Introducing OURphone—an open-source DIY smartphone made with our favorite SBC:
It's easy to build your own desktop PC but, if you want a phone, you usually have to settle for a sealed box that's made by one of a handful of large corporations. Maker Evan Robison wants to change all that as he posted instructions for an open-source, Raspberry Pi-powered called OURPhone with the acronym OURS standing for Open-source, Upgradable, Repairable Smartphone.
According to Robinson, the idea was to create a smartphone alternative for people looking to control their privacy. He also wanted to make a smartphone that could be easily modified and repaired, so an open-source solution was the perfect fit. The OURphone project has quite a few specs that you'll find on many smartphones including 4G LTE internet support, GPS support, Bluetooth and WiFi capability, as well as basic phone operations like the ability to call, text and save contacts in an address book.
However, instead of running on Android or iOS, the phone uses Raspberry Pi OS, the Linux-based native operating system for Raspberry Pis. This means that you have very fine control over what software you run on it, but the UI (as pictured) is not particularly touch or phone friendly. You can find all of the code used in the project (as well as detailed instructions) at GitHub.
In his build guide, Robinson is using a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ but there's no reason you couldn't upgrade it to a Pi 4. It's accompanied by a 4G HAT with GSM and GPS antennas. It has a Waveshare touchscreen for video output and user input. A camera can be attached but it isn't necessary for the build. A pair of headphones with a built-in microphone is used for call support. To keep the unit mobile, it operates off of a couple of 18650 batteries.
The housing, [m]ade out of 3mm MDF board, is a bit bulky but necessary to contain all of the hardware. It's laser cut with port access made available all around the edges.
Related Stories
Technologist David Bombal has a one-hour interview with Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton. The interview covers a range of topics, starting with the big questions about unit availability and when more stock will be available.
00:00 - Intro: Tough Environment
00:07 - Intro: Eben Upton hacked the network as a kid
00:40 - Raspberry Pi shortage (stock availability)
07:22 - People say that you're not looking after hobbyists!
10:12 - Raspberry Pi OS is backwards compatible
12:37 - The pain affecting all of us
16:33 - The origin of the Raspberry Pi // How it started
23:16 - Eben hacked the school network // Creating an environment for young hackers
32:05 - Changing the Cambridge and the World
35:00 - African growth and plans
40:03 - General purpose Computer vs iPhone vs Chromebook
43:28 - Possible IPO and Raspberry Pi Foundation
44:50 - The Raspberry Pi RP2040
48:33 - How is Raspberry Pi funded?
49:10 - How is the next product decided?
50:22 - Raspberry Pi Foundation sticking to its roots
51:17 - Advice for the youth or anyone new
56:01 - Changing roles // From tech to business
57:08 - Do you need to go to university? // Do you need degrees?
01:00:05 - Learning from experiences
01:01:44 - Creating opportunities
01:05:05 - Conclusion
No transcript is available and Eben does speak very quickly. Also published on YouTube if you do not have the obligatory LBRY account to block the algorithmic "recommendations".
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 08, @01:54PM (15 children)
If this gets any kind of user community supporting software development, it needs a hardware spin to make it more compact. I'm not talking thin chocolate bar compact, it can still keep an 18650 battery bay, but just integrating the electronics into a single board behind the touch screen and combining with a 3D printed case would let you party-call like it's 1999.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday May 08, @02:40PM (14 children)
Why not party like its 1984 with a classic "brick" design?
Might market pretty well, and would be much easier to make.
I found a "prop" version of a DynaTAC 8000X model that'll fit most 3-d printers, so would not be too much of a stretch to hollow it out to fit modern electronics.
Social media and related is kind of dead anyway now except to the addicts, so having a postage stamp sized screen would not be a problem.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 08, @03:11PM (13 children)
To me, the point of a Linux based phone is custom Linux apps which access the phone peripherals (GPS, 4G data, maybe even voice interfaces, etc.)
As such, a bigger screen is better, at least up to handheld size - say 7" or so.
