9 ms·

CalyxOS releases test builds for Fairphone 4, OnePlus 8T, and OnePlus 9

45 points by fabianhjr 5y ago

postpawl 5y ago
Does anyone prefer CalyxOS over GrapheneOS or LineageOS?
- Seirdy 5y ago
  I'd pick Graphene over Calyx on privacy and security grounds, and Lineage over Calyx on device support or tweakability grounds. Graphene is honestly ahead on the security and privacy front. MicroG requires very strong privileges and weakens the comprehensive privsep you'd otherwise have; GrapheneOS offers sandboxed play services with the standard SELinux policies for unprivileged Android software. GrapheneOS also has hardened_malloc, which seems to have the best design for malloc hardening out of any alternatives I'm aware of. On the userspace side, Graphene uses several of its own apps. One is Vanadium for its webview and browser; it's a hardened fork of Chromium. Check the patchset; it's got a bunch of security improvements and cross-pollenates with Bromite. The most interesting feature they've been working on is per-site JIT toggles. The list goes on. Few other OSes come close. Now, if you want to tinker with your phone at the expense of security, Lineage is actually a great option. It has a big community of tweakers and ricers who root their phones and come up with some cool experiments. It also supports a wider variety of devices, including devices abandoned by their manufacturers. Don't expect security updates, though.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    Isn't graphene a huge target for black hats and three letter agencies? I guess no more so than lineage.
    - lberrymage 5y ago
      There is no evidence to suggest this. GrapheneOS has multiple systemic privacy and security improvements over the stock OS (e.g. hardened_malloc, toggleable network permission, exec spawning), so it's a much harder target to develop a working exploit for when compared to devices running the stock OS.
  - phh 5y ago
    > I'd pick Graphene over Calyx on privacy and security grounds, and Lineage over Calyx on device support or tweakability grounds. I'd pick Calyx over privacy grounds not Graphene. (I totally agree that Graphene beats anyone on security grounds by miles, and depending on your threat model, security could be related to your privacy) > MicroG requires very strong privileges and weakens the comprehensive privsep you'd otherwise have If we're speaking of FAKE_SIGNATURE.... No it doesn't? If implemented properly (I don't know how Calyx do it, but I know I do), only apps in firmware are allowed to use FAKE_SIGNATURE, and if you build your firmware with only microg that has FAKE_SIGNATURE, then only microg can fake signature. Also it can fake exactly one signature, which is Google's. It's probably possible to make that patch better, if some people gives us reasons it is a flaw. Really, please tell me in which threat model does using microg hinders security, maybe we can find a fix. So far, I've never heard any. > GrapheneOS offers sandboxed play services with the standard SELinux policies for unprivileged Android software. With regards to privacy, I take unprotected opensource software over Google trackware no matter the sandboxes you put under it. Windows has a better sandboxing model than Linux, yet I feel much better doing random apt installs, than downloading random Windows apps.
    - tholdem 5y ago
      How is Calyx more privacy respecting than GrapheneOS by default? Not sure about the defaults on Calyx, but AFAIK GrapheneOS has zero connections to Google. You choose to install sandboxed Play services only if you want to.
      - phh 5y ago
        By default, Calyx is privacy-preserving, because it doesn't connect automatically to WiFi. You choose to connect to WiFi only if you want to. Yes, I'm very exaggerating the comparison, but still. My point is that the comment I'm answering touts the sandboxed Google Play Services. You can't tout it *and* say it's privacy preserving, it's a XOR.
        lberrymage 5y ago
        GrapheneOS doesn't automatically connect to Wi-Fi either unless you enable the option. It also has per-connection MAC randomization enabled by default so Wi-Fi is essentially anonymous when you use it anyway. > you can't tout it *and say it's privacy preserving. Why? Sandboxed Play Services has no special privileges on GrapheneOS and thus has the same level of access as any other app. How can it invade your privacy if you don't explicitly give it access to private information?
