I recently bought a new phone, so my old phone, a Pixel 4 xl is now sitting around collecting dust. I thought it could be fun to install an actual non-Google Linux OS on it. Any suggestions?

  • CHEF-KOCH
    33·
    3 years ago

    Then install CalyxOS as its more usable and faster than GrapehenOS.

      • CHEF-KOCH
        24·
        3 years ago

        Because less apps are crippled + better performance + battery lifetime.

        • AgreeableLandscapeM
          5·
          3 years ago

          I wouldn’t call it “crippled”. The whole point of Graphene is that it has built-in self-checks for security, and of course that would eat into performance.

          • CHEF-KOCH
            14·
            3 years ago

            In real world the argument does not hold since your hardening becomes pointless once it eats all your battery which makes it unusable in the real world. Or your fav apps just do not work.

            It was long crippled, and still is, until the developer made the roll backward and started to sandbox google services because he realized that crippling everything is not what people actually want on a daily basis. However, sandboxing is still slower and there is nothing to argue here, is consumes more CPU processing power which automatically reduces battery lifetime as well as pressures resources.

            For me usability is crippled if apps crashing, do not work in the first place, so my argumentation is correct.

            • AgreeableLandscapeM
              6·
              3 years ago

              until the developer made the roll backward and started to sandbox google services because he realized that crippling everything is not what people actually want on a daily basis

              I use a phone with no google services and I’m fine. I just don’t care about the apps that need them. Plenty of people do the same. And if you need something as utterly invasive as Google services, IMO, the performance hit from sandboxing is the price you need to pay for better privacy. It’s like having a rabid lion in a cage to keep it from destroying everyone you love, but someone complains that the cage takes up too much space and that getting rid of the cage will make the room more usable.

              Also, plenty of apps that don’t need Google services. I for one have never missed the ones that do ever since switching to DeGoogled LineageOS, and most of the apps I use are on F-Droid anyway, which aren’t even eligible for using Google services because they didn’t come from the Play store.

              • CHEF-KOCH
                23·
                3 years ago
                • You are not even a target if you are a power user. Because you know how to handle things, starts with knowledge and not the promises of a developer. I also can put sim card out, enable airplane mode and never store data on the device that can compromise me in the first place, this is not what this is about, usability starts with the average user, that is not you or me.
                • I disagree with the sandbox argument, as I recently leaked that you can break out of sandboxes, the promises here are worth nothing and security is not gained by trusting or choosing the - what you think - right tool, it starts and ends with knowledge and the relationship between community and developer. There is overwhelming examples that promises are worth nothing, see heartbleed, no one inspected the source code until someone actually did and look how insecure it is and this will always be the case because security promises are worth nothing until verified so far only handful of projects could hold that for long time of period and the game always, or often changes once there are platform updates which makes it less interesting for attackers to start over if there is no guarantee that previous exploit work or that you gain something out of it, i is more profitable to exploit servers with user data on it.

                Most apps that not depend on Googles infrastructure are very quickly outdated, keyword - dead leftover apps - in the f-droid store and your example does not scale since you compare millions apps vs handful of f-droid apps usually coming already from privacy oriented people and not average developer who copy and paste their app together in the hope to make some money. F-Droid is not even a target because they have no paid app model, so its attractive or attackers to exploit apps since you find no credentials. Play Store is not perfect but offers reasonable compromise and security model if you do not tamper with your phone that break tose features.

                All I wanted to say here, and no I do not use GrapheneOS and CalyxOS, I only teste then here and then. Since I think both devs scam their users to make cash out of it with questionable promises. I do not believe in opsec to begin with.

                • 🏳️‍🌈 Gay Legend 🏳️‍🌈
                  2·
                  3 years ago

                  I do not believe in opsec to begin with.

                  ???

                  I will say most of my apps are from F-Droid and they’re pretty well updated. I wouldn’t discount FOSS out of hand so much, a couple years ago it was pretty bad but the entire ecosystem has really progressed beautifully.

                  • CHEF-KOCH
                    16·
                    3 years ago

                    You are delusional I find you 20 apps within seconds that got their last update in 2018.

            • 🏳️‍🌈 Gay Legend 🏳️‍🌈
              4·
              3 years ago

              Well that’s just not true in my experience, I use GrapheneOS daily and my battery lasts longer than stock android and I haven’t really encountered any apps I haven’t been able to run under any circumstances. I’m a really big fan of the Google Sandboxing too, it allows me to run the real google-filled apps (like my bank) in a work profile. I admit that might not be lay-user friendly, but idk, it works for me

              • CHEF-KOCH
                14·
                3 years ago

                Stock typically comes with more preinstalled apps, does not scale, the comparison is also lacking since power users quickly can disable those background apps, that people often love to call bloatware. Again knowledge is everything as you can quickly tweaks aosp pretty easily and also get very solid OS.

                You can also isolate apps with third-party apps that you even can get from F-Droid, island etc. there plenty… Once again you show knwoledge is key, not the OS.