Developing "apps" for Android and iOS really feels like a sucker's game - almost as bad as writing "DOS compatible" software in the early 1990s.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Monday May 08, @06:54PM (1 child)
A friend of mine who is a game developer says that developing for Android is hard because Google frequently changes the rules that the game has to satisfy to be allowed on the playstore. If your app is already on the playstore it can stay there for a while, but if say, you have to fix a bug, to get the fixed version on the playstore you need to satisfy the new rules. The result is that even a trivial bug fix often involves major changes.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 08, @07:48PM
Yep, I've dabbled in Android development and it seems that the areas I want to play in have ever-shifting security requirements, what works for 6.0 won't work in 7, and if you get it perfect in 7 you might make it to 9 before it's completely borked again. etc. It reminded me FAR too much of the DOS 3.2 "99% compatible with applications developed for DOS 3.1!" Which, in our code, generally meant that about 1% of our code would have to change for the new DOS, the trick was first identifying the 1% that needed to change, then figuring out what it had to change to with the garbage they gave for documentation at the time. At least the Internet is full of examples, of how Android _used to work_.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday May 09, @02:32AM (10 children)
I have a PinePhone that runs Manjaro. It's nice, but what I'd really like is a sort of cheap hybrid flip phone. Enough of an OS to do basic software things and run a touchscreen, but more rugged for pocket-and-barn.
From what folks hereabouts have said, there'd be some market for that.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 09, @10:08AM (9 children)
I think you would have a tough time competing with some of the Chinese rugged phone makers with Android feature phones, big speakers, push to talk radio, etc. And of course: cheap as dirt.
https://www.ulefonemobile.com/product/ulefone-power-armor-x11-pro-rugged-smartphone/ [ulefonemobile.com]
I like the community here, I am part of the community here, but we aren't a representative sample of the consumer market.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday May 09, @02:34PM (8 children)
Doesn't have to be that rugged. (Tho Kyocera makes what is reportedly a good one.) I'm thinking ordinary flip form factor, good fit in the pocket and no exposed screen to break, but a little smarter than the perfectly horrible KaiOS they now come with.
There was a semi-smart Android flip on the market maybe 10 years ago (unfortunately 3G so no point finding a used one) and apparently it was pretty popular. Just recreate that would suffice.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 09, @03:20PM (7 children)
Wife and I had Motorola 815i flip phones from 2006 to about 2014 - they were the RAZR but designed fat with a real battery, like 7 days between charges when new. When the batteries finally did die they could be replaced, but network support for the older phones was getting pretty bad so we went smartphone after those, and generally get 18 to 36 months of life from a smartphone ever since. Crap, IMO. At least the generation before this one was relatively cheap with good performance, but my latest replacements have the same model number, but the year-spin degraded the performance significantly. I guess they want more people to buy the premium phones. Crap, in anybody's opinion.
Those 2006 phones could take and send photos, e-mail, bluetooth headset, etc. they just used the keypad instead of a touch screen. I'm sure if they were still produced today for $200 or less (which any of the suppliers could do easily) they'd sell more than enough to make the assembly line profitable, but the assembly lines are MORE profitable selling $600 phones every 2 years than they are selling $200 phones every 10 years, so guess what they choose to build?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday May 09, @03:56PM (6 children)
Absolutely no argument. We who would like a better-flip are a niche market, and a far lower profit margin. Insider info, the cost to make an iWhatever is about 8% of the retail price. But probably any hardware that's a cell phone costs near-enough the same to make, so why not go higher profit and more churn?
Which is why I'm thinkin' an outfit like Pine could jump on the semi-smart flip, and find themselves with a captive market too small for anyone else but plenty big for Pine. If I could get my Pine in a flip form factor I'd be first in line to buy it. (I have the keyboard case and it's nice, but not for in the barn.)
Yeah, the batteries now are the suck. Now I have a TCL flip that's not bad, but not as good as my old 3G Samsung, that would talk for two more hours after it whined about low battery, and could mostly-idle for several weeks. Conversely the iPhone stays home and plugged in, because its battery is apparently imaginary.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 09, @06:00PM (5 children)
Has Pine ever gotten decently working drivers?
Last I looked into them, the hardware seemed capable but they seemed to be hoping the community would come together and make drivers and software for them... I have other things to do with my life.
