My BunsenLabs story

Posted as a reply in the BunsenLabs user forum.

I have an hp Pavilion dv5000 (dv5204ea), with Intel Celeron M 410 running at 1.46 GHz and 1 Gb of RAM memory, and a BIOS date from 13.06.2006., so the computer is 13 years old.

I use the CD version of BunsenLabs Helium as a LiveCD, and due to limited RAM memory, prefer that over the DVD variant.

NoScript is a huge amount of help when browsing the web, but YouTube is impossible to use with 1 Gb of RAM when BL is run from a LiveCD. In my experience, the LiveCD experience of YouTube is good with at least 2 Gb RAM and a dual-core CPU.

BunsenLabs (BL) meets several requirements:

• LiveCD (not DVD), so uses less memory;
• Small memory footprint;
• Based on Debian, so is also compatible with Ubuntu;
• Can run X, with only a window manager;
• Touchpad and pointer drivers must work reliably;
• Has modern Firefox.
• Bonus point: SystemD allows me to limit the memory Firefox can use.

BunsenLabs is one of the few that offers all that. I have a Knoppix 7.2 liveCD, but it's from 2013, is very old, has unreliable pointer drivers, and installing ID card software was cumbersome, and worked partially; I was only able to login and check my bank balance, but not make any transfers.

Ubuntu compatibility and modern Firefox are required for the latest supported software that uses the Estonian ID card. Upon tweaking the installation script, it installs the ID card software and a Firefox extension (both meant for Ubuntu Xenial) that helps with authentication and making electronic signatures online.

The Estonian ID card is a smart card and an identification document that's used for electronic authentication and electronic signing; it's used to access banks and make money transfers; to sign official documents (incl. contracts); to access government services, to conduct business and communications with the government; to vote online in local, general, and EU elections (expat or traveling Estonians can vote anywhere in the world, if they have the kit); to encrypt files, usually for transfer, to ensure high message secrecy; to remove oneself from party membership, and lots more. The ID card is a valid travel document within the European Union.

Estonia adopted the ID card system in 2002, but I got my first ID card in 2009, seven years after adoption. Until then, I used a passport, mostly to identify my person during elections, and when taking cash to the bank.

So, a year ago, after my bank stopped using non-electronic code cards (those with written numerical codes) for two-factor authentication, I finally got an ID card reader — nine years after I got my first ID card (I'm on a second one), and sixteen years after ID card readers became a thing in Estonia.

With some effort, it's possible to install Estonian ID card software meant for Ubuntu, so I could login into my bank and make transfers. Unfortunately, the ID card management software does not yet work properly. But I could vote! — Because the voting program is a separate package.

I'm not a luddite when it comes to technology, but am one of those who gets personal access to interesting stuff and technology much later than my reference group. Because reasons, but that's life, I guess.

So, in Autumn and Winter of 2018, BunsenLabs was essential just so I could check my bank balance at home, and make transfers.

The day-to-day need to use BunsenLabs waned in January 2019. On Christmas 2018, a relative got a new smartphone, and I asked for their old smartphone, explaining, that I could upgrade that old smartphone from Android 4.0.3 to Android 4.1.2, and install Smart-ID — so I could easily access my bank when in transit. Android 4.1 is the oldest version still supported by the Smart-ID app. The relative was convinced, and I got their old smartphone.

My earlier smartphone runs Android 2.3.6, and does not have any more upgrades available. Furthermore, in December 2018, the YouTube app also stopped working on Gingerbread. (There, the default browser would render the mobile YouTube page and thus allow playback in an external player until September 2019.)

Smart-ID is a new two-factor authentication system and app in Estonia and Latvia.

There is also Mobile ID (Mobiil-ID). It's equivalent to the ID card, and supports absolutely all kinds of phones, even featurephones dating back to early 2000s and even a bit before. One can vote with Mobile ID, but not with Smart ID. But — Mobile ID requires a phone contract and a specialized and more expensive SIM card, and is not exactly free, as it requires a small and regular fee.

