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SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

sailfishos.org

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Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#161

Post by DrScientist »

ho_schi wrote: post #106
ekianjo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> native ports Native ports have huge problems as well. Most of them are hardly maintained and stop working years down the road.

People say that. Don’t call out the bad examples (there are some!). The never mention the good examples? ioQuake3 - still work's CS2 - still works HL1, HL2, CS1,CSGO - still works Unrailed - still works? UT2003 - there it is getting hard, unmaintained since ca. 2003. But it is doable if you want it. Quake3 - same as above. Most bad ports were made by inexperienced developers. And honestly, these people need to learn!…

It's about the quality of the port or whether the original software was written with portability in mind?

Take Quake for example. It's highly portable ( I remember playing on Irix ( Silicon Graphics workstation OS )), Carmack wrote highly portable code.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#162

Post by mpol »

rzerowan wrote: post #138
mpol wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plans now in 2025 to work on this slowly. A few apps have recently been opened up. More are coming. So it is underway. In 2015 Jolla were bought by Russian owners. They didn't understand open source or free software, they just wanted something for the Russian market. In 2021 these ties were broken, but it took a long time since the Russian owners didn't respond in any way. It is only two years or there abou…

The OS was 'licensed' to a Russian distro as AuroraOS , not sold.Its still belongs the Finnish company.Note , that was their biggest install base and revenue source they cut themselves off from.

Jolla had ROS Telecom as an investor since 2015, which might have held a majority.

A few years ago the Russina investors were unresponsive. The Finnish people from Jolla set up a new company and had all property moved to that new company through a court case. It's not the same company as before.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#163

Post by m4rtink »

Wicher wrote: post #153
m4rtink wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afaik the problem is the lack of embedding API in the Firefox core, so they have to adapt their patches every time they need to update Firefox version. This is also why you see Chome being used as a core in all kinds of applications and frameworks - AFAIK it has the necessary API for this.

There's GeckoView which one'd use for embedding Firefox in an Android app. Can't use that on Sailfish OS of course, but it'd help in figuring out what of core Firefox to bind to to make a similar layer.

Yeah, don't know the details of the GeckoView API but looks like its going in the right direction to help what Sailfish OS needs. :)

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#164

Post by [deleted] »

madduci wrote: post #98
laserbeam wrote: post #87

This is a mobile OS, right? I go to the homepage. Zero screenshots. I go to the User Experience page. Zero screenshots. I even go to Design Principles under the UX page. Zero screenshots. Talking about mobile phone design is like dancing about architecture. Show the thing or bust.

Are there cheap devices running it (< €250?)

[deleted]

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#165

Post by kube-system »

izacus wrote: post #146
kube-system wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carriers in the US restricted the phones people used in the 00s and early 10s, back when there were short model whitelists, CDMA networks, and radios with only a few bands… but not so much today. Global market GSM phones activate pretty much on any US carrier just fine today. 2/3g deprecation and VoLTE is precisely because US carriers are pushing forward with new tech.

As of 2025 both AT&T and Verizon (plus, as a downstream their MVNOs) have a whitelist of allowed phone models and block connection of other phones even if they're compatible with the network. See https://www.att.com/scmsassets/support/wireless/devices-work... To be whitelisted, the phones need to go through onerous testing process that goes way beyond just checking for network compatibility.

I know there are phones that work on ATT that are not on that list.

Regardless, my point is that the situation has vastly changed over the past 20 years. It wasn't that long ago that you could walk into carrier's store in the US and literally every phone that was allowed on the network was on the shelf.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#166

Post by nineteen999 »

laserbeam wrote: post #87

This is a mobile OS, right? I go to the homepage. Zero screenshots. I go to the User Experience page. Zero screenshots. I even go to Design Principles under the UX page. Zero screenshots. Talking about mobile phone design is like dancing about architecture. Show the thing or bust.

Love the Frank Zappa quote in there. Nice one.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#167

Post by zer0zzz »

mrbn100ful wrote: post #160
zer0zzz wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any made in the last 5 years? I too was a huge fan of Maemo but where can I buy hardware made in recent years that runs this as well as my Maemo experience in 2008?

Last year, with the C2 https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-community-phone

Thank you sir.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#168

Post by ho_schi »

DrScientist wrote: post #161
ho_schi wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People say that. Don’t call out the bad examples (there are some!). The never mention the good examples? ioQuake3 - still work's CS2 - still works HL1, HL2, CS1,CSGO - still works Unrailed - still works? UT2003 - there it is getting hard, unmaintained since ca. 2003. But it is doable if you want it. Quake3 - same as above. Most bad ports were made by inexperienced developers. And honestly, these people need to learn!…

It's about the quality of the port or whether the original software was written with portability in mind? Take Quake for example. It's highly portable ( I remember playing on Irix ( Silicon Graphics workstation OS )), Carmack wrote highly portable code.

That’s it!

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#169

Post by dotancohen »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #156
dotancohen wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it actually run in an Android VM? I use an OS as a step to run applications. Why would someone use Sailfish if it can not run applications, or do they expect mobile development firms to start supporting a distant third OS? Serious question, there is a real chicken and egg problem here. I think that I have simple needs from a mobile OS. CalDAV and CardDAV sync, provide a mobile hotspot, record calls. On Android tho…

It runs a container within which runs AOSP. Cal/CardDAV sync is provided with (official) plugins for the stock Calendar/Contacts apps, mobile hotspot is built-in in Settings, and call record is built-in in Phone app.

Seriously, it already supports everything I need? I'll start taking a closer look. Thank you.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#170

Post by linmob »

lejalv wrote: post #144

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned yet the (seemingly) functional Linux mobile OS/device: the FLX1s from furilabs ( https://furilabs.com/ ). User reviews seem very compelling, does anybody here have experience with it (especially if you can compare with unofficial Android ROMs, Sailfish OS, or Postmarket OS)?

Please note that user reviews are only out for the FLX1, not the FLX1s, which is about to start shipping soon. That said, as they went with the same SoC, hardware enablement is hopefully going to be fine and the software will work as well as on the FLX1.

I have their FLX1 device here, but I have yet to spend more time with it (instead of my postmarketOS daily driver I am writing this on). It's humongous (the s is going to be smaller), which is holding me back - but feel free to ask questions.

What's nice is that it's 5G hardware, and as they use the (4.19 IIRC) Android kernel they have a lot of hardware working which would be a huge struggle on mainline (think photography, finger print, ...). The Android integration via a Waydroid fork is also decent (but 'basic waydroid' is IMHO fine too, the hardware just needs enough RAM), and overall, it feels quite polished and the team is responsive in adressing customer feedback where they can.

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