Re: [gentoo-user] any one using ubuntu phones?

[john]

On Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:44:23 +0430
behrouz khosravi <bz.khosravi@×××××.com> wrote:

> >
> >
> > If you build/install Android on a device, then it only contains what
> > you put there, and you can just as easily remove it.  If you let
> > somebody else build/install android on a device and not give you
> > root access, then it is painful.
> >
> > If you build/install Gentoo on a device, then it only contains what
> > you put there, and you can just as easily remove it.  If you let me
> > build/install Gentoo on your device and not give you root access,
> > then it is painful.
> >
> > If you let me reflash the firmware on your Gentoo system so that it
> > uses my UEFI keys and firmware update keys and doesn't let you
> > change them, and I set it up with a bootloader that checks your
> > kernel+initramfs signatures and decrypts the rest of your hard drive
> > using a TPM-supplied key and a verified boot path, and an initramfs
> > that checks the signature on your /usr and mounts everything else
> > noexec, then you're going to have some serious headaches.  And yes,
> > you actually can do all of this with Gentoo, though almost nobody
> > bothers (ChromeOS is based on Gentoo and does use a variation on
> > this, with licensed devices having a switch to disable the signature
> > checks).  I'd have to check but I think Linux actually supports
> > (maybe via a patch) signature verification on execing images, in
> > which case I can let you mount whatever you want +x and you still
> > won't be able to run your own stuff.
> >
> > Your problem isn't with Android the OS.  Your problem is with the
> > experience your phone vendor is giving you.  All that lockdown stuff
> > that you seem to hate is 100% supported by the Linux kernel - you're
> > just not turning it on with a typical distro install.
> >
> > >
> > >> FOSS developers seem to mostly be stuck in X11-land - it
> > >> scratches their itch which tends to be on the desktop.  While
> > >> touch screen is "just another input device" the fact is that you
> > >> need to design your entire application UI around it. ...
> > >
> > > why do you thinks some foss user interfaces can not be created
> > > for this situation?
> > >
> >
> > I'm not saying that they cannot be created.  I'm simply pointing out
> > that nobody is bothering to do so.  Anybody can write a web-based
> > MUA comparable to Gmail or a web-based replacement to Google Docs,
> > and release it as FOSS.  However, it takes a lot of work and for
> > various reasons most seem content to use an X11-based version of
> > each.  In the case of LibreOffice I think the origins are actually
> > in software that was intended to be sold commercially, but failed
> > (which is probably why they've been trying to cleanup the code for
> > years).
> >
> > For a mobile OS your life is made even more difficult by Android,
> > since many who would tend to write a competing OS probably consider
> > it good enough.
> >
> > I'm really not interested in yet another android so much as more
> > open hardware to run android on.  Vendors are getting better about
> > allowing unlocking, but driver support/etc is still a mess.
> >
> > Oh, and I don't like the general move of APIs into Google Play
> > Services.  That really needs to be split into two applications.  One
> > would provide APIs for stuff actually related to Google (like Google
> > authentication, buying stuff on the Play Store, Google Wallet, and
> > so on), and that could be closed.  The other would provide all the
> > stuff like WebView APIs where rapid updates are desirable, and it
> > should be FOSS.
> >
> >
>
> I know what you mean. This is all more or less true, but what can we
> do in this situation?
> I will try to move toward whatever promotes openness, and please do
> not tell me that ubuntu
> is not more open that android. In android I cant even have pure native
> apps! some parts of an application
> should always be in java.

Jolla do a phone which is Linux based. No idea if this would suit your
needs but may be worth a look. It's GUI is good and it uses Wayland.
Not sure how open it is!

John D Maunder