Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

You can use Mer with mainline kernel if you want, but really then the question becomes "Why use Mer?".

Mer for the most part does not have a huge amount of packages available, and most of them are old. If you want something that's reasonably bleeding edge and you don't want to maintain a lot of stuff yourself then you'd pick something else. In this case that something else is Alpine Linux, but there are other options.

If however you want to use Android kernels and drivers, then those kernel versions are old and you usually need old packages to go along with it, which is where Mer becomes useful.

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

The reason Mer uses old packages does not relate to the use of Android kernels and drivers but actually relates to tivoisation. There should be very few userland packages, if any at all, that are tied to a particular old kernel. Linus' number one rule for kernel development is "Don't break userspace," therefore old packages should be 100% ABI compatible with modern kernels.

Mer developers have previously stated that they chose to use out of date packages (which are unsupported upstream), as they are the last versions that are licensed under the GPL v2 which does not have the anti-tivoisation clauses introduced in the GPL v3. By keeping everything at GPL v2, it allows Mer to be marketed to many more vendors, those who have a problem with disclosing source code.

The truth of the matter is that Mer becomes useful when tivoisation is valued above stability and security. It's a sad state of affairs and is one of the main reasons I've struggled to warm to Sailfish.

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

I have no idea about Mer, but I'm finding that the N900 has very good support for its hardware in the mainline kernel. We're definitely standing on the shoulders of giants here :)

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

Tivoisation is part of it, but the kernel plays its part as well.

The old kernel is the hard requirement and as such you can't use new packages that require newer kernel features than is provided by old android kernel versions.

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

It seems we've got our wires crossed and we're talking about two different things.

Like you say, you can't use new packages that require newer kernel features that are not present in an old kernel. However, I understood we are talking about the reverse (old packages with new kernel). I thought that were discussing why Mer doesn't use a mainline kernel, thus I was explaining how the use of a new/mainline kernel would not prevent the use of the old packages provided by Mer.

It's worth noting that Mer doesn't actually include a kernel (or at least it wasn't included the last time I checked). The kernel and drivers fall under hardware adaptation which is considered as a separate project.

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

Yeah understood, I was coming from the original question, which was "Why is this project not using Mer?".

and unless you choose to shackle yourself to those two topics we discussed, theres no major reason to use Mer and a bunch of reasons to find something else.

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

When MeeGo was still to be a thing, there was a Hardware adaptation team tasked with bringing full open functionality to the n900, with a couple of exceptions:

Maybe a search for the sources for the MeeGo adaptation will aid you in your quest, not just in this adaptation, but in others too. Here's a video review of MeeGo 1.2, including phone call functionality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4vN_Xn0jq0


[1] http://thehandheldblog.com/2010/05/2...t-on-the-n900/

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

What's all this talk about outdated operating systems?! Ok, ok, some of their work, which has been upstreamed to kernel.org and/or the maemo.org wiki, has been extremely useful :)

In any case, I'm glad this device gets a new lease on life. There's still much work to do!

@tomislav - thank you for selling me your N900, after I foolishly sold mine ~5 years ago. Know that this device is being put towards a good use :)

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

welllll...
I think postmarketOS will do just fine for the n900...
Alpine has been around for as long as the first internet tablet...
So they aren't a fly-by-night OS that will disappear tomorrow..
they have a proven track record...
Hell ...
it isn't the first time Alpine and the N.I.T.'s have run into each other.....
back in the day I remember someone getting Alpine to work on the n800...
jeez ...9 or 10 years ago now....I think..
it was alpine email ...but still..

I am glad that Alpine for the n900 is a viable alternative...
(looks good from what I've read...shy of telephony..I think..)

Re: N900 is a target platform for PostMarketOS !
 

Well telephony is obviously a priority, and it should be Relatively Straight Forward(TM) using ofono. I just haven't gotten around to giving it a serious go-ahead yet since I'm working on other higher priority features/functionality in postmarketOS!

Help is welcome!