Re: freebsd on an ebook ereader ?

----> Actually, many companies love the BSD license. The fact that it is
more open than the GPL allows them to
keep their sources closed. And please remember that many developers and
contributors to FreeBSD are just volunteers and do not need any money to
make things happen. I am a volunteer for example, I do not get any money, I
am here only for the fun and for the opportunity to learn things and share
my work. So money is not necessarily needed to have FreeBSD running on a
phone: someone (maybe you?) might do it just for fun and share it. This is
one of the great things about open source.

From your words everything on FreeBSD seems to be perfect. Everything works
fine and natural. If it is so perfect,why are companies pushing Linux into
the market more and more,even in the most difficult area,the little devices
area,and they are not pushing FreeBSD ? FreeBSD license is better. Every
project in FreeBSD can be done from one day to another one,but the
development of Linux goes faster,a lot of drivers are created,more devices
come out with Linux and so on. Man,I would also think that in the FreeBSD
world everything is fine like you say,but to me it does not seem to be
true. Probably something is not working well and Linux beats FreeBSD in
some areas. We should focus our attention on this point,to understand how
to improve it. Maybe the first cause is the license. Maybe the
people,companies and so on think that the freedom given by the license
gives them a high dose of uncertainty and they don't put money there.
Because if companies put some money to do what they want because they have
the freedom to do it,it is also true that the developers have the same
freedom and they can do whatever they want,too. There are two proverbs that
people say here where I live. 1) too much always chokes. 2) Who wants too
much, nothing squeezes.

---> If I remember correctly, Android is Linux based. I would not define
Linux "not ready for the mobile market".

In my humble opinion Android is not Linux. The only component they share is
the kernel. But not so much because Google makes their own patches and not
every Linux patch is adopted by Google. This approach goes on for years.
The kernel has been patched so many times by Google in a way that Linux
developers don't like. Android does not use the Linux kernel anymore. It
uses the Android kernel. I think that it became something different.

--> I understand that you do not like Android (I do not either, although I
have to use it... I wonder however why you do not like Android but you use
a gmail address.

I have an old mobile phone powered by Android. But only because I don't
have the money to buy the pinephone. I will change the first with the
second in a short amount of time if I could. This is even more true if I
could buy or help developers to create a FreeBSD powered phone. Infact I'm
loving FreeBSD more than Linux actually,for many reasons. I don't do
anything because I have to. I'm retired from work. I do something or
because I like it or because I didn't find the alternative I want or for
habit. And habits don't go away that easily,even if you would.

---> or GrapheneOS (according to https://grapheneos.org/faq#upstream)

GrapheneOS is a private and secure mobile operating system with great
functionality and usability. It starts from the strong baseline of the Android
Open Source Project (AOSP) <https://source.android.com/> : I'm not
interested in an OS so hardly based on Android.

---> If what you want is to have a shell on your phone, there is the Termux.

no. what I want is to hack an old phone or tablet,unlock the bootloader and
use some techniques or ways that I don't know (maybe adapting the source
code of those drivers) to make them supported by FreeBSD and I want to
install FreeBSD there.

On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 9:39 PM Lorenzo Salvadore <
developer@lorenzosalvadore.it> wrote:

>
>
>
> ------- Original Message -------
> On Thursday, May 11th, 2023 at 8:46 PM, Mario Marietto <
> marietto2008@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > How do you plan to come back with the money needed to adapt FreeBSD to
> make it work on an old phone if the FreeBSD code is based on a license
> that's even more open than the GPL ? Where will you get the money to
> develop it ?
>
> Actually, many companies love the BSD license. The fact that it is more
> open than the GPL allow them to
> keep their sources closed.
>
> See this article for more information on the topic:
> https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/bsdl-gpl/
>
> I have also translated it in Italian some years ago (the translation
> could likely be improved, but it is better than nothing):
> https://docs.freebsd.org/it/articles/bsdl-gpl/
>
> Many companies use FreeBSD, see:
> https://freebsdfoundation.org/freebsd-project/what-is-freebsd/
>
> They also often contribute to FreeBSD, either by sponsoring developers
> and projects, by upstreaming their own patches, or by donating:
> https://www.freebsd.org/status/report-2023-01-2023-03/#_freebsd_foundation
>
> And please remember that many developers and contributors to FreeBSD
> are just volunteers and do not need any money to make things happen.
> I am a volunteer for example, I do not get any money, I am here only
> for the fun and for the opportunity to learn things and share my work.
> So money is not necessarly needed to have FreeBSD running on a phone:
> someone (maybe you?) might do it just for the fun and share it.
> This is one of great things of open source.
>
> > ---> People are interested only in things that work out of the box.
> >
> >
> > it's not totally true. During the years Linux became more and more
> popular even if,at the beginning,it didn't work out of the box. It only
> means that it needs more time to be accessible,due to the fact that it is
> technically more advanced than Windows. Today Linux is not ready for the
> mobile market,yet. But it will be. This is happening.
>
> If I remember correctly, Android is Linux based. I would not define
> Linux "not ready for the mobile market".
>
> I understand that you do not like Android (I do not either, although
> I have to use it... I wonder however why you do not like Android but you
> use a gmail address). You might like other things such as the PinePhone
> (again, Linux based) or GrapheneOS (according to
> https://grapheneos.org/faq#upstream it contributed to Linux and OpenBSD).
> If what you want is a to have a shell on your phone, there is the Termux
> app (open source).
> Not sure if those help you with the project you have in mind however.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Lorenzo Salvadore
>


-- 
Mario.