The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System • Hacker News Board

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#131

Post by m4rtink » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 10:28 PM UTC

fractalf wrote: post #63

cycomanic wrote: post #53

I wonder about SailfishOS, has anyone tried it recently? I used to own a Nokia N9 and it was the best mobile OS I've ever used, but unfortunately the N9 just stopped charging one day. I've always been thinking about trying Sailfish out again, but have not had a phone that was compatible for a while, so am wondering if I should just get a compatible device just to try.

I tried it on the PinePhone and instantly loved the UX. Unfortunately, like boudin said, it's not fully FOSS which is sad cause I really wished the "future" mobile alternative to Android/iOS would be something like this. Sailfish should open up their code fully, it would probably benefit them in the long rum

Yeah, I still personally think they got zero benefit from keeping the source closed. But as already mentioned up thread, some of their current investors might be a bit more conservative in these regards and they still need them to survive.

So oh well - at least we have something usable before some of the distros started on the PinePhone come off age. :)

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#132

Post by m4rtink » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 10:35 PM UTC

bitL wrote: post #87

cycomanic wrote: post #53

I wonder about SailfishOS, has anyone tried it recently? I used to own a Nokia N9 and it was the best mobile OS I've ever used, but unfortunately the N9 just stopped charging one day. I've always been thinking about trying Sailfish out again, but have not had a phone that was compatible for a while, so am wondering if I should just get a compatible device just to try.

I've just switched over from iPhone to SailfishOS running on Xperia 10ii (the most powerful device to run SailfishOS officially and the only 64-bit one). Reflashing firmware took about 20 minutes in total, no issues since except for the need to figure out how to install OpenRepos.net on it. It has a nice OLED screen (N9 vibe) and the on-screen keyboard makes it feel like typing on an N900; the camera works fine. I di…

I can also recommend Xperia 10 II with Sailfish OS, it works very well! :)

The installation took longer for me, but that was because I decided to change the default rootfs and home LV ratio, which included shrinking the LUKS container home lives on, which was a bit stricky, but I was successful in the end. :) Definitely not something 99.9% users would need to do but its still cool its possible. :)

As for Android support, I've installed that and it seems to work fine for the Android apps I've tried so far. Its apparently even possible to install MicroG or even full Google Play Services, if you have apps that need it.

Agreed, its a bit of a compromise if you want to use a non Google/Apple device in the first place, but still given that the Android emulation layer effectively lives in an isolated container, which you can also turn off at any time, its already quite a bit less intrusive than on an actual Android phone where it effectively permeates everything on the device like mycelium.

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#133

Post by m4rtink » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

usr1106 wrote: post #70

cycomanic wrote: post #53

I wonder about SailfishOS, has anyone tried it recently? I used to own a Nokia N9 and it was the best mobile OS I've ever used, but unfortunately the N9 just stopped charging one day. I've always been thinking about trying Sailfish out again, but have not had a phone that was compatible for a while, so am wondering if I should just get a compatible device just to try.

I use it. You can feel their severe development resource constraints everwhere. The browser is years behind. Native apps are rather limited. I bought the newest supported hardware 3.5 years ago. It is stuck at Android 4.4, which is supported by fewer and fewer apps. Whenever they support new HW, it takes quite a while to stabilize. Not sure what is the situation right now. My guess would be the newest supported HW is…

Latest supported hardware is Xperia 10 II, which is still quite recently and pretty fast (I got it myself).

Also, you can get the previously supported Xperia devices cheaply second hand. Just make sure it has an unlockable bootloader or else you won't be able to install Sailfish OS on it.

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#134

Post by m4rtink » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 10:39 PM UTC

tadfisher wrote: post #46

Apocryphon wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Nokia finally got it together with MeeGo, but then Elop had to sell the farm and hitch their horse to Windows. Tizen is reputedly of bad code quality, especially security-wise. Sailfish is still out there as Jolla scraps away. It’s a pity, as those projects did attract some powerful backers, who just weren’t very committed to them.

My favorite Daily WTF thread is about Samsung's adventures with the Enlightenment toolkit in Tizen: https://what.thedailywtf.com/topic/15001/enlightened

It's essentially a perfect description of a clash between a rather hardcore technical community with some academic/student background and a typical Korean Corporate conglomerate, with the expected end result.

