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The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

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Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#141

Post by Hackbraten »

gentleman11 wrote: post #101
zwieback wrote: post #30

I like the idea of a more open phone a lot but dispute the "Smartphones are shit" premise. I think modern smart phones are an unbelievably awesome value. Battery, display, wireless and processing power have advanced at such an unbelievable rate that we have something in our pockets that far exceeds predictions of 20, 30, 100 years ago. The problem is that we don't want to pay what it really costs to have such a great…

Yet my battery life mysteriously cut to 1/4th its old value (half a day, down from 2 days) after a recent Apple update. That is pretty “shit” if you ask me. It’s like a malware attack that is trying to extort $1200 out of me

I totally get that feeling. Note however that immediately after an update, iOS needs to repopulate caches such as the metadata store. That can take several hours and you don’t get any kind of feedback whether it’s done. So a direct before/after comparison may be skewed.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#142

Post by jaimex2 »

hrbf wrote: post #16

Just like the Linux desktop, alternative smartphones will forever remain a tiny niche market for highly technical people. Mainstream adoption can and will never happen given the current state of hardware design and manufacturing.

It doesn't really matter as the mainstream desktops moves more and more to just being a thin client that can run a web browser.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#143

Post by Hackbraten »

sumeno wrote: post #104
throwaway71271 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"general purpose" for me means I can set the program counter somewhere and run my code in general the term vaguely means 'this computer can perform many different tasks' but can an iphone perform a task you want, but apple did not allow?

Yes, you can run your own code on an iPhone. You can't run arbitrary binaries, but you can run whatever code you want.

Are we talking about the same phone?

The iOS kernel will literally kill your process unless you have an Apple-approved certificate.

The kernel will also block you from accessing any OS service that’s not allowlisted in your certificate.

And it’s impossible to obtain a certificate from Apple that allows you to fork a subprocess, access the filesystem, or run a custom hardware driver.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#144

Post by Aerroon »

josephcsible wrote: post #24

I'd totally use a more open-source phone OS, if only there weren't communications and banking apps that check to make sure you're running an unmodified major manufacturer's OS, and refuse to run if they find any evidence that you aren't.

Yeah, Europe seems particularly sucky about this, especially now with those 2 factor authentication requirements to log into a bank.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#145

Post by scarface74 »

usrn wrote: post #134
noirbot wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been daily-drivering on Linux for Desktop and Laptop for months and Linux across 4 different distros has made me feel more helpless than Windows ever did. Sure, the Windows "police" would come in and straighten my update settings (which is ultimately why I abandoned Windows), but Linux you get the helplessness of sometimes having something break and the only answer you can find after spending half of your weeken…

The trick to not having crooked picture frames on Linux is to throw out components that refuse to be straightened (and you'll run into many of these, especially if you're on a distro pushing snap on you.) If you pull out everything complex and thoroughly understand what's left you won't run into the "idk just reset the whole OS" situation. Something Windows/OSX users coming to Linux might not realize is that almost n…

> Especially if you don't want graphics

Who in 2022 doesn’t “want graphics”?

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#146

Post by Aerroon »

kjellsbells wrote: post #28
nimbius wrote: post #3

tell ya what i really wanna see from pinephone: AGPS lockdown. Currently ive learned from HN there are numerous 3GPP protocols that provide direct, clandestine monitoring of the GPS location of the phone. the feature lives unchallenged in the firmware, so if you can give me a phone that cannot report its GPS data to the carrier without my knowledge, id be ever grateful.

that feels like a legal hurdle not a technical one. The carrier is obliged by the regulator (eg US FCC) to be able to locate the phone to within a few meters of accuracy without relying on user action in order to meet their commitments around emergency service. The problem here isnt the collection of data, its the abuse of that data whether its sale to data brokers or over enthusiastic law enforcement using GPS pings…

As long as the data is collected in the first place it will be abused. The only way to stop the abuse of this data is to stop the collection.

The emergency services commitment just gives them a convenient excuse to require it.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#147

Post by usrn »

scarface74 wrote: post #145
usrn wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick to not having crooked picture frames on Linux is to throw out components that refuse to be straightened (and you'll run into many of these, especially if you're on a distro pushing snap on you.) If you pull out everything complex and thoroughly understand what's left you won't run into the "idk just reset the whole OS" situation. Something Windows/OSX users coming to Linux might not realize is that almost n…

> Especially if you don't want graphics Who in 2022 doesn’t “want graphics”?

People who don't want to redo their Xorg config.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#149

Post by Hackbraten »

Findecanor wrote: post #80
josephcsible wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What regulation requires Android or iOS in particular?

There is rather a lack of regulations that would require banks to provide two-factor authentication in a platform-neutral or technology-neutral manner. Instead of two-factor-only apps, we get "electronic ID" that are legally like a photo ID, and which are also used for making payments from the phone itself. In fact, some of these rely on security of the OS it is running on, and not on the use of any trusted platform…

Some banks support dedicated devices for signing transactions if you don’t like to use a smartphone app for 2FA. I have two of those devices, a portable one and a USB-tethered one for the desktop. Either way, you insert your debit card to sign your transaction.

The underlying protocol is a national standard (published by DK, the association of German banks) and meets all European requirements.

I don’t do business with banks that require iOS or Android apps for 2FA unless they support an alternative.

Re: The case for LineageOS and the PinePhone

#150

Post by scarface74 »

asciimov wrote: post #88

The only solution to the e-waste problem is legislation. First we need to pass laws that force repair ability on these devices. Like being able to replace a battery easily, think slipping the back cover off easy. Force the unification of a charging standard. Finally we need to nickle and dime these companies for not making the devices more reusable.

Are you also going to force phone manufacturers to provide OS updates for 7 years like Apple is doing and security updates for nine years?

I can get my battery replaced for $50-$70.

If the EU had forced a common standard before USB C became prevalent we would be stuck with USB A. Government moves way too slowly and doesn’t have a clue about technology.

GDPR made web browsing worse with cookie pop ups everywhere.

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