Well the thing is, for it to be viable for the average person it would need to be able to suit a lot of different use cases. A lot of systems and infrastructure would need to be built up as well, likely to the point where it starts to resemble currently available typical phone OSs. There would need to be consistency and some amount of stability in terms of APIs and such for app developers to use. Having fragmentation of the ecosystem (different distros), with low level differences (compared to just a manufacturer or carrier skin+apps), means that it will be more difficult for app developers to target all platforms.

So to some extent, I guess it is partly due to a lack of momentum, however it is impossible to ignore the extent to which the Linux way of doing things is going to hinder adoption.

And don’t forget that the Linux ecosystem has a habit of competing against itself for the little marketshare it does have. The fragmentation of the ecosystem also leads to work being done many times over for each distro. It makes it very hard for Linux to catch up and keep pace with the likes of Android and IOS.

I am not hating on Linux by any means, just being realistic about the situation.

It is definitely getting there (depending on the device), but there are still more than a few rough edges. Calls, SMS/MMS and data is working for the most part, still some bugs here and there. The biggest issues with calls, SMS and data tend to depend on the carrier and country.

On my Linux phone (FLX1) battery life tends to be good enough if not using android apps, and… acceptable if using android apps. It is definitely a phone you need to charge every night though. Audio tends to be OK, but isn’t configured out of the box to use USB audio.

Notifications tend to be my biggest problem with Linux phones at the moment, as they aren’t well handled by apps and software outside of SMS and missed calls. Installed apps tend to need to be open for notifications to go through.

Honestly, I don’t see Linux phones as being viable for the average person for quite a long time. But it is definitely possible to get by using it as your only phone.

Well, not really. The FLX1 has a reasonably good phone SOC (Mediatek Dimensity 900). The big problem is that the phone SOCs typically use more proprietary software and use kernels that aren’t mainline. The massive obsession of using mainline Linux kernel only leads most Linux phones to use SOCs that aren’t suited to phones, basically trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Furilabs has proven with the FLX1 that you can get competent Linux phone hardware, if you concede using mainline Linux kernel.

Although the FLX1 has some hardware downsides (size, weight and screen technology), these are more down to the implementation and goals of this specific device. The ODM of the FLX1 intended the hardware as a rugged phone, hence the size and weight. Price was likely a factor in the choice not to use OLED.

With the hardware of the FLX1 being competent, it highlights the shortcomings of the software. Phosh still needs a ton of work to be great, most Linux software isn’t designed to be used on a phone, etc. I especially hate the phosh keyboard and it needs a ton of work to be even semi-decent. Phosh should honestly just copy the design of the Android keyboard.

Yeah FLX1 uses phosh

There are 2 main problems with Linux phones.

1. Hardware. Most Linux phones don’t use an SoC intended for a phone, or use outdated/slow hardware. This is a big reason why devices like Librem 5 and PinePhone aren’t viable in the long run.

2. Software. Currently the software side of things still needs a ton of work.

From what I can see, there seems to be a bit of a bit of a focus (obsession?) on Linux phones only running mainline Linux kernel and as FOSS as possible from the very beginning, rather than building something that works and then improving things over time.

This is why I like the approach that FuriLabs is taking. Yes, they don’t use a mainline kernel (they currently use the MediaTek kernel). And they use Halium and (probably) some proprietary drivers. But they are building something that (mostly) works like an actual phone, which from what I have seen/heard is a lot more than what can be said of other phones. And they have been putting in quite a bit of work improving the UX, which makes up a lot of the software side usability problems. They can try to mainline later.

I should also probably mention I own an FLX1, which may make me slightly biased when discussing this topic. There are some things I don’t like about it though, such as the size and weight. LCD screen instead of OLED is also a bit of a bummer.

Yeah, porting the kernel is the “easy” part for any OS. Its the user space and building up a software ecosystem for the new architecture that is a pain in the ass.

Laughs in GrapheneOS and/or phone running Linux.

A big part of Broadcom’s current business model seems to be:

• Buy company that makes an important product/service used by many big companies.
• Squeeze the acquired company for every last drop of short term profit; increasing prices, abandoning products, etc.
• Watch large companies jump ship to other solutions
• Repeat

You may be able to root the LG TV and use https://github.com/webosbrew/youtube-webos, which supports ad blocking and sponsorblock. Or you could install it with developer mode, but developer mode has a limited session time.

In my experience using an older android phone for self-hosting, the downside was a lack of ports and I/O. Being stuck with a single USB 2 interface and wifi was less than ideal for my use case.

I ran a Minecraft server on termux and (IIRC) AnLinux once. It worked surprisingly well.

If I am remembering correctly, Australia also has laws that allow the government to force private companies to build backdoors. I think it was the Ass Access Act.

Most public schools wouldn’t have the budget to allocate a staff member to create and maintain such a distro. It would also take quite some time to flash to all of the devices.

The management tools built into chromeOS are also mature and very compelling to schools. Most schools don’t see the value of reinventing the wheel when a mostly ok solution that takes no extra effort is already available.

The title is fine. The trademark is “App Store”, Not “Apple App Store”.

Probably not. Although I can’t buy a Steam Deck in my country, Linux is my daily driver on my gaming PC. In my experience, buying games on steam is genuinely much much easier than piracy on Linux. Even just trying to run Windows games purchased elsewhere (such as GOG) to run in wine is much more difficult than steam. There are no other game stores that are anywhere near as good on Linux.

I don’t think it is blocked, just down at the moment.