Eelo: The Latest Linux Mobile Attempt, Led By Mandrake's Founder

The latest project aiming for an open-source mobile Linux operating system that is privacy-minded is Eelo. This project does have some merit as it's being started by the original creator of Mandrake Linux.

Gaël Duval founded Mandrake Linux in the late 90's when it was a RedHat/KDE distribution and prior to being acquired by Mandriva and then later on Ga�l Duval worked on Ulteo. Duval has been out of the Linux scene the past few years with being a macOS and iPhone user, but now he's decided to get back in the Linux distribution game with an attempt to create a new Linux mobile OS effort.

Mandrake Linux was the initial distribution I used back in the day and have many grand memories of it prior to becoming Mandriva.

Eelo is Duval's new project that aims to be a mobile OS with web services that are in the public interest and privacy-enabled. Eelo is to be derived from LineageOS, the Android-based OS derived from the AOSP code-base and forked from the last of CyanogenMod.

Early Eelo mockups look a lot like iOS.

Among the changes being made to LineageOS by Eelo is improving the user-interface/experience with a new launcher and icons, better notifications, etc. The search engine is expected to be DuckDuckGo/Qwant and the Google Play store will be replaced by F-Droid or similar, and likely OnlyOffice for office/document needs.

Right now work is on the software stack but Duval is hoping to eventually be able to sell an Eelo smartphone and premium services.

More details on Eelo via Duval's blog and Eelo.io.