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Cellphones Open Source Linux

Purism's Librem 5 Phone Starts Shipping. It Can Run Linux Desktop Apps (arstechnica.com) 46

Posted by EditorDavid from the desktop-in-your-pocket dept.
On Tuesday Purism announced their first Librem 5 smartphones were rolling off the assembly line and heading to customers. "Seeing the amazing effort of the Purism team, and holding the first fully functioning Librem 5, has been the most inspirational moment of Purism's five year history," said their founder and CEO Todd Weaver.

On Wednesday they posted a video announcing that the phones were now shipping, and Friday they posted a short walk-through video. "The crowdsourced $700 Linux phone is actually becoming a real product," reports Ars Technica: Purism's demand that everything be open means most of the major component manufacturers were out of the question. Perhaps because of the limited hardware options, the internal construction of the Librem 5 is absolutely wild. While smartphones today are mostly a single mainboard with every component integrated into it, the Librem 5 actually has a pair of M.2 slots that house full-size, off-the-shelf LTE and Wi-Fi cards for connectivity, just like what you would find in an old laptop. The M.2 sockets look massive on top of the tiny phone motherboard, but you could probably replace or upgrade the cards if you wanted...

[Y]ou're not going to get cutting-edge hardware at a great price with the Librem 5. That's not the point, though. The point is that you are buying a Linux phone, with privacy and open source at the forefront of the design. There are hardware kill switches for the camera, microphone, WiFi/Bluetooth, and baseband on the side of the phone, ensuring none of the I/O turns on unless you want it to. The OS is the Free Software Foundation-endorsed PureOS, a Linux distribution that, in this case, has been reworked with a mobile UI. Purism says it will provide updates for the "lifetime" of the device, which would be a stark contrast to the two years of updates you get with an Android phone.

PureOS is a Debian-based Linux distro, and on the Librem 5, you'll get to switch between mobile versions of the Gnome and KDE environments. If you're at all interested in PureOS, Purism's YouTube page is worth picking through. Dozens of short videos show that, yes, this phone really runs full desktop-class Linux. Those same videos show the dev kit running things like the APT package manager through a terminal, a desktop version of Solitaire, Emacs, the Gnome disk utility, DOSBox, Apache Web Server, and more. If it runs on your desktop Linux computer, it will probably run on the Librem 5, albeit with a possibly not-touch-friendly UI. The Librem 5 can even be hooked up to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and you can run all these Linux apps with the normal input tools...

Selling a smartphone is a cutthroat business, and we've seen dozens of companies try and fail over the years. Purism didn't just survive long enough to ship a product -- it survived in what is probably the hardest way possible, by building a non-Android phone with demands that all the hardware components use open code. Making it this far is an amazing accomplishment.
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Purism's Librem 5 Phone Starts Shipping. It Can Run Linux Desktop Apps More

Purism's Librem 5 Phone Starts Shipping. It Can Run Linux Desktop Apps

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  • Dude (Score:4, Interesting)

    by weilawei ( 897823 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @09:38AM (#59249460)

    Sold. I'm buying one next month.

    There are hardware kill switches for the camera, microphone, WiFi/Bluetooth, and baseband on the side of the phone

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Yes the "Which one leaks more data?" video just adds to the need for a lot more understating of what is getting networked every hour.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
      The off switches are what every smarthphone needs.

    • "Sold. I'm buying one next month."

      Since there are 2 of you, do you perhaps know the other buyer as well?

      • Don't know them yet, but they sound like the sort of person I'd like to hack on an open phone with.

        Of course, I could be biased. ;)

        Our little group holds hold semi-irregular hackathons (open by inquiry, none in the past few months because I just moved), and if there were another person out there with one, it could make for a good day of hacking around.

      • Since there are 2 of you, do you perhaps know the other buyer as well?

        I'm the other buyer. This looks great.

    • me too, although I'm going to hang-out until they make a "mini" model.

      The Samsung Galaxy S2 had something like a 4" or 4.5" display, and fit in the pocket of my jeans very nicely. My next phones have had 5" displays, which also just about fit okay (but, are getting a bit big, even though bevels have got smaller).

      This has a 5.7" display (and the forthcoming PinePhone has 5.95" display) - I'm going to need to carry some sort of 'man bag' to be able to take this phone out with me. Either that, or I need to pet

  • Great concept, some caveats (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Brama ( 80257 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @09:45AM (#59249472) Homepage

    Other than the obvious forget-about-using-this-as-your-daily-driver, there are still some caveats that don't make this Free just yet:

    "Our intention is to have everything freed down to the schematic level, but have not cleared all design, patents, legal, and contractual details. We will continue to advance toward this goal as it aligns with our long-term beliefs."

