Pay the $25 ransom little devs or else!
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Linux phone time
I really want Linux phones to catch on, but even watching demos, while they are making progress, it seems like they are still very far behind.
A phone for me (and many others) is more a lifestyle utility than a tech gadget, so reliability and compatibility is paramount. Things need to just work the first time every time for me to trust relying on it for important things.
I still follow the development of some projects and contribute when I can, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be a realistic option (for my use case at least) any time soon.
Banking on smart phones is safer than banking on Windows, and far safer than banking on Linux. -That’s probably never going to change, and because of ‘privacy concerns’, it will be as bad on the phone or worse than desktop Linux.
Open apps like Open Street Map absolutely suck. I’ve tried helping them out, but they made it so complicated to contribute to naming locations.
There are some FOSS apps for phone I’m fond of, but I wouldn’t consider using a slap-stick repo like F-Droid especially for such volatile software that gets abandoned and forked regularly.
With all that said, there are some people claiming daily driving lately and it seems like they fixed issues of the past, but some issues aren’t likely to get fixed. -Ever. (due to fundamental issues with copy left GPL and the cult around it)
If only the clamoring happened around BSD instead.
Banking on smart phones is safer than banking on Windows, and far safer than banking on Linux
this is patently false. smartphones leak all sorts of data about you on a network that desktop computers, regardless of OS, simply don’t, especially if you use a hardened web browser like arkenfox, phoenix, or librewolf
Your research: “Linux subs and communities”. You LiGNUts should stay out of tech conversations because all you know is propaganda. “All Eyes on Code” finally died. -the rest needs to too.
what are you saying right now? you’re not making sense. i work in securing networks for children’s data though. and there’s nothing we can do to get the kids’ data safe if they access our systems on our phones so we recommend chrome on a desktop computer because we presume they won’t have the technical knowledge to harden a browser and chrome is set up, by default, a little more securely (though not as privately) as firefox
You didn’t try a search engine did you? -Why didn’t they test you for that before hiring you?
first result, specific to banking, i got from a forensic expert:
Randal Wolverton, a certified public accountant who serves on the American Institute of CPAs’ Forensic and Litigation Services fraud task force: “My preference is to bank with computers in a secure environment, as thieves may find smartphones more attractive to attack,” he says.
Since smartphones travel with you, they give fraudsters unique opportunities. If a customer is standing in line at a grocery store and decides to check her bank balance on her phone, someone could be looking over her shoulder and guess the password. That kind of situation is unlikely to arise when banking on a computer at home, Wolverton says.
this is pretty in alignment with our forensic research for network hardening when it comes to kid data, too. a phone is just a snitch that lives in your pocket. the less you do from it, the more secure you’ll be. you should really only be doing critical things, like banking and logging into your labor or educational institution, from trusted hardware on a trusted network. phones are fine for looking up business hours, interesting tidbits, and the like, but you shouldn’t do anything you specific that matters to your life if you can help it.
Can you elaborate on how banking is “safer” on smart phones than Windows and Linux?
Apps are more locked down than a browser that does everything. 2 factor authentication automatically. There’s more but you should learn to use a search engine especially if you use Linux.
you’ve misunderstood the research and shouldn’t be admonishing people for not using a search engine when clearly you didn’t. an app is more secure than a mobile browser, but neither are more secure than a workstation browser. you are spreading misinformation when you pronounce stuff like this that you clearly didn’t put the work in to understand
Loonix propaganda. -It’s like getting all your information from a conspiracy theorist site. -It’s why Linux evangelists are called conspiracy theorists.
i haven’t said shit about linux, and you will even note i said my company’s official position is to recommend proprietary software like chrome. i’m saying to use a desktop, not a phone, regardless of phone os and desktop os.
you’re just saying stuff at this point and if you keep it up i’ll be blocking you because none of what you’re saying has anything to do with what i’m saying
Open Street Map absolutely suck
You have upset a lot of people. OSM is an awesome alternative to Google Maps, it’s basically the Wikipedia equivalent for mapping where everyone can help contribute by adding locations and such. Particularly for densely populated areas, I find it to be very accurate, and there’s even support for public transit!
I wouldn’t consider using a slap-stick repo like F-Droid
You have somehow upset even more people. F-Droid has soooo many good open-source apps that are stable and they usually work far better (and look nicer for the most part) compared to proprietary options. CoMaps is a good client for OSM and arguably has a nicer interface than GMaps, and you can install maps offline which is super convenient! Kvaesitso is a nice search-based custom launcher that is much better than the stock one for my purposes, and Lawnchair is another good option if you want something closer to vanilla Android. More great FOSS apps:
- Breezy Weather
- Etar (calendar)
- Auxio (local music player)
- Aegis (2FA codes)
- Chrono (clock)
- FluffyChat (Matrix client)
- HeliBoard (keyboard, the BEST ONE! even has accurate suggestions and glide typing!)
- various self-hosted bits (Nextcloud, Immich, etc.)
