(01-02-2025, 10:20 PM)Kevin Kofler Wrote: Making a mainline-Linux-kernel-friendly device unfortunately means you have only a limited selection of SoCs to pick from, all older and not optimized for smartphones. Some vendors such as Qualcomm are entirely a no go because their SoCs require things such as signed bootloaders and even firmware signed with a device-specific key – those issues are a pain even for those Qualcomm-SoC-based devices (such as the OnePlus 6) supported by postmarketOS: the bootloader can only be unlocked and U-Boot chainloaded, you cannot install U-Boot directly on those devices, and the firmware has to be extracted from the Android ROMs provided by the device manufacturer (e.g., OnePlus) and put into a separate partition, because the device will refuse to load the firmware from the actual hardware manufacturer because it is not signed with the device manufacturer key burned into the SoC (which also means it is impossible to upgrade any of the firmware). So it is impossible for a mainline-Linux-kernel-friendly device to deliver the same performance for the same price as when using proprietary driver blobs. Blame the SoC manufacturers for this situation. We need devices that work without proprietary driver blobs and that do not enforce cryptographic signatures.
this is shocking, i thought oneplus was good at opening bootloaders comparing to other android brands. maybe it is, it is just oneplus is less worse on opening bootloaders.
actually, it is not that surprising. in my last android device, which i'm not going to name. i learned that "oem unlock" is not total user control. it is partial control. fastboot or bootloader still have some limitations.
one key element of pp regular and pp pro is bootloader. bootloader feels like user is in control.
(01-02-2025, 05:44 PM)KNERD Wrote: Why is it Braxman is able to sell a similar, and better phone with a stable Linux and Android OS for only $300 at a profit, but Pine64 with their "but we're a non-profit!" cannot?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/brax3...artphone#/
in my knowledge, pine organization is for profit corporation like any other, profit margins might be smaller though.
at this point it should be clear for buyers, that pine org provides hardware and not software. software is up to software community to develop. which has some drawbacks.
technically speaking, android is linux. practically, i call android as abuse of linux, which is controlled and manipulated by alphabet inc, with their monopolistic motives.