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Zenfone 2 (Intel chipsets)

Added by P F almost 8 years ago

Hello everybody!
I was wondering if the Asus Zenfone 2 might be a possible target for Replicant.
There is an official Cyanogenmod port, but only for cm13. http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Z00A_Info
The kernel source is supposedly also open-source, although I don't know if it contains any blobs. https://github.com/jerdog/android_kernel_asus_ze55xml
I couldn't find any information about modem isolation. (How do you actually know? Why are Exynos chipsets good at this?)
Curious to hear your opinions, whether Intel chipsets are an option!


Replies (2)

RE: Zenfone 2 (Intel chipsets) - Added by D G almost 8 years ago

The kernel is 'open source' but most of the drivers will probably just be badly-coded and designed to load non-free firmware, especially WiFi, Camera, Touchscreen, Bluetooth... the list goes on and on! Some drivers may even be completely non-free, WiFi and camera especially.
Intel is known for having free 3D drivers, but newer chipsets require a proprietary firmware blob, so no guarantees here. Intel chips, in addition to this, have non-free modems. It also includes the Intel ME, which has the power to pwn your phone trivially as it can access all the peripherals, including the modem. So I would say it is probable that it has awful modem isolation, probably even worse than the Qualcomm phones.
Nonfree and signed bootloaders (basically a BIOS in miniature) are the norm here. So the Zenphone looks rather sinister now.

RE: Zenfone 2 (Intel chipsets) - Added by P F over 7 years ago

Thank you for your answer!
I had a slight suspicion that things wouldn't be that rosy with this device, but because I knew about the free graphics code from Linux thought there might be some hope.
Oh well, guess we're stuck with Samsung and maybe LG in the near future.

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