Open mobile OS eelo by Mandrake Linux creator on Kickstarter
The creator of Mandrake Linux runs a campaign for the open, free mobile operating system eelo on the crowd funding site Kickstarter right now.
Designed to break the dominance of Apple's and Google's walled systems, eelo is based on LineageOS but takes it a step further than that.
At its core, eelo is more than just an operating system as plans are underway to establish free, open and secure web services next to it. Services like email, cloud storage and online office tools are mentioned explicitly on the Kickstarter project page.
Basically, what Gaël Duval tries to accomplish here is to create a product that you can use without having to rely on Google or Apple at all. You can still use services by Google for instance, but the deep integration of Google code that is not open but proprietary is removed.
He wants to "reconquer his privacy, and make sure that his data remains his data".
The eelo project will release attractive "privacy-enabled" smartphone ROMs and smartphones for the average user, with associated web-services.
Google designed Android in a way that it is difficult to remove certain Google modules from the device without impacting functionality by a lot.
There is Google Play, Google Services, and other Google modules that are required for a lot of things. Good news is that eelo found alternatives for some already, and has plans to use replacements for others.
F-Droid and APKPure are two great options for instance to get apps on the device without using Google Play, but booth serve a different purpose (APKPure official free apps, F-Droid open source apps). The creation of a single application store that offers the best of both worlds would make things a lot easier for users. This has been added to the project's roadmap.
Google Services is another major part of Android that Google uses to provide a variety of services for the system and apps. There is an alternative for that as well however called MicroG, and it may be integrated into eelo as well.
The three-year roadmap highlights some interesting tidbits that are not mentioned on the Kickstarted campaign. The team plans to release eelo OS for PC in year 2 for intance, and release its own smartphone in year 3.
The eelo project will be non-profit, but eelo considers selling some smartphones of its own or offering premium services to finance the project. Since it is a community project, it encourages developers and anyone else to contribute.
The Kickstarter project asks for €25,000 (about $29,600). As is the case on Kickstarter, you can pledge any amount. Rewards start at $4 and you do get some bonuses in the higher pledge levels such as more online storage or an email account.
The current pledge is at €5,265 at the time of writing and after one day. That's a good start for the project as there are still 29 days to go.
Tip: check out Gaël's Leaving Apple and Google: my “eelo odyssey†- Part1: the mobile OS and Part 2: Web Services for additional information.
Closing Words
An open alternative to Google's and Apple's dominance of the smartphone market is much needed, and eelo could become a project that achieves that. It is likely that eelo will remain a nice project that attracts users who value privacy; I could be wrong here, but I can only see it get more traction if the devs manage to find a way to make the installation of the eelo ROM on devices as simple of an action as installing a new app on the device.
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?