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He can buy an unlocked developer handset from Android Market without these issues. I still think the Apache2 license will have them claiming closed-source stuf
by sayrer 18y ago
He can buy an unlocked developer handset from Android Market without these issues.
I still think the Apache2 license will have them claiming closed-source stuff is not part of "Core Android", but it's a step forward.
- nuclear_eclipse 18y agoA developer G1 may allow you to flash any Android image you want onto the phone, but the hardware is still not "open" or "free", in that the drivers are not (afaik) open sourced in any method. However, it is still a step forward, yes, but it's still not as big of a step as the phones on offer from Openmoko, for example.
- lallysingh 18y agoReally? which ones? I had heard differently.
- vetinari 18y agoRIL, audio, wifi and accelerometer, to name a few. Additionaly, the entire radio stack is also closed source (it is outside the OS - it runs on separate CPU, is stored separately in ROM and RIL communicates with it using shared memory).
- litewulf 18y agoCan you give me a source for the hardware not having drivers? That makes no sense to me, how are you supposed to be able to reflash a phone in any meaningful sense without drivers so the phone, er, works.
- nuclear_eclipse 18y agoThe hardware has drivers, just included as binary blobs; they are not open source, akin to Nvidia's binary driver for Linux.
- kragen 18y agoHe couldn't buy one when he wrote that, but it's also sort of beside the point. Software freedom is about other people having the ability to modify the software they depend on, not about me having the ability (if I spend enough money and time) having that ability.