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Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

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Re: Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

#11

Post by matrix12 »

jrockway wrote: post #8
rvz wrote: post #7

> while we're picky about free software on our laptops, desktops and servers lots of us have a truck load full of proprietary software in their pocket every day. Does it have to be that way? It doesn't have to be like this, but it is also not 'early days' anymore and we have given this idea lots of time to gain any meaningful traction and it's very clear that there is almost no interest from the wider industry. Thus,…

Is this the one time people should be calling it GNU/Linux?

Very fine point. GNU runs on many operating systems, and so to conflate GNU and Linux seems absurd.

Re: Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

#14

Post by orangepurple »

Arch Linux ARM can be installed on Android with Termux

I run scipy and numpy on my phone with it. A bit painful because I can only see about six lines of code at a time but I wrote a few thousand lines of ML code with vim on my cell phone in the last two months.

https://github.com/SDRausty/termux-archlinux/

Re: Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

#15

Post by mulmen »

JCWasmx86 wrote: post #6
rbanffy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm... Android is Linux.

Just the kernel is Linux, but with the "Linux" that is meant here, it has basically nothing in common, be it e.g. in the userland or "the spirit". The Linux from "Linux Smartphones" e.g. fosters an open, user-first ecosystem, as opposed to the often very closed and locked Android Smartphones. Another examples are e.g. Safetynet or the Google Play Integrity API. Those primarily don't server the users. Or apps that eit…

Linux is only a kernel. What most people mean when they say “Linux” is actually “Linux distribution” which is the Linux kernel plus some userland like GNU or Android.

Re: Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

#16

Post by Havoc »

Inclined to say no - mainly because of the camera. The gap between ability to mechanically take a pic and what the flagships are doing with AI driven post processing seems not only big but growing.

Short of die hard linux/FOSS fans noticably worse pics is going to be an absolute show stopper

Re: Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

#17

Post by what-imright »

matrix12 wrote: post #10
rbanffy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm... Android is Linux.

I think they conflate GNU with Linux kernel.

Why is the title “Is there hope for linux on smartphones?”?

If it said “Is there hope for GNU on smartphones?” the answer would be a resounding no, because the community is fractured and politicized to the degree the products are uncompetitive. Pinephone is an example. Then there was the Ubuntu effort.

Android, being partly closed as the GPL2 allows for, is proof that Linux can be highly successful without the GNU crowd. And perhaps they should stop taking credit for software they didn’t write. They made the license.

For all the complaining, the free software community hasn’t designed from the ground up and released one single production class handset alternative at a time when the culture consumes in the billions. That’s says a lot. The infighting and utopian idealistic virtue signaling is in sharp contrast to the reality of the platforms the GNU crowd has built.

Re: Is there hope for Linux on smartphones? [video]

#20

Post by humanwhosits »

NuSkooler wrote: post #18

It's mentioned already, but: Android. Discounting Android as "Not Linux" enough is a mind boggle to me. Perhaps not "GNU" enough, but certainly the spirit of Linux -- customized for the particular needs, stable, fast, works on a plethora of hardware, etc.

fuchsia (+starnix for legacy) might make android much less linux-y over the long term
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