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I love to see that Purism is progressing a lot with their open smartphone. I look forward to have a 100% Linux phone. Hopefully people who care about privacy, c

by pw6hv 7y ago

I love to see that Purism is progressing a lot with their open smartphone. I look forward to have a 100% Linux phone. Hopefully people who care about privacy, customization and owning their phone will get what they deserve.

the_pwner224 7y ago
> I look forward to have a 100% Linux phone. Is this really what's special about it? IMO what matters is that it runs free software to the greatest extent possible. I suspect that most people who will be buying it don't care whether it runs Linux or a BSD or even something like Minix, as long is it presents the familiar POSIX-like interface, has good software available (GNOME, Plasma Mobile), and is loyal to the user instead of to a coroporation [== the user has control over it and can hack on it].
- vbezhenar 7y ago
  Probably Linux is the most pragmatic choice, because Android is based on Linux and vendors produce drivers specifically for Linux.
  - Skunkleton 7y ago
    AOSP would probably be the most pragmatic choice.
  - madez 7y ago
    Drivers for Android are not drivers for Linux. You cannot get them and compile them together with the kernel from kernel.org and install it. That is why the devices are stuck on unmaintainable ancient kernel versions.
    - vbezhenar 7y ago
      What do you mean they are not drivers for Linux? AFAIK they are blobs for Linux. Of course you can't compile them, as they are proprietary, but they are drivers for Linux.
      - madez 7y ago
        If you have a binary blob that works only in conjunction with the specific kernel version 3.14.69 with a specific patch set, is that then a driver for Linux? It comes down to what information you are trying to convey and what the receiver understands. If you say something is a "driver for Linux", then that unqualified statements implies that you can grab Linux and combine them with the driver and make it work, which is not true. There are drivers for Linux which work on virtually any kernel version. In contrast, the blobs that are in Android are binary blobs that happen to work with one specific kernel binary, they are not drivers for Linux.

by pw6hv 7y ago

the_pwner224 7y ago

> I look forward to have a 100% Linux phone. Is this really what's special about it? IMO what matters is that it runs free software to the greatest extent possible. I suspect that most people who will be buying it don't care whether it runs Linux or a BSD or even something like Minix, as long is it presents the familiar POSIX-like interface, has good software available (GNOME, Plasma Mobile), and is loyal to the user instead of to a coroporation [== the user has control over it and can hack on it].

vbezhenar 7y ago
Probably Linux is the most pragmatic choice, because Android is based on Linux and vendors produce drivers specifically for Linux.
- Skunkleton 7y ago
  AOSP would probably be the most pragmatic choice.
- madez 7y ago
  Drivers for Android are not drivers for Linux. You cannot get them and compile them together with the kernel from kernel.org and install it. That is why the devices are stuck on unmaintainable ancient kernel versions.
  - vbezhenar 7y ago
    What do you mean they are not drivers for Linux? AFAIK they are blobs for Linux. Of course you can't compile them, as they are proprietary, but they are drivers for Linux.
    - madez 7y ago
      If you have a binary blob that works only in conjunction with the specific kernel version 3.14.69 with a specific patch set, is that then a driver for Linux? It comes down to what information you are trying to convey and what the receiver understands. If you say something is a "driver for Linux", then that unqualified statements implies that you can grab Linux and combine them with the driver and make it work, which is not true. There are drivers for Linux which work on virtually any kernel version. In contrast, the blobs that are in Android are binary blobs that happen to work with one specific kernel binary, they are not drivers for Linux.