4 ms·

The tinker's tartare would at least come with root access. That "thing" I have running on my Samsung is anything but hacker-friendly. Instead it does a perfect

The tinker's tartare would at least come with root access. That "thing" I have running on my Samsung is anything but hacker-friendly. Instead it does a perfect job of feeding Google's advertisements as well as the crap both the manufacturer and my data provider independently installed. If that "thing" wants to be the hacker's tartare, maybe it would give me access to its bootloader, show open drivers and not call me a "pirate" for circumventing their laughable restrictions. It would also allow me to manipulate the Linux it claims to deliver the way I want it, the way 40 years of Unix culture taught me. Apple's gadgets may be a hacker's nightmare, but Androids are far from being the answer.

juliano_q 15y ago
I disagree. Samsung is being very sympathetic with hackers tinkering with their devices. They never locked the bootloader like HTC and Motorola did, and they are always in touch with relevant members of the android community, like cyanogen and supercurio. If you are not even willing to root a samsung device, that is a dead simple thing to do, you are not really into tinkering for the device. Is unrealistic to expect that anyone will give rooted devices to every single user, a "regular" non-geek user can destroy the device in minutes granting root access to the wrong apps or deleting system resources.
- babarock 15y ago
  Let's define what root access means. It's not a fancy "feature" that only "advanced" users will know how to use. You don't really "own" a device unless you have root access. The way I see it, "non-root" users are the feature preventing harm, not the other way around. How would you feel if Toshiba didn't grant you root access on your laptop/mac/machine? It is as destructive, isn't it?
  - jsight 15y ago
    I see your point, but I think the post that you are responding to is clear that the Samsung bootloader is unlocked. If the bootloader is unlocked, you can do anything that you want with the device (including installing the tools to use root access).
  - dedward 15y ago
    i simply would not buy them, not where i need a general purpose computer. but when i bought my ipad, iphon, etc, i was fully aware of what i was getting for my money, so i cant whine about it. i am no fan of lockdown, but im also capable of making decisions about how i spend my money. i bought the gizmos because i like how they work. if someone wants something not on the market ..... gobuild it and sell it,right?
  - dedward 15y ago
    i certainly own my iphone. i paid full price for it. if i want to open it up and screw with it, i am free to try whatever i want. im also clearly responsible fr the consequences if i do so. thats why i bought a factory unlocked iphone, and dont mess with it, but dont mind hacking away on a much cheaper appletv. if i brick the atv, no biggie, but id rather not be out a grand for the phone.
- randomdata 15y ago
  He has a point. Jailbreaking an iOS device is also a dead simple process, and they too are wonderfully hackable machines, arguably more-so than Android, once you have root access. But I'm not sure that means Apple's iDevices are great machines for hackers.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    Jailbreaking an iOS device is often not a dead simple process, unless you can show me how to to jailbreak my 4S. I've been waiting for a jailbreak there for quite a while....
    - randomdata 15y ago
      You're going to have to wait a few more days if you want to rest on the work of others, but: http://pod2g-ios.blogspot.com/2012/01/4s-jailbreak.html http://pod2g-ios.blogspot.com/2012/01/4s-jailbreak.html
      - mikeash 15y ago
        Right, and "wait several months for it to become available" seems rather incompatible with the claim of "dead simple". IIRC there's still no jailbreak for the iPad 2, even though it's been out for nearly a year now.
        arrogant 15y ago
        Not entirely true. You can jailbreak the iPad 2 using http://jailbreak.me/ http://jailbreak.me/ if you're running iOS 4.3.3. iOS 5 is still unavailable, and I wouldn't expect it to be available until the corresponding iPhone 4S jailbreak is out.
        mikeash 15y ago
        Ah hah, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info.
      - deleted 15y ago

juliano_q 15y ago

I disagree. Samsung is being very sympathetic with hackers tinkering with their devices. They never locked the bootloader like HTC and Motorola did, and they are always in touch with relevant members of the android community, like cyanogen and supercurio. If you are not even willing to root a samsung device, that is a dead simple thing to do, you are not really into tinkering for the device. Is unrealistic to expect that anyone will give rooted devices to every single user, a "regular" non-geek user can destroy the device in minutes granting root access to the wrong apps or deleting system resources.

babarock 15y ago
Let's define what root access means. It's not a fancy "feature" that only "advanced" users will know how to use. You don't really "own" a device unless you have root access. The way I see it, "non-root" users are the feature preventing harm, not the other way around. How would you feel if Toshiba didn't grant you root access on your laptop/mac/machine? It is as destructive, isn't it?
- jsight 15y ago
  I see your point, but I think the post that you are responding to is clear that the Samsung bootloader is unlocked. If the bootloader is unlocked, you can do anything that you want with the device (including installing the tools to use root access).
- dedward 15y ago
  i simply would not buy them, not where i need a general purpose computer. but when i bought my ipad, iphon, etc, i was fully aware of what i was getting for my money, so i cant whine about it. i am no fan of lockdown, but im also capable of making decisions about how i spend my money. i bought the gizmos because i like how they work. if someone wants something not on the market ..... gobuild it and sell it,right?
- dedward 15y ago
  i certainly own my iphone. i paid full price for it. if i want to open it up and screw with it, i am free to try whatever i want. im also clearly responsible fr the consequences if i do so. thats why i bought a factory unlocked iphone, and dont mess with it, but dont mind hacking away on a much cheaper appletv. if i brick the atv, no biggie, but id rather not be out a grand for the phone.
randomdata 15y ago
He has a point. Jailbreaking an iOS device is also a dead simple process, and they too are wonderfully hackable machines, arguably more-so than Android, once you have root access. But I'm not sure that means Apple's iDevices are great machines for hackers.
- mikeash 15y ago
  Jailbreaking an iOS device is often not a dead simple process, unless you can show me how to to jailbreak my 4S. I've been waiting for a jailbreak there for quite a while....
  - randomdata 15y ago
    You're going to have to wait a few more days if you want to rest on the work of others, but: http://pod2g-ios.blogspot.com/2012/01/4s-jailbreak.html http://pod2g-ios.blogspot.com/2012/01/4s-jailbreak.html
    - mikeash 15y ago
      Right, and "wait several months for it to become available" seems rather incompatible with the claim of "dead simple". IIRC there's still no jailbreak for the iPad 2, even though it's been out for nearly a year now.
      - arrogant 15y ago
        Not entirely true. You can jailbreak the iPad 2 using http://jailbreak.me/ http://jailbreak.me/ if you're running iOS 4.3.3. iOS 5 is still unavailable, and I wouldn't expect it to be available until the corresponding iPhone 4S jailbreak is out.
        mikeash 15y ago
        Ah hah, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info.
    - deleted 15y ago