Thank you!

I’ve changed wording from “mostly still Android” to “mostly still Android kernel and Android drivers”, I agree, might have been a bit unclear.

Anyway, libhybris requires running half an Android system in a container, so I believe it’d be fair to say it is… half an Android system and a somewhat regular Linux userland with a proprietary UI.

It’s important to know that it can only be updated as long as the SoC vendor provides updated kernel sources.

It’d take months to rebase it onto a new kernel. Just trying to port the drivers would take more time than mainlining. But once you keep things upstream, it suddenly becomes much easier to maintain.

That’s where mainlining comes in.

For example, I am mainlining the Xperia 10 III to make sure it does not become obsolete trash and can still ne used in a couple years:

https://git.erebion.eu/forgejo/erebion/pdx213-temp

Still early days, but hopefully I’ll at some point have it all working.

This is my current progress: https://git.erebion.eu/forgejo/erebion/pdx213-temp

Next step would be upstreaming some patches to the kernel, I just need to find the time.

Someone more skilled and knowledgeable than me in mainlining could probably get most of the remaining things done in a couple days, but I need to read a lot of docs and try out a lot of things.

It’s not a standard kernel, it is a vendor kernel. It has sooooo many patches it becomes close to impossible to update then by rebasing. That’s where the mainlining efforts come in: Upstream first.

It’s always easier to maintain something upstream than to try to maintain a downstream fork.

I’d also argue that the mainline kernel tends to have better security, as the drivers have far more eyes on them than the vendor driver kernels.

Yeah and English is well established, most people already know some of it.

Still, I like languages, so Latin seems interesting to me. :D

Just use the AOSP keyboard

Yeah, let’s replace English with something European. Let’s use Cornish, it’s more European than English. *g*

Hell no… Because the Vatican mostly uses it? So… what do they speak in hell? Klingon?

That’s a startpage link to a search that does not find anything that looks like it might be a thing you’re referring to. *shrug*

Sigh… I’d sign up, but apparently it requires that my bank supports it, which it does not, so I cannot do that. :/

Who or what is FUTO? Why are/is they/it doing things?

libhybris literally uses an Android comtainer to bridge over Android kernel drivers from the SoC vendor to the Linux (non-Android) userland.

EDIT: postmarketOS has a mainline strategy, you could create a downstream port, but ultimately their goal is to create strong mainline support for many devices.

Yeah, but that does not change anything about the kernel. You can no longer update it if the vendor drops support. Even if the distro had much older roots, it still uses a vendor kernel that has been patched to death.

It uses the kernel from the SoC vendor, for example Qualcomm, for the Xperia 10 III.

This requires libhybris to get the drivers working with a non-Android userland.

This in turn means the phone can only be updated as long as Qualcomm continues patching the kernel.

And this is why you run an outdated kernel once Qualcomm drops support, which will happen quickly. It’s the same for other SoC vendors. They are in the business of selling SoCs, not supporting them.

Mainline support solves that. SailfishOS can also be built with a mainline kernel.

I am in fact working on mainlining the Xperia 10 III. Once I’m done, you can flash an image with a mainline kernel and continue updating the kernel until the phone breaks, not until Qualcomm stops caring.

They use an Android kernel. How does it matter how nice their proprietary UI is if the phone can no longer be updated once Qualcomm, for example, no longer patches the kernel?

We desperately need more mainline support, this isn’t sustainable.

• my English accent is more American (guys is it hard to switch to a British one?)

No. But does it matter? No.

And I say that as someone who really values “real English”, instead of " simplified English" lol

That aside, if you really, want, just listen to UK radio and you’ll almost certainly start speaking like that if that’s what you hear most of the time.

People here focus on tech a lot but I think it can’t be understated how much of a cultural grasp the US has on Europe.

Visit the UK, if you want to change that.

France24, Deutsche Welle, BBC (they love to cover US…)

Just consider the post 2nd World War history and the language of the latter… done. It should be obvious why.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re annoyed about the US, just stop consuming their media and talk about something else you enjoy more.

How many countries can access Wero now? Is that just EU or could other European countries also join? Switzerland, Norway, UK?

What thing…?

That’s just some Linux userspace with an Android container and an Android kernel. It is mostly still Android kernel and drivers.

I don’t expect them to support devices for very long.

I’ve had my hands on Fairphones and SHIFT phones. Build quality seems similar.

I’d still get a Fairphone, as they put a lot of effort into open source and being part of the community. They also seem to make slightly more robust devices.

No idea for how long Shift guarantee updates, but Fairphone guarantees updates for many years. Last I checked it was eight years.

BTW, I recently got myself a USB-C charger from Fairphone and the build quality is really good. No doubt it will still work in two years and longer. The price is also decent.