  - joecool1029 5y ago
    >Don't expect security updates, though. For the binary blobs, but for the opensource components all supported builds are current on monthly android security patches. (well, in review for probably a few days on April: https://review.lineageos.org/q/topic:R_asb_2022-04 https://review.lineageos.org/q/topic:R_asb_2022-04 ) LineageOS maintainers also pull android servicing branch back to cm14.1 tree too if you wanted to try your hand at building on a previously supported device.
- flexagoon 5y ago
  It's definitely better than Lineage, since Lineage is the least private and secure out of all "degoogled" ROMs. However, it isn't as good as Graphene.
  - strcat 5y ago
    CalyxOS recently went almost 4 months without shipping Chromium (including WebView) and Android security updates. CalyxOS is not "degoogled" and uses multiple Google services by default without an opt-out. Look at their documentation. It also has privileged Google service integration enabled by default. If using Google services is considered "degoogled", what does it mean? Not having Google Play as part of the OS? They do have a reimplementation of a small subset of it using Google's services and it's specially privileged.
    - flexagoon 5y ago
      Yes, I'm aware that Calyx isn't degoogled and neither is Lineage, that's why I wrote "degoogled" in quotation marks. And I also know about lack of security updates in Calyx, but it's still better than Lineage lol
- h4waii 5y ago
  I went through building LineageOS for my devices for years, then switched to Pixel + GrapheneOS and have been extremely happy with my decision. Unfortunately as you can see from these posts, there's a lot of in-fighting between developers and users, it's detrimental to everyone involved and drives away users, supporters, and other developers who would contribute but don't want to get involved in it. Regardless of all the garbage surrounding these projects, the technical work behind GrapheneOS speaks for itself and is how I ended up selecting it vs the other options.
  - _emacsomancer_ 5y ago
    Graphene is indeed a lot less fiddly than dealing with microg etc. Much easier to use (and install - oh the headache that is dealing with firmware updates my Samsung tablet running Lineage).
Freak_NL 5y ago
Nice development. Just yesterday I ordered a Pixel 6 to replace my ageing Ubuntu Phone — Google's Pixel smartphones are the only ones really well supported by privacy focussed Android forks like GrapheneOS and CalyxOS (I intend to install GrapheneOS on it). Currently, this seems like a decent middle ground between being able to run apps from one of the two app stores (Apple's and Google's) when needed without sacrificing too much control over your computing devices. Having to buy the hardware from Google leaves a bit of bad aftertaste though. I really hope that in the future I can just get something like a Fairphone and be able to run a fully supported more user-aligned OS on it.
- tholdem 5y ago
  GrapheneOS is collaborating with a hw vendor to create a device that can run GOS and which has similar hw to current Pixel devices. https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1490518600339308544 https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1490518600339308544
  - mickotron 5y ago
    That is amazing. I have been a happy GOS user for years. Sadly, my Pixel 3a EOL is next month. I opted for an iPhone this time as they generally are supported for longer periods of time. Maybe my next phone will be a phone designed for GOS :)
    - tholdem 5y ago
      You should probably get Pixel 6(pro) as they are supported almost as long as iOS on iPhones. Here is a Reddit post about it https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/souxzc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/souxzc/ My personal hunch is that this might have something to do with the GOS collaboration announcement: https://www.androidpolice.com/osom-ov1-exclusive/ https://www.androidpolice.com/osom-ov1-exclusive/
      - mickotron 5y ago
        I can’t deal with phones that physically big :( if pixels were the size of the mini I would have bought it.
retSava 5y ago
