Re: creating and maintaining accessible Linux distros
> On Jan 6, 2022, at 06:53, Jeffery Mewtamer <mewtamer@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I thought the Cathedral represented proprietary software and FOSS was
> the Bazaar in that old metaphor...
Yep, my mistake. Actually, the difference is more like the BSDs and Linux. There are only a few BSD Cathedrals (e.g., FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD), but hundreds of variants in the Linux Bazaar.
> Considering Debian's policy on only including FOSS in the main distro,
> targeting devices that target Linux might be the only sane option
> Mobian has at their disposal... though I'm not sure Debian loosening
> their stance on non-free software would help as much in the mobile
> arena as it would with PCs...
Point taken.
> ... With smartphone hardware, I understand it's practically
> unheard of for drivers to be available ...
I think the pmOS folks (and friends) have had some success at reverse engineering the hardware enough to write usable drivers. At leaset, their Devices page seems to indicate some. Also, a cell phone can function as a computing device even if the cell aspect is unavailable. And, if Wi-Fi is available, it can even be used for email and such.
> Of course, the maybe ironic part here is that, if smartphone vendors
> made community support of older phones easier by making the drivers
> readily available, old phones might not have such lousy resell value.
> I don't think FOSS has had that much direct impact on the cell phone ecosystem. In time, who knows...
-r
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