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XDA Looks at Jolla's Sailfish OS (GNU/Linux on Mobile)
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XDA ☛ I tried a phone that runs actual Linux, and Android app support made it almost usable
The smartphone landscape is essentially a duopoly these days, with Google's Android and Apple's iOS completely dominating the market. And while we all know that Android is a Linux-based operating system, it's quite a bit different than your typical Linux distro, and there's always been some curiosity about running Linux on a phone. Efforts like Ubuntu Touch or Fedora KDE Plasma Mobile show there's interest in this idea, but it hasn't really taken off yet.
However, one company is pushing forward with this concept, and has been for a while. Finland-based Jolla has been developing a Linux distro called Sailfish OS since 2013, and making phones that ship with this experience, too. One of its most recent efforts is the Jolla C2 Community Phone, and I recently got my hands on one to see what it's like.
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XDA ☛ Sailfish OS showed me what Linux phones could actually be, and we need more of it
Until recently, the only smartphones I'd ever used were powered by Android. And while it's true that Android is based on Linux at its core, it's also true that it's very significantly different from a typical Linux distro. You don't have a terminal (at least out of the box), typical Linux packages aren't supported, and there are some big changes to the kernel. For example, you can't really run Docker on an Android phone.
But for over ten years now, there has been a proper implementation of Linux on phones in the form of Sailfish OS. This operating system was first introduced back in 2013, and I finally had the chance to go hands-on with it with the Jolla C2 Community Phone. And what I found was a platform with a ton of potential that's actually doing some really cool things. I would love to see more developers and users rally behind this platform.