> > True, although even Replicant phones are not 100% free. Perhaps > > you've already heard that no libre cellular modem exists. > A free firmware (OsmocomBB) exist, but it's for very old mobile phones > (that aren't smartphones) and the Openmoko Smartphones modem. The > OpenMoko part that runs GNU/Linux only has 128M of RAM, and there is > (almost) no upstream kernel support for it.
Also, the modem still needs some low-level nonfree firmware beyond what OsmocomBB provides and OsmocomBB has never actually been certified for use on carrier networks. There was also an approach to replace the low-level nonfree part with a software-defined radio. It supposedly works, although isn't suitable for use with a phone and is also not legal to use on carrier networks. In this case, however, it seems we have to first tackle the technical obstacles to be able to do anything about legal ones. > > Likewise, I never heard of any phone with free wi-fi. > I think reverse engineering Realteck or Broadcom firmwares would be a > good idea to fix that: > - Some Realtek firmwares have been published as hexadecimal numbers in > source code covered by the GPL. So if we can somehow reconstruct the > source code from the 8051 assembler, it could yield some free > software firmware. > - Many Broadcom WiFi chips have a rom, and the firmware is a patch > on top of that rom. There are (hopefully free software) projects to > develop patches for that rom. It might also make sense to contribute to PINE64's REing initiative, even though the targetted chip is of neither of those 2 brands. https://www.pine64.org/2020/10/28/nutcracker-challenge-blob-free-wifi-ble/ > > And their customer support was terrible. > As I understand they state that their devices are not ready yet for > general customers but are more intended for developers. I never actually came to report my technical issues to them. I was asking about things like possibility of purchasing without nonfree js and putting an Atheros WiFi card in Pinebook Pro (it has an empty PCI slot). The problem lied in my questions not being properly understood :/ Wojtek
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