See, I'm seeing this from the opposite perspective, and it's terrifying.
Given your UID, I'm guessing we're probably around the same age, having grown up with early x86 machines, dos, os/2, slackware, etc. Not to go all nostalgic, but "those were the days." We were free to explore, learn, tinker, fix, and break. We could output directly to ioports and trigger interrupts as a matter of course. I learned more about what makes a computer compute as a kid with a beat up old 8086 than I have as an adult (both in University and professionally).
Over the next 20 years, computers gained protected mode instruction sets, virtual memory and page isolation, and a thousand other features to enhance security for the user. But at no point, until recently, did our devices attempt to protect themselves from us.
If I could beg Google for one thing, it would be to deny compliance certification (and Play Store access) to any manufacturer that doesn't provide bootloader unlock codes to their users at the point of sale. Android would not even exist were it not for Linux, and Linux would not have existed if computers refused to boot an experimental kernel, as so many devices do these days.
It's so bad at this point, I think we need government intervention in the form of right-to-repair legislation that confirms and enforces our right to elevate privileges on any personal electronic devices we own.
Blocking root or locking bootloaders? Devices shall not legally enter (Canada / US / etc). Would fix the situation quickly.
The person who modded me down - I know you can't reply as yourself, but can you reply as anonymous? I'm genuinely curious: do you work for the industry? What's your beef?
So, hey! Motorola! How about a big ol' boring slate phone with a replaceable battery? Headphone jack? I've got $1500 with your name written all over it.
You think my phone's an antique? You should see my laptop: it's a W520!
Seriously, thoough, I'm old enough at this point in my life to know what's important to me. A lot of people are all about the sexual appeal of their possessions - "blinging" cars, phones, watches, etc. I lift weighs and rock climb, I'm well spoken, and I'm good in bed, so I'm able to "get away" with last year's fashion.
For the reasons stated in my original comment, I'm not really interested in trading in my old, uncool "antique" for something hip n'trendy.
Since 2013, I've owned and loved my Note 3, now running LineageOS 14.1. Needless to say, it's a 32bit machine.
While I'd love to upgrade it, there currently aren't any phones for sale that I'd consider a legitimate flagship. Virtually all of them have wear items, such as batteries, glued into cases that are also glued together. When these wear items wear out, as they do every couple years, you're looking at an expensive repair (which may or may not even be possible in, say, 5 years). 18-24 months after the first repair, you need another expensive repair. And then, 18-24 months later - you guessed it - another expensive repair. Each time you repair the device, prying it open with heat guns, you risk subtly damaging the device - delaminating PCBs, antennas, etc. Forget the fact you can't carry a spare battery in your backpack for a 30 second swap.
Even if we overlook the new defective-by-design trend, most "flagship" phones are also missing key features like headphone jacks, SD card slots, IR blaster, advanced sensors (ie. thermometer), and some have anti-owner provisions baked in, like bootloader locks. Most are made of metal and glass, which are terrible materials for portable devices.
I'm on my 3rd 10,000mAh battery with a TPU case. LineageOS support is official, and rock solid. The only thing I'd really like is a faster CPU, more RAM and a better camera... but really I'm perfectly happy with my Note 3, and until something better shows up on the market, I'm not really interested in side/downgrading.
I'm sure I'm not alone here. Is Google ultimately going to end support for 32bit machines entirely, and force our hands on the matter?
I just recently bought a Hades Canyon NUC with the new Vega-M chipset, intending to finally install Windows 7 for some gaming. Even sliced off a 256gb partition.
What a wonderful surprise when I installed Steam on Debian (using flatpak). SO MANY GAMES! Like, this is the day I dreamed of 10 years ago.
There are some older Windows-only games I'd really like to try, but I'll give it a few months to see how bored I get. I'll probably just re-absorb that 256gb partition onto my rootfs.
The absolute best thing that could happen in the Android space is LineageOS becoming a single-click installation operation. Alarmingly, many bootloaders are locked at the factory, and the situation seems to be getting worse.
I do hope bootloader locking becomes illegal as part of right-to-repair legislation being drafted worldwide.