One thing that bugs me to no end with Android (don't know about iOS or various tweak android builds), is that it is sooooo hard to restrict basic things. I don't want random apps to start on bootup as an almost-invisible-service, instead I don't want anything to do with that app until I explicitly start it and use it. Revoking permissions should be supereasy - like remove any and all network ability (eg camera or flashlight apps), start on bootup (don't need a service running for app X until I start it), clipboard snooping (ok to read clipboard if I tell the app to, but otherwise it's just creepy and a risk). slash-rant
- dingdingdang 5y ago
  I would love to see all permission clearly outlined in a central location. Could even be part of the Firewall application in CalyxOS for all I care (have run this on a Pixel 4a for a year now and very impressed with the update cycle and stability offered).
- sofixa 5y ago
  It's not the most fluid UX ( but then again it's not something you need every day so it makes sense to have it a few levels deep), but in Android, since many versions ago, you can go to Settings - Apps - app - Allow/Disallow auto-launch, background running, etc. From the same place you can also revoke permissions, and some Android skins have views with all apps that have access to X and Y.
  - retSava 5y ago
    Hm, I can't find that. It's slightly different, eg Settings -> Apps and notifications, then either go into individual apps or "App Permissions". The former allows me to force stop apps, which indicates to me that they are running in the background (phone is power cycled every night so they shouldn't be). Nowhere to be seen is any auto-launch or background running. In App permissions, I get a list of permissions (eg Microphone, or Location) and clicking on any of those gets me a list of apps that include that permission, and I can revoke permissions there. Same there, no auto-launch/background. I can go to Battery -> Battery optimisation -> app -> and pick eg "optimise" that restricts background usage, but I guess doesn't disable it. I'm on a Oneplus 7 pro phone, which has android 11, OxygenOS 11.0.6.1...
jokowueu 5y ago
I got a 8T and they botched the android 12 Update . Overall it's a huge downgrade in usability . I dont want to downgrade and stay on an older version with no security updates . So I'm taking a look at these roms and they are not as bad as the early days of roms
colordrops 5y ago
There's some sort of battle happening between the devs of Graphene and Calyx as we speak: https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139?s=20&t=XJeC7Ry9XgapT9yBSnQ4zw https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139?s=...
- Alterlife 5y ago
  This has been going on for atleast a year. There's a long video from Techlore which presents the CalyxOS side of the picture and places the blame with GrapheneOS leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx7CZ-2Bajg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx7CZ-2Bajg .
  - flexagoon 5y ago
    I don't like the video, it shows Daniel Micay as a toxic sociopathic man, while in reality he is nothing like that
    - sendfoods 5y ago
      Maybe many people get this impression because he (rightfully! I want to be very clear here) defended his accomplishments against the attacks from his Copperhead OS business partner. Without context it's hard to understand
    - strcat 5y ago
      It's a video pushing a whole bunch of clearly fabricated stories and libel about me. The leader of the Calyx Institute and multiple project members have also participated in this abusive behavior. They've tried to pretend as if their highly abusive behavior isn't real and is simply imagined. Techlore's video shows a series of doctored screenshots with him lying through his teeth about the history, context and content of the screenshots. He very openly gets pleasure out of directing his toxic community to harass me and teaching them to push these talking points about me being schizophrenic, crazy and delusional. Nicolas Merrill and other Calyx Institute employees have extensive involvement in this. Nick has repeatedly tried to claim that I'm crazy and delusional. Today, Nick openly tolerated and showed his tacit support for ongoing raids on our rooms. Multiple people currently involved in massive raids on our room alternating between spamming extreme gore and libel were openly bragging about it in the Calyx room. He was there and perfectly happy to allow it. He has openly engaged with people repeatedly insulting me, harassing me and saying that I should kill myself. It's not the GrapheneOS community engaging in a misinformation / libel campaign across platforms and this highly toxic / abusive behavior. https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139 https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139 I can link a whole bunch of other Twitter threads and archives about this but I currently need to deal with these ongoing raids on our room by CalyxOS.
