MuditaOS: An open-source, e-ink mobile OS
mudita.com
mudita.com
Looks cool though. Might be viable to adapt to different screen sizes too? I know the remarkable is already hackable, but can't hurt to have competing UI concepts there, right ? :)
[0] https://github.com/mudita [1] https://images.ctfassets.net/isxmxtc67n72/3tX0E1fLT8J9Twtao4...
This is happening on top of our day-to-day development activities so bear with us - we'll send out emails with next steps to all people interested soon.
For more info about the process and MuditaOS check out the blog post at https://mudita.com/community/blog/muditaos-goes-open-source-...
Three reasons I don't think it will work out: 1. A huge number of people use WatsApp, Facetime, Messenger, etc., for sending messages and making calls. This OS won't support any of these apps. 2. We may hate our phones at times but we use them for a variety of daily tasks, all of which are difficult on this phone: Navigation (Google Maps >>> Any other Sat Nav system), transportation (Uber, etc.), food delivery, information retrieval (Google, etc.). 3. Even if you wanted a minimalist phone, you could probably just get a cheap feature phone instead of this one.
If anyone wants a great deal for a 99$ leather case https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/lcase2-mp02-leather-case/
I would love to dualboot a minimalist OS that is supported on my device (e.g. Galaxy S[6-10]), works for basic things like calls and sms, and doubles my battery life. Then, when I need the full-featured experience, I'd just boot into Android.
The reason this won't work is rather the device manufacturers, sadly. I agree with your conclusion that these OSes seem to be doomed to failure, but I strongly disagree with the premise.
The unstated part of crossing the chasm and everything that deals with new tech is there's potential social value in market failure.
Personally I'd rather spend my career at one Xerox Parc failed project after another instead of working on profitable but ultimately empty products
For some it's not about money or a career, it's about building new things
In an ideal world people like me would be academics. But that institution is also excessively career and status oriented so without many options, we run off to the private sector.
Your reaction helps solidify a heretical stance I've had recently, that money has been a corrupting influence on technology and has actually stagnated it by perversing the incentives towards strictly monetary goals without regard for the social. It's like we replaced traditional banking with casinos.
The people who went to the moon, built the atomic bomb and invented the internet did so on a modest government salary.
There is market for these kinds of phone. Check out the "Classic Phone" segment of Nokia - https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_in/classic-phones ... they've even recently released a 4g "dumb" phone.
Not everybody can afford a smartphone. And "dumb" phones like this provide the much needed mobility and connectivity to low-income group of our society (especially in a developing country like mine). Apart from this, the other reasons to consider these phones is the long battery life, and the less distractions they offer.
> I'm willing to bet that the phone is bound to fail and their OS will be doomed to obscurity. How do the creators not see this?
Yes, the phone will fail. But not for the exact reasons you cited.
They will fail because they are targeting a niche market - people with good income who have chosen a minimalist lifestyle. And that's why it is priced at the nonsensical price of $314 dollar ("discounted" from the "original" price of $369). The pricing makes no sense when you consider that Nokia offers 4g capable dumb phones for $40 to $48.
However, I do think an opportunity exists for us to use e-ink device in new ways.
I ordered a Boox Note Air on the weekend to replace my kindle (12 years old now) with something I can read and write on.
The Boox runs full android OS, but I really think the only things I'll need are note-taking, drawing, kindle app.
Is there an opportunity to really do something great in replacement of notebooks?
How about a new paradigm for what kids go to school with? The size of the bags kids are using to carry all their textbooks and notebooks is ridiculous. Of course, it breaks the model of the publishing industry, but screw that. The learning hardware is destroying kids backs.
How great would it be to go into an office meeting (when we're back in offices) and rather than having everyone sitting there with a laptop open, we have these thin e-ink devices where we can comfortably share data and notes between us.
Sure, there are millions of excuses for why these sorts of things can't happen, but I don't think an OS that is targeted at black and white, somewhat limited devices should be treated as not having value.
I'm just skeptical about an e-ink phone on a custom OS that doesn't support modern apps. Some apps may be unnecessary, but most users IMO expect to have things like GMail, WatsApp, Zoom, etc., on their phone.