We need laws that confirm and protect our right to root our devices; it should be illegal to manufacture, sell, or import for resale any device which has intentional limitations on privilege escalation.
There can be no negotiation on this point. The alternative is, frankly, terrifying.
All this "oh we can't tell you the real price" bullshit needs to come to a screeching halt. This is just cartelism, or guildism, or whatever you can call it. It's an industry screwing us over because it can, and claiming technical difficulties prevent it from changing. It was bullshit when Microsoft did it with Internet Explorer and it's bullshit with hospitals.
Honestly, I think the opposite. I think it should be far worse, and should bankrupt everyone - the rich, the poor, the insured - and should cause 10x the misery it currently does (which is a breathtaking amount as it is).
Then, heads might actually roll, the situation might be corrected, and the US might rejoin the civilized world WRT healthcare.
If you don't grasp that these two statements are mutually incompatible, then it proves your first claim to be utterly false - because this is exactly the kind of behavior you claim to be the "first to shut down", and it proves that you don't "get" what you claim to.
I get where you're coming from, but there's a world of difference between sexual harassment, discrimination, violence and inequity, and package naming with sexual inuendos.
We can both be kind and fair to others, and encourage others to grow a thick skin.
Slashdot Mirror
See, I'm seeing this from the opposite perspective, and it's terrifying.
Given your UID, I'm guessing we're probably around the same age, having grown up with early x86 machines, dos, os/2, slackware, etc. Not to go all nostalgic, but "those were the days." We were free to explore, learn, tinker, fix, and break. We could output directly to ioports and trigger interrupts as a matter of course. I learned more about what makes a computer compute as a kid with a beat up old 8086 than I have as an adult (both in University and professionally).
Over the next 20 years, computers gained protected mode instruction sets, virtual memory and page isolation, and a thousand other features to enhance security for the user. But at no point, until recently, did our devices attempt to protect themselves from us.
If I could beg Google for one thing, it would be to deny compliance certification (and Play Store access) to any manufacturer that doesn't provide bootloader unlock codes to their users at the point of sale. Android would not even exist were it not for Linux, and Linux would not have existed if computers refused to boot an experimental kernel, as so many devices do these days.
OP may have been referring to the industry in general. Many devices now ship with non-unlockable bootloaders. It's a serious problem.
No it's not. This is a stupid fucking statement.
Linux kernel hacker and general Unix admin of 25 years here. I feel I speak with some authority here when I say, yes... yes it is.
Bootloader locking is a thing these days. Look it up.
It's so bad at this point, I think we need government intervention in the form of right-to-repair legislation that confirms and enforces our right to elevate privileges on any personal electronic devices we own.
Blocking root or locking bootloaders? Devices shall not legally enter (Canada / US / etc). Would fix the situation quickly.
About a year ago I cancelled my Netflix subscription, which I'd held for almost 10 years. I joined YouTube Red.
Why?
Because they started blocking app installs on devices that failed SafetyNet. Since I roll my own ROMs, I can't pass SafetyNet.
Perhaps as they feel the increased pressure, they'll stop firing their long-term customers.
$1500.. for a device that will most likely have its battery glued inside, meaning it's designed to require an expensive repair every 18-24 months.
Hard pass.
For fuck sakes.
Can some manufacturer PLEASE make a flagship phone with a removable battery?
Enough with the fucking gimmicks. Seriously.
Eh, crap. Sorry hahah. This is a meme isn't it?
I haven't had much time to follow the meme culture lately. :(
*shrug*
Never really run windows.. but there's several orders of magnitude between 386/486 -> modern CPUs, and very little between Note 3->recent devices.
If I had a dime! ;p
Humph.
The person who modded me down - I know you can't reply as yourself, but can you reply as anonymous? I'm genuinely curious: do you work for the industry? What's your beef?
It's a shitty compromise, but Linux Deploy with a debian image does work remarkably well. :/
I do miss my old Nokia N900 with Maemo.
Wha.. how does that follow?
+5, Insightful? Really? What the actual fuck, slashdot?
So, hey! Motorola! How about a big ol' boring slate phone with a replaceable battery? Headphone jack? I've got $1500 with your name written all over it.
