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The iPhone changed nothing and has, infact, been holding mobile computing captive in the 2007 era. Modern hardware is more than powerful enough to run decent de

by swiley 5y ago

The iPhone changed nothing and has, infact, been holding mobile computing captive in the 2007 era. Modern hardware is more than powerful enough to run decent desktop OSes without all the crap that Apple and Google insist is necessary on a phone.

zozbot234 5y ago
Mobile computing was way more limited prior to iPhone and Android. Mobile phones are embedded devices, and the embedded ecosystem has always been messy irrespective of raw computing power. Even today, this is clearly the main obstacle to running "desktop" Linux on phones. (Though one shouldn't underestimate the UX challenges involved in building a viable phone OS, these are largely solved by now thanks to Plasma Mobile and Phosh. What remains is 99% hardware bugs and lacking support.)
- swiley 5y ago
  I run a desktop UI on my phone. The only place it really doesn't work is when I'm driving and that's illegal anyway. The main obstacle is SoC drivers that are kept closed.
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    Which desktop UI do you run that is usable on a phone?
    - swiley 5y ago
      FVWM2
- pjmlp 5y ago
  While Symbian C++ might have been a pain to use, the phones could run J2ME, Apache (yep that web server), Python, Flash and Web Widgets (PWAs before it was even an idea!).
  - EvilEy3 5y ago
    Android can do that today too.
    - pjmlp 5y ago
      Symbian was doing that in 2004.
      - EvilEy3 5y ago
        Cool. Android can do that in 2021 and Symbian is dead.
        pjmlp 5y ago
        Indeed, because it doesn't matter how free beer tastes, as long as it keeps being available for free.
- lostmsu 5y ago
  > Mobile computing was way more limited prior to iPhone and Android How exactly was it limited? My only issue with older Windows Mobile devices was non-capacitive touch, and HTC HD2 (still on Windows Mobile 6.5) did not even have that problem.
dmitriid 5y ago
> Modern hardware is more than powerful enough to run decent desktop OSes Good luck running a desktop OS optimized for keyboard, mouse and large screens on a mobile phone with a small screen and only touch as input. Oh. WinMobile was like that. And the original Android was like that. People went over to iPhone in droves, and Google had to scramble to change Android to mimic iOS.

by swiley 5y ago

zozbot234 5y ago

Mobile computing was way more limited prior to iPhone and Android. Mobile phones are embedded devices, and the embedded ecosystem has always been messy irrespective of raw computing power. Even today, this is clearly the main obstacle to running "desktop" Linux on phones. (Though one shouldn't underestimate the UX challenges involved in building a viable phone OS, these are largely solved by now thanks to Plasma Mobile and Phosh. What remains is 99% hardware bugs and lacking support.)

swiley 5y ago
I run a desktop UI on my phone. The only place it really doesn't work is when I'm driving and that's illegal anyway. The main obstacle is SoC drivers that are kept closed.
- saagarjha 5y ago
  Which desktop UI do you run that is usable on a phone?
  - swiley 5y ago
    FVWM2
pjmlp 5y ago
While Symbian C++ might have been a pain to use, the phones could run J2ME, Apache (yep that web server), Python, Flash and Web Widgets (PWAs before it was even an idea!).
- EvilEy3 5y ago
  Android can do that today too.
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    Symbian was doing that in 2004.
    - EvilEy3 5y ago
      Cool. Android can do that in 2021 and Symbian is dead.
      - pjmlp 5y ago
        Indeed, because it doesn't matter how free beer tastes, as long as it keeps being available for free.
lostmsu 5y ago
> Mobile computing was way more limited prior to iPhone and Android How exactly was it limited? My only issue with older Windows Mobile devices was non-capacitive touch, and HTC HD2 (still on Windows Mobile 6.5) did not even have that problem.

dmitriid 5y ago

> Modern hardware is more than powerful enough to run decent desktop OSes Good luck running a desktop OS optimized for keyboard, mouse and large screens on a mobile phone with a small screen and only touch as input. Oh. WinMobile was like that. And the original Android was like that. People went over to iPhone in droves, and Google had to scramble to change Android to mimic iOS.