Hello again!
I have returned with more patches, this time i bring you. All the sensors!
This entire collum can be made green.
We are nearing 100% completion, but im afraid true 100% might never happen.
I was working on the fingerprint sensor aswell, but its gated behind the TEE, and can’t be read from the kernel. This is going to be an issue.
So the end state might not be 100% sadly, but i hope people don’t miss the fingerprint sensor too much? (ill see if i can get it working but this is one thing i cannot promise)
But we are nearing the end, With the sensors done the only thing left is the cameras.
I contacted the person who’s blog was posted here: https://ani.social/post/34679544
and cool guy, we agreed to coordinate our efforts with the camera, so expect that one coming soon.
My hot take on the current discusion
This might earn me some hate but i am against Jolla, many people argue “don’t let perfection stand in the way of good” but we have perfection right here, its the FP6.
For several reasons:
This is blatant false advertising.
The Jolla phone is not based on Big Tech technology
Yet it uses a Big Tech kernel. There is a huge difference between a mainline linux phone and a linux phone using an android kernel.
Combined with the fact that has much debated that there are closed source components and it can’t run wayland apps.
There should be no excuse for closed source components period, no matter if they are small or easily to remove, if there is close source anywhere that means that open source is not an required but a marketing strategy.
And that is the issue i have with Jolla, it gives me the wrong vibe, big tech wearing foss clothing.
Jolla is a Finnish company specializing in privacy-first OS and Edge AI solutions. Founded in 2011, we continue the legacy of Nokia and MeeGo, driving mobile innovation into the human-centric AI era.
We develop Sailfish OS, the only European mobile OS, trusted globally for over a decade, and now enhanced for AI-driven applications. Our AppSupport technology enables Android™ apps to run on Linux platforms. Our privacy-focused Jolla Mind2 AI computer delivers secure AI capabilities across industries.
With over 60 successful software release deliveries and a proven track record across multiple hardware platforms, we collaborate with partners in the automotive and telecommunications sectors to drive innovation with our OS and Edge AI technologies.
This really makes my alarm bells whistle, are they a private phone company or an AI company??? Why this marketing language?
Let me give you an example:
These are the FP6 wire diagrams, free to download at https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/37795041144082
This is commitment to open source, this single document has allowed me to do this bringup.
Does Jolla publish one? not that i can find. If they do i retract this point but i haven’t been able to find it.
So why don’t they? If they truly believe in openness why not publish these documents? My hypothesis: they don’t care. Its all just marketing.
Soon the FP6 will be fully ready, a true daily drivable modern mainline linux phone.
I believe in maximum openess, so lets define mainline:
its the https://github.com/milos-mainline/linux staging kernel, combined with my patches.
All my patches have already been submitted on the list, but these will take time to be reviewed, it will be a very long time before they will be integrated in the kernel itself.
But they have been submitted, and im activily working on the maintainer feedback, these will make it eventually.
Once cameras are done, i will make an easy to install script and post it here. Simultaneously i will begin selling preflashed units on my shop: https://catcrafts.net/shop/fp6-pmos
These will be identical if you flash it yourself, these are for people that can’t otherwise buy one, don’t want to flash it themselves, or want to support me.
I also want not only the code to be open but also the business to be open and honest, i take whatever price i can source the phones at and add a €50 euro markup, none of this ending the price in 99 nonsense.
I do this to cover the administrative costs and labor costs.
This is cheaper then the Murena /e/OS version:
https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-6/ Which is currently priced at €599 as of time of writing.
And this might cost me alot of money but im willing to stand by it:
When a product does have to travel (a hardware fault, or a product so far gone it no longer responds to recovery tools at all), the shipping is paid by Catcrafts, both directions
This applies worlwide.
I also looked at the privacy policy of the Jolla website:
We may also permit third parties and services providers to use Cookies on our Site to better tailor the services, products and advertising on our Site and other websites.
THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING COOKIES ON A COMPANY THAT MARKETS ITSELF AS PRIVACY FOCUSED???
What a joke. This is a privacy focused policy: https://catcrafts.net/legal/privacy
The only thing i collect that i don’t need is request logging, but i hope you understand why i do that.
No cookies, no advertising, nothing.
No i don’t want to make this sound as advertising myself, i want this to sound like what the example of a open, honest, and privacy focused company should look like.
If you made it this far thank you for reading my rant, if anything is wrong or i have made a mistake please let me know in the comments and i will correct it.
This is incredible work! Thank you so much for your contribution to open source!
When you are finished with your work, may I point you to Maemo Leste? They are working on bringing mainline Linux to old keyboard phones (and others) e.g. the Nokia N900 and the Motorola Droid 4. They have gotten quite far for the small team they are and upstreamed many patches, but are struggling with some remaining hardware components in the phones.
For the N900 - Bluetooth and the camera as well as the lowest power state do not work. Several parts can be improved. For the Droid 4 - GPS, Cameras and there is still a close source 3D acceleration in use.
If you have time to share even a bit of your experience and skills I am sure the people there would greatly appreciate it. You can contact them via the Mailing List or better via IRC #maemo-leste @ libera.chat.
Of course this is not as prestigious and does not help as many people as your efforts with the Fairphone so I fully understand and am happy that you placed your efforts there. But to some people unlocking the last few steps to support these old phones fully would mean the world, because nothing modern is comparable to the hardware (size and HW-Keyboard wise). Also of course because of nostalgia, as the N900 was the first fully usable Linux based phone.
I would be happy to send a donation your way for any major contribution. Just ping me here in case I miss it.
By the way, PostmarketOS works on N900 as well: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_N900_(nokia-n900)
Thank you, I know, although I haven’t tried it yet.
Maemo leste offers several advantages over postmarket OS on the device as of now: (According to the postmaket OS wiki) Hardware works out of the box: Calls work, there is a dial UI. The UI is quite polished and was designed with the N900 in mind, middle and right click are only needed, when you install other Linux applications. You have interfaces to control the clock, for sending and receiving SMS, for GPRS, display brightness and a range of old maemo Apps compiled for leste.
Postmarket OS is a great all around effort, but Leste continues the legacy of the old Maemo OS and is very well suited for keyboard phones.
This is awesome, thanks for posting the info. The droid 4 is probably my favorite phone of all time. I still have my dead one in my drawer because I’d be too sad to get rid of it. It was a rough transition to no keyboard, and I’d 1000% switch to a modern version of the droid 4, but it this works reasonably, it may be a real option (at least to toy around with)
I currently use Leste on my N900 where it barely works. The hardware is very ancient by moderns standards and the basic kernel+services+X11 already swallows most of the 256MB ram.
The Droid 4 has 4 times as much CPU power and 4 times as much RAM and a slightly faster µSD interface. The system should be blazing fast on there. I just freed mine from old data and will try Leste in the next days. Will report back to you :)
Of course you will likely need a modern mobile phone as hotspot because 3G is shut down in most countries and 2G speeds are something else.
I think you can also expect a blog post from the Leste folks in the next week or so about their progress in the last year. E.g. the migration to Devuan Excalibur (~Debian Trixie). I am constantly astonished what the small group manages to do, as I am with @TheMightyCat and his progress on the Fairphone.
Yes please update me if you remember! And likewise, the development of these projects is bringing me back some excitement I haven’t felt for tech since smart phones or mp3 players came out lol