Other aftermarket Android: http://replicant.us/

Posted Apr 11, 2011 16:01 UTC (Mon) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054)
In reply to: Other aftermarket Android: http://replicant.us/ by coriordan
Parent article: CyanogenMod 7.0 released

I think they're "as free as practical and constantly improving", like most mainstream Linux distributions. They start with the open-source Android code released by Google, and add more open-source code on there. But drivers for specific hardware, as usual, can be a problem. One situation I'm aware of is that CyanogenMod 6 used a binary-only GPS driver from HTC on HTC's Evo phones; in CM7 that has been replaced with an open-source version (which apparently still has trouble with early versions of the hardware).

Other aftermarket Android: http://replicant.us/

Posted Apr 11, 2011 16:10 UTC (Mon) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link] (6 responses)

Found the official line:

"CyanogenMod does still include various hardware-specific code, which is also slowly being open-sourced anyway."

Other aftermarket Android: http://replicant.us/

Posted Apr 12, 2011 11:08 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (5 responses)

Well, that confirms it. Pity.

Other aftermarket Android: http://replicant.us/

Posted Apr 12, 2011 18:26 UTC (Tue) by yokem_55 (subscriber, #10498) [Link] (4 responses)

I tend to think that having an android distribution that allows people to become less dependent on the proprietary software pieces of a typical android computer (i.e the inevitable vendor developed shell & associated apps, etc.) and supporting FOSS replacements, while still keeping the hardware useful, is a good thing and the real pity is that some can only see this issue as black & white.

Other aftermarket Android: http://replicant.us/

Posted Apr 12, 2011 19:43 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (3 responses)

If the project stated that the proprietary parts of their stack were a problem, and that eliminating them was top priority, then it could be useful.

Rather than seeing any similar commitment, their website ignores the issue, seeming to pretend there's no problem. That indicates that they've no interest in software freedom, and the situation could get worse rather than better.

I don't know the project well. Maybe they're a great team, but from their website, all I can tell is that it has proprietary software and there's nothing to say that they don't intend on adding more and more proprietary software.

Open Source & CyanogenMod

Posted Apr 12, 2011 19:45 UTC (Tue) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link] (2 responses)

You're reading the text differently than I am. I read it as trying to increase the amount that's open-source, but also trying to, you know, *actually work* on as much hardware as possible.

Open Source & CyanogenMod

Posted Apr 12, 2011 20:04 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (1 responses)

Sure, maybe the idea in the developers' heads is "Let's free the phone!" or "Let's bring the available free software to as many platforms as possible!". Those could be great goals, but there's no mention of anything like that on their website. When a project says nothing in their public material about valuing freedom, that usually means they don't value freedom.

Replicant seems like a way more interesting project.

Open Source & CyanogenMod

Posted Apr 13, 2011 20:03 UTC (Wed) by tetromino (guest, #33846) [Link]

> Replicant seems like a way more interesting project.

I suppose that depends on your definition of "interesting". As far as I am concerned, a mobile phone operating system fully supports only ONE phone model - HTC Dream/G1, which by now is completely obsolete, out of production, and cannot be bought in mainstream stores - is pretty much of zero interest to anyone other than diehard Dream owners.