
100 days of postmarketOS - yuvadam
https://www.postmarketos.org/blog/2017/09/03/100-days-of-postmarketos/
======
yuvadam
Some comments on a more personal level about the project: I actually learned
about postmarketOS 50 days ago when I saw the previous "50 days of pmOS" post
here on HN, and since then I've become a pretty active contributor to the
project.

I can't remember the last time I've contributed so intensely to a single FLOSS
project and I attribute that to the community being built around developing
postmarketOS and the first and foremost goal of having fun while developing,
all the while keeping in mind that are much larger long-term goals we would
want to get to some day that I very much support.

Props to ollieparanoid and all the other developers working on pmOS, I really
enjoy their positive attitude towards technical and community development
alike.

------
mrmondo
Having Google as such a huge controlling force over the operating systems on
so many mobile devices has scared me for a long time, given Google’s business
model of the customer and data about individuals - I welcome any well managed
projects that set out to offer more ethical alternatives.

~~~
pjmlp
If you want to be more scared, and happen to own an Androdid device, check the
data Google has on you by virtue of Play Services sending information every
time your're online.

For example on location history in Google Maps.

~~~
gkya
Is Apple any better on this (real question)?

~~~
yuvadam
Apple has their own problems, but their business is to sell products, not to
track you. Google tracks you aggressively and that _is_ their business model.

Suggest reading Aral Balkan on this topic [1]

[1] - [https://ar.al/notes/apple-vs-google-on-privacy-a-tale-of-
abs...](https://ar.al/notes/apple-vs-google-on-privacy-a-tale-of-absolute-
competitive-advantage/)

~~~
oneplane
Interestingly, with Microsoft, it's like a weird mixed bag as if they haven't
made up their mind yet. They do kinda want to sell you stuff, but they also
want some of your data, but not the same data that Google wants, and they may
or may not have a good plan on what to do with that data.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
I suspect we'll end up in some weird freemium model offering with Microsoft.
For the right price, everything can be shut off, but Windows 10 Enterprise is
all said and done over $500 a seat.

------
djsumdog
This project has come a long way, and it seems ultra cool. When I first saw
it, I thought it was going to be more of a "turn your old phone into a
Raspberry Pi type device" .. basically a little embedded machine you could use
to control other things or maybe home automation.

However it now looks like a much broader project, with some big GUI and driver
goals. It'd be pretty amazing if we end up with a Linux distribution you can
just install on most old devices and continue using them as little usable
Plasma devices.

~~~
ollieparanoid
That would be one future I would like to live in!

~~~
yorwba
Off-topic: I subscribed to the RSS feed of your blog to get updates on
postmarketOS development (just watching from the sidelines), but the new
website doesn't seem to have anything like that.

Could you add a way to subscribe, or should I just watch the GitHub repo
instead?

~~~
ollieparanoid
Thanks for letting us know. For now, you can subscribe
[https://github.com/postmarketOS/postmarketos.org](https://github.com/postmarketOS/postmarketos.org)
\- and I will make an issue to add a RSS feed!

~~~
ollieparanoid
Here we go:
[https://postmarketos.org/blog/feed.atom](https://postmarketos.org/blog/feed.atom)

(Thanks to new contributor marten-de-vries for implementing it so fast \o/
<[https://github.com/postmarketOS/postmarketos.org/issues/29>](https://github.com/postmarketOS/postmarketos.org/issues/29>))

------
codedokode
While I like the idea of making old devices usable for a longer time, I don't
like the approach they have choosen. Android has Java application framework
developed by Google that is well tested and stable. It works great and there
are many applications written using this framework. There is F-Droid. Why
replace it with some linux desktop environment like KDE? It probably is buggy,
unstable, not optimized for mobile devices, there are no apps and nobody is
going to write them. They are just making another always-broken linux
distribution. I am afraid they will also make some awful desktop environment
with excess 3D effects and gigantic icons like Gnome 3.

~~~
yuvadam
The approach postmarketOS is pushing is that of Choice. You get to choose what
you want to run on your device, just as with any other Linux distro. No apps,
seriously? Take any Linux app, it'll run on pmOS. We're not in the business of
building desktop environments, we just package existing software for use on
mobile devices. Nor is this "another distro", this is Alpine Linux (is that
also broken?) with some extra packages for device support.

~~~
frozenport
Will Pokemon Go run?

~~~
jameskegel
Don't do this here

~~~
frozenport
Why can't I point out that running desktop Linux ARM programs is not a useful?

------
tombert
If I knew anything about kernel or operating design, I would try and port this
over to the Nexus 6. Is the developing community for PostmarketOS amenable to
newbies in that space?

~~~
yuvadam
There's really not much to know! If you find a good supported kernel on
similar projects like LineageOS / CyanogenMod then you're already that much
closer to a working device. The rest is packaging, testing and occasional
patching.

As a general overview here's the documentation on how to go about porting a
new device:
[https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Porting_to_a_new_device](https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Porting_to_a_new_device)

For anything else, come over to Matrix/IRC and you'll receive all the help you
need :)

------
Tade0
I would love to install this on one of my former phones, but... both of them
had some kind of fatal hardware failure.

------
appleflaxen
this is such an awesome product, but the name "postmarketos" is too
descriptive and sterile.

it's probably the least of their concerns, but i think a name / branding would
be helpful.

any HN brand experts? maybe you could make a contribution (in the form of
expertise/suggestions)

~~~
lsh
I think it's a _perfect_ name.

~~~
appleflaxen
how come?

i think it could be better because

1\. it's kind of long

2\. it's sterile, devoid of emotion, and hard to link emotion to via marketing
or branding

3\. it's too technical - the common phone OS consumer doesn't know what
postmarket means, and don't know what an OS is

4\. it works against itself if it becomes wildly successful, and OEMs want to
put it on the phone at the time of sale... at that point it's just "MarketOS"?

None of these are a huge deal, or detract from the overall value of the
project (it's awesome!); but I can't see an argument for keeping it. what
makes it perfect, in your eyes?

And i'm not a brand expert; i would love to see points by someone who knows a
lot more about marketing and branding.

~~~
khedoros1
I don't think it's "perfect", but I think it's named better than most projects
are.

1\. There's a shorthand "pmOS". "postmarketOS" is at least easy to Google
(PMOS has too many meanings).

2\. It's descriptive and tells me more about what it _is_ than most names do.
Maybe they could rebrand for wider appeal later.

3\. The common phone consumer wouldn't pay more attention if it had a flashier
name, either. They'll buy a phone based on rumor and what their friends have,
and they certainly aren't going to look at replacing the OS with something
new.

4\. I imagine that the company might fork the repo and rename it whatever they
want, in that case. "Mobilios\ _" , then a tiny text at the bottom "powered by
postmarketOS".

I'm not a branding expert either, but I know that it pisses me off when there
are 3 layers of branding and marketing before I can get to what the product
actually _is*.

