RE: https://androiddev.social/@MishaalRahman/115849772521760098
It’s worth repeating. Android is not a viable base for an independent or even just collaborative operating system. Android is Google and only Google’s project.
If you want to see an actually transparent, international, and collaborative system on phones, support @postmarketOS
@thibaultamartin @postmarketOS
The last time I checked postmarketOS, it was a hacky hobby project not being able to use it on daily base, because almost nothing worked.
And the only usable messenger – if you want to connect with normies – is Signal and because it's the desktop version, it will look weird and UE is bad using desktop versions on mobile devices.
Do you use postmarketOS on a daily base?
@opensourceopenmind @thibaultamartin @postmarketOS
hmmm… the Librem 5 costs $800 and I ask myself: For what?
It's not possible to communicate with "normal" people, who gave up their freedom. Without Whatsapp, it's hard to connect with new people, without Signal it's hard to stay in touch with friends and family (and they only use Signal, because I forced them).
I mean, there is a chance that Trump makes more stuff what he does, because in Europe were is already a movement to leave Big Tech companies.
So maybe people will start to use XMPP. At that point postmarketOS might make sense.
But for now it's just a playground for Linux enthusiasts imho.
@opensourceopenmind @thibaultamartin @postmarketOS
I've read that it's the desktop version of Signal and that it is hard to write and not the whole app can be used.
Deltachat might be a good idea, because it's easier to teach people how to use it. There is even a method to only scan a qr code and start.
@utopify_org @thibaultamartin @postmarketOS Yes fully agree on Delta Chat - the easiest onboarding in any messenger.
Regarding Signal on Linux mobile, it and **all** apps on Linux mobile are desktop apps! The Signal desktop sidebars can be collapsed and then it is easy to write.
@opensourceopenmind @utopify_org @thibaultamartin @postmarketOS
I also use a #Librem5 from @purism as my daily phone.
I also use the Signal flatpak, and it works pretty well for me. I zoom out a little bit to have a better experience on the small phone screen.
I also use the upcoming crimson version of #PureOS.
@janvlug @opensourceopenmind @thibaultamartin @postmarketOS @[email protected]
Isn't it a little bit weird to use desktop apps on a mobile phone? I imagine the font is always too small, because if you got the same app, but on a smaller screen, everything must be pretty small.
And if you zoom in, icons and the design might deform and it looks clunky. At least that's what I imagine…
Do you have to zoom on every app, like browsers, too?
Most GNOME apps are adaptive. You can try yourself to make their windows roughly the size of a phone on your GNOME desktop.
For Signal desktop I collapse the left side pane with names to just show the avatars, it looks pretty mobile native that way.
In general, I do not zoom at all on the Librem 5. And all looks really good. It is more that app change their layout to fit better on a phone. Try it with:
@utopify_org @janvlug @thibaultamartin
Screenshot of #SignalDesktop I took last year on #Librem5.
Regarding browsers, the default #FirefoxESR does not need any zooming in, and neither does #GnomeWeb, #Kumo or #AngelFish. On #BraveBrowser, I zoom in 125%.
Btw, being able to use desktop apps on #LinuxMobile is generally considered one of its advantages!
@opensourceopenmind @janvlug @thibaultamartin
Okay, I see. I tried it on my notebook, too, but I have to say it's pretty annoying, because many of my contacts (like yours), do not use a profile picture. It's hard to figure out who the icon is and I can only see if, if I open the chat.
Do you know by any chance a smartphone on which pmos will work pretty good? But it should be an older model and not too expensive. (The compatibility data on the wiki might be too old, I don't trust it)
@utopify_org
- #SignalApp lets you mark the chat as unread again after you've opened it.
- My impression was that all the devices in the #postmarketOS community category are older models, except perhaps the #Fairphone 6.
- What do you want the device for? Even for daily driving, people need different features. I, for example, have totally abandoned voice calls, and use a data-only plan, although voice calls do work on the #Librem5 with my provider.