I also had great hopes for Jolla - even put a deposit on a tablet (which I received a 50% refund of...) they were software focus, with tons of ex-Nokia experience, but they still managed to bungle their attempt. My inner conspiracy theorist whispers that the big players sent guys with baseball bats to the lead Jolla players' homes in the middle of the night, but I suspect it was more done in the contract negotiations space: sinking their ability to compete by leaning on their suppliers...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Tuesday May 09, @06:49PM (4 children)
There are something like 38 OS images available for the PinePhone (you can buy the lot on a bootable microSD setup). I got mine used and it came with Manjaro/KDE, and for the most part it works. Bluetooth doesn't work, Wifi does, and everything else. Decent performance, good battery (can dink around for a long time without noticeable drop) very stable, can't remember when it was last restarted. I was using it as a micro netbook rather than a phone, tho lately not much. But if I were buying a new candybar phone, I'd probably get another Pine. I like KDE and I'm like, on my phone? Gimme.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 10, @12:15AM (3 children)
I used to like KDE but 2013 to 2018 was a tough time to be a KDE fan, so I have been working with vanilla Ubuntu on our products at work since then, and now it's hard to justify running different desktops on top of Raspbian, Python Pi picos and the miscellaneous Windows issues I still have to deal with.
Pine sounds like they have progressed. Do they also have GPS and camera working? That's the core stuff I would want in a "boat computer" running some remote presence software over cellular data link. Other question: have you used anything other than WiFi for data on Pine? Being able to open an IP addresses server over cellular data would be extra cool.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday May 10, @12:46AM (2 children)
Yeah, KDE did themselves no favors for a while, and initially I stuck with Trinity (KDE 3.5 updated). But in the present, it's been really good; the one thing I truly miss is the ability to set all the system colors without having to build a theme. Apparently all Very Modern Displays are unable to do any desktop but black or white. :/ (Or why I can't stand looking at Win10.)
Gnome gives me hives, and never liked Ubuntu. Been using PCLinuxOS/KDE for some years, and it's ruined me. I'll bet yours isn't boot to usable desktop in under ten seconds. :D (As I'm reminded every time I fire up Fedora. Two minutes on faster hardware.) Devuan imported the PCLOS desktop and general way of doing things, so has joined my narrow range of if-I-gotta-switch.
Can't answer on the Pine details, being beyond what I've used it for.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 10, @02:44AM (1 child)
I've learned to strip down gnome on Ubuntu until it's pretty quick - ditching snapd is a bit help in that department.
I used to ignore all the "KDE is so bloated" flak when I used it, but it really is a chonker.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday May 10, @03:07AM
Actually, a bunch of folks on the PCLOS forum ran some tests comparing different desktop resource requirements.
Some of the more minimal desktops on PCLOS came in around 350mb RAM (Trinity, Openbox, LXQt). Xfce and KDE both about 600mb (yep, Xfce is not so lightweight after all). We don't have a Gnome desktop, but I'd guess it'd be somewhat higher.
In my experience the distro underneath matters far more than the desktop. KDE on PCLOS (or Devuan's incarnation of ours) is utterly slick. On Fedora, not so much. On Mageia, it's glacial. All on the same hardware, and nominally the same DE.
And I've had shit performance from Xfce (which is not optimized, per the maintainers, due to not enough hands).
Once compared what loads under Mint vs the same release of Ubuntu, wondering why Mint ran rings around it. Turned out Mint only loaded about 25% as much Stuff.
Seems there's a whole lot of It Depends in the linux world.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday May 08, @02:10PM (6 children)
You can't do anything with them apart from placing calls and whatever default apps come with the non-Android OS. And no, before you mention iOS, Apple too violates your privacy. So I'm not counting it as a true privacy-friendly alternative.
On the surface, you have many choices to evade the Android surveillance stack: Sailfish, PureOS, Ubuntu, Pine... In real life, your bank only makes Android- or iOS-compliant banking apps, and so do all the state and non-state agencies that matter that you need to interact with in the 21st century.
So whatever you do, you need some sort of Android-based phone with Google Play not completely removed or replaced by a barely-functional clone that doesn't cut it.
In other words, if you want a real phone that does stuff with a modicum of privacy, you need a GrapheneOS phone - meaning you'll be giving Google money for a fucking Pixel phone anyway. You just can't escape Google.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08, @02:52PM
You get extra points, just for mentioning GrapheneOS!
(Score: 2) by Snospar on Monday May 08, @03:43PM (1 child)
My bank doesn't force any sort of App on me (Android or iOS) and I'm sure this "phone" could run Firefox and access my bank's website quite happily. If you've got existing Android hardware you could try running something like LineageOS without installing any of the Google packages and that should be able to run your banks App (unless they themselves have tied it to the Google libraries... but not sure why they would).
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08, @04:36PM
You'll find that LineageOS is not as degoogled as one thinks it is. As GP mentioned, GrapheneOS is a cleaner choice in terms of lack of google software on the device (unless if you explicitly install it yourself). A considerable drawback of GrapheneOS is that you still have to pay google in real money for a pixel.
