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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]

#81

Post by colordrops »

notmyaccountt wrote: post #29
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.

Google created an Android userspace that requires Google services to do anything meaningful. This violates everything Linux stands for.

Not great, agreed, but they did at least architect the OS so that they are decoupled and you can build without them very easily. In fact the largest custom ROM doesn't bundle with them by default (LineageOS). What do you need Google services for?

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

#82

Post by colordrops »

blendergeek wrote: post #37
CharlesW wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://source.android.com/docs/setup/start/licenses

That is the license for the Android Open Source Project. Unfortunately, Google has spent the last fifteen years moving many parts of the stack and almost (if not) all the core apps to Google Proprietary versions. Most apps in AOSP no longer receive updates at all. The dream is here is not just that we would be running "an open source stack" but that the active development would be on the open source stack. Sure, ther…

Who cares about the google user space apps? There are viable open source alternatives for all of them. It's like saying Linux is not open source because Redhat bundles proprietary software with their distro.

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

#83

Post by colordrops »

realusername wrote: post #44
CharlesW wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://source.android.com/docs/setup/start/licenses

Unfortunately there's not a single device on earth that runs AOSP to my knowledge, even the emulator does not.

Are GSI images not built off of AOSP?

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

#84

Post by cassianoleal »

matrix12 wrote: post #78
cassianoleal wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GNU runs on many kernels. GNU is part of the operating systems where it runs.

GNU is not a boolean value. One can use portions of it without throwing away everything they use.

Fair point, but I was responding to "GNU runs on many OSs", saying that GNU is actually part of the OSs (and not something that runs on top of it), regardless of how much GNU there is in any particular OS.

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

#85

Post by bitwize »

realusername wrote: post #47
CharlesW wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones are not PCs/general-purpose computers. Do you want your TV to be a general purpose computer as well? (Having put my family through a Media Center PC and TV remotes with keyboards/trackpads for several years, I don't recommend it.)

> Phones are not PCs/general-purpose computers. That's just the opinion of the manufacturer, we don't have to agree. Phones have banking and government apps, they are general purpose computers from their usage alread

Bankers and governments don't want your phone to be a general purpose computer. That's why you can't run your banking app on a rooted phone. From a security standpoint, "general purpose computing" is really just "arbitrary code execution" -- generally a bad thing.

We are approaching the sunset of general purpose computing in the consumer space. There's nothing you can do. Accept it and move on.

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

#86

Post by zamadatix »

z3t4 wrote: post #39

Nokia had Linux on their smartphone until Microsoft bought them and stopped everything, they even shut down the app store. The OS was called MeeGo. Part of the Nokia team however started their own company called Jolla and still produce smartphones running Linux, they call their OS Sailfish. (ignoring the fact that Android also uses the Linux kernel). The problem with alternative phone OS:es is that in the country I l…

Even just unlocking an Android device causes most to stop working. I can't even log into PayPal app, which I assume is mostly just a WebView, because my phone is unlocked. At the same time it is apparently fineI do the same thing from the browser on my phone?

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

#87

Post by OJFord »

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.

I suppose it depends what you mean/want by 'Linux'? In a nutshell I suppose I want systemd & config files.

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

#89

Post by yosito »

zamadatix wrote: post #86
z3t4 wrote: post #39

Nokia had Linux on their smartphone until Microsoft bought them and stopped everything, they even shut down the app store. The OS was called MeeGo. Part of the Nokia team however started their own company called Jolla and still produce smartphones running Linux, they call their OS Sailfish. (ignoring the fact that Android also uses the Linux kernel). The problem with alternative phone OS:es is that in the country I l…

Even just unlocking an Android device causes most to stop working. I can't even log into PayPal app, which I assume is mostly just a WebView, because my phone is unlocked. At the same time it is apparently fineI do the same thing from the browser on my phone?

I used an Android phone with CalyxOS and microG for a year and never had this problem. There were a few apps I had a hard time getting APKs for without the Play Store, but even those I found I could side load from other devices that had the Play Store.

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

#90

Post by __d »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #75
Havoc wrote: post #16

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

Shoot raw then import into darktable. This seems like the simplest way to get there until more infrastructure is developed.

If that's the simplest way to get a decent photo, then Linux phones are going to have a very limited audience.
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