It's crazy to see someone here defending proprietary software. But I guess you are just trolling.
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If you can't modify the software, then you don't control it. If you can't audit what it does, it can be spyware. You need the 4 essential freedoms.
PinePhone (at least v1) is no longer maintained in Mobian due to changes in tech.
The original PinePhone is still maintained. I don't know for how long, though.
The device is a SBC Single Board Computer meaning the modem is soldered on the same silicon as the CPU, RAM, Storage, etc…
I'm not sure what you mean, since PinePhone's and Librem 5's modem is not integrated into the SoC. It's a separate chip connected through USB.
Librem 5 is better in some areas worse in others. The modem is a m.2. This allows the Mainboard to cut power to the modem as desired. The modem can’t be entirely turned off in other phones and as they are on the same SBC
PinePhone also has a killswitch to power off the modem. I think the only difference between them is that Librem 5's modem is removable and PinePhone's modem is soldered onto the board.
there is speculation secret commands could be used for data extraction or to activate spyware in cellphones as was recently discovered with Android and iOS. Separating the m.2 isolates the abilities of the modem module as a “firewall” being the closest comparison.
Android phones have some modem isolation too, but I don't know much about it.
PPP is supposedly more battery intensive but manufactured in Hong Kong, which has been absorbed into China. For this reason the tech world is not as fond of their PPP as their initial PP before China absorbed them. Considering the last 4 years people are no longer “fond”.
I haven't heard of that, but I'm pretty sure Librem 5 is manufactured in China too, just like most phones.
Something newer than PP or L5 is needed. Something that can do basic tasks without binary blobs wrecking The FOSS Dream.
Binary blobs are fine as long as they are not present in the operating system or executed by the main CPU. At least that's the Free Software Foundation's opinion until we can do something about it. This is where Librem 5 does better than PinePhone.
Framework is a little big but if you see what modders have done it is a good candidate.
It has a x86 CPU, so it probably requires proprietary BIOS. I assume you will also need to install proprietary firmware in your OS to get working WiFi. So I don't know if it's an improvement over GNU/Linux phones. It's probably not very energy efficient either.
Having the ability to add mics with physical kill switches and cameras with kill switches or being omitted entirely in my opinion would be optimal.
PinePhone and Librem 5 have killswitches for the cameras and the microphone.
Moving out of the Cellular space away from Phone numbers and to Element, or SIP or VOIP just makes sense for communications. It “cuts the cord” of the ATT / Bell monopoly that has plagued humans for decades.
Phone calls are not end-to-end encrypted, so they suck. But to use Matrix you will need to use the internet. So you still need a modem probably. If not, you can just disable it with a killswitch.
Eventually we will see “phones” move away from cellular to satellite. This may be the jump we need to break free of all this blob nonsense cock blocking Linux.
I think the main problem is lack of SoCs that have good mainline Linux kernel support. Removing the modem won't solve it and you will still need proprietary firmware for WiFi and Bluetooth, which sucks.
There isn’t a optimal answer just yet, like do I build a phone out of a RPI5? when RPI5 and ARMs in general have blobs.
Yeah, it has the same problem.
A winner hasn’t really been declared, hell a Steam Deck could even be modded (x86 too) to run off the shelf Linux tech and the OS could be on MicroSD and the modem could theoretically be in the m.2 slot. Purism does sell the modems for $50 on their store.
Oh, that's interesting. It probably still has blobs, though. And if you want to use WiFi, it probably requires proprietary firmware installed in your OS.
Librem 5 is probably the best in terms of software freedom. I think it doesn't require any proprietary firmware in the operating system, because it was moved to separate chips. But I think binary blobs are still executed during boot, which is why they didn't manage to get the RYF certificate from the FSF.
Ah, I see. So I guess we should call it Android/Linux?
That doesn't change much. It's an operating system you can't control.
Sailfish OS
That's proprietary.
What would be the advantage over PinePhone or Librem 5?
PinePhone, PinePhone Pro and Librem 5 should have the best GNU/Linux or postmarketOS support, but their SoCs are not be as fast and energy efficient as other modern phones. You can check my short PinePhone review and there is also some information in this thread. PinePhone's battery will last a day only if you don't use the phone much.
for os i have thinked to use ubuntu touch or postmarket os
Note that postmarketOS is not GNU/Linux, since it's based on Alpine and Ubuntu Touch is GNU/Android or something like that, since it uses the Android kernel. The most popular GNU/Linux distros are Mobian and Manjaro.
Impressive! I'm looking at postmarketOS wiki and it's amazing how many phones are supported now. But it seems they are not working as well as PinePhone or Librem 5 yet.
forgot to turn it off at around 80 % and a few days later it was at 58 %
Damn, I wish my PinePhone was this energy efficient!
GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!",[6][12] chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code.[6][13][14] Stallman chose the name by using various plays on words, including the song The Gnu.[4]: 45:30
Steam OS is proprietary.
But Arch contains proprietary firmware, so technically it's not fully free software either.
They made a device with a proprietary operating system and proprietary software. If you really want that, why not just use Android?
GNU/Linux is not aimed at people who want the most features. It's made for people who value freedom above everything else.
I would love to see something like Proton but for .apks instead of Windows executables. If it were as easy to install and run android apps on a mobile Linux OS as it is now to install and play Windows games on Linux, we would be in a great place to see a proper Linux phone.
You mean Waydroid? I've read that it works pretty well.
Thanks for a very detailed explanation! So it seems that this is almost impossible. Except for maybe a small part of a city.
The lack of encryption, privacy and anonymity in HAM radio would be an issue for me. Just like in mobile phones. But since you can use end-to-end encryption over WiFi (and some weaker, less useful encryption is used in mobile phones), maybe there are exceptions. I've heard of LoRA, but I wouldn't want to use it, unless I'm allowed to encrypt the messages. It also seems that the message length is very limited, so using something like PGP might not always be possible.
You know HAM radio? It's kinda interesting, because people can use it to talk to each other and it technically doesn't require any infrastructure. But there are also repeaters in cities that can increase the range.
I've been wondering why people don't try to do something similar with WiFi? Some kind of city-wide WiFi network with repeaters. It's probably difficult and I'm not sure if it would have any practical use. But the advantage over HAM radio is that it's encrypted and doesn't require a license. I imagine that people could use it to chat with each other and share stuff without having to rely on social media or the internet.
The Free Software movement. So the idea that people deserve certain rights when using computers, so that they can control their own devices.
If a project is popular people will make changes to it every day. But you can look at the repo and judge for yourself.
Yeah, they have the same purpose. They are just a little less convenient to use.
I think the power efficiency of x86 is getting better lately, but still not good enough.
It would probably be pretty big and power hungry. It seems that it uses Coreboot, which contains proprietary blobs. Most x86 devices need those.
I hope some next phone will get a RYF certificate from the Free Software Foundation. That's already a pretty high standard.
I haven't heard of it before, but I doubt that Raspberry PI can be the solution. Does it even run a mainline Linux kernel?