dheerajvs 5y ago
Do these custom OSes preserve the native capabilities of the multiple cameras on the device? Can someone chime in with their experience?
- joecool1029 5y ago
  This question is weirdly worded so I want to be careful answering it. This is highly device dependent, and out of these devices I only have the 8T. Will it be the same as stock camera experience? Not unless the vendor blobs and camera frameworks are ported to these OS, which they almost never are. But camera drivers still used pulled from vendor image, just with an opensource camera app. Status of the 8T's cameras: In the 8T's case 3 of the 4 back cameras are accessible in LineageOS (only 2mp monochrome is not), and only through Gcam or Opencamera, not the stock LineageOS app. The macro camera's access was only figured out in the past few weeks by the LOS maintainer. I use a modified version of GCam to access the other lenses. I believe Oneplus actually disabled the macro lens in their vendor rom, so this is a case where LineageOS and downstream roms from it like Calyx are adding back some functionality that was lost.
- strcat 5y ago
  AOSP Camera can't use them but GrapheneOS ships with a Camera app that's able to use all the cameras and a lightweight variant of HDR+. Google Camera can also be used on GrapheneOS simply by installing GSF and Google Camera. Network permission can optionally be revoked for both, and neither has special privileges. It's different on CalyxOS where using Google Camera requires giving a high level of privileges to Google Camera itself and Google services (microG).
mothsonasloth 5y ago
I have an 8T, I use Android Auto a lot when driving. Do I need to build from source or can I sideload the package with CalyxOS?
- cdesai 5y ago
  Unfortunately that is currently not supported since Android Auto is a proprietary app and needs system / OS level privileges to actually work.
nunobrito 5y ago
Good to have options. For me I won't be even testing this distribution when looking at their preference for signal, tor, their own VPN and duckduckgo. Thanks but no thanks. For those in Europe our preference tends to be with Telegram, ProtonVPN and Qwant. Please consider this configuration profile as default in future releases for those in the European continent. Thanks.
- jfkimmes 5y ago
  As someone from Europe I would much rather have it default to Signal than to Telegram. I prefer encryption over "jurisdiction-based protection" or whatever security shell game Telegram is playing to protect my plain text messages.
- 3np 5y ago
  ProtonVPN (private, proprietary, trusted) can never be considered an alternative over Tor (open, FLOSS, untrusted). While I'd prefer Matrix and/or XMPP over either: Telegram (single-device encryption for 1-to-1 chats only) is inherently less secure than Signal. Both require phone-number verification and thereby doxxing oneself to use.
- panick21_ 5y ago
  If anything it would be Matrix and Mullvad. Telegram is not close to being secure and its Russian. Mullvad is more open and more trust worthy compared to ProtonVPN.
KSPAtlas 5y ago
Calyx has been stealing code (and removing author) and raiding GrapheneOS chatrooms. GrapheneOS is a better option if your device supports it (like mine).
omegacharlie 5y ago
Interesting, but one issue with the monoculture of Android devices that impacts a non-insignificant amount of people is the fact 'top-tier' devices such as the Google Pixels that have reliable firmware support or security also have OLED displays with aggressive PWM flickering. That makes these devices a non-starter for many people with headache or some seizure disorders. I really wish Google and other OEMs would do something about this at some point.