That would be a realnice fit actually. Mostly disconnected, synced with other devices when physically close, private messages end to end encrypted, and the full OS/app stack being built to not be attention-hogging. :P
Perhaps it matters less to a US user, but as a European the fact an intra-country communication need not traverse any border nor be observable by any non-domestic entity is a huge deal for me, due to much stronger data protection laws in these parts covering both message content and metadata
Then there is the trustworthiness of the communication medium itself. WhatsApp is being advocated in this thread, but WhatsApp is a massive chunk of unaudited code running on your handset that is published by an advertising company, code that by design steals your phonebook without telling you every time you run it. At least in the UK, telecom providers generally act for the most part as commodity infrastructure, we don't seem to have quite as many scummy behaviours as are reported in the US. Both approaches require a central counterparty with either absolute trust to protect your cleartext message in transit, or provide otherwise unaudited code claiming to protect the same.
The bottom line for me is probably who gets to keep the metadata, a US advertising company or a local telco. I am certainly happier with the latter.
Is that all FUD?
They specifically and directly claim that a cell phone kept in a bra causes breast cancer.
In fact, they admit several times that most studies are "inconclusive" then go on to site single studies that may indicate "the potential" for harm. Like my phone could also theoretically increase my potential for getting eaten by a tiger.
Psuedo-science BS.
- What EM and SAR is and that anything in large enough amounts can be harmful with a bunch of info around the histories and studies that led to this understanding
- The implied need to worry about EM SAR significantly more than the above regulations and studies talked about suggest with the implication the numbers aren't already padded for safety to start with.
The former part is general product regulation which the page even admits was around before cell phones took off that nobody really has to know or think about, the latter is wrapping it in FUD.
It's also important to note that while they link an enormous number of references it doesn't mean all of the claims on the page are backed up by any of them (again, look at the two main categories above for the majority of that split). E.g. the section on "Radiation-free areas should be established. Electrohypersensitive people can’t live near any electronic devices which emit radiation." has widely failed to have any robust result showing it as a "real" (as in actually caused by EMF) effect but this section doesn't mention that it just flows right into the section saying peer reviewed studies have verified "effects" without defining what effects, to what level, from what level of source, and if the effects were deemed a risk/harmful or just something that's possible to notice (e.g. if you turn on a lamp right next to you your arm gets warmer, this is an observable effect in extreme cases with no ill effect).
The last thing I'll mention is there are some "dubious at best" transitions like the section explaining the difference between non-ionizing and ionizing radiation following up the claim "That is not to say that extended exposure to non-ionizing radiation isn’t harmful, we know that it is." with "Most of us know that a little bit of UV radiation can be useful" which not only gets into the main conflation mentioned at the beginning of the comment but also throws in extra conflation about something that both spans ionizing and non ionizing radiation being compared to a completely different part of the non-ionizing EM spectrum without note.
.
I think it's important to note that I come from a healthcare networking background and have been biased/predisposed to a certain viewpoint on the matter prior to reading the article as I've had to work with the health system on basically anything that communicates via RF (Wi-Fi, 4G, DAS, RFID, special frequency voice communication systems, one off device radios) which included review of any and all patient health risks related to deployment of the equipment.
Also, it specifies LTE in the specs. I think the GSM tethering is a mistype or mistranslation; I don’t see why they wouldn’t allow it to tether the LTE data.
Under “Network”, “Pure as data modem”, Second Paragraph, Second Sentence:
“We decided to enable tethering via USB C cable so that Pure can be used as an external GSM modem.”
This implies a 3G connection, so I checked the specs. This phone is pretty close to exactly what I want, so I’m considering buying it for myself and my spouse.
Seriously considering purchasing a pair (this coming from someone who imported and ran two Nokia N9s for several years; I still miss that phone!); hope it’s everything it seems to be!
The announcement focuses on an app and barely touched what's under it.
Even that is overstating it. They're just slightly different arrangements of the same set of user space components layered on top of the Linux kernel.
I think there's a lot of potential for actually completely replacing the user space layer on top of Linux, but no one has done that except Google with Android.
If you wanna do digital detox and still need a phone, get an used Motorola F3.
- It can't do more than talk and same very bare texting (Mudita already got a calendar, something that wants to get your attention and don't get me started on that mediation timer)
- costs almost nothing (Mudita Pure costs >300)
- flat and small, therefore easy to put away in any bag or pouch and forget
- doesn't has any big display where you need to take care of it
- upcycles an old phone for what is likely a, perhaps repeating, but still temporary use case
Besides this, the link here is actually the OS, so this is actually OT.