I've found that apps will bitch and moan on my GrapheneOS saying "oh noes, we cannot run because you don't have Google Play Services and all these other things not installed". After hitting "ignore" a couple of times, these apps run just fuckin' fine. I guess that goes to show what Google Play Services _really_ add to the equation, namely zilch.
(Score: 4, Informative) by RamiK on Monday May 08, @05:06PM
In the EU, most banking apps work without depending on google services (or can at least be run with microg). There's a thread over at the /e/ foundation's forum that lists exceptions: https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-not-work-with-microg/21151 [community.e.foundation]
FairPhone, Teracube and OnePlus phones can be flashed with degoogled roms and there's the like of Murena that package their models with OTA supported degoogled firmwares from-the-factory: https://murena.com/products/smartphones/ [murena.com]
compiling...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday May 09, @03:10AM
Well, you can use SMS on it, and it has a camera. You can run NavIt GPS for navigation, or, since it has Internet, you can run Google Maps itself through a web browser. Most other typical smartphone activities can also be done through your choice of web browser.
Beyond that, it runs Raspbian. If I hand you a smartphone running Debian itself, with OSS drivers for everything, and you can't think of anything to do with it except place calls, the problem is not with the smartphone.
It has SMS, which in non-stupid countries is plenty enough to log into your bank's website. I don't know what "state and non-state agencies" you're dealing with on a daily basis, or why you need a smartphone of any kind to deal with them, but my personal dealings with government agencies only tend to happen about once a year and do not involve smartphone apps when they occur. I'm sorry that you live in country where you (1) have to interact with government agencies on a daily basis to live your life and (2) can't complete those government interactions without installing and using shitty smartphone apps. However, your experience does not translate to countries that are less retarded.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pTamok on Tuesday May 09, @07:26AM
Not easily available in the Land of the Free, but phones running Sailfish OS from Jolla are not iOS or Android. The kernel is Linux, but the UI has some non-free elements, It is also possible to choose to run Android as a guest, but you don't have to load it.
(Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Monday May 08, @02:26PM
The Waveshare 4G hat uses a SIMCom LTE Cat 4 Module - the SIM7600G-H [microchip.ua]
It will be running it's own O/S (quite possibly Linux, or QNX, or somesuch) and has its own firmware.
Ah, here we go:
https://www.microchip.ua/simcom/LTE/Specification/SIM7600G-H%20R2_SPEC_202012.pdf [microchip.ua]
I believe it is a Qualcomm chipset. I haven't dug into the drivers in the embedded Linux.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday May 08, @02:30PM
Nothing ever really changes. "Ben Heck's DIY Cell Phone Part 1" dated Sep 2 2014 same idea nine years ago.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08, @03:58PM (2 children)
Is there any particular draw for going this route rather than getting a Pine phone, other than the hands-on DIY aspect of it?
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday May 09, @03:35AM (1 child)
The accessory scene for RPi is better.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 09, @02:27PM
The nice thing about the RaspberryPi is that it has a lot of community support and shops built around it. The bad thing about the RaspberryPi is that you've not been able to get one at face value since the pandemic started. Sure, maybe sometime in the next few months, supply will get better. Sure . . .
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Rich on Tuesday May 09, @06:12PM
Unless you are able to make a RasPi appear by magic. Or happen to have a spare one, which is as likely, because but those will all have been put to good use. Except for my RP4B/8GB, which I'd rather trade for its weight in gold at the moment than build a wonky phone. ;)
There are already conspiracy theories coming up. Last December, they made the big announcement that supply for small scale applications should be fine by 2023Q2 and unlimited amounts will be available in the second half of 2023. So far, there's ZILCH. To the point that the RasPi specialty shops don't list the boards on their websites anymore, and even the bundles which were available on and off during the initial shortage have vanished. E.g. the only bundles "rasppishop.de" lists are Nvidia Jetsons. Stangely enough, the Pi 400 is available, but it would be awkward to build a telephone from it. I looked around on the forums and people on heise.de already complain about the very corporate-nothing informations from Upton and co.
Are there any "OS capable" low cost SBC to be had right now? There's the Rock 5 and the Orange Pi 4/5 with Rockchip 3588 (or the older 3399), but they are as expensive as scalper prices for the RasPi. I don't have the impression that they enjoy widespread distrbution.