Comment by criddell
6 years ago
Ok, but what does that let you do that you couldn't otherwise? Nobody buys a phone for the operating system, it's for the hardware and the software that runs on top of the OS.
6 years ago
Ok, but what does that let you do that you couldn't otherwise? Nobody buys a phone for the operating system, it's for the hardware and the software that runs on top of the OS.
Hi, I'm nobody.
I have no interest in Android or iOS. I have no interest in phones that make it difficult to run non-android systems on them. I have no interest in devices I have to break into in order to make them do what I want them to do.
Phones that I've been using for more than 10 years now make it easy to run Debian GNU/Linux on them, baremetal, straight out of Debian repositories. Those devices don't require me to run any proprietary binary blob on my system. Those devices are supported by community years after their manufacturers abandoned them, as mainlining makes that task actually manageable. That's the kind of phone I'm interested in and its OS plays a big part in it.
> I have no interest in devices I have to break into in order to make them do what I want them to do.
And that is?
Do you have time? The list is going to be really long.
Just two examples: removing Google apps from Android devices, installing non-store apps on iOS.
If you run a web search along the lines of "best apps for rooted Android" or "best apps for jailbroken iPhone" you will find many more examples of useful things that you can do with rooted/jailbroken devices.
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Do you have the same approach about all other linux-powered devices - cars, fridges, TVs etc?
It lets you continue safely using your phone after a year or two, because it won't be stuck on outdated software full of unpatched security vulnerabilities.
Apple offer that. I accept the preference and arguments for an open system etc and the distrust of a global corp., but the support lifespan of an iOS device has more recently been ~5 years.
> Nobody buys a phone for the operating system
I did. Pretty much because all the drivers are mainline(able). Even if purism went belly up today, I could continue to run up to date Linux on my librem 5 basically forever.
The baseband OS is still a binary blob that you don't really have any visibility into though, right?
It's a black box for sure, but it's not a 'binary blob'. That's an important distinction. There's no kernel module that tied to a specific kernel version. And even better the WWAN module is in an M.2 (?) socket, so it'd replaceable in the future as new tech comes out.
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Clearly that statement is false because some people bought the phone because people bought it for the OS
They bought it for the OS because there's software they want to run on it. I'm just asking what that software is.
You're forgetting that developers exist.
Are you saying that it's a useful phone for developers or that there's a lot of opportunity because basically there's no mobile-first Linux software out there?
Both.