- KDE Connect and LocalSend (AirDrop+ that is cross-platform, the former is preinstalled on KDE Plasma)
And games on F-Droid are a bit more lacking, but here are some nice ones I found:
- Simon Tatham’s Puzzles (all the puzzles you could want, quite fun!)
- Breakout 71 (fun game that is quite neat)
- Retroarch (emulation, my device can play up to PS2/GC and Wii, but higher end models can even do Switch!)
Plus, you don’t have to use the F-Droid repos. You can use third-party repositories like IzzyOnDroid or similar with the F-Droid client!
I got a new phone recently and I was so close to getting a Linux phone, but I chickened out. It seems damn close to being there, but just not reliable enough for me yet. I need a phone that works essentially all the time without question for everything I need. I can accept worse UX, as long as it works.
The dumb part is that this won’t even solve the problem. It will be trivially easy to get dev certificates through a shell company. Anyone who is making money off scamware will have no trouble standing up LLCs faster than Google can ban them.
You still think it’s about security while it always has been about control.
There will never be progress so long as device owners cannot unlock the bootloaders on their phones.
That’s a law/regulation id love to see
Buy from better brands and regulate companies that lock down bootloaders
F-Droid is way more trustworthy than google pay.
Google claims the google playstore is safe and the only way to avoid malware. Ironically it was like 65-70% of all malware on android came from the playstore.
Sounds like a boon for other projects like Graphene, Postmarket, Lineage, Ubuntu Touch, etc
Make sure to donate and I hope the devs switch gears and leave Google behind.
It’s why there’s already talk that recaptcha only works with approved phones to lock out alternatives.
For those who have the means, please consider donating to PostmarketOS, which has been slowly but surely pushing forward pure linux support for phones, and is the best longterm solution we have to completely circumvent Google and reclaim our hardware permenantly.
I didnt care really about switching OS’s, but i do start to care when a fucking company gets abusive. Not only that. I get spiteful and petty. And that generally supplies enough fuel to get me through the pains of moving to a new system quite well.
When Windows 7 was discontinued, i used linux. Now im still using linux, outside of some work i did a couple of years back, none of my devices run windows.
Btw, i baught (with money!) Windows since 3.11 (Windows 3.11 - Win 98 - Win 2000 - WinXP - Win 7)
I mean - how many of us are here because we got spiteful and petty over reddit API shit?
Google has already stated there will be a single 24hr waiting period required, and then you can do as you please. Hyping this as the end of the world is misleading, and shooting the anti-Google message in the foot because when Google decides to TRULY not allow non-Play Store apps then nobody complaining about it will be taken seriously.
This “I don’t have anything hide so, why should I care if they read my emails, check my messages, location, pictures and videos” type of thinking is what’s wrong with the people. Why are you okay to let anyone have such power and control over you? You went out and bought a phone which didn’t have restrictions and they decided, without asking you, to put restrictions on it. How are you okay with this is beyond me.
This is not crying wolf.
Sure. Because you say so. Care to back that assertion up?
Seeing the trends that are occurring is not making things up.
30/9/2026
there aren’t 30 months in a year…
At the least support lineageos.
Google has been reducing the amount of AOSP updates released each year.
And moving necessary libraries into Google Play Services instead of having them in AOSP at all.
what the hell is the 30th month?
The date is day/month/year standard
why
Because not everybody is American. Also because it makes way more sense
first results on a quick search for phones that allow bootloader unlocking.
Hopefully, all of the devs, (or at the very least, most of the them) move over to help speed up and improve the alternative OS’s
It would be a beautiful kick in the face to Google if there a relatively quick mass migration from Android to any or all of those.
https://www.howtogeek.com/buy-these-brands-if-you-truly-want-to-own-your-phone/
How hard would it be for people to make a Linux distro for for a popular phone?
Phones don’t have standardized hardware interfaces, so they’re a lot more painful to develop for. You don’t just create a graphics driver, you have to do it for every display.
That being said, there are linux distros for phones, but they are far from the maturity of Android.
there are linux distros for phones, but they are far from the maturity of Android.
Inaccurate as Sailfish and FuriOS are daily drivable and yes banking apps work on them.
Maybe Sailfish. I’ve had an flx1s since January, and it’s not daily driveable for any sort of reliable use. Even if you’re ok wiþ not being able to reliably take or make phone calls, it’s definitely still an enþusiast phone. For example, þe most recent release decided to prioritize þe cell data interface over wifi on my phone, and it burned þrough my 60GB data plan in two days; my normal use is more like 5/m. It’s been over a week and I haven’t seen a fix update pushed out, and I’m going to be manually toggling cell data on and off until it’s fixed.
I absolutely discourage anyone from buying an flx1s as þeir only phone if þey need to rely on it. Þat makes it not a daily driver in my book.
I have relayed your experiences to the FuriOS group chat.
Þanks, but please don’t. I was þere quite a bit for þe first monþs but eventually left.