    "Based on our testing: the CPU, GPU, Bootloader and all software will run free software, we are evaluating the WiFi and Bluetooth chips and their firmware, this is an area we have to evaluate, finalize, and test. The mobile baseband will most likely use ROM loaded firmware, but a free software kernel driver. We intend to invest time and money toward freeing any non-free firmware."

    But, that would not be feasibly possible. Wish they had a timeline detailing the next steps though.

    • Re:Great concept, some caveats (Score:5, Informative)

      by weilawei ( 897823 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @10:02AM (#59249512)

      The cell modem is even on its own M.2 slot, so you can swap in something else going forward.

      • This is the feature that most attracts me, given the endemic level of IMEI tracking in London/UK.

        It seems the M.2 baseband modules are a choice of Gemalto PLS8 3G/4G or Chinese Broadmobi BM818-A1, however the choice of modem seems up in the air at the moment. To me this is the giant elephant in the room for early adopters.

    • This is actually perfect as a daily driver, if you care about security at all and are willing to manage a second device.

      I'm going to get one (with the radio that can do LTE Band 13) and set up a hotspot to my Android device for secure apps.

      Any baseband radio is a wide-open attack surface that can get to memory on any device. It's literally impossible to have a secure mobile device with current architectures.

      You can't just carry a hotspot because you still need to get LTE phone calls, especially if you roam

  • I'm very close to ordering one, what's missing for me is the Signal app.

    • Re:Close (Score:5, Interesting)

      by weilawei ( 897823 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @10:01AM (#59249510)

      I agree, but...

      Decentralized encrypted communications
      The Librem 5 will be the first ever Matrix-powered [matrix.org] smartphone, natively using end-to-end encrypted decentralised communication in its dialer and messaging app.

      Matrix is an open ecosystem for interoperable encrypted communication, supporting a rapidly growing community of over 2 million users for VoIP and Slack-style messaging. Allowing you to easily communicate securely to any Internet connected device, including iOS, Android, Windows, OSX, or GNU+Linux machines. Having a native communication suite which allows for Calling, Text Messaging, Group Messaging, and Video Calling is the future of communication.

      End-to-End Encryption
      Matrix provides state-of-the-art end-to-end-encryption via the Olm and Megolm cryptographic ratchets. This ensures that only the intended recipients can ever decrypt your messages, while warning if any unexpected devices are added to the conversation.

      Matrix’s encryption is based on the Double Ratchet Algorithm popularised by Signal, but extended to support encryption to rooms containing thousands of devices. Olm and Megolm are specified as an open standard and implementations are released under the Apache license, independently audited by NCC Group.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Teun ( 17872 )
      You can run the Linux desktop version.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Herve5 ( 879674 )

      That's surprising, as there is a Linux Signal app?
      (I am using it daily here on Debian)
      Now, I for one will probably switch to a Fairphone 3 (twice better specs, roughly same price, various OSes available including Sailfish and a GApps-free Android). But I must be biaised as I already own a Fairphone 1 and a Fairphone 2 (both rooted by default)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DeBaas ( 470886 )

        The Signal desktop app has to be linked to a running Signal instance on a mobile phone.

  • I'm still using my Nokia N900 I bought in 2009. I'll miss the hardware keyboard when I finally upgrade but other than that the Librem phone sounds nearly perfect for me.

  • sounds like a fun phone to own (Score:4, Funny)

    by FudRucker ( 866063 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @10:40AM (#59249590)
    since it can run Linux i can do stuff like put IceWM or xfce and tweak either window manager with a Windows95 theme and that includes the start menu button with the windows logo,

    "oh hai, i got the new windows 95 phone"

  • Unrooted phone, use Termux.

    Rooted phone, use Linux Deploy (or similar.)

    The big deals are the socketed hardware and the hardware kill switches, not the Linux compatibility.

  • Nope (Score:3)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @10:56AM (#59249640) Journal

    I think I'll wait for the PinePhone [pine64.org] that's expected to retail for ~$150 or so.

    "The purpose of the PinePhone isn’t only to deliver a functioning Linux phone to end-users, but also to actively create a market for such a device, as well as to support existing and well established Linux-on-Phone projects. All major Linux Phone-oriented projects, as well as other FOSS OS’, are represented on the PinePhone and developers work together on our platform to bring support this this community driven device."

