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1. strcat+(OP)[view] [source] 2025-04-13 21:01:22
GrapheneOS is a mobile Linux distribution. It's not systemd and GNOME which makes it a Linux distribution but rather the Linux kernel. There's nothing stopping people from running a traditional desktop Linux software stack on the same hardware we support. That doesn't interest us since it would be a massive privacy and security regression from the Android Open Source Project. It would also give a lot of usability, robustness and the huge mobile app ecosystem including a large number of open source mobile apps.

The Linux kernel is increasingly the elephant in the room when it comes to security and hasn't experienced anything like the massive progress made in Android's security in userspace. Piling on many more exploit mitigations to the Linux kernel won't really change this. We need to do a lot more work on it than we already do.

GrapheneOS has hardware virtualization support, which is going to be one of the ways to avoid depending so much on the Linux kernel's fragile security. The main usage for it in GrapheneOS will be running nested GrapheneOS instances for better sandboxing rather than running other operating systems. Android supports using the virtualization support to run other operating systems via the Terminal app and we have support for GUI applications, speaker, microphone and opt-in GPU acceleration backported to the Terminal app. The main use case for that app will be running desktop applications from other operating systems for the desktop mode. Windows 11 support would be a compelling addition to it and we may implement that in the next year or so.

replies(1): >>mixmas+Cl
2. mixmas+Cl[view] [source] 2025-04-14 01:11:55
>>strcat+(OP)
I'd like a mobile OS where I can reuse my existing knowledge. Write software for it with Rust, Python, pipewire, systemd, Wayland, etc. Login with ssh.

No interest in Android apps or Windows (hah). (Though maybe I'll try Waydroid one of these days.)

I don't know anything about your distro, not the graphics stack or what the package manager is or even if there is one? Meanwhile my starlite tablet is awesome because it works just like my desktop Fedora or Mint, though I installed Phosh on it.

Security is nice, but not before there is even a single feasible device on the market. Librem is just barely limping along, and I mean barely with a five year old handset that was obsolete when it debuted.

If your kernel is so advanced it really should be upstreamed, so these other distros could use it and support new Pixels. Y'all working together with other mobile projects would be so much better than the current surveillance dystopia we are currently living in. Maybe it's hard, but it is incredibly important. I can help though have limits.

replies(1): >>yjftsj+9q
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3. yjftsj+9q[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-04-14 02:08:13
>>mixmas+Cl
GrapheneOS is an Android/Linux distro, not GNU/Linux or musl+busybox/Linux; I suspect most of their security work isn't portable to the unixy Linux distros.
replies(1): >>mixmas+sy
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4. mixmas+sy[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-04-14 04:07:09
>>yjftsj+9q
I don't care much about security. I do care, but not as much as getting a modern phone working with Linux. It can be hardened once it is working.
replies(1): >>mixmas+OWb
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5. mixmas+OWb[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-04-17 20:18:56
>>mixmas+sy
I read this whole thread again and it seems that the answer to the original question, is: the pixel drivers are maintained outside of the kernel tree by Google, and not these Graphene folks.

Sounds like I should complain to them instead. Yet they are known for being unreachable.

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