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#135

Post by kaladin-jasnah » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 12:24 AM UTC

toast0 wrote: post #22

kaladin-jasnah wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There also seems to be an additional barrier of US carriers imminently requiring VoLTE, and in some cases only allowlisting a small number of models. Is this all carriers, or just some? I know that AT&T is the main one since I'm affected by it (their whitelist arbitrarily removes my OnePlus 6 from being supported this February despite the phone supporting VoLTE), but I heard that other carriers such as T-Mobile are…

As I understand it, US carriers already turned off 2G and are turning 3G off real soon now. If your phone doesn't do VoLTE and wants to do a voice call, that won't work when 3G is turned off.

AT&T takes it a step further. Only if my phone does do VoLTE and AT&T puts it on their magic whitelist (which you can bet, for example, is not going to have the PinePhone on it) am I going to be able to use my phone at all on AT&T's network (well, at least that's my understanding). Other carriers might not have a whitelist though—but I'm not sure.

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#136

Post by kgarten » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 12:39 AM UTC

xanaxagoras wrote: post #117

kgarten wrote: post #26

Switched to GrapheneOS with the Pixel 5. Email/Calendar integration works fine (K-9 Mail). Signal as instant messenger. Organic Maps as Map application. Replaced Apple Watch with GadgetBridge and a Mi 6 band (cheaper and I have easy access to all data, you need to sync once with their app after you get the key you can delete it ... did the setup on the iphone and copied out the key with a commandline python script fr…

I don't see Mi 6 Band at the device list on https://www.gadgetbridge.org/ . Was it difficult to setup?

Not really, as for other mi bands you need to get the pairing key. I followed the info here: https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Huami-...

live heartrate, activity + sleep data sync works out of the box. Notifications as well.

Weather Info and media player does not.

I'm mostly interested in the data export and share with other apps. Gadgetbridge is amazing :)

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#137

Post by usr1106 » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 12:55 AM UTC

bitL wrote: post #89

usr1106 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use it. You can feel their severe development resource constraints everwhere. The browser is years behind. Native apps are rather limited. I bought the newest supported hardware 3.5 years ago. It is stuck at Android 4.4, which is supported by fewer and fewer apps. Whenever they support new HW, it takes quite a while to stabilize. Not sure what is the situation right now. My guess would be the newest supported HW is…

Latest Sailfish OS has Android 10 support.

The latest Sailfish OS release is supported on all HW generations except the first Jolla phone. But the Android version you get depends on your HW. Only the newest HW generation gets a newer Android. All previous HW generations stay at version 4.4 despite the Sailfish OS upgrade.

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#138

Post by emacsen » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 1:43 AM UTC

chrismorgan wrote: post #90

emacsen wrote: post #25

Author here. Feel free to ask any questions.

Why do you spell Purism’s phone “LibreM”, when they spell it “Librem”? (It’s common for people to heedlessly miscapitalise, spelling ProductName as Productname or vice versa, which I can’t really get my head around as it’s not the way my mind ticks, but you’re in the much more interesting category of people consistently applying a more esoteric miscapitalisation, and I’m curious what leads to it. I’m trying to unders…

I thought it was the LibreM. shrug

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#139

Post by emacsen » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

ellis0n wrote: post #83

emacsen wrote: post #25

Author here. Feel free to ask any questions.

Amazing reading! I working on the Animation CPU mobile OS toolkit for creating custom secure OSes and apps from scratch. t has everything geek and non-geek development needs, a minimalistic core and api, builtin ide with realtime reverse debugger, code and nocode, powerful graphics, runs on linux, ios, webasm or pure hardware, etc. But here is an issue, it's not public and not open-source. Сan you advise me where to…

My only suggestion right now mitght be to read my friend Karl's book. "Producing Open Source Software", which has a bunch on community.

Or Jono Bacon's book "The Art of Community" is also good.

One thing you may find, sadly, is that with SOO many projects out there, yours might not get a lot of fellow developers.

But this sounds like a wonderful idea for a project!

Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System

#140

Post by chrismorgan » Thu, Aug 26, 2021, 1:59 AM UTC

emacsen wrote: post #138

chrismorgan wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you spell Purism’s phone “LibreM”, when they spell it “Librem”? (It’s common for people to heedlessly miscapitalise, spelling ProductName as Productname or vice versa, which I can’t really get my head around as it’s not the way my mind ticks, but you’re in the much more interesting category of people consistently applying a more esoteric miscapitalisation, and I’m curious what leads to it. I’m trying to unders…

I thought it was the LibreM. shrug

Interesting. I’m curious if you can guess what led you think that, since I don’t think I’ve ever seen that spelling anywhere.