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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Do any of you daily drive a mobile Linux distro on your cell phone? Is that viable / will it ever be? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Around that time we had the Nokia N900. For me it was the perfect phone. Debian as a base with Nokia's (unfortunately proprietary) apps on top of X11. You could just recompile Linux apps like Gimp and it worked. Apps that were made for Palm's WebOS worked.

Pidgin's libpurple was used for all the instant messaging so just about any protocol just worked without any need for extra apps. You could easily hack the underlying system. People added functionality like using the light sensor as a button. Angry Bird's first release was on that phone.

I miss it dearly. It was killed by Microsoft. Nothing ever managed to come close. That little 128 MB RAM machine had better multitasking than modern 8 GB phones.