45 points by fabianhjr 5y ago

postpawl 5y ago

Does anyone prefer CalyxOS over GrapheneOS or LineageOS?

Seirdy 5y ago
I'd pick Graphene over Calyx on privacy and security grounds, and Lineage over Calyx on device support or tweakability grounds. Graphene is honestly ahead on the security and privacy front. MicroG requires very strong privileges and weakens the comprehensive privsep you'd otherwise have; GrapheneOS offers sandboxed play services with the standard SELinux policies for unprivileged Android software. GrapheneOS also has hardened_malloc, which seems to have the best design for malloc hardening out of any alternatives I'm aware of. On the userspace side, Graphene uses several of its own apps. One is Vanadium for its webview and browser; it's a hardened fork of Chromium. Check the patchset; it's got a bunch of security improvements and cross-pollenates with Bromite. The most interesting feature they've been working on is per-site JIT toggles. The list goes on. Few other OSes come close. Now, if you want to tinker with your phone at the expense of security, Lineage is actually a great option. It has a big community of tweakers and ricers who root their phones and come up with some cool experiments. It also supports a wider variety of devices, including devices abandoned by their manufacturers. Don't expect security updates, though.
- colordrops 5y ago
  Isn't graphene a huge target for black hats and three letter agencies? I guess no more so than lineage.
  - lberrymage 5y ago
    There is no evidence to suggest this. GrapheneOS has multiple systemic privacy and security improvements over the stock OS (e.g. hardened_malloc, toggleable network permission, exec spawning), so it's a much harder target to develop a working exploit for when compared to devices running the stock OS.
- phh 5y ago
  > I'd pick Graphene over Calyx on privacy and security grounds, and Lineage over Calyx on device support or tweakability grounds. I'd pick Calyx over privacy grounds not Graphene. (I totally agree that Graphene beats anyone on security grounds by miles, and depending on your threat model, security could be related to your privacy) > MicroG requires very strong privileges and weakens the comprehensive privsep you'd otherwise have If we're speaking of FAKE_SIGNATURE.... No it doesn't? If implemented properly (I don't know how Calyx do it, but I know I do), only apps in firmware are allowed to use FAKE_SIGNATURE, and if you build your firmware with only microg that has FAKE_SIGNATURE, then only microg can fake signature. Also it can fake exactly one signature, which is Google's. It's probably possible to make that patch better, if some people gives us reasons it is a flaw. Really, please tell me in which threat model does using microg hinders security, maybe we can find a fix. So far, I've never heard any. > GrapheneOS offers sandboxed play services with the standard SELinux policies for unprivileged Android software. With regards to privacy, I take unprotected opensource software over Google trackware no matter the sandboxes you put under it. Windows has a better sandboxing model than Linux, yet I feel much better doing random apt installs, than downloading random Windows apps.
  - tholdem 5y ago
    How is Calyx more privacy respecting than GrapheneOS by default? Not sure about the defaults on Calyx, but AFAIK GrapheneOS has zero connections to Google. You choose to install sandboxed Play services only if you want to.
    - phh 5y ago
      By default, Calyx is privacy-preserving, because it doesn't connect automatically to WiFi. You choose to connect to WiFi only if you want to. Yes, I'm very exaggerating the comparison, but still. My point is that the comment I'm answering touts the sandboxed Google Play Services. You can't tout it *and* say it's privacy preserving, it's a XOR.
      - lberrymage 5y ago
        GrapheneOS doesn't automatically connect to Wi-Fi either unless you enable the option. It also has per-connection MAC randomization enabled by default so Wi-Fi is essentially anonymous when you use it anyway. > you can't tout it *and say it's privacy preserving. Why? Sandboxed Play Services has no special privileges on GrapheneOS and thus has the same level of access as any other app. How can it invade your privacy if you don't explicitly give it access to private information?
- joecool1029 5y ago
  >Don't expect security updates, though. For the binary blobs, but for the opensource components all supported builds are current on monthly android security patches. (well, in review for probably a few days on April: https://review.lineageos.org/q/topic:R_asb_2022-04 https://review.lineageos.org/q/topic:R_asb_2022-04 ) LineageOS maintainers also pull android servicing branch back to cm14.1 tree too if you wanted to try your hand at building on a previously supported device.
flexagoon 5y ago
It's definitely better than Lineage, since Lineage is the least private and secure out of all "degoogled" ROMs. However, it isn't as good as Graphene.
- strcat 5y ago
  CalyxOS recently went almost 4 months without shipping Chromium (including WebView) and Android security updates. CalyxOS is not "degoogled" and uses multiple Google services by default without an opt-out. Look at their documentation. It also has privileged Google service integration enabled by default. If using Google services is considered "degoogled", what does it mean? Not having Google Play as part of the OS? They do have a reimplementation of a small subset of it using Google's services and it's specially privileged.
  - flexagoon 5y ago
    Yes, I'm aware that Calyx isn't degoogled and neither is Lineage, that's why I wrote "degoogled" in quotation marks. And I also know about lack of security updates in Calyx, but it's still better than Lineage lol
h4waii 5y ago
I went through building LineageOS for my devices for years, then switched to Pixel + GrapheneOS and have been extremely happy with my decision. Unfortunately as you can see from these posts, there's a lot of in-fighting between developers and users, it's detrimental to everyone involved and drives away users, supporters, and other developers who would contribute but don't want to get involved in it. Regardless of all the garbage surrounding these projects, the technical work behind GrapheneOS speaks for itself and is how I ended up selecting it vs the other options.
- _emacsomancer_ 5y ago
  Graphene is indeed a lot less fiddly than dealing with microg etc. Much easier to use (and install - oh the headache that is dealing with firmware updates my Samsung tablet running Lineage).

