Comment by jolmg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jolmg | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if you can install any linux app on it, like Wireshark, Gimp, Inkscape, LibreOffice apps, Blender, desktop Firefox and Chromium (with Web Inspector and extensions!), etc. At least, what I understand by a "linux phone" is one whose window manager is specialized for phones, and that has a few apps with their interfaces specialized for phones, but that can install and use any linux app like on any other linux machine. If they would clarify this, I think it would boost people's motivations in buying this.

I also wonder how one might go about changing the OS. Would it support live-USBs via OTG? or booting from the microSD? Do they offer an ISO of PureOS to reinstall? I wonder how difficult/easy it would be to do a normal Archlinux ARM installation, like on any other computer.

The marketing seems to focus on privacy, and being fully open source, and buying for the community benefit of promoting better tech in the market. However, if it's a "linux phone" that can run any linux app and even easily lets you run whatever distro you want, then there are practical, personal benefits to buying this, too. It wouldn't be instantly obsolete like so many people are saying.

And if the window manager and phone apps they made are distributed separately, then one can install their favorite distro, and install those programs, getting the same look and usability on their favorite distro.

I only found this secondary-source article[1] from a couple years ago that says it would support booting most distros, but is there anything official?

[1] https://www.cyberciti.biz/linux-news/the-librem-5-your-ultim...

GIMP? Chromium? Even as a decade-long gimp user: I absolutely hope not. There is a huuuge difference between GNU/Linux (of which, 32/64-bit and architecture are of course considerations) and packages. I certainly hope they aren’t handicapping the phone by enabling bloated cruft trying to keep up with this crap.

...before the downvotes: I literally use each of these daily with the exception of blender...

Edit: you want to install your own WM without messing with DE? Good luck to you, is nothing good enough? This is the first step toward freedom since the bad guys won!

I don't mean for them to come preinstalled and I don't mean that I personally would typically use all those programs specifically on a phone, but something that sucks about phones is that they have a completely different software ecosystem. If it's a linux phone, I think it should be possible to use the same programs. I can run any linux program on any raspberry-pi which also runs ARM, why not on a phone?

At least, I would like to have the option of having a web browser with a web inspector available using only the phone and the same extensions that are available for desktop.

> is nothing good enough?

I'm just concerned that the consensus seems to be that $700 is too much for the personal value this gives. The marketing even needs to resort to statements like:

> Vote with your wallet to support a future safe from digital exploitation and create a secure and respectful environment for you, your children and society as a whole.

I agree that that's nice, but for me personally, it's not reason enough to buy it at that price. We all understand the reasons why it's $700, but I think being able to install other distros and being able to install any linux app like on any other computer would motivate a lot of people. It would be an additional edge this would have over other phones.

There's at least 1 comment[1] (with upvotes) on that article that shares the view that having few apps and an incompatible ecosystem would be a concern.

This doesn't mean that they must support those programs or other distros, just their possible installation would be enough for anyone I think.

I'm just looking for ways to justify my buying it.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/09/purisms-librem-5-pho...

> I'm just looking for ways to justify my buying it.

How about the fact that you can connect a monitor, keyboard, and mouse — and use it as a full desktop Linux machine running any desktop apps you like?

I’m sure gimp etc would have to package a specific .deb to run on this thing - unless as you’re saying you really might be able to mess with init system and startx.

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