Linux Ideology for smartphone

[Lilyana]

Hi everyone,

It's been already a year since I completely switched from my old Microsoft with all thpayed software and company to the Linux/GNU philosophy. I no longer use anything that is not opensource for my work as digital artist.

Now, I want to buy a smartphone and tablet and am searching for the same kind of a product in terms of ideology (free, opensource...). Would you have any recommendations or explanation so that I can be more aware when I chose.

Thanks a lot in advance and wish you great day!

Lilly

[Rubberman]

Android is Linux with some proprietary binary blobs (firmware mostly) that enable the use of things like the phone's cell radios, and such. You can root it so you can install additional software without jumping through hoops. There are nice cross-compilation tools and android/arm emulators to help with this process. Time for you to do some Googling...

[Lilyana]

Thanks Rubberman, I will keep googling now do you have some preferred brand as an advice?

Lilly

[Rubberman]

Thanks Rubberman, I will keep googling now do you have some preferred brand as an advice?

Lilly

Not really. There is a LOT of nice gear out there that meets these specifications. I have a Google Nexus One phone, an embedded ARM system for manufacturing and distribution systems controls, but no tablet at the moment, though my grandson has an android tablet that he hacks on (both hardware and software) extensively.

Anyway, here's a good place to start: CyanogenMod | Android Community Rom based on Jelly Bean

[Lilyana]

You are true to yourself, as fast in your answers as the real time! Thanks again, will check cianogen straight away!

[voidpointer69]

Lilyana,

Yeps, that Rubberman is the real deal. A privilege to be on the same forum.

[meton_magis]

Lilyana,

Yeps, that Rubberman is the real deal. A privilege to be on the same forum.

"He's as flexible as Gumbi, and as strong as Hercules."

+1 to voidpointer's comment, Rubberman is awesome.

If you're wanting to go for open source, the google branded phones (usually nexus in the name) are the best for getting a plain android phone with no vendor enhancement. However, I remember reading recently that Samsung also open sourced all the code for the Galaxy S III .... but I don't know under what license, or how free it really is.

I second Rubberman's suggestion to look at Cyanogenmod, the polish of their releases often matches or exceeds the software from the big name phone vendors.

[Rubberman]

Color me embarrassed (or is that in-bare-assed?)... I try to help, and if I can sometimes, then great! There are a lot of really great contributors to these forums. I'm just happy to be one of them...

Now for a shameless plug for my employer - please do check out the new Nokia phones. I've been using the Lumia 900 for the last couple of months and it is a very nice device. If you aren't into rooting or modding your phone, then the 900/920 or 800/820 may be a good choice, and the price is right! I did like the Symbian N8 that I was issued when I started with the company, but it recently broke a SIM connector so now it is an awesome WiFi-enabled camera... With it's 12MP Zeiss lens and xenon flash, it is as good as most any compact digital camera. I'm "lending" it to my sister-in-law, an animation pro, to play with and make animated movies...

And finally, I've downloaded the Cyanogenmod release for my rooted Nexus One to check out Jelly Bean. I've been pretty happy with Gingerbread, but in Internet years, it is a dinosaur! I'll report here as to how that works out.

[levi_silva]

Hi Lyliana,

You can also try a board like the BeagleBone(Google it . It is a simple board.

These kind of board is a very good place to start learning about Linux in embedded device.

The BeagleBone uses Angstrom Linux distro as the standard OS but you can build your own version. It supports Android OS too.

I like BeagleBone but there are a lot of other boards with different HW and different prices.

You can search for Raspberry, BeagleBoard, PandaBoard and many others

Best Regards,
Leví