Samsung DeX: Convergence & Traditional Linux Distributions On Galaxy Smartphones

[rene]

I recently purchased an S8+, is there a way to test this? While I'm a traditional guy who prefer pure desktops, this sounds very interesting!

it is not yet public, and their website has some subscribe for news form, ...

[stiiixy]

Only if you take the official Samsung sanctioned "Linux in a chroot" path.
If you decide to flash your own Linux OS (using Libhybris to leverage the Samsung-provided drivers to their chipset), that will trip the e-fuse and completely disable KNOX.

(A little bit like how on current Sony Xperia X devices with Sailfish X, the bootloader displays a warning that the system is running non-Sony-signed firmware, and the DRM keys are erased out of the TrimArea)



Two main problems :

- We ARE a minority. Most of average people just want a pocket device to check their Twitter/Facebook/whatever status feeds, play candy crush and send dick-picks over WhatsApp/Snapchat. Any device that can go online, even the most locked-in and spied simultaneously by all the various countries' governmental agencies (NSA, FSB, MSS, etc.)

- Corporation, both as employers (who want to protect the data used by their users) and as service providers (who want to protect the streamed video/audio content that is send to your phone) will happily accept a phone lock as much as possible were you can't install anything.

Thus as a consequence :

- Hardware provider only cater to their biggest customers: i.e.: the above. Thus they have zero incentive to provide mainstream open-source-friendly drivers.

- Smartphone tend to be locked as shit and very few manufacturer tend to provide official procedures to unlock them if you genuinely want to hack around your phone. (Yes, there's Sony Opendevice Program. But you'll never see an Apple Open Campaign to officially install Debian on iPads)

And so :

- If you want to just put your own GNNU/Linux on your device, the whole ecosystem has evolved an mountain of hoops you have to jump through.

There used to be some manufacturer who actually GAVE A SHIT about this : you mention Nokia's Linux devices.
But then Stephan Elop and the whole Microsoft shit-show happened on them.

And currently there are very few major companies even trying to make something that can be recycled as an after-through into a N900-like device.

It's a shame Maemo fell throught the cracks as it morphed in to MeeGo, Mer et al et cetera. After a quick check, apparently Neo900 http://neo900.org/#news is still kicking and looking extremely appealing as an open device. I'd thought it had died off as well, but obviously there are people still passionate to keep up the work. Put their money where their mouth is!

I just find it ironic most people I know with a $1000+ mobile device actually have to whip out a crappy old laptop because they cant get REAL work done on their phone due to various limitations on each device, and subsequently your average person seem's to think it's not possible to do on a handheld mobile device. I was doing valid work on my Galaxy S3 to a reasonable degree back in 2012. There are far more hardware capable devices out now, so it's a feasible expectation, so long as the device connectivity is there (KB, mouse, display) which is easily covered by BT and WiDi or whatever it's called now, and we're not artificially limited by the parent OS which seems to be more often the case. Theoretically, with wirelaess charging, you shouldn't even have to connect anything to your deivce, and can simply plonk it near a peripheral station, (verify you're authosied to use the hardware for security purposes!) and get to work.

The Neo900 looks intriguing, although the hardware power might be somewhat low at first, considering it's shipping with 1GB RAM. Still be a hefty upgrade to my old-timer N900!