End-of-life smartphone? Penguins at postmarketOS aim to revive it
- Reference: 1655290812
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/15/postmarketos_2206/
- Source link:
Alpine Linux is a very minimal general-purpose distro that runs well on low-end kit, as The Reg FOSS desk [1]found when we looked at version 3.16 last month . postmarketOS's – pmOS for short – [2]version 22.06 is based on the same version.
This itself is distinctive. Most other third-party smartphone OSes, [3]such as LineageOS or GrapheneOS , or the [4]former CyanogenMod , are based on the core of Android itself.
[5]
The project is quite different. It uses the mainline Linux kernel, and a standard userland, to support a wide variety of devices. The theory is that not needing a manufacturer's outdated firmware or drivers means that pmOS can use more current components, direct from the various upstream Linux projects. The project's own [6]wiki currently [7]lists over 200 supported devices, including phones, tablets, and e-book readers, ranging back to the [8]venerable Nokia N900 .
[9]
[10]
They're not all equally supported, though. Most of them can can boot, many have Wi-Fi support, but currently just two actual phones work as phones : the [11]open-source hardware PinePhone and the [12]Purism Librem 5 . Even saying that, though, the ability to connect to Wi-Fi and use an old device as a pocketable terminal could make obsolete hardware useful again.
As it resembles a normal desktop Linux, postmarketOS can run both X.org and Wayland, and a choice of user [13]interfaces , including a plain text console or the Xfce desktop.
[14]
These might not be terribly useful on a touchscreen-based handheld device without a pointing device, so more importantly there are a choice of phone interfaces, including the GNOME-based [15]Phosh and the KDE-based [16]Plasma Mobile , as well as the less-ambitious Simple X Mobile or [17]Sxmo .
The [18]Lomiri smartphone UI , formerly known as Ubuntu's Unity 8, is also [19]represented in an external branch of postmarketOS project.
[20]Thunderbird is coming to Android – in K-9 Mail form
[21]Open source 'Office' options keep Microsoft running faster than ever
[22]openSUSE Leap 15.4: The best desktop on the RPM side of the Linux world
[23]Apple offers improved Linux support in macOS Ventura
This isn't something you can put onto an old phone and give to your grandma just yet. It's still relatively early days, but it's a promising project. It reminds in some ways of the [24]Armbian project , which aims to keep old single-board computers usable after their manufacturers stop updating them.
Mainstream Linux on phones has some way to go yet before it's as usable as it is on a desktop or laptop. (Stop heckling at the back there: it really is.) As is the open source way, there are various rival environments and applications, all working away trying to achieve the same ends – but because they're open source, they can help each other, sharing code and information and documentation.
Although it has a (very old) Linux kernel right at the bottom, Android itself isn't very Linux-like: everything above the kernel, from the [25]Bionic C library and [26]Toybox userland up to the Java-based app runtime, are very different.
[27]
Usually the hardware is quite capable, though. So long as you can unlock the bootloader and reflash it – and you know how to do that, or are willing to learn – it's great to see a viable alternative use for retired tablets.
THe British Computer Society previously bemoaned the [28]impact of product lifecycles on the environment . According to the United Nations, [29]53.6 million tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2019. ®
Get our [30]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/26/alpine_linux_316_released/
[2] https://postmarketos.org/blog/2022/06/12/v22.06-release/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/android_security_bulletin/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2015/02/13/oneplus_oxygenos_team/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YqoCIGxeEeQZ-qAn-N8@mgAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Main_Page
[7] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2009/12/07/review_phone_nokia_n900_smartphone/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YqoCIGxeEeQZ-qAn-N8@mgAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YqoCIGxeEeQZ-qAn-N8@mgAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/08/pinephone_ships_developers/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2017/09/21/gnome_foundation_backs_librem_5_privacy_smartphone/
[13] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Category:Interface
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YqoCIGxeEeQZ-qAn-N8@mgAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Phosh
[16] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Plasma_Mobile
[17] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Sxmo
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/07/ut_ota_21/
[19] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Lomiri
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/15/thunderbird_is_coming_to_android/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/13/open_source_office_suites/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/10/review_opensuse_leap_154/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/09/apple_linux_support_macos/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/03/armbian_project_releases_version_2202/
[25] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/bionic/+/master/libc
[26] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/toybox/+/master/toys/
[27] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YqoCIGxeEeQZ-qAn-N8@mgAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[28] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/27/product_release_cycles/
[29] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/02/united_nations_warns_of_global_ewaste_wave/
[30] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Am i right in thinking...
