I have been out of the loop for a while with the development of Linux/GNU based OSes on phones. However, with seeing how companies (like reddit) can change the rules as they wish, I want to see if completely switching to Linux is possible.
Long story short… what are the current phone providers that have Linux as an OS, or what is the best way to run Linux on an off-the-shelf phone?
As a side-question, is Nextcloud still the next best option for a complete service alternative to Google/iCloud?
Thank you!
Assuming that their asking how to get Linux on an “off-the-shelf phone” means they want to flash Linux on a device that doesn’t come with it, it’s very possible to flash a custom ROM on lots of Android devices. Projects like LineageOS have a very healthy, active userbase that has ported their ROM to many different models of phone. Lots of Samsung devices can be used, some Nokia devices, nearly every Google Pixel device. There are plenty more, those are just the ones I remember.
The caveat is that your phone has to have an unlocked bootloader; if your phone is provided to you by your carrier, it’s almost definitely not unlocked. Unless you’ve finished paying off a carrier-provided device, you can’t unlock it yet.
I wanted to flash LineageOS on my G Pixel 6, but the bootloader is locked down.
Thank you kind…uh…hooman person. I gotta try this with one of my old phones sometime! Remove battery, solder in power supply, install linux, connect usb ethernet, webserver!