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New Phone : Designed Specifically For The Replicant Project
Added by John Doe about 10 years ago
From what I understand reverse engineering hardware drivers is quite difficult. So unless the OEM participates the Free software a GPL'ed driver is likely not feasible in a short period of time.
What I would like to see is components (SoC, WiFi, Bluetooth, LTE, etc) selected based on an already existing Free Software project for it or the OEM voluntarily releasing the driver source code with a Free Software license. The from there a PCB board designed and assembled into a phone that Replicant runs. Granted these things aren't cheap, but fund raising via Indiegogo, or Firestarter, etc could help. This would produce a fully functional Replicant phone and support Free Software amicable OEM's. Also, only one design is needed to spark more interest in Replicant and offer a mobile phone to those who desire to support/ believe in Free Software.
The hardware projects exist. It is just they are quite difficult to find.
Earning an endorsement for a phone and OS from the Free Software Foundation would be something new and unique.
Replies (5)
RE: New Phone : Designed Specifically For The Replicant Project - Added by Paul Kocialkowski about 10 years ago
Well of course, that approach is a long-term goal. Reverse engineering is not fundamentally the biggest problem, and having OEMs cooperation won't help much anyway, since they don't own the code for e.g. the GPU, that only the company designing and manufacturing the chips has control over. And let's be honest, we cannot expect to have their cooperation anytime soon.
However, having OEMs cooperation can help reach a few fundamental goals:- Selecting and using hardware that is good for freedom on their products
- Having the PCM schematics, which would bring better certainty about modem isolation (note that to this day, there is no easy way to make sure the schematics actually match what's on the PCB)
This already exists, with the GTA04 and soon the neo900 projects: http://www.gta04.org/, http://www.neo900.org/
If you mean OEMs as in the companies designing and manufacturing the chips, it would also be nice to see some getting more friendly towards free software (some already are), but thats not the kind of thing we can start as a community.
RE: New Phone : Designed Specifically For The Replicant Project - Added by John Doe about 10 years ago
Yes.
I seem to discover these projects much later than the kickoff.
Those types of projects I would support via Firestarter or Indiegogo to get a working mobile phone that had the Free Software Foundation's endorsement. (LTE would be nice).
Where may buy a GTA04 (or GTA04A5) with Replicant 4.2 preinstalled (with case)?
Thank you for the site for the Neo900.
Are there any YouTube or Vimeo videos showing a working GTA04 (or Neo900) Replicant 4.2 (phone, touch screen, sound, etc.)?
RE: New Phone : Designed Specifically For The Replicant Project - Added by Paul Kocialkowski about 10 years ago
Where may buy a GTA04 (or GTA04A5) with Replicant 4.2 preinstalled (with case)?
Look at http://www.gta04.org/ and http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04A5
The GTA04 is produced by batches (to lower the cost) and it's still quite expensive (as I said, the price is a major issue when producing commununity hardware).
Are there any YouTube or Vimeo videos showing a working GTA04 (or Neo900) Replicant 4.2 (phone, touch screen, sound, etc.)?
There are a few, but they don't show the current status of the port.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHqA3SaZ5oQ
http://download.paulk.fr/replicant/gta04/hayes-ril-gta04.webm
The Replicant port is not yet complete, but I am confident it will be achieved. Note that it is developed by a very small number of people. I'm doing this on my free time and also have 10+ other devices to handle, so it moves slowly.
RE: New Phone : Designed Specifically For The Replicant Project - Added by John Doe about 10 years ago
I appreciate your time and efforts on the Replicant Project and your replies. The project is a great way to promote the ideals of the Free Software Foundation.
Would you be willing to temporarily stop your porting work with the myriad of other devices you support to dedicate work on a fullly functional GTA04 Revision 5--Replicant 4.2 cell phone port? This would be contigent on the Replicant Project sucessfully having a fixed funding campaign with Kickstarter or Indiegogo to fund at least 10 GTA04 revision 5 cell phones with Replicant 4.2 preinstalled.
I would like to know how many people believe in the Free Software Foundation enough to financially support a project endorsed by the FSF to the tune of ~1000 USD. I don't think this too much to ask to produce the only fully functional FSF endorsed cell phone. I mean only 10 people have to have this charity, and they get a phone to showcase Free Software.
RE: New Phone : Designed Specifically For The Replicant Project - Added by Paul Kocialkowski about 10 years ago
Would you be willing to temporarily stop your porting work with the myriad of other devices you support to dedicate work on a fullly functional GTA04 Revision 5--Replicant 4.2 cell phone port?
Things are not that easy. I cannot just drop other devices as I have ongoing work to achieve on them too. Not only the GTA04 is very good for freedom, but some Allwinner devices are as well, so I'm going to work on these too. Then even with the scope of devices I'm working on restricted in such way, I'm still very busy with studying and cannot spend more than one day a week seriously working on Replicant, which can only result in small and slow progress.
I hope we'll get there in the long run tough!
I would like to know how many people believe in the Free Software Foundation enough to financially support a project endorsed by the FSF to the tune of ~1000 USD. I don't think this too much to ask to produce the only fully functional FSF endorsed cell phone. I mean only 10 people have to have this charity, and they get a phone to showcase Free Software.
Well, you might want to discuss these financial aspects with Goldelico, the company behind the GTA04. Note that I got mine as a donation from an individual who, just like you, thought that Replicant would be a good thing to have on such a good device!