Probably not, unless you can unlock the bootloader. That's a simple* enough task on many Android phones, but I thought iPhones didn't allow it.
* - for sufficiently broad definitions of "simple"
53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
It might be time for us, as a society, to start re-thinking this endless yearly product cycle.
We do not need a new Iphone model every year. A phone should be able to last five years without trouble, so make your new model cycle over five years and everyone will be happy (well, except for those who absolutely have to spend a thousand bucks a year to prove that they are better than everyone else).
Re: 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
I couldn't agree more, what is up with these people who have to spend, "...a thousand bucks a year to prove that they are better than everyone else." Losers.
I get upgrades for free from my company :)
Re: 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
> We do not need a new Iphone model every year.
That's hippy talk. What's next? Resole your shoes? Mending clothes so old they have started wearing down? No! Real (wo)men only wear/use brand new stuff, and then throw it away.
You don't want to be caught still using the summer collection at Xmas, do you. You would look destitute, a Luddite, lacking all social dignity, probably a pervert.
Listen to marketing, marketing knows.
Re: 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
You would look destitute, a Luddite, lacking all social dignity, probably a pervert.
Where do I sign, it's a step up from programming.
Re: 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
We do not need a new Iphone model every year.
No, but Apple needs us to think we do. (Ditto for Google, Sammy, etc.)
My strategy:
* Buy last year's not-top-of-the-line model, when the price drops after the new one ships.
* Use it until it's out of support and/or can no longer do useful things.
* Repeat, typically in about 5 years (for an iPhone, at least).
Device cost of ownership works out to about $120-150 per year. Even a 6-year-old iPhone in decent shape still has some value on the secondary market, so it doesn't go the the landfill right away when I'm done with it.
Of course, this only works if you don't give a damn about having the newest shiniest.
Re: 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
Indeed. I use an iPhone 8 which is coming up for 5 years old and I don't plan to think about replacing it until near the end of 2023. The only thing I might want from a newer smartphone is a better camera. I don't really need anything else, including 5G.
Re: 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste
"It might be time for us, as a society, to start re-thinking this endless yearly product cycle"—Right, but who's 'us'? 'We' as consumers might neither need nor want that cycle, and, in surveys, many people have already been agreeing for some time. But 'we' as a society the general prosperity of which is directly dependent on how much profit the commercial enterprises make, 'we' actually do need the profit companies make by making people consume more than they need, and more frequently than they need.
Re: 'we' actually do need the profit companies make by making people consume more than they need
First of all, what we need is companies that pay their taxes.
And my whole point is that we need to rethink this situation.
Just saying that we need Apple to make ever-more-expensive shiny tat that ends up landfills is not a solution.
Yay!
A new lease of life for my N900 is a very welcome prospect. Bob, I loved that phone. Had to ditch it when work "upgraded" Exchange (spit) and the Nokia mail client could no longer connect, and neither could the browser cope with the new webmail. As a device it was far superior to anything I've used since, and totally unbreakable.
-A.
Re: Yay!
I would agree with everything you've said except it being unbreakable. It was very strudy but by reputation the usb port was prone to coming loose and the space bar key on mine broke in two. Still have it in a drawer though.
Re: N900
The N900 is (almost) ideal for the purpose, being run by Meego, a Linux flavour. It should be easy enough for someone who knows how to revive the distro and update it. The only drawback is that for me, the N900 is a bit small on the screen acreage. But still, I'd love to update the OS but don't have the time /skills
Re: N900
Tried [1]Maemo Leste ?
[1] https://maemo-leste.github.io/
Am i right in thinking...
That this means I can give my old iphone a new lease of life?
If so, hufuckingrah.