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Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

divestos.org

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Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#71

Post by nextos »

jkepler wrote: post #45
strenholme wrote: post #37

The problem with long term support for my Android phones has actually not been the fact that Android devices have incredibly short security update windows. That issue has been somewhat mitigated with the newer Google Pixel phones which have five years of security updates. The biggest issue for long term cell phone support is, even if we get an OS with a 10-year security update timeline like Rocky Linux, will the phon…

This, exactly. I have two ancient Nokia N900s that came out in 2009, runs a Debian variant natively and there's the Maemo Leste project that brings mainline Linux to the device (amazing!). However, is already useless as a phone in the USA. I also hear rumors European carriers will shutter their 3G networks soon; which is a shame. The hardware, while old and slow due to memory constraints, still works . I guess I shou…

Not only mobiles, but also desktops and laptops. For example, there are lots of unibody MacBooks which are perfectly functional but no longer get updates from Apple.

However, in case of mobiles, things are particularly awful because it is often not trivial to install and maintain an OS other than the one supplied by the manfucturer.

It's incredible how much electronic waste and security issues are generated by lazy manufacturers who do not mainline drivers into the Linux kernel.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#72

Post by ramesh31 »

phh wrote: post #65
ramesh31 wrote: post #41

Still running the latest iOS on my 6 year old first-gen SE. Why can't Android do the same?

I run latest Android version on my 6 years old Pixel 1. The only reason it isn't provided by Google is that Google doesn't want to.

> The only reason it isn't provided by Google is that Google doesn't want to.

This is basically what I was getting at.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#73

Post by wizzwizz4 »

_rdvw wrote: post #29
summm wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes it even worse. They apparently do not even try to make it secure and willingly exclude some patches. Reminds me of "security by management risk acceptance"

They? This is my project, it is just me. There is not a single other project that achieves the scope of what DivestOS does for old devices.

> They? This is my project, it is just me.

"They" has been an acceptable default third-person singular pronoun since at least the 1400s. If there's something you'd prefer, it might be wise to list it on one of your user profile pages.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#74

Post by HereBeBeasties »

ramesh31 wrote: post #41

Still running the latest iOS on my 6 year old first-gen SE. Why can't Android do the same?

Actually support for 1st gen iPhone SE this ended on 12 Sept, along with iPhone 7, which they only discontinued 3 years ago.

They only supported the 5C for two years after they sold the last device.

https://endoflife.date/iphone

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#75

Post by alexchantavy »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #73
_rdvw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They? This is my project, it is just me. There is not a single other project that achieves the scope of what DivestOS does for old devices.

> They? This is my project, it is just me. "They" has been an acceptable default third-person singular pronoun since at least the 1400s. If there's something you'd prefer, it might be wise to list it on one of your user profile pages.

I don't think the maintainer has a problem with pronoun choice in the sense you're implying - rather it seems that they are trying to emphasize that they are just one person and have limited time/resources

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#76

Post by _rdvw »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #73
_rdvw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They? This is my project, it is just me. There is not a single other project that achieves the scope of what DivestOS does for old devices.

> They? This is my project, it is just me. "They" has been an acceptable default third-person singular pronoun since at least the 1400s. If there's something you'd prefer, it might be wise to list it on one of your user profile pages.

The comment was in direct response to me, but not addressed to me, so it was they as in "project members" (which there are none).

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#77

Post by stratosmacker »

_rdvw wrote: post #29
summm wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes it even worse. They apparently do not even try to make it secure and willingly exclude some patches. Reminds me of "security by management risk acceptance"

They? This is my project, it is just me. There is not a single other project that achieves the scope of what DivestOS does for old devices.

Don't bother with the naysayers and dickheads. I appreciate you trying to do something here for old devices, and 80% solutions are ok for most of us.

(I suppose postmarketOS is similar in spirit)

Does building a GSI make sense to cover more devices? Or would that not make sense in this context?

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#78

Post by _rdvw »

stratosmacker wrote: post #77
_rdvw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They? This is my project, it is just me. There is not a single other project that achieves the scope of what DivestOS does for old devices.

Don't bother with the naysayers and dickheads. I appreciate you trying to do something here for old devices, and 80% solutions are ok for most of us. (I suppose postmarketOS is similar in spirit) Does building a GSI make sense to cover more devices? Or would that not make sense in this context?

Two of the benefits of DivestOS, the kernel patching/hardening and the vendor blob removal, are not compatible with GSIs as a GSI includes neither the boot or vendor partition.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#79

Post by kikokikokiko »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #73
_rdvw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They? This is my project, it is just me. There is not a single other project that achieves the scope of what DivestOS does for old devices.

> They? This is my project, it is just me. "They" has been an acceptable default third-person singular pronoun since at least the 1400s. If there's something you'd prefer, it might be wise to list it on one of your user profile pages.

Since the 1400s my arse. It's just an annoying trend among woke evangelists, and makes the english language uglier while conveying less information about the subject in question.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#80

Post by pabs3 »

squarefoot wrote: post #11

Any chances to see something similar to install Linux images (native, no chroots) to old Android tablets over the original OS? Some hardware wouldn't be supported, but I wouldn't mind not having for example video acceleration, audio and/or modem, if I could use an old tablet as a IoT screen or to show graphs from sensor data, etc. Having a full OS, hence the ability to use multiple programming languages, libraries, e…

Some articles about that are on the Debian mobile wiki page:

https://wiki.debian.org/Mobile

Using a chroot will always be the easiest way to do this though.

https://wiki.debian.org/ChrootOnAndroid

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