Good Potential Targets¶

Requirements¶

Basic¶

List of the bare minimum requirements for a device to be ported to Replicant:

The device must be supported by CyanogenMod officially (better) or via 3rd party repos
There must be a way to flash images (via bootloader or recovery) using a free program
The kernel must not be signed: the bootloader must not check the kernel signature
The kernel sources must have been released
The network type must be GSM, no CDMA phone can be supported for now

Good target¶

What makes a good target for Replicant:

Bootloader must be ready to flash images, or be very easy to unlock
Free user-space implementation for most of the hardware already available
Standard or well-known protocols used in the hardware (V4L2/ALSA/NMEA, etc)
Firmwares needed only for WiFi/Bluetooth, and not sound, screen, touchscreen, camera, etc
Freedom-compliant hardware design: Modem isolation (no shared mem, GPS, audio)

Ideal target¶

An ideal target for Replicant would be:

Free bootloaders that allow easy flashing for the user
All the hardware using standard protocols, kernel-drivers and no user-space binary blobs
Components that do not require loadable firmware
Ways to update the internal firmwares of the chips (for instance to allow a free software modem implementation)
Total modem isolation (doesn't control audio, nor GPS, mem, NAND, etc)
SIM unlock

Devices status¶

Android devices¶

Device	Manufacturer	CyanogenMod port	Flash method	SoC	Graphics	Sound	Modem	WiFi/Bluetooth	Camera	GPS	Sensors
One	GeeksPhone	CM 7.2 (Android 2.3)	Recovery	MSM7K	Should be fast	Should work	Non-standard, bad design for freedom	WiFi is the same as GTA04	MSM undocumented mechanism	Probably NMEA from modem, bad design for freedom	?
Zero	GeeksPhone	CM 7.2 (Android 2.3)	Fastboot	MSM7227	Should be fast	May need firmwares	?	Need firmwares	MSM undocumented mechanism	Probably NMEA from modem, bad design for freedom	?
Galaxy S3	Samsung	CM 9.1 (Android 4.0)	Heimdall/Recovery	Exynos 4412	Should work, maybe as well as Galaxy S2	Free module	Samsung IPC	Need firmwares	Non-free	BCM47511: secret protocol	?
Nexus 7	Asus	CM 10 (Android 4.1)	Fastboot	Tegra 4	?	Free module	3G version modem uses AT	Need firmwares	Non-free tegra module, perhaps not even v4l2	BCM4751: secret protocol	?
Nexus 10	Samsung	?	Fastboot	Exynos 5250	Free gralloc, hwcomposer	Free module	N/A	Need firmwares	Free module	BCM4751: secret protocol	Free module

Other devices¶

Device	Manufacturer	Android port	Bootloader	SoC	Standardness	Blobs	Firmwares	Modem	Notes
Neo Freerunner	Openmoko	AoF	u-boot, flash with dfu-utils	Samsung S3C2442, CPU @400Mhz	Audio: ALSA, GPS: NMEA, Modem: AT	No	No	Total isolation	Hardware is too old to be support by Replicant, armv4t
N900	Nokia	Nitdroid	chainloaded u-boot, flash with 0xff	OMAP3430, CPU @600Mhz	Voice calls depend on cmt_speech pulseaudio plugin, modem protocol is non-standard but implemented in ofono	Nitdroid uses blobs	Nitdroid uses firmwares	Issues	Nitdroid is hard to build and undocumented
iPhone	Apple	iDroid	iDroid bootloader seems free	iPhone 3G: Similar to Samsung S5PC110	iPhone 3G: Audio: ALSA, Modem: AT, WiFi: libertas	Probably needs some	Probably needs some	Known to never sleep
FLOW G1.55	GizmoForYou	Stock	xloader + u-boot	OMAP3	Audio: ALSA, Modem: AT	?	WiFi/Bluetooth	Needs to be check, could be OK	Instructions to build Android 2.2 for it are provided: http://www.gizmoforyou.net/wiki/index.php/Building_G155_Android Unfortunately that phone isn’t cheap.

There is a small number of Do-it-yourself phones where the user is expected to assemble his phone. Examples of this include the odroid phones with comes with android support.
However the issue is that not all users wants or are able to assemble their own phones.

Comparison of potential targets¶

Support easyness¶

Phone	Soc	Android target version	Gralloc	RIL	Audio	camera	sensors	GPS	proprietary files to replace	Who has one?
Geeksphone one	Qualcomm MSM7K	maybe 2.3?	Easy, probably supported by hardware/msm7k audioHardware libraries	AT possible(TODO:contact VquickSilver for details),but proprietary ril uses RPC binary protocol(TODO:contact morphis for details)	Easy, probably supported by hardware/msm7k audioHardware libraries	difficult since no one finished support for msm camera yet.	unknown	unknown yet	?	paulk
Nokia N900	TI OMAP3	? (look at Forking Nitdroid)	?	Documented in free software GNU/Linux compatible code	Documented in free software GNU/Linux compatible code	Standard interface	Should be easy	?	?	GNUtoo
Samsung Galaxy SIII	Samsung Exynos4 Quad	4.x	?	Easy thanks to samsung-ril+libsamsung-ipc	free software audio libraries available in cyanogenmod	?	?	unknown	here	Nobody
Galaxy Tab 2 7	OMAP4430	4.x	600x1024 : smaller resolution than galaxy nexus => doable	Easy thanks to samsung-ril+libsamsung-ipc	has a free software library	tiler, hard but same than galaxy Nexus	?	?	here and here	GNUtoo can get one cheap
Nexus 10	Samsung Exynos 5250	4.x?	free software, depends on 3d ? or not? difficult? (because of a ultra-high resolution: 2560x1600 )	None (No GSM)	Free software	Free software	Free software	non-free	probably Only 3d, and remove firmwares	Nobody

Hardware freedom¶

Phone	Bootloader	Firmwares	Modem transport	Modem peripherals	Modem Storage
Geeksphone One	proprietary	Wifi, ?	shared memory	Mic, GPS	Shared NAND
Nokia N900	proprietary, partially signed	wifi,camera,bluetooth,?	High speed serial	GPS	?
Samsung Galaxy SIII	proprietary	Wifi, ?	?	?	?
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7"	?	Wifi,?	High speed serial if OMAP4 SOC (shared memory for other versions)	?	?
Nexus 10	?	Wifi, others	No Modem	No Modem	No Modem

TODO:¶

Evaluate

Nexus 10
Nexus 7
Galaxy Tab 2 7"