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-   -   I want a Debian phone (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=69720)

debernardis 2011-02-12 07:00

I want a Debian phone
 
My more and more persistent thought after the Elopocalypse, and with the experience of the other minor apocalypses I've seen in the last 12 years as a fond Nokia user is:

I want a Debian phone.


I want a phone with an absolutely free and libre operating system that can't be ditched by a single CEO the day he's got a real bad belly ache; that has no DRM whatsoever; that has no ad-engine; that is going to be updated when updates are ready, not for marketing's sake; that makes me feel good.
Nothing less.

Hardware may vary: no corporation is going to do the thing I want just straight out of the box - it wouldn't bring them control, and money.

Though, Qole's efforts (but also several other contributors here, and Penguinbait with his Kde, and in other forums - Android, Pandora, even iOS) have shown that it's possible indeed, even maybe not at 100%. Though I'm sure that it may be possible to go very close to that 100% when many people really want it and are going to cooperate.

Might be the Galaxy Tab or the Galaxy S, for example: quite a complete hardware with already well-known nasty "features" - but also other hardwares could be chosen, preferring the most common and best known.

Then on top of Debian, a number of gui hacks to make the thing amenable to phone use, mainly the use of a touch-friendly ui. I think that this can be accomplished too.

What do you think of such a dream? Naif? Silly? Doable? :)

raily 2011-02-12 07:11

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Definately a good dream. BUT aren't you underestimating the fact that hardware developers (like the mentioned galaxy s developer samsung) will not support you with drivers for ther HW or even open up specification so you can write your own ones?
IMHO that is the reason why there has been no really mainstream true linux phone. I remember this barebone phone where a linux was running, but whiche other phone HW is there to use? Nevertheless it has to be on top of the shelve if you really want to attract smartphone enthusiasts like us

BLIZZARD 2011-02-12 07:26

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by debernardis (Post 943691)

I want a Debian phone.


Me too :).

e-dawg 2011-02-12 07:41

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Yes, Debian phone would be my ultimate dream

strange1712 2011-02-12 07:54

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by debernardis (Post 943691)

I want a Debian phone.


I want a phone with an absolutely free and libre operating system that can't be ditched by a single CEO the day he's got a real bad belly ache; that has no DRM whatsoever; that has no ad-engine; that is going to be updated when updates are ready, not for marketing's sake; that makes me feel good.
Nothing less.

Yeah, me too. I will keep looking for Kubuntu Mobile development, as it might get interesting.
You see, the problem as stated before would be closed drivers. I could take that, if there ara well supported drivers (in the form of Kernel Modules, just like ATI and Nvidia ones (somewhat)). Then, it would need one of these: 1) OpenGLES ported apps and games, as many of them are plain OpenGL and that simply lacks HW acceleraton on mobile plattforms OR 2) OpenGL capable chipset.
So, I see something somewhat near to this precisely Kubuntu Mobile, with KDE Plasma Mobile and all of that stufff...
The drawback is Kubuntu is not so free as Debian, and It also depends somewhat on a CEO that sometimes has dumb ideas, but at least it gives you some far feeling of having a possibility of brand support.

Still it needs to be tested and wait for it to have an acceptable usability, but I think it's not so weird...

ScottishDuck 2011-02-12 08:12

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Debian Phone? I guess you mean a phone that's 2 years old by the time it's released. Might as well stick with nokia they're good at that.

debernardis 2011-02-12 08:35

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottishDuck (Post 943728)
Debian Phone? I guess you mean a phone that's 2 years old by the time it's released. Might as well stick with nokia they're good at that.

Nope, I mean I want my Debian distro on a modern hardware with all the bells and whistles. Something like the double core phones and tablets that everyone is announcing; and I want also accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, 3d, whatever. I want to be able to buy the hardware and put my distro of choice on top.
I don't mind it's Apple or Samsung or Nokia or whatever.

See, I don't mind either if Debian is in a chroot: the important thing is I can use my application and interact with the hardware. This is "step 1 of 5" (TM) and has been already accomplished.
Step 2 is boot in Debian directly, and has been accomplished though partially on several devices.
Step 3 is boot in Debian and have FLOSS drivers for the majority of the hardware. Still in future, but - hey! - not impossible given enough time and devs. Mainly done for several desktop and notebooks.
Step 4 is still top secret.
Step 5 is conquering the universe and getting RMS as imperator.

http://eris.discordians.net/%7Eeleto...an20041008.jpg

Indeed, once Android has a viable X server, I could stay content with that and get the best of two worlds.

Peet 2011-02-12 08:38

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
debernardis, it may be a while before fully libre and open mobile phone hardware is released and OSS drivers are written. But it will happen despite kneecapping efforts by established proprietary market forces. Atheros showed how it's done with their integrated radio chipsets.

Wrt. Debian, it is an absolutely majestic ecosystem but the packages really aren't suitable for mainstream use as they are. (though for us it's still great to have the ocean of apps there if and when we might need them)

A libre phone therefore needs not only open hardware/chipsets with drivers and an open core OS (optimized for mobile use) but also a purpose-built UI and a garden of apps that comply with the UI guidelines.

A lot of effort has gone into making Qt the toolkit of choice for building both the UI and apps that easily fit various devices and user-cases. However Qt is not Debian's choice of preferred toolkits so native apps would - initially - need to be built or ported (and maintained) to "phone-Debian's" garden/repo by an interested group of developers and maintainers.

Now that Nokia has been co-opted to a third party proprietary platform there's no obvious leader pushing an open mobile (communications) OS forward and it will be interesting times ahead.

BLIZZARD 2011-02-12 14:18

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by debernardis (Post 943691)
My more and more persistent thought after the Elopocalypse, and with the experience of the other minor apocalypses I've seen in the last 12 years as a fond Nokia user is:

I want a Debian phone.


I want a phone with an absolutely free and libre operating system that can't be ditched by a single CEO the day he's got a real bad belly ache; that has no DRM whatsoever; that has no ad-engine; that is going to be updated when updates are ready, not for marketing's sake; that makes me feel good.
Nothing less.

Hardware may vary: no corporation is going to do the thing I want just straight out of the box - it wouldn't bring them control, and money.

Though, Qole's efforts (but also several other contributors here, and Penguinbait with his Kde, and in other forums - Android, Pandora, even iOS) have shown that it's possible indeed, even maybe not at 100%. Though I'm sure that it may be possible to go very close to that 100% when many people really want it and are going to cooperate.

Might be the Galaxy Tab or the Galaxy S, for example: quite a complete hardware with already well-known nasty "features" - but also other hardwares could be chosen, preferring the most common and best known.

Then on top of Debian, a number of gui hacks to make the thing amenable to phone use, mainly the use of a touch-friendly ui. I think that this can be accomplished too.

What do you think of such a dream? Naif? Silly? Doable? :)

What about that?:

http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/201...linux-slp.html
http://www.limofoundation.org/

Quote:

"LiMo Foundation is an industry consortium dedicated to creating the first truly open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. Backing from major industry leaders puts LiMo at the Heart of the Mobile Industry and makes LiMo the unifying force in Mobile Linux."

__-_-_-__ 2011-02-12 14:20

Re: I want a Debian phone
 
imvo our best chance is to ask this guys to add debian support http://synapse-phones.com/order.php


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