Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FSF announces Librephone project

fsf.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 669 posts

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#311

Post by saagarjha »

cookiengineer wrote: post #291
rjdj377dhabsn wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is eBPF a problem?

A lot of functionality of newer Android releases (Android/AOSP 13 and later) rely on eBPF [1] for both interception of process insights and sandboxing of processes. eBPF in a nutshell is a way to build kernel hooks, so that you can also disallow or intercept syscalls or kernel API calls that the Apps are executing behind the scenes. eBPF was introduced with Kernel 4.14 officially (but partly long before that). Most L…

I don't think Android is really using eBPF for much. Last I remember they were loath to adding more things and they've definitely locked away the ability to load arbitrary new programs because they couldn't secure the attack surface it opened up.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#312

Post by fsflover »

pjmlp wrote: post #256
goku12 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's certainly not the case here, even if it's true sometimes. The duopoly is gradually tightening their grip on the customers' wallets. It's worth it at any stage to reverse their cash grab.

This is bound to fail unless they get the full stack and even then, it will be for specific phone models, x86 is an anomaly in having a cloning freedom that IBM did not intended.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27897975

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#313

Post by goodpoint »

kennywinker wrote: post #33
SchemaLoad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These days browsers are becoming increasingly distrusted. My bank logs my browser out after 30 minutes inactivity and then to log back in I have to confirm the login on my phone.

That… seems reasonable? My bank does that with their website and their mobile app. I was able to setup 2fa using a totp app, so i don’t rely on sms for that part

It's not reasonable at all.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#314

Post by m4rtink »

cookiengineer wrote: post #265

Why can't they just partner with postmarketOS here? Why do we have to have /e/OS instead of a better supported LineageOS, because /e/ is a 1:1 copy anyways? Why do we have to have a Librephone project now instead of partnering with say, Fairphone and the Pine64 people? Open source loses this war because proprietary devices are streamlined. The only thing that comes close to this is GrapheneOS, LineageOS, and postmark…

Mobile software is unfortunately not really a lego that can always be combined at will.

In your examples you compare Android rebuilds with real Linux distros. The projects also have quite different goals (providing full manufacturer ROM replacement for Android on Lineage OS to reusing any old hardware to basically run servers on PostmarketOS).

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#315

Post by guerrilla »

saagarjha wrote: post #309
sunshine-o wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It sounds like Stallman had quite the impact on you. Is it really so foreign to you that putting someone in a leadership position that can broaden that reach to people who are unlike you might be worth doing?

Their point is obviously that they can't if they aren't qualified.

I don't know if that's actually true but it's clear what they're arguing here anyway.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#316

Post by guerrilla »

GTP wrote: post #304
bebna wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an FP5, would not buy again.

I considered purchasing it, but ultimately turned it down due to its size. What's the reason you're not liking it?

I like the size. I do not like the weight. I love the phone overall though. Love love. Good choice despite downsides.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#317

Post by IshKebab »

overgard wrote: post #303

I’m not saying this shouldn’t exist, because it should, but does anyone actually have any faith that the FSF can actually do anything here? They’re like 15 years late to the party

Yeah there's zero chance this will succeed. They would be much better off lobbying governments to enforce more openness in Android and iOS.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#318

Post by b112 »

moffkalast wrote: post #306
Itoldmyselfso wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GrapheneOS has huge problems because of Pixel devices, which LineageOS could help with. What are these "huge problems" caused by Pixel devices?

I will never use GOS as long as it requires me to buy a Pixel, on principle, because it's made by Google. It's like having to buy a Microsoft Surface in order to use Linux.

You can use an older pixel, thus not really giving money to Google, and also preventing that phone from landing in a landfill. Without all that Google and carrier excess junk on board, an older phone is fast.

You can buy a new pixel, install GrapheneOS, and laugh thinking about how you're denying the enemy the OS level tracking they wanted with that device.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#319

Post by zozbot234 »

fsflover wrote: post #310
NetMageSCW wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) The article states they are focusing on the phone model that they guess will require the least work to become totally free. This may make the project useless, but it does give it some hope of finishing. 2) The hope is that the M2-M5 won’t be that different from the M1 models - after all, Apple doesn’t want to spend their money reinventing the wheel without compelling reason. I think that is less likely with phones…

> The hope is that the M2-M5 won’t be that different from the M1 models - after all, Apple doesn’t want to spend their money reinventing the wheel From the Asahi Linux website, M2 is sufficiently similar to M1, while M3 and M4 won't likely be supported soon due to significant differences.

They're aiming to perfect their support for M1/M2 prior to working on the M3 and later models. Seems like a sensible choice, given that even a baseline M1 or M2 Mac is still a highly compelling device for a vast majority of uses. And Asahi will become more relevant as these devices cease to be supported by newer releases of macOS.

Re: FSF announces Librephone project

#320

Post by sunshine-o »

saagarjha wrote: post #309
sunshine-o wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It sounds like Stallman had quite the impact on you. Is it really so foreign to you that putting someone in a leadership position that can broaden that reach to people who are unlike you might be worth doing?

I only saw him once and I immediately understood how he could lead such a revolution.

It is not about being "like him", he was just some fat old man with a big beard and I remember thinking he probably smells pretty bad. What was broad and inspiring was his vision and leadership as an human.

Post reply on HN