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Although possible, I wish installing operative systems in phones was as simple as it is for computers. I'm already hearing experts saying it is the simple but

Although possible, I wish installing operative systems in phones was as simple as it is for computers. I'm already hearing experts saying it is the simple but it's not :(

mister_hn 7y ago
Now is getting harder even on PCs, for instance Mac and Windows forcing hardware protection prevent anyone form installing other OSes on a machine
noisem4ker 7y ago
There's a full spectrum of possibilities here. - Google lets you flash Android from the browser, using WebUSB: https://flash.android.com https://flash.android.com. - Most Android phones can be unlocked and flashed with some command line tool. - With Apple, you're screwed.
- pabs3 7y ago
  With an old enough iPhone bootrom you can install Android using a jailbreak: https://projectsandcastle.org/ https://projectsandcastle.org/
IanSanders 7y ago
It's easier with some manufacturers than others. Sony's android devices pioneered being extremely developer friendly, shame that department was closed. It's hopefully unrelated, but someone will interpret this as impact of being developer friendly on your business.
pabs3 7y ago
The main issue is phone vendors not sending their hardware support and other customisations upstream to the Linux kernel, bootloaders and AOSP, but the open source community sometimes does work on this. The second issue is boot security, but some companies allow unlocking and there are a lot of exploits for bootroms and kernels. The third issue is GPL violations and other binary-only hardware support (kernel drivers and userland daemons), but reverse engineering can help there. It is definitely possible though, I've done it myself in 2012, but I pretty quickly gave up due to the above issues and the bugs I found in the hardware vendor code: https://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2012/12/03/debian-mobile/ https://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2012/12/03/debian-mobile/
thsealienbstrds 7y ago
Yep, I wish it was better as well. The situation has improved a little bit though. For example, you can upgrade to newer builds of the same LineageOS version OTA using a built-in updater app.
Guest42 7y ago
Takes practice and ideally having an extra phone that you aren’t scared of bricking although every mistake I made last time was recoverable from and it started to make more sense.
jaimex2 7y ago
Depends on the phone I guess but I can't say I've ever spent more than 30 minutes following an XDA guide to flash a new Android OS.
ajayyy 7y ago
With Treble, it's getting closer to this as one ROM can support many phones
fsflover 7y ago
You should consider Librem 5 or PinePhone.
- abawany 7y ago
  Et voila: https://www.pine64.org/2020/04/02/pinephone-ubports-community-edition-pre-orders-now-open/ https://www.pine64.org/2020/04/02/pinephone-ubports-communit... .
listic 7y ago
/e/ is working on this. https://e.foundation/register-to-test-the-e-os-installer/ https://e.foundation/register-to-test-the-e-os-installer/

Although possible, I wish installing operative systems in phones was as simple as it is for computers. I'm already hearing experts saying it is the simple but it's not :(

mister_hn 7y ago

Now is getting harder even on PCs, for instance Mac and Windows forcing hardware protection prevent anyone form installing other OSes on a machine

noisem4ker 7y ago

There's a full spectrum of possibilities here. - Google lets you flash Android from the browser, using WebUSB: https://flash.android.com https://flash.android.com. - Most Android phones can be unlocked and flashed with some command line tool. - With Apple, you're screwed.

pabs3 7y ago
With an old enough iPhone bootrom you can install Android using a jailbreak: https://projectsandcastle.org/ https://projectsandcastle.org/

IanSanders 7y ago

It's easier with some manufacturers than others. Sony's android devices pioneered being extremely developer friendly, shame that department was closed. It's hopefully unrelated, but someone will interpret this as impact of being developer friendly on your business.

pabs3 7y ago

The main issue is phone vendors not sending their hardware support and other customisations upstream to the Linux kernel, bootloaders and AOSP, but the open source community sometimes does work on this. The second issue is boot security, but some companies allow unlocking and there are a lot of exploits for bootroms and kernels. The third issue is GPL violations and other binary-only hardware support (kernel drivers and userland daemons), but reverse engineering can help there. It is definitely possible though, I've done it myself in 2012, but I pretty quickly gave up due to the above issues and the bugs I found in the hardware vendor code: https://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2012/12/03/debian-mobile/ https://bonedaddy.net/pabs3/log/2012/12/03/debian-mobile/

thsealienbstrds 7y ago

Yep, I wish it was better as well. The situation has improved a little bit though. For example, you can upgrade to newer builds of the same LineageOS version OTA using a built-in updater app.

Guest42 7y ago

Takes practice and ideally having an extra phone that you aren’t scared of bricking although every mistake I made last time was recoverable from and it started to make more sense.

jaimex2 7y ago

Depends on the phone I guess but I can't say I've ever spent more than 30 minutes following an XDA guide to flash a new Android OS.

ajayyy 7y ago

With Treble, it's getting closer to this as one ROM can support many phones

fsflover 7y ago

You should consider Librem 5 or PinePhone.

abawany 7y ago
Et voila: https://www.pine64.org/2020/04/02/pinephone-ubports-community-edition-pre-orders-now-open/ https://www.pine64.org/2020/04/02/pinephone-ubports-communit... .

listic 7y ago

/e/ is working on this. https://e.foundation/register-to-test-the-e-os-installer/ https://e.foundation/register-to-test-the-e-os-installer/