Oh, for sure. I've written a few native apps. :)
about you and your obsession with antique junk
You think my phone's an antique? You should see my laptop: it's a W520!
Seriously, thoough, I'm old enough at this point in my life to know what's important to me. A lot of people are all about the sexual appeal of their possessions - "blinging" cars, phones, watches, etc. I lift weighs and rock climb, I'm well spoken, and I'm good in bed, so I'm able to "get away" with last year's fashion.
For the reasons stated in my original comment, I'm not really interested in trading in my old, uncool "antique" for something hip n'trendy.
Since 2013, I've owned and loved my Note 3, now running LineageOS 14.1. Needless to say, it's a 32bit machine.
While I'd love to upgrade it, there currently aren't any phones for sale that I'd consider a legitimate flagship. Virtually all of them have wear items, such as batteries, glued into cases that are also glued together. When these wear items wear out, as they do every couple years, you're looking at an expensive repair (which may or may not even be possible in, say, 5 years). 18-24 months after the first repair, you need another expensive repair. And then, 18-24 months later - you guessed it - another expensive repair. Each time you repair the device, prying it open with heat guns, you risk subtly damaging the device - delaminating PCBs, antennas, etc. Forget the fact you can't carry a spare battery in your backpack for a 30 second swap.
Even if we overlook the new defective-by-design trend, most "flagship" phones are also missing key features like headphone jacks, SD card slots, IR blaster, advanced sensors (ie. thermometer), and some have anti-owner provisions baked in, like bootloader locks. Most are made of metal and glass, which are terrible materials for portable devices.
I'm on my 3rd 10,000mAh battery with a TPU case. LineageOS support is official, and rock solid. The only thing I'd really like is a faster CPU, more RAM and a better camera... but really I'm perfectly happy with my Note 3, and until something better shows up on the market, I'm not really interested in side/downgrading.
I'm sure I'm not alone here. Is Google ultimately going to end support for 32bit machines entirely, and force our hands on the matter?
Thing is, on Linux, those obstacles aren't unnecessary. They're a result of being part of a smaller ecosystem, and mostly user-maintained.
The obstacles on Windows are one hundred point zero percent intentional, added on purpose, by folks trying to sell you.
I just recently bought a Hades Canyon NUC with the new Vega-M chipset, intending to finally install Windows 7 for some gaming. Even sliced off a 256gb partition.
What a wonderful surprise when I installed Steam on Debian (using flatpak). SO MANY GAMES! Like, this is the day I dreamed of 10 years ago.
There are some older Windows-only games I'd really like to try, but I'll give it a few months to see how bored I get. I'll probably just re-absorb that 256gb partition onto my rootfs.
The absolute best thing that could happen in the Android space is LineageOS becoming a single-click installation operation. Alarmingly, many bootloaders are locked at the factory, and the situation seems to be getting worse.
I do hope bootloader locking becomes illegal as part of right-to-repair legislation being drafted worldwide.
90Wh battery?
Should run the cooling fans for oh, about 2 hours. :p
We need laws that confirm and protect our right to root our devices; it should be illegal to manufacture, sell, or import for resale any device which has intentional limitations on privilege escalation.
There can be no negotiation on this point. The alternative is, frankly, terrifying.
All this "oh we can't tell you the real price" bullshit needs to come to a screeching halt. This is just cartelism, or guildism, or whatever you can call it. It's an industry screwing us over because it can, and claiming technical difficulties prevent it from changing. It was bullshit when Microsoft did it with Internet Explorer and it's bullshit with hospitals.
Honestly, I think the opposite. I think it should be far worse, and should bankrupt everyone - the rich, the poor, the insured - and should cause 10x the misery it currently does (which is a breathtaking amount as it is).
Then, heads might actually roll, the situation might be corrected, and the US might rejoin the civilized world WRT healthcare.
If you don't grasp that these two statements are mutually incompatible, then it proves your first claim to be utterly false - because this is exactly the kind of behavior you claim to be the "first to shut down", and it proves that you don't "get" what you claim to.
I get where you're coming from, but there's a world of difference between sexual harassment, discrimination, violence and inequity, and package naming with sexual inuendos.
We can both be kind and fair to others, and encourage others to grow a thick skin.