Freak_NL 5y ago

Nice development. Just yesterday I ordered a Pixel 6 to replace my ageing Ubuntu Phone — Google's Pixel smartphones are the only ones really well supported by privacy focussed Android forks like GrapheneOS and CalyxOS (I intend to install GrapheneOS on it). Currently, this seems like a decent middle ground between being able to run apps from one of the two app stores (Apple's and Google's) when needed without sacrificing too much control over your computing devices. Having to buy the hardware from Google leaves a bit of bad aftertaste though. I really hope that in the future I can just get something like a Fairphone and be able to run a fully supported more user-aligned OS on it.

tholdem 5y ago
GrapheneOS is collaborating with a hw vendor to create a device that can run GOS and which has similar hw to current Pixel devices. https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1490518600339308544 https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1490518600339308544
- mickotron 5y ago
  That is amazing. I have been a happy GOS user for years. Sadly, my Pixel 3a EOL is next month. I opted for an iPhone this time as they generally are supported for longer periods of time. Maybe my next phone will be a phone designed for GOS :)
  - tholdem 5y ago
    You should probably get Pixel 6(pro) as they are supported almost as long as iOS on iPhones. Here is a Reddit post about it https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/souxzc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/souxzc/ My personal hunch is that this might have something to do with the GOS collaboration announcement: https://www.androidpolice.com/osom-ov1-exclusive/ https://www.androidpolice.com/osom-ov1-exclusive/
    - mickotron 5y ago
      I can’t deal with phones that physically big :( if pixels were the size of the mini I would have bought it.

retSava 5y ago

One thing that bugs me to no end with Android (don't know about iOS or various tweak android builds), is that it is sooooo hard to restrict basic things. I don't want random apps to start on bootup as an almost-invisible-service, instead I don't want anything to do with that app until I explicitly start it and use it. Revoking permissions should be supereasy - like remove any and all network ability (eg camera or flashlight apps), start on bootup (don't need a service running for app X until I start it), clipboard snooping (ok to read clipboard if I tell the app to, but otherwise it's just creepy and a risk). slash-rant

dingdingdang 5y ago
I would love to see all permission clearly outlined in a central location. Could even be part of the Firewall application in CalyxOS for all I care (have run this on a Pixel 4a for a year now and very impressed with the update cycle and stability offered).
sofixa 5y ago
It's not the most fluid UX ( but then again it's not something you need every day so it makes sense to have it a few levels deep), but in Android, since many versions ago, you can go to Settings - Apps - app - Allow/Disallow auto-launch, background running, etc. From the same place you can also revoke permissions, and some Android skins have views with all apps that have access to X and Y.
- retSava 5y ago
  Hm, I can't find that. It's slightly different, eg Settings -> Apps and notifications, then either go into individual apps or "App Permissions". The former allows me to force stop apps, which indicates to me that they are running in the background (phone is power cycled every night so they shouldn't be). Nowhere to be seen is any auto-launch or background running. In App permissions, I get a list of permissions (eg Microphone, or Location) and clicking on any of those gets me a list of apps that include that permission, and I can revoke permissions there. Same there, no auto-launch/background. I can go to Battery -> Battery optimisation -> app -> and pick eg "optimise" that restricts background usage, but I guess doesn't disable it. I'm on a Oneplus 7 pro phone, which has android 11, OxygenOS 11.0.6.1...

jokowueu 5y ago

I got a 8T and they botched the android 12 Update . Overall it's a huge downgrade in usability . I dont want to downgrade and stay on an older version with no security updates . So I'm taking a look at these roms and they are not as bad as the early days of roms

colordrops 5y ago

There's some sort of battle happening between the devs of Graphene and Calyx as we speak: https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139?s=20&t=XJeC7Ry9XgapT9yBSnQ4zw https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139?s=...

