Trying out KaiOS Simulator (and failing)
"Low budget phone OS" seems to mean what it says
Re-watching KaiOS hype YouTube videos from two years ago, I tried tackling with it, again. TL;DR: I failed so far, but there is hope.
KaiOS WebIDE
KaiOS is based on Mozilla’s Gecko engine, so for development you can really use Firefox, and there is even an IDE that runs in it called WebIDE. The problem is that it runs well in Firefox 48, and not so well in the current version available. The problem I ran into is shown below: screen starts scrolling and stucks.
I thought: maybe I could install Linux to VirtualBox, then install proper version of Firefox there and use it for tackling with KaiOS? Well, good news: I installed Alpine Linux to VirtualBox and even ran XFCE there. Bad news is that I did not find how to install Firefox 48 and worse is that WebIDE refused to run there at all. I confess, I was too lazy to proceed to make it work, but for me this kind of laziness is a signal that maybe things should be simpler than how I’ve approached them.
Current questions I’d want to find answers to:
Is it a good idea to try developing for KaiOS at all? Is it profitable or interesting in any way, as it seems to be based on web technologies from 2016 and market that it is targeted to is not very profitable? First applies to generic desire to tinker with it, and second to the business question “how hard is it to make $100 per month on a KaiOS app”.
Is it a good idea to run KaiOS Simulator on Alpine in VirtualBox, or is there a better approach? I’d not want to install Firefox 48 instead to my x86 Linux, so some kind of virtualization is needed. I am almost completely clueless on what virtualization solutions resolve which problems. Is it even possible to install Firefox 48 to Alpine?
Why kaiosrt binary won’t run in Alpine, saying it can’t find the file, though I pass the full path to it? It is executable, architecture seems to be right, Firefox is installed… Maybe it is because of using root user?
As KaiOS WebIDE runs in Firefox, I wonder if it can be autotested with Selenium? And does it make sense to do that?
The hope
Some time ago Mozilla announced some kind of partnership with KaiOS Tech, potentially helping to upgrade that outdated Gecko engine version that KaiOS runs on now to some reasonably modern version. This would probably solve those issues I’ve ran into.
The big question about KaiOS future
Generally, I see a big problem with future vision of KaiOS, as this is an “OS for poor”, semi-smartphone OS, and as a low income person gets more money s/he would want to upgrade to Android or iOS, and not to other KaiOS phone. I recall using phones like this in late 2000’s, and back then I’d be happy to exchange my phone to a more functional one. I.e. there is no real loyalty of client base here, they are using KaiOS because they cannot afford better solution today, and they will drop it as soon as they can.