    They're shipping the developer version now, I believe, with a "Braveheart" version to follow, and then finally the initial release will come.

    • Same here - there's no way I can pry $700 out of the budget for an "experimental" phone...but I can do $150. The PinePhone looks pretty decent for the price. They've even got a "SmartWatch" in development which could be used with it. Of course, it looks like it's a pretty low-end, cheap thing but... they're aiming for $25 retail price. For that price, I'll gladly get one to play with. If it turns out to be useless, well...it was only $25. (If I remember correctly, the phone even has a few disused SPI conne

  • Specs (Score:5, Informative)

    by ISayWeOnlyToBePolite ( 721679 ) on Sunday September 29, 2019 @10:57AM (#59249642)

    Display : 5.7 IPS TFT screen @ 720×1440
    Processor: i.MX8M (Quad Core) max. 1.5GHz
    Memory: 3GB
    Storage : 32 GB eMMC internal storage
    Wireless : 802.11abgn 2.4 Ghz / 5Ghz + Bluetooth 4
    Baseband : Option 1: Gemalto PLS8; Option 2: Broadmobi BM818; w/ single nanosim tray on replaceable M.2 card
    GPS : Teseo LIV3F GNSS
    Smartcard: Reader with 2FF card slot (SIM card size)
    Sound : 1 earpiece speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack
    External Storage: microSD storage expansion
    Accelerometer: 9-axis IMU (gyro, accel, magnetometer)
    Front Camera: 8 MPixel
    Back Camera: 13 MPixel w/ LED flash
    Vibration motor: included
    USB Type C: USB 3.0 data, Charging (Dual-Role Port), Video out
    Battery: User replaceable – 3,500 mAh

    https://shop.puri.sm/shop/libr... [shop.puri.sm]

  • For the "masses", they aren't going to take a chance to spend 700 bucks, on a "no name" phone. No name, in the sense it doesn't have any carrier branding, ie: "cheaper" by the month, so to speak. People want "style" (or at least they are willing to PAY for it). Hope it works, but they should have priced it in the 350-500 dollar range, sort of like Oppo did with the OnePlus phones, to get more sales. Take a hit on the 1st gen and make it up on later models.

  • Display : 5.7 IPS TFT screen @ 720×1440

    For $700 - I'll pass. They had years to develop and produce this phone and it comes out with a 1990's display resolution?

    • For me, that's a negative point, but I am not getting younger, and have to admit I don't really see the difference anymore. However, just a single SIM is not an option. Pass, for me too. I wish them luck though. PS IP68 is on my nice to have list as well...
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • So there is no point.

    Still just a security illusion.

    I'll keep my $700.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      Algorithms essential to cellular modems' air interfaces are patented (at least in Slashdot's home country), and free software cannot implement patented algorithms licensed on royalty-bearing terms. Moreover, just around the time the patents encumbering a particular air interface expire, the carriers tend to retire service for that air interface in favor of newer air interfaces that more efficiently use the valuable RF spectrum leased from national radio regulators. This means those unwilling to run propriet

    • The cell modem is still closed source

      ...and so is the optical relay in the street to which your (OpenWRT-powered) home router is talking.
      (Metaphore)

      But on this peculiar device the cell modem is a *dedicated separate device* that only talks with the rest of the smartphone over standard protocols (usually it shows up as a USB-serial device (for AT commands) and as a USB-network device (for 3G/4G networking) ).
      The cell modem itself, can't see anything else on the phone except from it's own end of said standard protocols.
      The cell modem doesn't hav

  • The OS is the Free Software Foundation-endorsed PureOS, a Linux distribution that, in this case, has been reworked with a mobile UI.

    And PureOS uses systemd.

    Nice concept. Somebody wake me when there's a supported non-systemd Linux distribution for it.

  • A rooted Android can run Linux desktop apps. There are X server apps available in the App Store. You can install software though Gentoo and probably other options.

    I sure this phone makes some things easier, but you don't get all the Android has to offer.

    • This phone isn't targetting the people who "just want some Linux app running on their Android phone".
      (There are tons of other solution to run Linux apps from within Android)
      (there are other full-blown GNU/Linux 3rd party firmware for Android smartphones such as Jolla's Sailfish OS, etc.)

      This is specifically for the people who are fed up of being spied upon:

      - This phone can run with 0% android software inside (most "Linux app in Android" solution still rely on a full Android running to run inside of)
      (3rd pa

  • I would buy one of these even without the cellular hardware.

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