Alterlife 5y ago
This has been going on for atleast a year. There's a long video from Techlore which presents the CalyxOS side of the picture and places the blame with GrapheneOS leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx7CZ-2Bajg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx7CZ-2Bajg .
- flexagoon 5y ago
  I don't like the video, it shows Daniel Micay as a toxic sociopathic man, while in reality he is nothing like that
  - sendfoods 5y ago
    Maybe many people get this impression because he (rightfully! I want to be very clear here) defended his accomplishments against the attacks from his Copperhead OS business partner. Without context it's hard to understand
  - strcat 5y ago
    It's a video pushing a whole bunch of clearly fabricated stories and libel about me. The leader of the Calyx Institute and multiple project members have also participated in this abusive behavior. They've tried to pretend as if their highly abusive behavior isn't real and is simply imagined. Techlore's video shows a series of doctored screenshots with him lying through his teeth about the history, context and content of the screenshots. He very openly gets pleasure out of directing his toxic community to harass me and teaching them to push these talking points about me being schizophrenic, crazy and delusional. Nicolas Merrill and other Calyx Institute employees have extensive involvement in this. Nick has repeatedly tried to claim that I'm crazy and delusional. Today, Nick openly tolerated and showed his tacit support for ongoing raids on our rooms. Multiple people currently involved in massive raids on our room alternating between spamming extreme gore and libel were openly bragging about it in the Calyx room. He was there and perfectly happy to allow it. He has openly engaged with people repeatedly insulting me, harassing me and saying that I should kill myself. It's not the GrapheneOS community engaging in a misinformation / libel campaign across platforms and this highly toxic / abusive behavior. https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139 https://twitter.com/GrapheneOS/status/1511593168667611139 I can link a whole bunch of other Twitter threads and archives about this but I currently need to deal with these ongoing raids on our room by CalyxOS.

dheerajvs 5y ago

Do these custom OSes preserve the native capabilities of the multiple cameras on the device? Can someone chime in with their experience?

joecool1029 5y ago
This question is weirdly worded so I want to be careful answering it. This is highly device dependent, and out of these devices I only have the 8T. Will it be the same as stock camera experience? Not unless the vendor blobs and camera frameworks are ported to these OS, which they almost never are. But camera drivers still used pulled from vendor image, just with an opensource camera app. Status of the 8T's cameras: In the 8T's case 3 of the 4 back cameras are accessible in LineageOS (only 2mp monochrome is not), and only through Gcam or Opencamera, not the stock LineageOS app. The macro camera's access was only figured out in the past few weeks by the LOS maintainer. I use a modified version of GCam to access the other lenses. I believe Oneplus actually disabled the macro lens in their vendor rom, so this is a case where LineageOS and downstream roms from it like Calyx are adding back some functionality that was lost.
strcat 5y ago
AOSP Camera can't use them but GrapheneOS ships with a Camera app that's able to use all the cameras and a lightweight variant of HDR+. Google Camera can also be used on GrapheneOS simply by installing GSF and Google Camera. Network permission can optionally be revoked for both, and neither has special privileges. It's different on CalyxOS where using Google Camera requires giving a high level of privileges to Google Camera itself and Google services (microG).

mothsonasloth 5y ago

I have an 8T, I use Android Auto a lot when driving. Do I need to build from source or can I sideload the package with CalyxOS?

cdesai 5y ago
Unfortunately that is currently not supported since Android Auto is a proprietary app and needs system / OS level privileges to actually work.

nunobrito 5y ago

Good to have options. For me I won't be even testing this distribution when looking at their preference for signal, tor, their own VPN and duckduckgo. Thanks but no thanks. For those in Europe our preference tends to be with Telegram, ProtonVPN and Qwant. Please consider this configuration profile as default in future releases for those in the European continent. Thanks.

jfkimmes 5y ago
As someone from Europe I would much rather have it default to Signal than to Telegram. I prefer encryption over "jurisdiction-based protection" or whatever security shell game Telegram is playing to protect my plain text messages.
3np 5y ago
ProtonVPN (private, proprietary, trusted) can never be considered an alternative over Tor (open, FLOSS, untrusted). While I'd prefer Matrix and/or XMPP over either: Telegram (single-device encryption for 1-to-1 chats only) is inherently less secure than Signal. Both require phone-number verification and thereby doxxing oneself to use.
panick21_ 5y ago
If anything it would be Matrix and Mullvad. Telegram is not close to being secure and its Russian. Mullvad is more open and more trust worthy compared to ProtonVPN.

KSPAtlas 5y ago

Calyx has been stealing code (and removing author) and raiding GrapheneOS chatrooms. GrapheneOS is a better option if your device supports it (like mine).

omegacharlie 5y ago

Interesting, but one issue with the monoculture of Android devices that impacts a non-insignificant amount of people is the fact 'top-tier' devices such as the Google Pixels that have reliable firmware support or security also have OLED displays with aggressive PWM flickering. That makes these devices a non-starter for many people with headache or some seizure disorders. I really wish Google and other OEMs would do something about this at some point.