Last time I filed an issue (or a comment to the issue), no one understood why this was an issue, and I decided to keep a .whl snapshot of the library with my proposed patch and redistribute it myself. Instead of even trying to understand, the repo owner "locked the issue and limited conversation to collaborators". I don't want to file issues anymore since.
Again, it's running in KaiOS. KaiOS userspace level *is* the webview, just like it was in FirefoxOS.
FastContact for KaiOS 2.x, for one. Written without any "framework" BS and, unlike the stock phonebook (written with React), doesn't lag on any amount of contacts. The slowest part actually is interacting with KaiOS API to fetch/update the contact list in the system DB. All libraries are custom-written.
I understand that this might be a controversial opinion, but I believe that new developers should not contribute to established open source projects. It only makes the lives of open source project managers more difficult.
If a developer cannot understand the basics of full code base, they should not contribute. This practice is essentially turning into spam and is akin to a DDoS attack on the open source community.
Many open source projects are considering going closed source due to this exact reason. People with little to no coding knowledge are literally practicing on main ExpressJS repo. What a nightmare for these project managers.
https://video.nostr.build/84049a473935a18ab66e30c582f7ea7adb1dfb23ff461d1504dac7194a9f0a2f.mp4
Instead of going closed source (effectively stealing all contirbutions), they should go public domain, but that's not for pussies.
I doubt any efficient data serialization and marshalling formats, as well as fast and efficient software in general, are ever going to be widely adopted unless a global energy crisis occurs and everyone is forced to live on 40W max per desktop.
TSV. Plan9's NDB. GNU Recutils. Bencode or even djb's netstrings.
Plenty of formats that require less computing power to manage and less effort to read. Yet the hindustry settled on JSON/YAML/XML.
I remember asking a (seemingly smart) guy advocating for PinePhone (or was it Purism Librem? don't remember) on a forum: "Secure and privacy-friendly, you say? Does it even allow IMEI editing?"
The answer was: "No, but why would you want to ever do this?"
Facepalm.
Guys, being able to kill the radio power on the hardware level doesn't mean the phone is privacy-friendly. Being able to fully change your network identification (while the radio is off) does. Being able to fully kill the power to every module (preferably by quickly removing the battery) does. I don't wish anyone to end up in a situation where they would actually need to do this, but at least trust someone who did.
Kinda amusing seeing folks here talking about privacy and anti-censorship... only to later find out they still use cookphones, cookOS and/or faildows. And/or githubs of all sorts. And/or binance. And/or alexa or other "smart home" systems made by who knows who with who knows what.
If this isn't hypocrisy, I don't know what is.
I am. Obsessed with other things instead.
What's wrong with Ukraine? Delivery (e.g. Nova) works here despite the war. Are you putting us under sanctions in addition to our own government?
I think Ukrainians need private communications more than anyone else right now.
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 ---
By updating NVRAM/EFS area accordingly.
If Graphene rewrites the baseband, does it allow to edit IMEIs?
Are we talking about *phones* or about gadgets?
If you're in the same hemisphere as me, I can give you a hint about *phones* with autonomous IMEI editing capabilities, mostly CAT or Alcatel branded, like CAT B40 or Alcatel 3025X. Combine this with anonymous prepaid SIMs like LycaMobile and you're good to go.
If we're talking about *gadgets* then your best bet is either Graphene'd Pixel with anon eSIM like silent.link and/or a dedicated data-only WiFi-enabled modem and using SIP numbers for actually calling somewhere, or a very hard way of picking and debloating a smartphone with editable IMEIs and then see the first part of my post.
Just shiming in to point out that *a lot* of phones (but not Nokias) in the world do allow you to change IMEI autonomously, provided they are dumbphones without carrier-lock/secureboot based on MediaTek MT626x or Unisoc SC6531x/SC770x/UMS9117(L); as for smartphones though, I only know one that uses esim and at the same time allows you to flash a rooted stock to edit IMEIs: Gemini PDA.
Featurephone IMEI editor codes
------------------------------
These secret codes have been tested on most non-Nokia featurephones manufactured since 2016. They open either the IMEI editor directly, or the engineering menu where it can be found (like "Para Set" - "Update IMEI Number" on Mocor-based phones). In some cases, you may be required to press the Call button after entering the code, so please test both options.
```
#*8378#1#
*#0160#
*#0161#
*#5353#
*#0066#
*#1923#
#*868*#
*#4224876#
*#1263#
*#66#
*#066#
*#0011#
*#1122#
*#0623#
*#0622#
*#09#
*#4634#
*#4634*#
*#868*#
*#020*#
*#1207#
*#1208#
*#2012#
*#2013#
*#9999#
*#*#3646633#*#*
*#93646633#
*#64276#
*#36*#
*#2018*#
*#44#
*#0606*#
*#*#067067#
*#9981#
*#1169*#
#*8378#9#
*#*#1122#*#*
*#123456#
*#1234567#
*#2018+80003#
*#91*#
*#02#
```
This list will be updated from time to time but it already covers over 80% of
cheap featurephones on the market.
Bonus:
For MediaTek-based featurephones (MT6260, MT6261, MT6276 chipsets) without secure boot, if you find a way to open a USB-COM connection, you can also use the following AT commands to update IMEIs (the change will take effect after rebooting the phone):
For SIM1: AT+EGMR=1,7,"newimei"
For SIM2, if present: AT+EGMR=1,10,"newimei"
For SIM3, if present: AT+EGMR=1,11,"newimei"
For SIM4, if present: AT+EGMR=1,12,"newimei"
--- Luxferre ---