4 ms·

living the ideal Free Software lifestyle—that is, using no proprietary software or hardware, meaning no SteamDeck, no game consoles, no smartphones, etc. I'm a

living the ideal Free Software lifestyle—that is, using no proprietary software or hardware, meaning no SteamDeck, no game consoles, no smartphones, etc. I'm a proud owner of a PinePhone, on which I run an operating system called postmarketOS; there's no proprietary software to be seen. Due to the amazing success of postmarketOS and the projects they package, I can enjoy cellular networking and a whole host of apps. Occasionally the lacklustre performance of the hardware can be frustrating, but apparently the faster PinePhone Pro is vastly better in that regard - as it was, the PinePhone was a fraction of the price of more popular phones. Furthermore, I can even SSH between my PC and PinePhone via the internet or USB to transfer files! I think my ideal Free Software lifestyle seems preferable to the author's :)

Brian_K_White 4y ago
There are always people who think any sacrifice or suffering is stupid. Every good thing tbey currently enjoy and are so proud of their cleverness in securing for themselves, whether it's a tech toy or a liberal law, only exists because someone before them took on the burden of bringing about the change, which made their lives actually a bit more difficult in the immediate. Some people see that as stupid but I sure don't.
- seabass-labrax 4y ago
  Indeed - to use proprietary software is to suffer, but you can still let it into your life and be 'net-positive in freedom' both for yourself and for others. I'm very grateful to those behind the FOSS applications that I use for making the personal sacrifices necessary to develop them for everyone.
  - Brian_K_White 4y ago
    To be clear I was saying that I see no problem with using a pinephone almost no matter what deficiencies it might have compared to the latest galaxy or iphone etc.
    - seabass-labrax 4y ago
      Ah, I see! Yes, there's that also. However, there's something strangely exciting about coping with a flickering screen for months, to turn your phone on one day to find it fixed - mainstream options tend to degrade over time instead! I'd say as a rough estimate that the PinePhone is about 95% there compared to a comparably-priced Android phone by this point.
em-bee 4y ago
to do that i would have to sever connections to most of my friends and contacts. not being able to use whatsapp, wechat or whatever else is popular where you are is really isolating.
- seabass-labrax 4y ago
  It's true that proprietary chat applications are the most difficult to replace with FOSS alternatives. Luckily enough for me, most of my contacts are accessible via email.
- pabs3 4y ago
  There are open source implementations of all the major chat networks these days. To start with you can use Pidgin, which supports all of them in one app. https://pidgin.im/plugins/ https://pidgin.im/plugins/
  - em-bee 4y ago
    that is interesting, thank you. unfortunately, at least for wechat, as far as i can tell, it won't be possible to log in without having an original wechat on a phone (that's how you log into the official web-wechat too). so that doesn't really solve the problem of not needing non-free software. there is also a high risk of getting banned for using an unauthorized client.
    - pabs3 4y ago
      Looks like pidgin-wechat uses the web-wechat. I haven't used it but the README says it supports login, probably as you say via the phone. https://github.com/sbwtw/pidgin-wechat/ https://github.com/sbwtw/pidgin-wechat/
pabs3 4y ago
You're forgetting the proprietary software running within the CPU bootrom, the LTE modem and other chips :) Even if you are using the libre modem distribution, it only covers the ARM cores of the modem, not the Hexagon ones.
- seabass-labrax 4y ago
  Thanks; I didn't know that! Do you happen to know whether Hexagon is just a simple DSP processor on the PinePhone's A64, or is more advanced with direct memory access etc.?
  - pabs3 4y ago
    I think the Hexagon runs an RTOS of some kind. It is not part of the PinePhone SoC, but is part of the modem SoC (which has Hexagon cores and ARM cores), which IIRC is soldered onto the PinePhone board separately to the main processor SoC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon

Brian_K_White 4y ago

There are always people who think any sacrifice or suffering is stupid. Every good thing tbey currently enjoy and are so proud of their cleverness in securing for themselves, whether it's a tech toy or a liberal law, only exists because someone before them took on the burden of bringing about the change, which made their lives actually a bit more difficult in the immediate. Some people see that as stupid but I sure don't.

seabass-labrax 4y ago
Indeed - to use proprietary software is to suffer, but you can still let it into your life and be 'net-positive in freedom' both for yourself and for others. I'm very grateful to those behind the FOSS applications that I use for making the personal sacrifices necessary to develop them for everyone.
- Brian_K_White 4y ago
  To be clear I was saying that I see no problem with using a pinephone almost no matter what deficiencies it might have compared to the latest galaxy or iphone etc.
  - seabass-labrax 4y ago
    Ah, I see! Yes, there's that also. However, there's something strangely exciting about coping with a flickering screen for months, to turn your phone on one day to find it fixed - mainstream options tend to degrade over time instead! I'd say as a rough estimate that the PinePhone is about 95% there compared to a comparably-priced Android phone by this point.

em-bee 4y ago

to do that i would have to sever connections to most of my friends and contacts. not being able to use whatsapp, wechat or whatever else is popular where you are is really isolating.

seabass-labrax 4y ago
It's true that proprietary chat applications are the most difficult to replace with FOSS alternatives. Luckily enough for me, most of my contacts are accessible via email.
pabs3 4y ago
There are open source implementations of all the major chat networks these days. To start with you can use Pidgin, which supports all of them in one app. https://pidgin.im/plugins/ https://pidgin.im/plugins/
- em-bee 4y ago
  that is interesting, thank you. unfortunately, at least for wechat, as far as i can tell, it won't be possible to log in without having an original wechat on a phone (that's how you log into the official web-wechat too). so that doesn't really solve the problem of not needing non-free software. there is also a high risk of getting banned for using an unauthorized client.
  - pabs3 4y ago
    Looks like pidgin-wechat uses the web-wechat. I haven't used it but the README says it supports login, probably as you say via the phone. https://github.com/sbwtw/pidgin-wechat/ https://github.com/sbwtw/pidgin-wechat/

pabs3 4y ago

You're forgetting the proprietary software running within the CPU bootrom, the LTE modem and other chips :) Even if you are using the libre modem distribution, it only covers the ARM cores of the modem, not the Hexagon ones.

seabass-labrax 4y ago
Thanks; I didn't know that! Do you happen to know whether Hexagon is just a simple DSP processor on the PinePhone's A64, or is more advanced with direct memory access etc.?
- pabs3 4y ago
  I think the Hexagon runs an RTOS of some kind. It is not part of the PinePhone SoC, but is part of the modem SoC (which has Hexagon cores and ARM cores), which IIRC is soldered onto the PinePhone board separately to the main processor SoC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon