On 10/29/2013 11:23 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
Ralf Mardorf wrote:
On Tue, 2013-10-29 at 10:56 -0400, alex.pad...@laposte.net wrote:
I shall want to buy a SMARTPHONE with a free O.S (GNU).
Many of my friends say to me that ANDROID is a free system, it is
LINUX!
What do you think about it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29
AFAIK it's free/libre open source, but apps are not for free as in beer.
I didn't read the Wiki, so I don't know if it will answer your question.
Google's lawyers probably say it's what OP wants.
I bought an Android tablet ASSUMING a Debian-like usability.
DISAPPOINTED!!
Some quotes from the Wikipedia article:
Second sentence - "Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google
backed financially and later bought in 2005".
Third paragraph under 'Licensing' - "Even though the software is
open-source, device manufacturers cannot use Google's Android
trademark unless Google certifies that the device complies with their
Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). Devices must also meet this
definition to be eligible to license Google's closed-source
applications, including Google Play. In recent years, a number of
open-source Android apps have been abandoned and replaced by closed
source versions, while Google Play Services inherits and introduces
development API's which are also proprietary.[138][139] Richard
Stallman and the Free Software Foundation have been critical of
Android and have recommended the usage of alternatives such as
Replicant, because drivers and firmware vital for the proper
functioning of Android devices are usually proprietary, and because
Google Play allows non-free software." {[nnn] are footnotes in article}
I suggest OP browse links at
https://www.google.com/search?q=android+root+OR+rooting .
As for me, I've bought my last Android device.
So far I've read nothing but bad advice for the OP in this thread.
I'll stick with Android, largely because I have yet to see a "fully
free" portable Linux do anything useful or even get everything working.
I also don't worship GNU, I am more on the Linus Torvalds school of
thought: Use what works.
I think using a system purely because it's "free" is folly, and will
only result in a half-functional device. The reason I don't see OpenMoko
on many smartphones is that the full support for devices could probably
be counted on one hand.
Then again, I'm not like the typical Debian user. I don't care about
free vs. proprietary. I care about quality, USEFUL platforms and
software, something we won't get by blindly relying on 100% "free"
software.
Look at Debian itself. Ever since they made the (Frankly terrible.)
decision to leave so-called "non-free" firmware out of their
installation media, installing Debian, especially over a wireless
network, has become a royal pain in the ass, for no reason other than a
"philosophy" the Debian developers have. I have since stopped using
official installation media because anything the Debian provide
officially is useless to me now.
My advice to the OP: Stick with Android. It's Linux, it just doesn't
have GNU (Frankly, you don't want GNU on a mobile platform anyway. It's
just not suited for it.), and its critics overestimate how much
proprietary software is in the platform itself. (In fact, Google Play,
which isn't even an essential part of Android, and drivers for phone
hardware, which are only provided by the manufacturers anyway and not
part of Android proper, are pretty much the only proprietary bits of
Android you'll find. In other words, Android itself is still FOSS.).
Because while you may have "alternatives" the alternatives are next to
useless and a waste of space on 99.9% of devices out there.
On the usability side, a traditional Linux set up on a mobile platform
like a smartphone or tablet, even if you somehow manage to get the
hardware working, just isn't all that practical. Using a console on a
smartphone and tablet is slow going because most keyboard input is not
something you can rapidly type on, and the "point and click" concept is
tapping or swiping, instead of moving a cursor around and pushing a
button like a mouse. In other words, a traditional Linux interface is
not going to be all that fun to use. That's why ANY mobile OS (Not just
Android.) has the interface it has, because a desktop envrionment or a
command line will just make you miserable.
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