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That comparison shows "Deblobbed? Yes" for GrapheneOS. That implies they've replaced (most of) the blobs for wifi, bluetooth, 5g chips etc. Is that actually tr

by the_biot 10mo ago

That comparison shows "Deblobbed? Yes" for GrapheneOS. That implies they've replaced (most of) the blobs for wifi, bluetooth, 5g chips etc. Is that actually true? It's such a big deal, and I see little to no work being done on this front. Anyone have any idea what GrapheneOS actually deblobbed?

fmajid 10mo ago
They can because they essentially support Google chipsets, which are not blobby like MediaTek or Qualcomm because Google for all its faults is still relatively open (except their recent change in release schedules is why the Pixel 10 series still only has experimental GrapheneOS support).
- vbezhenar 10mo ago
  Do you claim that there's a place where I can find datasheets for peripheral devices for Google Pixel? Like GPU, etc.
  - fmajid 10mo ago
    No, but they used to publish the source code for the drivers as part of AOSP. Now they no longer publish the device trees. Check out GrapheneOS' other Mastodon posts for the gory details.
- joecool1029 10mo ago
  Here’s an example of the radio firmware and vendor blobs required for a pixel 9 pro XL build: https://github.com/TheMuppets/proprietary_vendor_google_komodo https://github.com/TheMuppets/proprietary_vendor_google_komo... Nobody, including Graphene, is getting away with building their own modem firmware. The reduced blobs are on userspace and some HAL components.
  - fmajid 10mo ago
    Yes, even Apple with its practically infinite resources took 14 years from when it acquired Infineon's mobile chipset unit to launching its C1 modem. So much of the telcos' allegedly open protocols are actually implementation-dependent that it takes a lot of testing on actual mobile networks to validate interop.
    - joecool1029 10mo ago
      > took 14 years It was at most 4 years. Intel was the one that bought them 14 years ago and divested most of the IP off to Apple 6 years ago: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-majority-of-intels-smartphone-modem-business/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-...
yaro330 10mo ago
It's nowhere near that. Pretty sure even modules are signed by Google.

fmajid 10mo ago

They can because they essentially support Google chipsets, which are not blobby like MediaTek or Qualcomm because Google for all its faults is still relatively open (except their recent change in release schedules is why the Pixel 10 series still only has experimental GrapheneOS support).

vbezhenar 10mo ago
Do you claim that there's a place where I can find datasheets for peripheral devices for Google Pixel? Like GPU, etc.
- fmajid 10mo ago
  No, but they used to publish the source code for the drivers as part of AOSP. Now they no longer publish the device trees. Check out GrapheneOS' other Mastodon posts for the gory details.
joecool1029 10mo ago
Here’s an example of the radio firmware and vendor blobs required for a pixel 9 pro XL build: https://github.com/TheMuppets/proprietary_vendor_google_komodo https://github.com/TheMuppets/proprietary_vendor_google_komo... Nobody, including Graphene, is getting away with building their own modem firmware. The reduced blobs are on userspace and some HAL components.
- fmajid 10mo ago
  Yes, even Apple with its practically infinite resources took 14 years from when it acquired Infineon's mobile chipset unit to launching its C1 modem. So much of the telcos' allegedly open protocols are actually implementation-dependent that it takes a lot of testing on actual mobile networks to validate interop.
  - joecool1029 10mo ago
    > took 14 years It was at most 4 years. Intel was the one that bought them 14 years ago and divested most of the IP off to Apple 6 years ago: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-majority-of-intels-smartphone-modem-business/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-...

yaro330 10mo ago

It's nowhere near that. Pretty sure even modules are signed by Google.