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+tags: Replicant news, GNUtoo
+date: 2019-01-20 22:40
+title: The Replicant project will receive a mobile device from Necuno Solutions
+---
+The Replicant project has been looking forward to support devices with free
+software bootloaders. While Replicant is a fully free software Android
+distribution, many freedom, privacy and security issues are orthogonal to the
+operating system. The hardware design of each computer (smartphone, tablet,
+laptop, etc.) people use, and the architecture of the cellular network also
+have their set of issues. For more information on these issues, the Replicant
+project has [some documentation on the topic][1].
+
+So far all the devices that are (or have been) supported by Replicant use a
+nonfree [boot software][2] ([the bootloader][3]). These devices also use
+hardware restrictions to deny users the freedom to replace them completely
+with free software, effectively forcing them to run nonfree software. This is
+a very serious freedom issue that prevents users from being in control of
+their devices.
+
+There were several attempts to add support for devices with free software
+bootloaders in Replicant:
+
+* The LG Optimus black: this smartphone doesn’t prevent users from replacing
+  the bootloader. Paul Kocialkowsky [did a lot of work][4] to add support
+  for this device in upstream u-boot (a free software bootloader) and added
+  minimal support for it in the upstream Linux kernel. However support for
+  some of its most important hardware components like the display are still
+  missing in the Linux kernel. This device can probably still be found
+  second hand
+
+* The [GTA04][5] smartphone from Golden Delicious: this smartphone has a
+  free software bootloader which is based on u-boot. The smartphone was
+  designed to run GNU/Linux and has [almost complete support in upstream
+  Linux][6]. There were attempts to add support for it in Replicant 6.0,
+  however a lot of time was spent to try to make suspend to RAM work with
+  Android. However older Replicant 4.2 images are available. Several
+  hardware revisions of the GTA04 have been made and shipped to customers
+  and developers over the years. However this has stopped due to
+  [manufacturing issues.][7] Another issue is that the revisions before A5
+  only have 512M of RAM and a high DPI display: This combination makes
+  running Android 9 [potentially challenging.][8] Fortunately the A5
+  revision has 1G of RAM, [but not a lot of working units were produced][9].
+
+There is also some [ongoing work][10] to specifically add support for
+smartphones that are currently supported by Replicant like the Galaxy SIII
+(i9300), the Galaxy Note 2 (n7100) and their 4G versions (i9305 and n7105).
+The 4G versions could also be supported by Replicant if the work to support
+their modem (through [QMI-RIL][11]) is resumed.
+
+The Replicant project will receive a mobile device, the [NC_1][12] (formerly
+called Necuno Mobile) from its manufacturer (Necuno Solutions), which will
+have a free software bootloader
+
+This device has the size of a smartphone, but doesn’t have a [broadband
+modem][13]: while users will not be able to use a built-in modem for phone
+calls, SMS or to access the Internet, it is still the best way to be
+completely sure of avoiding any freedom privacy and security issues related to
+broadband modems and the cellular network. It will also require less work to
+add support for this device in Replicant.
+
+Even if it’s possible to disable the modem on some of the mobile devices
+currently supported by Replicant [by not loading the modem’s code][14], some
+nonfree software still run on these mobile devices. This includes the
+bootloader and potentially any other nonfree software that it may load.
+Because of that we cannot be 100% sure that the modem is completely disabled.
+
+The Necuno Mobile will use an I.MX6 Quad [system on a chip ][15](which is a
+chip that contains the main CPU, the microSD card controller, the GPU, etc.).
+Its free software support is better than for many other system on a chip: the
+only functionality of the I.MX6 Quad that requires nonfree software is the
+video decoding acceleration. The [article on single board computers][16] has
+more details on freedom issues affecting various system on a chip and by
+extension the single board computers that use such components.
+
+A Replicant developer (Joonas Kylmälä) will receive a Necuno Mobile to work on
+it.  
+
+The Necuno Mobile should have a Linux kernel that is very close to upstream:
+this is a good opportunity for a new attempt to enable Replicant to use
+upstream kernels. [This has many advantages][17]. One of them is that in the
+long run, it should decrease the amount of work required to maintain the
+devices and potentially increase their lifetime.
+
+This should also enable the Replicant project to more easily add support for
+other devices that can use an upstream kernel, like the GTA04, or devices like
+the Galaxy SIII (i9300) and the Galaxy Note 2 (n7100) that are starting to
+have good support in upstream Linux.
+
+It is also very interesting in the long run as we could share some of the work
+with other smartphones projects like **[postmarketOS][18]** who are also
+trying to support mobile devices with upstream kernels. It could also enable
+the Replicant project to more easily support future mobile devices that will
+have free software bootloaders, as some of them will also use kernels that are
+meant to run GNU/Linux.
+
+ [1]: <https://replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security-issues.php>
+
+ [2]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting>
+
+ [3]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting#Other_kinds_of_boot_sequences>
+
+ [4]: <https://code.paulk.fr/article20/a-hacker-s-journey-freeing-a-phone-
+from-the-ground-up-first-part>
+
+ [5]: <https://www.gta04.org/>
+
+ [6]: <http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-kernel/page/UpstreamStatus/>
+
+ [7]: <http://laforge.gnumonks.org/blog/20170306-gta04-omap3_pop_soldering/>
+
+ [8]:
+<https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/HardwareRequirements>
+
+ [9]:
+<http://lists.goldelico.com/pipermail/gta04-owner/2019-January/007922.html>
+
+ [10]: <https://blog.forkwhiletrue.me/pages/midas-mainline/>
+
+ [11]: <https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/QMI-RIL>
+
+ [12]: <https://necunos.com/mobile/>
+
+ [13]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_broadband_modem>
+
+ [14]: <https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/ModemDisable>
+
+ [15]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_on_a_chip>
+
+ [16]: <https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/single-board-computers>
+
+ [17]: <https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Upstream>
+
+ [18]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostmarketOS>
+
+