[off-topic] smartphone alternatives?

Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli GNUtoo at no-log.org
Wed Dec 19 21:05:07 CET 2012


On Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:29:49 +0100
francesco.devita at mailoo.org wrote:
> But on another mobile system I'm lost, I have to learn it and maybe I 
> don't want to.
Yes android is very different.
> And who assure me that I'm free as I am on a GTA?
I can assure you that you're not as free as on the GTA because the
hardware will have issues.
The closest phone is the GTA04, but it has a non-free wifi firmware.
> - may I have a shell?
In Replicant/Android there is a shell and a GUI for it.
> - may I write a bash script?
there is bash/sh in Replicant/Android.
> - may I control every services on it?
Not in Replicant/Android
> - may I upgrade a single package 
yes, Fdroid supports that.
>or the entire system as I want?
You'll have to reflash in Replicant.
> - may I install a software from source?
You can't compile stuff on The target in Replicant, you'll have to use
the SDK on a desktop/laptop computer.
> 
> Maybe yes, there are Android and its free fork Replicant and their
> SDKs but I have first to learn it.
Indeed.
> Smartphones are computers, and it makes me crazy that they do not
> work (software side) EXACTLY as my pc.
Yes that's a problem.
> IMHO it would be wonderful to have the same OS on desktop PCs and 
> smarphones, maybe with different software repositories. I'm a Debian 
> user and for me QtMoko is wonderful.
ok.
> So, to sum it up, it makes me nervous to have a new powerful
> smartphone if I cannot do what I want. Following this thought, I
> think the best solution is to have a cheap mobile phone and a
> netbook/tablet with a gnu/linux distro on it.
or to port GNU/Linux on a smartphone that is easy enough, if you're
into that kind of things and if you're skilled enough for that....
Or just buy a supported phone, however be sure to ask informations on
the smartphone before buying it to the distro's developers.
> Well... for now I still have my GTA02, I'll have to buy just a cheap 
> phone for GSM and battery emergencies.
> [ If someone could help me for the bass fix I'll be happy to use it, 
> finally, also as an audio player (: ]
Golden delicious did all fixes... 
> The recent news about the GTA04 make me happy, maybe I don't have to 
> wait too long for it.
Yes it's a really good device: it's almost like the GTA02, but faster,
better, less hardware bugs, but also has a non-free wifi firmware.

Denis.



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