In 166 days #Android will become a locked-down platform because Google wants to kill Android freedom.

At Tuta, we say NO. Google must keep Android open & free!

Here's how to take action & make your voice heard: 👉 https://keepandroidopen.org/

Here's more info: 👉 https://tuta.com/blog/google-wants-to-kill-android-freedom

#KeepAndroidOpen

@Tutanota I just want non-Google Linux phones to become mainstream. Since android is based on Linux anyway, most apps should work or be easy to port?

I would love to be able to root my phone, but some of us just suck at these things and it's not worth the risk of bricking our devices. I wish we could have off the shelf Linux phones that don't require advanced tech skills to use or set up.

#LinuxPhone

@SilverArrows @Tutanota

Android works on Linux, but android apps are apks in kind of binary code like java - these are executed by dalvikvm. But since Android is open source, it's not necessary
to circumvent that, as for example wine does with windows applications.

But what google does is providing google play services where app vendors rely on to ensure that the system is not tinkered with (rooted - everyone is skeptic when you own your system). banking apps do so.

@SilverArrows @Tutanota i think that problem is not solved. And I think the media mafia (netflix, spotify) may do this, too - but not sure

@circus_maximus

Yes, banking apps can be tricky, mine won't even let me log in unless I switch out my keyboard to a big name one.

That's why noob-friendly Linux phones being mainstream would be much better.

I'd love to ditch windows and android, but Linux is not noob-friendly, no, not even Mint. When you have to learn how to compile code just to install a driver for a WiFi adapter, then you're locking out the average joe. Windows and android suck, but they work out of the box, and I feel like Linux still has a degree of gatekeeping going on.

@SilverArrows #Linux depends on hardware, when you have to compile by yourself you may have the wrong hardware. But from my point of view I also think that hardware support stagnates: camera on newer #surface_pro devices do also suck like what you described.

Having hardware vendors providing proper drivers should be the key to both platforms, mobile and computers.

Hopefully that's the #grapheneos deal with #Motorola, also provide a hardware basis usable for #postmarketos

@circus_maximus I have no clue. I have a TP link WiFi adaptor, it says Linux compatible on the box. There's a CD to install it on Windows and Mac, but for Linux, there's no instructions and when I looked up the manual, it said I had to compile the code myself.

This is what I mean. Linux is never going to be mainstream when you have to invest so much more time and effort just to get the basics to work. It's sheer stubbornness and dislike of big corpos that's stopped me just nuking Mint off my PC and using its dedicated SSD as another drive for the Windows install. And that's a real shame. I was really looking forward to fulfilling my 20 year dream of becoming a Linux girl.

@SilverArrows @circus_maximus Well, according to what you said, the problem is with TP Link, not Linux as an OS, instead of compiling the code themselves and upstreaming it, they chose to let it stay non-compiled.

Most consumer hardware that is commonly used in the world already has drivers in the Linux kernel out of the box, so no install or even compiling needed.

@joe9nf Yes I agree. But it's obstacles like this that create a barrier between the average person and Linux.
@SilverArrows @Tutanota Let's hope European phone manufactures will solve this so it can be done safely and with a locked bootloader.