foundation hides the contributions of the free software projects they rely on. https://microg.org/ is the core that makes it possible to create the /e/ distribution, but good luck finding that in any of /e/'s promotional material.

Searching for microg, excluding gitlab and the forum, returns over 1100 results (with google):

site:e.foundation -site:community.e.foundation -site:gitlab.e.foundation "microg"

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#28
The e.foundation home page caters to users without any technical knowledge, which is great but I'm not sure users of alternative mobile operating systems are quite there yet. It's not even immediately obvious this is Android-based.

It would be useful to list some more specifics. Is this built on LineageOS? Does it come with their own cloud services? Can you opt out of that? How close do you track LineageOS?

The video shows someone installing the Facebook app. That puts a limit to how de-googled this could possibly be. How are those products distributed? Can anything from the Play store be installed the same way?

Happy user of LineageOS here, but there is definitively room for a more complete system with best of breed open source apps installed for those services most people require (mail, chat, maps etc.). Alternative application stores makes me wary however, F-Droid does an admirable job but compared to something like Debian they are still tiny.

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#29
post #3

Off topic: how is one supposed to search for "/e/"? Is there some alternative spelling? On topic: I like that /e/ foundation is selling new and refurbished phones with the OS installed. It (hopefully) gives them some income and it helps get this OS in hands of users who would rather not tempt the goddess of bricks.

Is this in any way related to Enlightenment which also styled the "e" similarly?

Re: A look at /e/OS on the FairPhone 3 – a FOSS OS for phones [video]

#30
post #18
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If FOSS can not cater to people with special needs per definition, as you seem to imply, I will have to stop advocating it altogether. If advocating for FOSS means supporting a movement that is not willing to bridge the gap and fight against digital divide, we need to stop doing so. Technology is the best chance for people with disabilities to catch up in our society. If we take that aware from them, we are not doing…

Your comment shows a fundamental misunderstanding of F/LOSS. It's a movement for software's freedom and consequently users' freedom. Programmers from all over the world work on their free time on projects, some foundations exist supported by individual donations and companies' funding. Some companies release their code as F/LOSS. There is no single entity that dictates what software is built and moreover people worki…

That's open source, not FLOSS. Open Source is a pragmatic movement that simply believes in open collaboration. FLOSS is a much more activist movement, many of who's proponents believe that proprietary software is inherently wrong and an abuse of users. That's not really a tenable position to take when the FLOSS ecosystem so regularly fails users with assisted needs.
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