[Linux-aus] Grant Application for PinePhones

[Russell Coker]

https://linux.org.au/grants-program/

The Grants web page doesn't provide any information on how to apply.  So I'll 
just put it in a message here which I'm sure can at least count as a public 
first draft of the application.

OVERVIEW

I believe that phones are going to become even more important to the world.  
We currently have systems such as ChromeOS [1] based on free software that are 
designed for general purpose computing and it has been developed that 
"convergence" between phone and desktop use is possible [2].

OSs such as Android and ChromeOS are free to use but are implemented in locked 
down configurations and have a development process that is extremely 
unwelcoming to contributions from the community.  While the F-Droid [3] 
project does some good work the common use for Android is for mostly 
proprietary apps.  Also because Android is designed to be used as a locked-
down system there aren't good options for performing standard Unix operations 
such as rsync'ing your home directory to a new device, sshing to your device 
from a server for remote backups and management, etc.

I believe that the only good way of running phones is via a general purpose OS 
that can perform phone functions (such as Mobian [4] or PureOS [5]), not a 
cut-down Linux system designed just for a phone.

PLATFORMS

I purchased a Librem5 [6] which meets the criteria for being open and running 
a general purpose OS.  But the battery life is way to short to be usable as a 
phone, it's barely usable as a demonstration system.  While it is a good test 
platform for some code it doesn't give the possibility of the type of testing 
that 24*7 use will give, the battery was running out from something like 10 
hours of standby.

The PinePhone seems better supported (probably due to being cheaper) and even 
in 2021 could last for 6 days on standby with a special kernel (14 to 24 hours 
of standby for more common configurations).  That's still not great but it's 
something I can work with.

I don't think that PinePhone is necessarily going to be the FOSS phone 
platform for all time.  But I think it's a good place to start developing and 
Mobian etc can run on other platforms.  My personal interest is in Debian on 
phones and Mobian and PureOS are both based on Debian.

COMMUNITY

To get productivity in developing free software we need a community, many 
tasks that can take significant amounts of time with only one person working 
on them can be solved quickly by a group of people investigating different 
issues.  Phones have some inherent connections to locality with cell phone 
networks, maps, and other locality based systems that don't apply to laptops 
or desktops.  So having a community for this based in Australia and New 
Zealand will be a real benefit.

So far the only other person I've found who is interested in such development 
is Yifei Zhan, I am looking for others.  If anyone here is interested in 
joining then please reply to this message.

AIMS

I aim to work on application support, Debian support, and security features.  
Part of that includes giving Debian some of the application isolation features 
that Android currently has.

Yifei is interested in i18n, LORA networking, and possibly other hardware 
related work.

THE REQUEST

The hardware needed for this is one PinePhone Pro for each person, plus 
miscelleneous extra bits.  Below are prices in $US rounded up.  I am mostly 
interested in application software while Yifei is more into hardware and low 
level stuff.

2*Latest PinePhone $800
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-pro-explorer-edition/

Extras for me:

Soft phone case $10
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-soft-tpu-protective-case/

Extras for Yifei:

2*USB lora $30
https://pine64.com/product/pinedio-usb-lora-adapter/

Lora add-on case $20
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-pinephone-pro-pindio-lora-add-on-case/

Keyboard $50
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-pinephone-pro-keyboard-case/

Serial Cable in case we need dealing with kernel/bootloader/anything low level 
$7
https://pine64.com/product/pinebook-pinephone-pinetab-serial-console/

I2O break-out board $1
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-flex-break-out-board/

Total: $US918 + postage etc.


REFERENCES

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChromeOS
[2] https://puri.sm/posts/my-first-year-of-librem-5-convergence/
[3] https://f-droid.org/
[4] https://wiki.debian.org/Mobian
[5] https://pureos.net/
[6] https://etbe.coker.com.au/2022/03/19/more-librem5/
[7] https://liliputing.com/megis-pinephone-kernel-updates-bring-battery-life-performance-improvements/

-- 
My Main Blog         http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog    http://doc.coker.com.au/