Whereas Smart-ID is completely free, but has support for less services.

The newer device I got, is LG Optimus L5, which series was released in June 2012, a few months later than my Gingerbread phone.

I really didn't know if I could upgrade the LG phone from ICS to Jelly Bean. While information about upgrade possibility was up, off-the-air upgrades stayed within Android 4.0.3. This meant that I had to check if there was a computer-based upgrade possible.

At first sight, LG's official site had software available that would run on Windows 7 or greater, while I have Windows XP. Fortunately, LG's Australian section offered packages compatible with Windows XP, enabling me to make a backup of device data, and perform the upgrade to Android 4.1.2. Yay!

Getting Smart-ID registered still required use of the ID card, so BunsenLabs came in handy again.

I could login into my bank again. Yay!

As a result of installing registering Smart-ID, I could download my bank's app that just happens to also have Android 4.1 as the earliest supported Android, so with some effort (because this phone's RAM is only 512 Mb), I used Smart-ID to register my bank's app. My bank's app is crashy for most things, but at least allows me to check the balance quickly.

LG Optimus L5 has the same CPU and RAM specs as the phone with Gingerbread (Samsung Galaxy Mini 2), but sports a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, while the Samsung smartphone has only a 3.15 Mpix sensor with just fixed-focus and without flash. This is really an upgrade to me, as the LG phone is able to scan more detailed QR codes, which has come in very handy.

Coincidentally, Android 4.1 is also the earliest/oldest Android supported by the Estonian online vote verification app, which scans a QR code displayed by the voting app in the computer after a user has finished voting. For some technical reason, the app wouldn't work as intended during the Estonian Parliament elections in March 2019. It's very possible, that the QR code to verify a person's vote has a very short lifetime. The app worked flawlessly during European Parliament elections in May 2019.

Chip supplies are not affected

Also posted as a story comment on Slashdot.

An LG spokesperson clarified, that the court situation does not affect supplies of Qualcomm chips to LG. Source.

Therefore, the 'concerns about rollout' is speculation (IMO) by an analyst whose assertion got a signal boost from Reuters.

Any possible delay — which is just a rumour — could be attributed to a thorough testing of hardware and software.

Judge Lucy Koh ruled, that Qualcomm has had onerous prices for use of its patents, and that Qualcomm should 'sign new patent licensing deals without Qualcomm's offending terms,' which is what LG wants.

But Qualcomm apparently wants the antitrust decision to not be enforced and to be set aside in licensing negotiations with LG (and possibly others) as one of the delay tactics in legal proceedings so as to demand the fulfilment of Qualcomm's previous and onerous terms on pricing. If LG caves, the ruling by the honourable Judge Koh will be pointless.

This would simply mean more expensive phones.

For LG, that would mean releasing kit with a bigger sticker price, which isn't exactly enticing to consumers, and, of course, LG either.

LG would still have a good position, because the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, who originated the case, also asked the court to deny Qualcomm's request for stay.

The pricing and antitrust issues notwithstanding, the LG mobile business has a decent opening with the ongoing brouhahae surrounding Huawei.

It should be noted, that like Samsung, LG is a Very Large(tm) company in South Korea, with 222,000 employees in 2012, and $147.2 billion in revenue plus a $2.4 billion profit for the year 2018.

It is strange, though, that LG terminated their previous patent licensing deal with Qualcomm instead of renegotiating that deal, or negotiating a new deal while the previous deal was still in effect. Currently, both have an interim deal.

There was a similar case with Apple suing Qualcomm over prices, and plenty of people whined, as if Apple and its consumers weren't rich enough to pay up.

Apple and Qualcomm settled, with 'Apple paying $4.5 billion to settle a case and obtain a license for 5G modem technology.' That settlement will stand, even if Qualcomm's request to stay is denied. Very suddenly, Intel announced that it was shutting down its modem business and the relevant research and development, while a rumour surfaced, that Apple wants to buy just that, and Intel is looking for a buyer (story at URL above).

