3 ms·

Lots of companies build/buy/sell cheap phones and presumably put some work into getting Android up on the hardware. I think maybe that's where Purism went wron

Lots of companies build/buy/sell cheap phones and presumably put some work into getting Android up on the hardware. I think maybe that's where Purism went wrong. They tried to go pure from the get-go. But think it would be better to get a profitable product out first, and then invest in opening components, one by one. I don't need a perfect device. Rather hardware getting better every year. Then I could upgrade, and they'd make more money.

seba_dos1 2y ago
Getting Android up on the hardware is easy - you just grab the unmaintainable kernel fork provided by the vendor and you're 90% there. I'm not interested in Android though, so I just wouldn't buy such phone no matter how cheap would it be. I'm not interested in upgrading every year either. Librem 5 is great, but unfortunately I'll need something to upgrade to in a few years anyway, as the Web has a tendency to only get heavier with time.
- mixmastamyk 2y ago
  You don't have to upgrade every year, the point is that the hardware improves over time.
  - seba_dos1 2y ago
    And that's what I'd love to see. It's not as easy as you make it appear though. An obvious upgrade path for Librem 5 would be a newer SoC from i.MX line as there have been several released since, but all of them are even less suited for a smartphone than i.MX 8M or come with downgrades in some important areas, such as GPU - so this now calls for a complete redesign around a different vendor. Not impossible, but not cheap either. Grabbing some cheap Android devices is a path to nowhere. Otherwise we all could be just grabbing them and putting postmarketOS on them ourselves, as there's no shortage of such devices on the market.
    - mixmastamyk 2y ago
      A defeatist mindset. The point is to make money, then invest in making more. For example my new starlite linux tablet is awesome and star is making money hand over fist. Because they finally built a good one and stopped making excuses. They develop firmware with coreboot and upstream patches to Linux. That’s what a successful business is, you invest then reap the rewards.
      - seba_dos1 2y ago
        Then what are you waiting for? There's a successful business for you to pursue and reap the rewards from. I've been using GNU/Linux phones and watching this market for the last 18 years. If I'm a defeatist, please prove me wrong.
        mixmastamyk 2y ago
        I'm broke but would gladly join an effort.

seba_dos1 2y ago

Getting Android up on the hardware is easy - you just grab the unmaintainable kernel fork provided by the vendor and you're 90% there. I'm not interested in Android though, so I just wouldn't buy such phone no matter how cheap would it be. I'm not interested in upgrading every year either. Librem 5 is great, but unfortunately I'll need something to upgrade to in a few years anyway, as the Web has a tendency to only get heavier with time.

mixmastamyk 2y ago
You don't have to upgrade every year, the point is that the hardware improves over time.
- seba_dos1 2y ago
  And that's what I'd love to see. It's not as easy as you make it appear though. An obvious upgrade path for Librem 5 would be a newer SoC from i.MX line as there have been several released since, but all of them are even less suited for a smartphone than i.MX 8M or come with downgrades in some important areas, such as GPU - so this now calls for a complete redesign around a different vendor. Not impossible, but not cheap either. Grabbing some cheap Android devices is a path to nowhere. Otherwise we all could be just grabbing them and putting postmarketOS on them ourselves, as there's no shortage of such devices on the market.
  - mixmastamyk 2y ago
    A defeatist mindset. The point is to make money, then invest in making more. For example my new starlite linux tablet is awesome and star is making money hand over fist. Because they finally built a good one and stopped making excuses. They develop firmware with coreboot and upstream patches to Linux. That’s what a successful business is, you invest then reap the rewards.
    - seba_dos1 2y ago
      Then what are you waiting for? There's a successful business for you to pursue and reap the rewards from. I've been using GNU/Linux phones and watching this market for the last 18 years. If I'm a defeatist, please prove me wrong.
      - mixmastamyk 2y ago
        I'm broke but would gladly join an effort.