Why can't phone have a universal installation of sailfish os or android , just like Linux on PC ?

asked 2016-08-05 17:17:24 +0300

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updated 2016-08-05 17:18:07 +0300

Pavel Soldar gravatar image

Linux can be installed on any PC . Why this can't be applied on phone ?

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Comments

1

Because of hardware (and firmware) limitations.

vattuvarg ( 2016-08-05 17:19:31 +0300 )edit
4

Linux can be installed on a PC as long as someone has written drivers for the devices in that PC.

Giacomo Di Giacomo ( 2016-08-05 17:20:30 +0300 )edit
2

@vattuvarg, that is not the only reason. As @Giacomo Di Giacomo pointed out, drivers are independent of the OS. As long as someone can provide them, or a translation layer (see libhybris), an alien OS could be ported.

But there are other problems, not present on a PC. The PC has a long history and the way the OS is installed is pretty much standard and yet there are PCs that make installing Linux difficult. Embedded device like a smartphones are even more complex. Locked bootloaders and myriads or different partition layouts stand in your way in addition to the challenges known from the PC world. I am sure I have forgotten something else.

pichlo ( 2016-08-05 17:33:43 +0300 )edit

@pichlo - Yes, I know how hard things can be, even on PC hardware.

vattuvarg ( 2016-08-05 17:41:09 +0300 )edit
2

why? Because people keep buying the devices which can't, or rather, which won't allow you to do it.

Fuzzillogic ( 2016-08-05 18:19:33 +0300 )edit