Very sad news

[user641]

https://blog.mobian.org/posts/2023/09/30...t-dilemma/

[zetabeta]

i need to ponder this one out, before i give more conclusive comments.

some things now. if i know correctly, sunxi based devices, i mean cpus tend to be outdated. and very few small computers are based on sunxi cpus. sunxi cpu was more or less end of life.

however, article discusses about software development rather than hardware. and that is something i think about further.

[Zebulon Walton]

Obviously not good news. However from my own standpoint as long as the Pinephone continues to be able to make and receive calls I'll use it regardless even if it were to never receive another update. I do realize though that most phone owners expect more than that.

[zetabeta]

i'm not sure it is that bad, of course it is bad temporarily.

if i got it correctly, mobian will or may be stuck to the 6.1 kernel, so mobian will be partially supported, and they may take megi's kernel. and there is other distros like archlinux, manjaro, pmos and others. probably mostly uses megi's kernel, i think there going to be some kind of options, and partial support.

my guess is that sunxi devices would be out after 2 years anyway, because of very slow cpu, i don't think pp regular can last very long.

so, bigger issue is, does this limited development spread into pp pro and rockchip devices. i think this is a possibility. in a worst case scenario, it is end of pinephone regular and pro. but if rockchip development continues, then we have supported device or devices, although slightly pricier.

i know it takeas years, but risc-v cpu sounds interesting, so new device based on risc-v might be possible.

[user641]

my guess is that sunxi devices would be out after 2 years anyway, because of very slow cpu, i don't think pp regular can last very long.

What do you mean here? sunxi is the kernel used by mobian? I would go with arch, but the problem is that script to install it with FDE, it's broken...or at least I don't know a work around it.

[LibrePhoneUser]

Obviously not good news. However from my own standpoint as long as the Pinephone continues to be able to make and receive calls I'll use it regardless even if it were to never receive another update. I do realize though that most phone owners expect more than that.

That means using a device with no security updates. Vulnerabilities in the kernel itself are found often enough.

[user641]

Obviously not good news. However from my own standpoint as long as the Pinephone continues to be able to make and receive calls I'll use it regardless even if it were to never receive another update. I do realize though that most phone owners expect more than that.

That means using a device with no security updates. Vulnerabilities in the kernel itself are found often enough.

yeah, it's crazy to connect to internet any device without security updates. Just look how often even debian updates its kernel.

[diederik]

That means using a device with no security updates. Vulnerabilities in the kernel itself are found often enough.

yeah, it's crazy to connect to internet any device without security updates. Just look how often even debian updates its kernel.

Which consists of 99+% of updates from the upstream Linux kernel, which is https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ker...inux-6.1.y for Bookworm.

The main problem I see is that WAY too many patches are carried 'downstream' instead of upstreaming them to Linus' kernel.
When you don't do that, you'll get in an unmaintainable situation sooner or later.

When the PineTab2 arrived and Mobian wanted to add support for that device, they thought they needed extra patches on top of the 138 patches they were already carrying.
I just laughed/SMH, thinking "How about you start with dropping at least 100 of those patches?"
With that many patches you can't know if you encounter a bug in the upstream kernel or a bug in one of your own patches.

The norm should be: if you have a patch, upstream it ASAP so that everyone benefits and you can then drop your own patch.
To me, the problem is that that happens way too little.

And there is indeed way too little (practically none) collaboration to make things better by working together.
Instead, everyone seems to be working inside their own little bubble.
And Mobian themselves are also VERY guilty of that.

[zetabeta]

this announcement has one implication, i most likely won't buy another pinephone regular, so it is going to be pinephone pro. little bit sad spending money, pp regular is still usable for basic tasks.

my guess is that sunxi devices would be out after 2 years anyway, because of very slow cpu, i don't think pp regular can last very long.

What do you mean here? sunxi is the kernel used by mobian? I would go with arch, but the problem is that script to install it with FDE, it's broken...or at least I don't know a work around it.

i used sunxi term for allwinner a64 cpu which requires sunxi software. regardless, is it megi's kernel on sunxi kernel, i don't think support for a64 will ive very long, roughly speaking in all linux distros. btw, 2 years is my inaccurate prediction.

danct's arch linux might be way to go for some time. seems that someone reported this https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pi...issues/589 .

Obviously not good news. However from my own standpoint as long as the Pinephone continues to be able to make and receive calls I'll use it regardless even if it were to never receive another update. I do realize though that most phone owners expect more than that.

That means using a device with no security updates. Vulnerabilities in the kernel itself are found often enough.

reading between the lines, mobian 6.1 lts kernel will be supported for some time. lts releases usually get security updates.

[PineFone]

Not well versed on this subject, but given the worse case scenario where the megi kernel going down takes out Mobian, Arch, etc. is Genode's Sculpt OS micro kernel (~20MB)  https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=14780  the solution to keep the PP going beyond just Calls and Text?

Sculpt is built from the ground up (including it's chrome forked browser) with the goal of extending battery life among other things so I believe it side steps the above mentioned issues.

@nfeske