[Replicant] basic phone with 100% free software to use on Verizon?

[Paul Kocialkowski]

Hi,

Le jeudi 10 décembre 2015 à 20:24 +0000, Mychaela Falconia a écrit :
> The reason is that smartphones made for Verizon (with
> Verizon-compatible basebands) are different in hardware terms from
> their standard GSM counterparts, and the AP (application processor)
> part will almost certainly have some differences too, even if they are
> gratuitous.  For example, Replicant supports international GSM
> versions of Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3, but there is no chance of it
> working on an SGS2 or SGS3 made for Verizon:it's a totally different
> hardware beast.

That is, until someone adds support for those! It's unsure whether CDMA
can be implemented with free software on the main processor side (as
told already, the modem part will remain non-free), but it might be a
modem protocol to implement, or an extension of ones we know (AT or
Samsung-IPC), depending on the device.

> Heck, even GSM versions of these phones that were sold with USA
> carrier branding are not supported because they are gratuitously
> different hardware, hence one has to seek out and obtain an
> international version that is "not approved" for USA (but works w/o
> approval).

Well, I guess "not approved" is a bit far fetched here. International
versions are still approved by all regulatory standards required for
sale and use with public mobile telephony networks in the US.

> Unless some miracle happens, the only way you'll ever be able to have
> a 100% libre phone while remaining in USA would be if you switch from
> Verizon to T-Mobile 2G, i.e., GSM.

That still wouldn't make the modem system free software, nor make the
various preinstalled firmwares free, or the device's bootrom, assuming
it's already a good platform with a free bootloader (which is rare).

And we're only talking about software freedom here. A free/libre device
would also entail having a free hardware design for both the integrated
circuits and printed circuits, which is not possible for now.

> If your current location within USA does not have usable T-Mobile 2G
> coverage, then you may want to consider relocating.  I personally use
> a cellphone with a baseband chipset that only supports GSM/2G (still
> running the phone manuf's original proprietary fw for now, but my own
> libre fw is expected to become practically usable real soon now), I
> use T-Mobile as my SIM card provider, and I get excellent coverage
> throughout Southern California, from Los Angeles to San Diego.

Please stop saying that your modem firmware is free software. It is not,
by the very definition of free software. We've already had a discussion
about this and it might seriously confuse people. I suggest you say that
it's software with source code available that is copyright-violating but
unlikely to be defended by its owner, mixed with software for which the
source code is available with no copyright notice (which makes it
proprietary software, by the way) but for which you give your good word
(not in a legal sense) that you won't attack anyone for doing whatever
they feel like with it (and feel free to coin your own short term for
that concept)! I understand you'd rather not talk about the legal
aspects here, but I think most people need that context to fully
understand what it is.

> P.S. See www.freecalypso.org for more info regarding libre phones for
> GSM that work with T-Mobile 2G.

Well, you get the idea, it's not libre as in what the FSF means by
free/libre.

-- 
Paul Kocialkowski, Replicant developer

Replicant is a fully free Android distribution running on several
devices, a free software mobile operating system putting the emphasis on
freedom and privacy/security.

Website: https://www.replicant.us/
Blog: https://blog.replicant.us/
Wiki/tracker/forums: https://redmine.replicant.us/

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