I've seen that the OnePlus 6/6T, Google Pixel 3a and Fairphone 5 are mostly recommended by users. In my experience, the Librem 5 is better supported except for GPS - you need an internet connection and Wi-Fi toggled on.
@opensourceopenmind @utopify_org
I have the impression that GPS on (some of?) the earliest released Librem 5's did not work so well. On my current Librem 5 GPS works well (although AGPS is not there yet).
@janvlug I have gotten GPS turn-by-turn in-car navigation to work amazingly sometimes, but then the following week it would not be that reliable. Only in #PureOS Crimson, I noticed that because of the #BeacondDB integration, if my Wi-Fi was toggled on, the location fix was near instant : ) Same on pmOS. Tried Sebastian's AGNSS script on both and it doesn't really appear to make a difference : (
When I'm moving in a fast moving car (>50km/h), the location lags behind a bit by a few hundred metres. If I'm walking, it's much better - so I think it's only the Wi-Fi based location fix that's really working reliably.
If fast location fix (without Wi-Fi) and turn-by-turn navigation worked consistently and reliably, I'd say the #Librem5 is a complete Android replacement (for me at least). Currently, I still need to take an old degoogled Android with OrganicMaps as a backup when driving to totally new and far areas; it works in airplane mode without any network connection and with no SIM.
What's the name of the navigation app for postmarketOS?
So, okay, if I am on the German Autobahn navigation might be useless. But is there an information like "After 1km right", so that you know were to leave the Autobahn (more or less)?
And how presice is it if you drive less than 50km/h?
@utopify_org @opensourceopenmind
I think that @opensourceopenmind is speaking about Pure Maps. I use that as well.
https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.rinigus.PureMaps
Regarding GPS on PureOS Crimson, I noticed that the gnss-share.service was not running for me. I created this issue for that: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/OS-issues/-/issues/363
@opensourceopenmind @utopify_org @organicmaps
I tested my #Librem 5 running #Crimson #PureOS the last days with #PureMaps turn by turn navigation in the car.
Note that due to a bug (for which a fix is in the pipeline) I had to enable manually gnss-share first:
sudo systemctl status gnss-share.service
After that PureMaps worked flawlessly for navigation up to speeds of 130 km/h.
Unfortunately, the voice instruction volume is a little to low for me though.
Can you check if gnss-share.service is running on your Librem 5?
You can do that with in a terminal with this command:
sudo systemctl status gnss-share.service
The service should be active.
@opensourceopenmind @janvlug If location only works when online, it means it doesn't use GPS at all and that something may be misconfigured on your device.
GNSS works on the (mass-produced revision of) Librem 5 fully offline. The AGNSS script only makes it faster.
(on older revisions which do have troubles with it one could sacrifice one of the GSM antennas and use the modem's built-in GNSS capability instead)
Depending on what is possible with postmarketOS, I would like to use it on a daily base and if not, it would be a cool project anyway.
Do these things work?
- Full device encryption: I'll never use a mobile device, which contains my private data without encryption
- Navigation: Is there something like Organic Maps? Offline maps, putting flags on the map, sharing places.
- Wifi: I don't use mobile internet, because almost everywhere I am, Wifi exists
- VPN: Mullvad would be awesome
- Syncthing, BOINC, Element/Matrix: I guess it works like on a desktop pc?
Is there an alternative to Vim to view/edit text files (e.g. Markor on Android), because using Vim on a small glass keyboard sounds pathetic 😄
Is there a website showing "desktop touch alternatives" to their smartphone counterpart? Would be interesting what apps people use on their postmarketOSs?
So in Signal you just open a chat, not knowing who the sender is and then you mark it as unread, if it's "not interesting" or if you don't have time to answer it?
I've tried the mark unread feature on Signal Desktop right now, but I don't know exactly for what it was invented? (except for the above cases).
I forgot to mention music. 😀
It would be cool to listen to music and podcasts on a postmarketOS device, connecting a bluetooth headset to it.
The Pixel 3 would be cool, because my current one is a Pixel 8, but the wiki says "partial" (red) at audio and gps. But what does it mean?
https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Google_Pixel_3_(google-blueline)
@utopify_org Podcasts support is amazing with KDE #Kasts except that it does not support podcasting 2.0 features yet.