There is a quick setting with a bar inside a circle, which shuts of any attention grabbers. If you still need some of those, you can allow them in the app-details notifications settings. Back on blackberry you controlled that similarly by defining important contacts, who are allowed to ignore mute. Even the palm pre had that functionality.
In case anyone has any suggestions: For a more sustainable long-term detox to avoid extensive screen time, I'm trying to find a very minimal Android device that can preferably be de-Googled (with Lineage or related Roms) but definitely at least supports a few basic Android applications but isn't very comfortable to use for just browsing. It's surprisingly difficult to find a small-display Android device these days...
There was the Nokia 1, don't know how well available that still is.
otherwise the kaios devices, I think they do have WhatsApp, but can't remember about the others.
Therefore for everyday I just setup my phone to not annoy me and when I want to shut off completely, I switch to the F3, which gets thrown deep into the bag, just as an emergency thingy next to the basic first aid kit and I don't see it again until I got to go to work.
I think the best/simplest digital detox method is turning off most notifications - nowadays there are quite granular controls. If you want to go completely off the grid while keeping a phone for emergencies, any dumbphone would do.
[0] If you don't count receiving 2FA, delivery confirmations etc.
Not having Internet is both a feature as well as a problem. If I could have a phone which I can use for regular applications but which requires me to tether via USB etc to upload apps but can function without internet and GPS, I would actually consider it.
- e-ink - phone calls - SMS (I don't send them, but I need them for 2FA) - contact book synced with Google - calendar synced with Google - clock with alarms, timer and stopwatch - weather - music, it would be nice to use Spotify because I've invested a lot of time creating playlists but local files would do - bluetooth to send music to speakers - flashlight - sound recording (for calls recording and voice notes) - Whatsapp, it's my most used form of communication with family, friends and colleagues. But only text, no videos or images
Optional but nice: - tethering - QR codes store for things like tickets that I could send from another device
It would be enough for most of my day. I would have a second device for web browsing, maps and navigation, email, banking, QR reading, documents, gaming, etc., that I would only use when I really want to do those things.
Ideally FOSS too, so I don't have to worry about it being unpatchable in 3 years and can keep using it as long as it's useful.
It's pretty easy to not install those. Buying a product isn't a good solution to a lack of willpower.
Personally my thoughts were more along the lines of: That’s a cool phone, but thank god the OS is open source so someone can add the connected apps we need.
Poor software support is a big stumbling block for these devices.
* Battery: ~1600mAh
* Water resistance: IP54
Light Phone II is 300 USD.
There was a FOSS project announced on crowdfunding platform, called Blloc [1]. Its a launcher for Android, for minimal, distraction free use.
It is however privacy and non-distraction/advertising focused. Makes sense it costs money (it is free, but the killer feature Tree Tile costs money).
Does this actually have any ebook reading functionality? Skimming through, the closest thing seems to be "notes" .
A ReMarkable you can just SSH into. Which seems far more friendlier for customization, but its also a different price class and purpose.
[1] https://kobo-offline.virgulilla.com/
[2] https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222803
Sorry, I never used any custom firmware on our Kobos. You see, I keep them offline, so I'd care less about security vulnerabilities in them (plus if they go online, its via guest network). Also, I am very content with the software on our Kobo readers (Aura One and Aura Two). I do use Calibre + USB sometimes. What am I missing out on?
Supposedly lots of other features as well , but simply supporting djvu is so huge for me, I can't imagine bothering with nickel.
PalmOS had it's own GUI because the whole OS was this insane feat of software engineering and something like X11 didn't fit on the abstractions they built. The result was something that could run forever on a couple of AAA batteries. If you're just sticking things on top of X/Wayland/Linux anyway at least make it usable.
Right now, mobile stacks are usually even more complex that desktop stacks.
I loved the stylus because it allowed apps to be quite functional (I remember EasyCalc which could do wonders) on a 160x160 screen. 320x320 meant that you could do anything.
In practice this is not the way it worked on PalmOS on actual hardware past a certain point, and the way it actually worked is not that different from how code is loaded in a conventional desktop operating system.
For most of PalmOS story, programs would for all intents and purposes be installed to RAM and reside entirely in RAM.
[1]https://sr.ht/~mil/Sxmo/#strongsxmostrong-simple-x-mobile