On Sat, 12 Dec 2015 07:26:48 +0000 Josh Branning <lovell.josh...@gmail.com> wrote: Hi,
> It says how to run Debian on the Android kernel, Unlike when Replicant started, you can now boot and use Replicant with a mainline Linux kernel, with incredibly few patches. You really want that not to have to workaround the API changes of the device specific kernels. Even if on some devices, it's rather minimal compared to what it used to be, you still really want that. That will save you a ton of work. What phone to choose: -> Good mainline support (I think the GTA04 fits) -> A resistive touchscreen to be able to use applications not written for smartphone touchscreen and screen in mind. (The GTA04 has one) -> Good enough for freedom (The GTA04 has a free software bootloader) While the kernel API are mostly the same now, the userland isn't. Android and GNU/Linux userland are binary incompatible, they don't even use the same libc. You would then need to: -> Write or adapt from the existing your own desktop environment tailored for smartphones. Keep in mind that you will have no 3D acceleration. Last time I checked, QT was too slow, but enlightenment was fast enough. -> Find a way to adapt nearly every graphical GNU/Linux application that you want to use. A lot of them are not meant for that kind of touchscreen and screen. A resistive touchscreen makes it possible to use them, but that's still painful. While all that is possible, and was already attempted by projects that didn't have freedom in mind (they depended on non-free 3D acceleration), it requires a lot of work. Right spending a tiny fraction of that crazy amount of work to, for instance get the GTA04 or the LG Optimus black supported by Replicant would be way better for freedom. The GTA04 support in upstream Linux is pretty good, the userland support in Replicant is not. The LG Optimus black upstream support in u-boot is good, but there is no support in upstream Linux, nor in Replicant. So if you pick one of such phones and port Replicant (And upstream it in Linux in case of the Optimus black) on it today, it might be possible to run some adapted GNU/Linux distribution or desktop environment for phones in the future, if such project is created or becomes usable. > then how to create a chroot for Android, > and finally (in the chroot), run Debian applications from a vnc. You can do that from f-droid trough. I think the application for creating the chroot is lildebi. Then there might be VNC applications in f-droid too, I tried the X11 application some years ago and it didn't work well enough to start some of the common desktop environment at that time. It's worth retrying to look if things have improved. > This got me thinking that it perhaps could be possible for Replicant > and a FSF approved distro to do a similar thing. Replicant is 100% free software, look in the list of non-GNU distributions. > 1) Does Replicant provide a generic ARM kernel which has been > de-blobbed? (Of course, IIRC the kernels are device family specific, > so to do the same on a real Replicant device would require the right > kernel.) Kernels are always deblobbed, whether it's generic depends on the device: Among the phones we target, only the GTA04 has good support in upstream Linux. > 2) Can the kernels be built in a GNU/Linux way ie. do they require > Android/Replicant specific custom makefiles/SDKs etc. to build? Every time I tried, they could. However vendor specific kernels might not compile if you change the configuration with make menuconfig/make xconfig, especially if you add things that conflicts with the vendor modifications. > 3) Does Replicant provide a 'minimal' configuration which is > sufficient to pretty much, just run Android applications? I didn't understand the question. It's too vague. > 4) Do you know of any applications on Replicant, which instead of > forwarding an X11 screen to Replicant, forwards an Android screen to > X11? No. That might exist. I also saw a way to run Android applications on GNU/Linux, if you search in f-droid, there is an application to convert an Android apk to run on ChromeOS. Part of chromeOS sources are free software. However, given the amount of work required to have an usable GNU/Linux desktop environment, on multiples phone, without 3D acceleration, I don't think it's worth the efforts yet. Let's wait for that and instead focus our efforts on freeing smartphones more deeply (by having free bootloaders) and making sure that this effort is not lost (by mainlining it). Denis.
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