(This relates to both Linux and Android, so I am posting it here in the general forum)
I receoived the following message today from Planetcom support:
Linux on the Gemini still remains as a Developer Preview release, which is by no means recommended to be used as the main OS on the device. We advise using Linux for experimental and development reasons only. The main OS on the Gemini will remain Android, as the ARM/Mediatek chipset is best designed for use with Android.
There is no way to enable cellular data on Linux, and this will likely remain the case due to the "openness of Linux". Linux with an unlocked cellular modem could allow some potentially illegal actions to be easily executed. Hence, standard Linux (not talking about modified Linux for smartphones such as Ubuntu, Sailfish) does not, to this minute, have workable cellular modems in any device with such a vanilla form of Linux.
While this is unconfirmed, we know our developers are focusing some of their resources onto LineageOS for both the Cosmo and the Gemini. It is, however, important for us to focus primarily on Android, as no mobile phone manufacturer, regardless of scale, can risk their entire business by getting unlicensed by Google.
The refereences in this message to "Android" appear to refer not to Android but to a bundle of Android with proprietary Google-ware.
The statements about Google licensing are disingenuous, since
Google itself says that proprietary Google apps are independent of Android and that "Android will remain free and open source..... Going forward, Android partners wishing to distribute Google apps may also build non-compatible, or forked, smartphones and tablets for the European Economic Area (EEA)."
So distributing LineageOS or any other Android distribution not bundled with Google-ware, even if it were the primary Gemini OS rather than one of several options, would not (and, under EU law and Google licensing terms, could not) provide grounds for termination of licensing of Google-ware for those Gemini users who want it, or for other Planetcom devices.
The Gemini was advertised to Indiegogo backers, and is still being advertised to prospective purchasers, as a dual-boot Android/Linux device, with no mention of limited functionality in Linux or of basic Android functionality (such as calling, SMS, and mobile data) available only if proprietary Google-ware is also installed.