The Apple and Intel story is interesting, but at this point, I do not know if regulators in the European Union will approve the sale, as the modem business is in Germany, and is based on Infineon, which was purchased by Intel. Apple would certainly be poised to have and develop competing modems, as some of the former Infineon employees are already at Apple.

Regulators should watch the movements closely. See, when Apple purchased AuthenTec, a company with the best fingerprint sensor in the market, then the other phone makers could no longer use it. As much was implied by Mr. Dennis Woodside, then-the-CEO of Motorola, who told The Telegraph, that Motorola and the others were left with the 'second-best supplier in the market, who weren't there yet.'

Looking back on an advert: Samsung Galaxy Mini II vs Nokia Asha 311

Five years ago (as of February 2019), this photo comparing Samsung Galaxy Mini II and Nokia Asha 311 caught my eye. On the surface, both had comparable specifications to what I wanted, but I'd preferred a Nokia phone simply on the strength of the Nokia brand. What follows, is a comment that I recently posted.

When my primary phone was a flip-phone with just a 2 Mpix camera, then I dreamed of getting that Nokia Asha 311 one day, as it had all of the new features that I thought I could want.

A young relative got that one for his birthday, but lost it soon after under a tree in the countryside (it was found a year later in a bit disheveled state, but it still worked).

In late 2013, I got the Galaxy Mini II as a hand-me-down (used). It's got a better camera than the flip phone (3.15 Mpix), and comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, ended up with a longer useable lifetime and with more functionality and apps than I would have had with Asha 311.

For instance, I could install Firefox on Android, and that extended the Mini II's useable lifetime for quite a bit longer than it would with just the default Android browser.

If equipped with NoScript, and configured properly, then Firefox is the browser that can prevent the planned obsolescence of many old Androids.

When several apps stopped working on Android 2.3, I could use their mobile web equivalents in Firefox. Even Skype for Web, which needed specific work to function in Firefox on Gingerbread.

Five years after I got the Mini II, by Christmas 2018, I finally got an upgrade, which is a hand-me-down from an elder relative, who got a substantial phone upgrade themselves, and had no need for the old phone.

The 'newer' phone has almost the same specs, but a 5 Mpix camera, and had Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which I'd upgraded it to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean through the phone's official connectivity software.

I would have stayed with Android 4.0.3, but I needed the upgrade, as 4.1 Jelly Bean is the earliest version supported by the Smart ID app, without which I wouldn't be able to do online banking on my phone, should the need arise. I don't have the SmartID app yet, but now I have the possibility to eventually find out, if I can run it there.

The origins of 'free Wi-Fi everywhere in Estonia'

This was initially written as a reply, so I've expanded this post with more links. This blogpost is meant to point out wifi.ee as one of the places where it all began.

There's a very insightful thread on reddit about the history of the notion of "free Wi-Fi everywhere in Estonia".

As of 2019, free Wi-Fi in Estonia hasn't gone anywhere, and continues to thrive in many places.

But there were free Wi-Fi hotspots ten and even fifteen years ago, too, and even earlier (802.11b). Generally, the newer 802.11g Wi-Fi standard was first adopted in January 2003, which is almost exactly 16 years ago.

The earliest Internet Archive snapshot of wifi.ee, a website that began mapping public Wi-fi hotspots in Estonia, dates back to 7 march 2002. That's 17 years ago; there were only 7 public hotspots in all of Estonia on 14 March 2002.

Just look at this archived photo made in Tartu Lõunakeskus. That's seventeen years ago!

The Reddit thread is insightful, as several posts point out, that this kind of connectivity was almost unheard of elsewhere, and was like science fiction to people visiting the country.

The current 2019 map has 1225 free/public Wi-Fi networks.