deGoogled OS system

General
#61

The point is, you wouldn’t be developing for a Purism-specific phone or OS. You’d target GTK4 (or GTK3+libhandy), so apps will work on Gnome, Ubuntu, Fedora, desktops, laptops, the Librem 5 and any other Linux phone using that stack. That includes the most popular OSes on the Pinephone; they all use the libre libraries, compositor (phoc) and shell (phosh) originally developed by Purism.

(I don’t know how well-behaved GTK apps would be on KDE Plasma Mobile.)

Also, don’t base you decision solely on issues and anxieties people aired in 2019, four years ago and a year before the Librem 5 started shipping. That would be akin to ditching SailfishOS based on the opinions of some disappointed (and very vocal) backers of the Jolla tablet crowdfunding campaign.

I mean, Purism rightfully deserve criticism for a number of things, but they also deserve recognition for what they have actually done for the Linux phone ecosystem.

#62

Right you are. And I’m still as uninformed about the state of affairs at Purism as I was several posts ago.

Just having a peek at: Discover - PureOS Software and it looks like kde is represented and plasma supported?

#63

The Discover appstore app is available in the Gnome Software appstore app. It’s flagged as desktop only, but isn’t terrible(*) on the phone. I tried using it to install KStars, which just gave me a “You are not authorized to perform this operation” error. Didn’t dig further.

I do run Pure Maps, but just how it is built for PureOS I don’t know. My understanding is that it’s a complex beast of a build for the platforms rinigus supports.

So, KDE/Plasma seems supported on some level. It could be based on whatever the Gnome thing for KDE apps is called, some stylesheet and stuff making those apps not look or behave entirely alien on Gnome. [Edit: It’s called adwaita-qt5/6]

Then there is the other way round, running GTK/Gnome apps on KDE/Plasma, which is what apps based on libhandy or GTK4 would face on Plasma Mobile. I won’t even try to speculate there.

(*) Not terrible = partially adapts to screen size. The Install button is only visible in landscape mode.

#64

Tried to install a few other apps from Discover, only to run into the same permissions problem.

Just for fun I wanted to know if I could install the Gnome Software appstore app from the Discover appstore app I installed from Gnome Software…

This revealed a reason for the “Desktop only” badge: edit fields wouldn’t bring up the on-screen keyboard. Naturally, copy-paste from an editor also failed. So much for integration.

1 Like
#65

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/iodeos-datenschutzfreundlich-aber-abstriche-bei-der-sicherheit-custom-roms-teil3/

3 Likes
#66

No, but you can see if the ingredients are bad - and then you have the option of staying clear of them. That is the whole difference!

#67

Whereby one must object here: LineageOS was tested with opengapps. That is (as I see it) quite nonsense: taking a (partially) de-googled operating system, flashing the GApps in addition and being surprised that data is transferred to Google.

1 Like
#68

Exactly. Someone™ has to check.

#69

It might be that the results are more opengapps vs. microg than lineage vs. /e/ - unfortunately we can’t tell from that study alone.

The explanation for the choice made is probably…

We assume a privacy-conscious but busy/non-technical user, who when asked does not select options that share data but otherwise leaves handset settings at their default value.

…and…

…while on Android apps may be sideloaded over adb, all of the handsets provided include the Google Play store and for most users this is the primary way to install apps.

…and…

differences are likely related to different configurations of Google GApps e.g. on LineageOS the so-called nano version of GApps was installed (other options includes micro, mini, full, stock)

I assume that Lineage suggested opengapps rather than microg, and that the researchers picked the least intrusive version offered.

Poor choice. I think dropping the Play Store and going for F-Droid would have been the better route, but maybe unlikely for the non-technical user assumed.

1 Like
#70

It’s difficult to know from the outside. At least the most alarming accounts have more or less stopped since they peaked in 2019, which can of course mean anything.

Re: the Librem 5, things move forward. Every apt update installs a bunch of development and polish. Kernel stuff is getting mainlined, other changes upstreamed. Six years(*) into the project the phone is still far from competitive, but also not entirely useless.

(*) Or maybe eight, counting preparations made before the crowdfunding in 2017.

1 Like
#71

I’m wondering what version of Discover you installed? Because on my PinePhone, I tried several OSes with Plasma Mobile pre installed and the Discover version there didn’t have these UI problems you are mentioning.

#72

It’s Discover 5.20.5 and I notice KDE lists 5.27 as current in 2023… Maybe this is due to the Debian version underlying PureOS?

#73

I don’t know since what version of Discover they have the adaptable interface. Maybe Discover doesn’t know it is running on a mobile phone and therefore doesn’t display the mobile interface?

1 Like
#74

@jojomen It should normally look like this

#75

great articles. Thanks a lot

#76

to be fair - modern mobile solutions are complex. Super mega hyper complex. Therefore the OSes are complex. There are problems in all of them - and as i recently had to switch back to the android world, i can say - there are a lot of bugs and problems too. (Multisim to bluetooth, Exchange, Card- and Caldav … )^^

For me- SFOS and its problems were bearable. (But i also didn’t use MMS and stuff like volt) :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#77

well so it seems that the only OS that really worked has been buried?
I never had any problems with BBOS10, except of missing functionalities, the OS just worked, MMS, Bluetooth, mail the basics were just working properly. Not to mention great call quality.
With SFOS I could maybe live after fixing the BT CAR KIT issue. Even that it’s really missing even basic things. With dual sim it’s even worse but I already explained this in the Feature Request.
Android is has bad UI tbh and even baisc SMS something has problems (really?) this is where SFOS really shine but it needs a lot of polishing still.

#78

That could very well be the case. I wonder how an app knows - it’s not just the screen size, it’s also whether a keyboard and mouse are present.

#79

Qualcomm’s proprietary firmware sending private information (IP address, unique ID, OS) to the US chip vendor even on “degoogled” custom ROMs, e.g. on a Sony Xperia XA2:

1 Like
#80

Sadly this sounds like a chatgpt powered ad (our nitro phone doesn’t have qualcomm chip, we’re not sending data to qualcomm), weird mention of sfos, as for psds from grapheneos faq:

Looks like a simple GET without sharing any imsi/imei unlike supl, whether it’s implemented in sfos no idea

1 Like