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Are we expecting people to run tried and true FOSS on their phones? I would have expected users to be running software specific to mobile devices, which is ver

by jonfw 3y ago

Are we expecting people to run tried and true FOSS on their phones? I would have expected users to be running software specific to mobile devices, which is very niche and much less tried than it’s closed source competition. You can’t text or make phone calls from VIM

Bu9818 3y ago
That's definitely the appeal for many of its users, being able to escape the locked down and restrictive environment of Android/iOS and having the functionality of a general purpose desktop Linux device in your pocket. And you can definitely text with VIM, by using scripts like https://man.sr.ht/~anjan/sxmo-docs/ https://man.sr.ht/~anjan/sxmo-docs/ or something custom ;)
- ewzimm 3y ago
  This sounds very appealing, but since the earliest days of Android, we've been able to set up a chroot environment and install any distro and Linux app we want. Apps like UserLAnd make this trivial. I can't think of anything I'd want to do on a phone that I couldn't do with Termux. I can see the appeal of having a fully libre phone, but since that isn't possible, it's hard for most people to justify going full Linux.
  - Bu9818 3y ago
    If you want to be able to run most command-line programs (and probably GUI apps through VNC) in an isolated environment (similar to WSL or Chrome OS), then it will suffice, but there are some that appreciate having the desktop Linux environment and functionality across the whole of the device (like what sxmo is doing). Definitely a niche within a niche (desktop Linux users), I currently just avoid using a phone aside from the most basic tasks like using it as a phone to call/text or where it's required like banking.
- jonfw 3y ago
  I wouldn't call that tried and true by any means
hospitalJail 3y ago
>Are we expecting people to run tried and true FOSS on their phones? Arent they running tried and true FOSS when they use chrome? Android? I think I'm not understanding your point.

by jonfw 3y ago

Bu9818 3y ago

That's definitely the appeal for many of its users, being able to escape the locked down and restrictive environment of Android/iOS and having the functionality of a general purpose desktop Linux device in your pocket. And you can definitely text with VIM, by using scripts like https://man.sr.ht/~anjan/sxmo-docs/ https://man.sr.ht/~anjan/sxmo-docs/ or something custom ;)

ewzimm 3y ago
This sounds very appealing, but since the earliest days of Android, we've been able to set up a chroot environment and install any distro and Linux app we want. Apps like UserLAnd make this trivial. I can't think of anything I'd want to do on a phone that I couldn't do with Termux. I can see the appeal of having a fully libre phone, but since that isn't possible, it's hard for most people to justify going full Linux.
- Bu9818 3y ago
  If you want to be able to run most command-line programs (and probably GUI apps through VNC) in an isolated environment (similar to WSL or Chrome OS), then it will suffice, but there are some that appreciate having the desktop Linux environment and functionality across the whole of the device (like what sxmo is doing). Definitely a niche within a niche (desktop Linux users), I currently just avoid using a phone aside from the most basic tasks like using it as a phone to call/text or where it's required like banking.
jonfw 3y ago
I wouldn't call that tried and true by any means

hospitalJail 3y ago

>Are we expecting people to run tried and true FOSS on their phones? Arent they running tried and true FOSS when they use chrome? Android? I think I'm not understanding your point.