Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Debian Running On the T-Mobile G1

Posted by timothy on from the teaching-the-android-to-fetch-and-sit dept.

chrb writes "Following hot on the heels of the G1 root exploit, Jay Freeman now has Debian ARM running on the G1. The RC30 update has fixed the root hole, but with utilities and images already available to replace the flash image with your own signed code, it looks like the manufacturer-hacker arms race is on."

6 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Isn't that the whole idea of an open platform? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i.e., to enable hackers to experiment and thereby improve the platform further.

  2. I'm confused... by maestro371 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought the whole point of the G1 was that it was an open platform. Why on earth is there a "manufacturer-hacker arms race"?

    1. Re:I'm confused... by Facegarden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why on earth is there a "manufacturer-hacker arms race"?

      There isn't, it's BS, and none of the blogs seem to get is. So far as we can tell, google only fixed the root exploit because it was a serious security concern, because of how it worked. I don't think they are going to make a real effort to stop people from hacking their device aside from fixing security flaws. Even if they do, this is so far not an indication of that, contrary to what most sites say.
      -Taylor

      --
      Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
    2. Re:I'm confused... by dlevitan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Now, personally, I see no reason why T-Mobile would care whether you're running Android or Debian. Google might care because they want you running those nice Android apps which interface with Google because that's how they're paying for Android development. But I'm not sure that they have any kind of agreement which would require the makers of the G1 to make sure that the phones are tamper-proof.

      I doubt even Google will care. How many people will actually install Debian on a G1? How many people will actually install it and keep it on there? I doubt even 0.1% of users will do either. But these are also the people who will praise Google for an open platform and for not locking it up like the iPhone. They're also the people who'll probably create apps for Android that bypass Google. Will Google notice the drop in revenue? Probably not, and certainly not enough to offset the bad PR.

    3. Re:I'm confused... by Facegarden · · Score: 5, Informative

      And that's the problem.

      You pay for the "device".

      Google OWNS the operating system.

      Duetch Telecom OWNS the device.

      You only pay for it to rent it while you use it, and then pay a monthly fee for network access on top of that.

      And this is open, how?

      --Toll_Free

      Umm... it's open because the entire OS is released under the Apache or GLPv3 (depending on which part of the OS) licenses. I'm not well versed in which licenses are or are not "really" open, but i am under the impression that both of those are supposed to be. Android is based on version 2.6 of the linux kernel, and the framework on top of that was written by google, and the source code was released under Apache and heavily documented.

      That's way more open than any other successful phone out there.

      And I don't know if you're exaggerating or if it's different in your country, but in the U.S. you OWN your cell phone. And i fail to see how paying a monthly fee to access a network has anything to do with whether or not the phone is open - no one is going to let you use their multi-billion dollar network for free, and i'm fine with that.

      Why is everyone so bent on hating android, even with no facts to back up what they say? Google fixes a security bug and everyone flips out, but the countless times google and the t-mobile CEO have said they will keep the device open? No one seems to remember or care.
      -Taylor

      --
      Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
  3. Re:So? by clang_jangle · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not quite so. FTFA: "This does not replace Android. This also gives you access to the full plethora of programs available in Debian and let's you continue using your phone as it was intended to be: as an Android device with all the capabilities thereof."

    --
    Caveat Utilitor