Linux Phones

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Community about running GNU/Linux on phones. Projects like Ubuntu Touch, Plasma Mobile, PostmarketOS, Mobian etc. Either on former Android phones or hardware like the PinePhone.

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Does the relatively full support of Ubuntu phone for the Fairphone 4 have any bearing on PostmarketOS? (self.linuxphones)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Chais to c/[email protected]

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I'm currently running Iodé and an considering switching to Ubuntu phone, but ultimately I'd like to give PostmarketOS a shot. Can the Ubuntu phone support translate to faster development for PostmarketOS?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I doubt it. The approaches of Ubuntu Touch and postmarketOS are too different.

[–] Chais 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Dammit. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. Ubuntu Touch is basically wrapping around the existing Android Linux kernel while PostmarketOS is trying to get actual main-line Linux kernels to run. The App ecosystem is also quite different.

[–] Chais 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ah, thanks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Like the others said, no. To explain in a bit more detail:

Ubuntu Touch uses something what's known as "Halium", which internally uses "libhybris". This puts Android's proprietary userland drivers in a container to allow them to run as is and provide hardware support.

postmarketOS however doesn't use any existing drivers, proprietary or not, from Android. Instead we rely on upstreamed and FOSS drivers in the kernel, Mesa, etc. This is more maintainable in the long run but way more work in the short run. So no, Ubuntu Touch supporting something doesn't help us.