The State Of Debian Linux On Various Mobile Devices

[phoronix]

Phoronix: The State Of Debian Linux On Various Mobile Devices

At this past week's DebConf18 Debian conference was an update on running Debian GNU/Linux on various mobile / ultra-portable devices...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Debian-On-2018-Mobile-Devices

[kpedersen]

How is the ZeroPhone open source? It uses a Raspberry Pi (zero) which is full of proprietary Broadcom chips and blobs.

I do hope the meaning of open-source isn't slowly mutating to "can just about run non-consumer stuff".

[cybertraveler]

How is the ZeroPhone open source? It uses a Raspberry Pi (zero) which is full of proprietary Broadcom chips and blobs.

I do hope the meaning of open-source isn't slowly mutating to "can just about run non-consumer stuff".

No one is suddenly going to start calling Microsoft Edge or other closed software, Open Source. However, there has been a long standing, widely held, tolerance of proprietary firmware & microcode blobs in Open Source systems. This is due to the facts that:

1) The firmware/microcode isn't running on the general purpose CPU / GPU where the OS & userland apps run. Though sometimes these blobs are used by the CPU / GPU hardware.
2) These blobs get ignored by many people people who would otherwise complain about them if they are simply moved to a ROM chip on the hardware (out of sight is out of mind?)

There's appears to be no absolute consensus whether an OS can truly be Open Source if it contains these blobs. It's down to the individual to decide whether they will tolerate them or not.

The situation is different with Free Software. The term Free Software was coined by Richard Stallman. The meaning of Free Software, the standards and schools of thought are largely organised by Stallman, GNU and the Free Software Foundation (FSF). There is a clear stance on these blobs with regards to Free Software:

Free distributions (or “distros”) of the GNU/Linux system only include and only propose free software. They reject non-free applications, non-free programming platforms, non-free drivers, non-free firmware “blobs”, and any other non-free software and documentation. If they discover that by mistake some had been included, they remove it.

source: https://www.gnu.org/distros/

[kpedersen]

Agreed about the blobs but what I guess I meant to say is that the Raspberry PI is almost completely proprietary.
i.e It is almost like calling some random ASUS motherboard with an Intel i3 processor in it "open-source".

I present to you, "The open-source ASUS Intel phone"

[suberimakuri]

If I can just get something with like Debian or Ubuntu minimal that can then install my apps only I'd be all over it .