Librem 5 Smartphone Now Plans To Ship With KDE Plasma

[jukk]

Even if they don't reach the goal they still get the money of the bids.

That's not what they say.

[starshipeleven]

That's not what they say.

They don't have a terribly good track record on keeping their promises, and the fact they used their own site and their own shop for this crowdfunding instead of kickstarter does look very fishy to me.

[r1348]

Did any crowfunded mobile device ever make it to market?

[jukk]

I don't see anything fishy here, sounds like honest guys trying to make a real change for once. I think we got a glimpse of the future here, I'm quite sure they are not going to be the last to try jumping the great gap from the Android fork to GNU/Linux. Jolla tried it in their own way, but there is a huge difference (they still use the Android kernel). It will be a great day for the whole industry when "smart phones" are able to run the mainline linux kernel.

The UI is just the tip of the iceberg. The monumental difference is the kernel and drivers. Just look at Raspberry Pi, how successful it became (ok, its form factor and price did a lot, but you can't deny how maintainable and hackable it is, becuse it is almost entirely free software; I can install Fedora on it nowadays!).

[drohm]

I sure am glad I didn't invest in this phone. Though I prefer KDE over Gnome, I wouldn't want to be a backer to something, only to find they changed a major part of the UI as a last-minute decision. Seems like it could be a turn-off to those who wanted it because of gnome, while also showing commitment issues.

They said they were still going to implement the gnome-based version along side the kde version.

[drohm]

This ain't a kickstarter, it's handled like a preorder from their main site, and the page looks very fucking much like a kickstarter page, but it's not. https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Even if they don't reach the goal they still get the money of the bids.

NO THEY DON'T. They only take the money if the fundraiser succeeds by hitting 1.5M. Geez.

[GreatEmerald]

Hm, well, if this would spur more Plasma Mobile development, more power to them! Unfortunately Plasma Mobile has been stagnating for a while now.

[Delgarde]

I sure am glad I didn't invest in this phone. Though I prefer KDE over Gnome, I wouldn't want to be a backer to something, only to find they changed a major part of the UI as a last-minute decision. Seems like it could be a turn-off to those who wanted it because of gnome, while also showing commitment issues.

Agreed... when you run a funding campaign on the basis of producing a phone with one platform (Gnome) only to switch mid-campaign to a different platform (KDE), it rings so many alarm bells about the project. Nothing to do with the merits of either platform, but this is the kind of decision that should have been nailed down well before they started fund-raising... making such a major change now points to poor management.

[k1l_]

... The monumental difference is the kernel and drivers. Just look at Raspberry Pi, how successful it became (ok, its form factor and price did a lot, but you can't deny how maintainable and hackable it is, becuse it is almost entirely free software; I can install Fedora on it nowadays!).

There were and are a lot oft other arm boards. But the pricing was the reason for the Hype.


And i would back the campaign, but i am still waiting for my KDE Vivaldi device :/

The switch to KDE seems a bit rushed, and i dont know what GNOME and redhat think of it now.

[ZeroPointEnergy]

Agreed... when you run a funding campaign on the basis of producing a phone with one platform (Gnome) only to switch mid-campaign to a different platform (KDE), it rings so many alarm bells about the project. Nothing to do with the merits of either platform, but this is the kind of decision that should have been nailed down well before they started fund-raising... making such a major change now points to poor management.

But they did not change anything on the campaign. They said from the start that they are looking into different options for the default UI. Now KDE recognized the potential of the idea behind the device and partnered with prism. They also already have a mobile strategy while gnome has none.

This news is actually very exciting, since they now have the second open source community on board beside matrix and now the UI, communication and hardware components come from people who are specialized in those topics for years instead of purism doing everything on their own. This is the true open source mentality.