[nmglug] replacing FireOS

[Ted Pomeroy]

NMGLugers, Yes, I  found a solution for a gifted Kindle Fire: re-gifting to
a sister who enjoys books in that format and is not a computer hobby-ist by
any means. Way too much lockdown to the Amazon vending process for me. And
yes, let's support manufacturers who make the installation of free software
easy or at least practical. Thank you, Ted P.

On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 6:53 PM, Anthony J. Bentley <anthony at anjbe.name>
wrote:

> Mark Galassi writes:
> >
> > Arlo writes:
> >
> >     Arlo> Wherever we meet, in two weeks anyone wanna help me get
> >     FireOS
> >     Arlo> off a workshop-donated tablet and something more
> >     Arlo> freedom-friendly [...]
> >
> > I investigated it in detail in November 2016 and found that at the
> > time
> > Cyanogenmod (now LineageOS) only ran on specific revisions of the
> > Fire7
> > tablet, and those were not the ones amazon was selling anymore.
> > The
> > result of installing was to completely brick the Fire7
> > (fortunately
> > amazon takes returns).
>
> I recommend buying only devices that explicitly support flashing with a
> new operating system. In the phone/tablet world that more or less limits
> you to the first-party Google stuff, namely the Nexus line and now Pixel.
>
> Two reasons:
>
>  - Putting a new OS on a device whose manufacturer didn't intend it,
>    while an interesting technical exercise, is often very difficult
>    or impossible and thus immensely frustrating.
>
>  - It's better to financially support companies that are open to this
>    kind of thing, and to explicitly not support companies that are
>    close-minded.
>
> I realize Arlo said this one was a donation. Just a note for future
> buyers.
>
> One last aside: the Android variant I'd be most interested in trying is
> CopperheadOS. I haven't tried it yet because it only works on a very
> limited subset of (expensive) devices (the only ones that meet their
> hardware security standards): Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel, Pixel 2.
>
> I've been fairly unimpressed with some of LineageOS's security decisions
> like reportedly mislabeling security patchlevels and not providing
> verified boot. That's partly a sacrifice made in the name of increased
> platform support but partly a lack of good security culture (IMHO).
>
> --
> Anthony J. Bentley
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>
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