Sadly, I’m not waiting for a risc-v android. I’m waiting for a risc-v pinePhone, and that seems really far right now.
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I think I’ve read something, however, as mentioned, that seems far. pine64 just launched recently its arm new pro phone for developers (not consumers yet), which improves some specs, as to to be doing major changes, like adopting new ISA, but yes, I seem to remember reading about their interest, and perhaps something happening underneath, but I guess not their focus at the moment with the recent launch of several arm based products…
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I suppose the PinePhone OS (or any other OS) could be ported to that Android phone if it becomes popular enough.
No, you need hardware to be designed on purpose to work with FLOSS OSes. Pine64 does a lot of work to select the correct hardware for this.
Android is just Linux with some patches and a crappy userland sprinkled on top. Why should you not be able to run whatever you want if the bootloader isn’t locked? Pine64 tries to use components that have a documentation you can access without an NDA. If you want a libre smartphone you are fucked anyways since you’ll have trouble finding a modem that doesn’t require loading a non-free firmware :(
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just Linux with some patches
“just”? The amount of patching and the addition of binary blobs makes it significantly different from the upstream kernel.
Plus, you cannot get hardware manufacturers to cooperate with FOSS projects on testing and debugging their drivers. Hence Pine64’s efforts.
If you want a libre smartphone you are fucked anyways
This is a false dichotomy.
Hell. Fucking. Yeah.
psh, PicoRio was supposed to come out mid 2021, i dont see anything yet…
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I hope pine64 jumps on the RISC-V party soon!
