OK, I think it's time to do some more clarification. Since #GerdaOS keeps getting mentioned even here even years after it was effectively discontinued, I guess I can't just tell this ghost from the past to stop haunting me, but it's worth a try.

GerdaOS was created as a response to a huge security bug in stock #KaiOS 2.5 where every webpage could run anything with root privileges on certain devices, including the one I had. And the only device I had at my disposal at the time was a Nokia 8110 4G TA-1048 (well, two of them), that's it. Besides customization and debloating, there also were several attempts to integrate some privacy features, but in the greater scheme of things, **they just were not enough** at all.

While this might have looked like a breakthrough in 2019, it's 2024 now. The development of this custom ROM stalled a long time ago for three reasons. The first one was lack of my personal time and energy. The second reason was increasing inability to even port it to newer KaiOS-based Nokia generations, let alone other devices and non-Qualcomm platforms. The third (and probably most important) reason was... Lack of proper feedback. People, and I mean general public, didn't seem to get why I created it and why what was done was done. When WhatsApp appeared for KaiOS 2.5.1, they demanded backporting it to Gerda. When WhatsApp calling (implemented with a crutch-like third-party .so library as the AudioChannel API is broken beyond repair in 2.5.x) appeared in 2.5.2, they demanded backporting it to Gerda, and I couldn't do it anymore at that time already. I even remember someone being furious about GerdaOS not having KaiStore at all. Lol, how are you expecting a privacy-oriented distro to use apps and services that directly violate it?

So, at first, I created some tools that achieved most of the tasks GerdaOS could but worked on a wider range of devices: Wallace Root, which evolved into Wallace Toolbox (and supports IMEI editing on 8110, rooted 2720 and several more phones), and — much later — CrossTweak (mainly for 2.5.2.2+ devices that are not rootable as easily without a boot partition swap). In addition, I also created FastContact and FastLog to replace the stock laggy phonebook and call log apps, and they also can work on a lot of 2.5.x devices. My last development was writing a Gopher client for KaiOS, Kopher. Then, I just quit. And recently, archived the GerdaOS landing page.

Why? Because I realized that I had been solving the wrong end of the problem. KaiOS is flawed much deeper than anyone can manage. I can dedicate a whole another note to what was, and still is, wrong with KaiOS, and, sadly, it doesn't look like it will get any better anytime soon. So, whoever wants GerdaOS to return, I just want you to support postmarketOS porting to these devices instead. I heard there are working ports of pmOS to 8110 and 2720 already, as well as 6300 and even 8000. Maybe I'll try them myself, I have enough devices to tinker with. I know that these ports are maintained by talented people from our community, so I can vouch for them.

Let the past be the past. Support the future: postmarketOS for these keypad smartphones.

--- Luxferre ---