Thread: Halium Project
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Posts: 634 | Thanked: 3,266 times | Joined on May 2010 @ Colombia
#12
Originally Posted by juiceme View Post
Well yes, but the point of these mobile devices is pretty often in these features enabled by the binary blobs.

Yes, I can probably use it for many things, just as I can use just about any device that I can load a linux kernel and basic userland on; provided it has a serial port that I can connect to.

However many people are not satisfied with a device that might be missing these features;
  • graphical display
  • touchscreen input (well if it has a physical keyboard then no problem)
  • sound output
  • microphone input
  • WLAN connectivity
  • Bluetooth connectivity
  • 2G/3G/4G/5G connectivity
  • USB connectivity
  • any sensors (compass, acceleration, orientation, ...)
  • NFC
  • haptic feedback
  • ...

Almost all of these require some kind of binary driver or loadable firmaware blob that you need to rip off from Android to enable and make use of.
It varies from device to device but you might be surprised to know that many of the features you've listed often do not require a binary driver or loadable firmware. They are often supported by the kernel which is of course open source. When I run Debian or Devuan on my N900, the only binary blob I need to use is the loadable firmware for wireless network connectivity. WiFi is a frequently problem on many devices but Replicant offers connectivity via an external Wi-Fi dongle as an alternative to binary blobs for certain devices. This could probably be done on the N900 too once USB host mode has been mainlined. Have a look at the Replicant status page for what features work on which devices. It does not explicitly mention the display or touchscreen input but one would presume they are provided by the kernel.

Originally Posted by juiceme View Post
And besides, the point of Replicant is to be "Android without proprietary code" as I understood it.

But why would someone want to have an Android clone is something I don't understand; Android is bad in many ways; it is slow, unreliable, java-oriented, ugly, uncomprehensible, noncomplient, difficult and developer-unfriendly.

If I have to choose between something that resembles Android and does not work and something that has binary blobs underneath but provides a real GNU userland, what do you think I will choose?
I'm not endorsing nor saying that anyone should go out and use Replicant. A Maru OS chroot on Android solves most of the problems you have listed. It's not ideal and it's not native but if the main objective is to run GNU/Linux on a plethora of Android devices (the same objective as Halium), then it does a bloody good job at that. If we embrace Android crapness such as planned device obsolescence, insecure devices, etc., as Halium does, what is it exactly that this community stands for?
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DebiaN900 - Native Debian on the N900. Deprecated in favour of Maemo Leste.

Maemo Leste for N950 and N9 (currently broken).
Devuan for N950 and N9.

Mobile devices with mainline Linux support - Help needed with documentation.

"Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly." - Henry Spencer
 

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