Question about Ubuntu and other Linux distributions as cellphone OS

[Bret Busby]

On 31/10/24 15:49, Chris Green wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 30, 2024 at 11:37:07PM +0000, Peter Flynn wrote:
>> On 30 October 2024 09:11:04 Bret Busby <bret at busby.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On 30/10/24 07:15, Colin Watson wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Oct 30, 2024 at 04:53:27AM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:
>>>>> […] I am wondering as to what degree, Linux, as Ubuntu or otherwise, is
>>>>> available as an OS for cellphones […]
>>>>
>>>> Canonical tried this with Ubuntu Phone for several years up to 2017 or
>>>> so, and then it wasn't working commercially […]
>>
>> Quite apart from the very genuine small-p-political reasons for having an
>> Ubuntu phone, there used to be an old argument that you'd be able to run
>> desktop (X Window) applications on your phone.
>>
>> However, right now I have a Google Pixel 8a running Termux, inside which I
>> just installed both Emacs and TeX Live, which with Java and Saxon provide a
>> complete XML—XSLT—LaTeX—PDF workflow identical to my desktop and laptop.
>>
> Yes, I run Termux too, it does an amazing job of being a proper Linux
> system.  I even run syncthing on mine so I can synchronise files with
> my desktop Linux system at home.  I only log into my (very rarely
> used) Google account on my phone to use the Play Store.  It's log in,
> update the app I need and then log out again.
> 

Part of the litigations against google, involve the monopolistic play 
store, and, similarly, regarding the bad Apple and its equivalent.

Hence the original query, where applications developers could bypass the 
google and the bad Apple, and develop open source applications freely 
available without one of those surveillance companies recording and 
selling personal information including who downloads what and when, and 
forcing use of such sinister things as gmail (android applications 
cannot be downloaded, or system updates performed, without using the 
sinister gmail).

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............