Any device not in the community category is probably not worth your time, unless you have the knowledge and skill to tinker with it and make it work.
I've read that it's possible to share the last position of your podcast between devices, but you need gpodder for it.
Is there a solution to share the position with a file, synchronizing it with Syncthing?
I am looking for years for a serverless solution to sync the podcast position between devices.
How to get the knowledge and skill to tinker?
I don't even know where to start?
Do you tinker and develop stuff for postmarketOS?
I mean pmOS is an interesting project and it will have a huge impact on the planet, if you are able to get old phones running.
And old phones even have more cores than my "newest" notebook, which I use everyday.
Saving those resources is more than cool. But how?
Thanks a lot for all the information about postmarketos and your help 🙂
@utopify_org Sorry I don't know about specific issues with other devices besides the L5, but please feel free to ask in the Matrix room:
I am already there, asking stuff 🙂
In general it looks like the OnePlus 6 is often used in the pmos community.
@utopify_org If you are planning to someday use it as your main device, that means it will need to connect to the cellular network towers at some point, possibly in an emergency although I hope you never have to.
That means, with all the 3G shutdowns going on across the world and providers keeping allowlists of approved devices that they are sure support VoLTE, investing in a more recent device like the Fairphone 5 would make sense for the long term.
Of course, the Librem 5 being old is not an issue due to its modular nature; the modem is user replaceable and has already been upgraded once, and another modem is probably coming this year based on the user forums.
@utopify_org
- FDE works without issue on pmOS with L5.
- Navigation: replied in another post.
- Wi-Fi: reliable.
- VPN: pmOS is Alpine based so something packaged for Alpine, or cross-distro flatpak like #MozillaVPN, or OpenVPN profile with built-in Network Manager, or browser addon in Firefox. I've only tested the last one. Not sure about Wireguard.
- Syncthing should work. Not sure what's BOINC.
- Default chat app on phosh UI supports Matrix chatting. For voice calls, you can use Element Desktop.
I don't know about alternatives specifically for Linux mobile, but in general you can find Linux mobile apps here:
- https://flathub.org/en/apps/collection/mobile/1
- https://linuxphoneapps.org/
I guess you can use @alternativeto website and just filter by platform (Linux) and license (Open Source), e.g. https://alternativeto.net/software/whatsapp/?license=opensource&platform=linux
@opensourceopenmind @alternativeto
Thanks a lot for the links. I didn't know flathub had a corner for mobile apps 😮
@utopify_org @opensourceopenmind
I use a #Librem5 as my daily phone:
- Full device disk encryption with #LUKS
- #PureMaps for navigation. GNOME Maps for looking, searching on a map. Both #OpenStreetMap based.
- WiFi just works
- In the past I used Mullvad VPN, but recently not tested any more.
- Synchronization via ssh/scp. I could very probably also use Nextcloud client, but did not test that.
- Signal Desktop
- #Fractal for #Matrix
- I use vim (mostly over ssh)
(1/2)
@utopify_org @opensourceopenmind
- List of mobile apps on #flathub: https://flathub.org/en-GB/apps/collection/mobile/1
- I do not play music, but there is #Gapless installed by default.
- I listen podcast daily with GNOME Podcasts: https://flathub.org/en-GB/apps/org.gnome.Podcasts
- I listen to internet radio daily with #ShortWave: https://flathub.org/en-GB/apps/de.haeckerfelix.Shortwave
- I do not use bluetooth, so I cannot say how well it works. I use the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
- I like that the Librem 5 is produced by a real #Linux first social purpose company.
(2/2)
Is it somehow possible to connect the librem 5 to a monitor and use a keyboard and mouse on it?
My very first smartphone was a Motorola Atrix 4G, which had a docking station and it booted a desktop linux, while in the docking station (without it had Android). I've never seen something useful like this before and the only reason why I bought a smartphone at all, was to use it as a desktop, if I come home.
The librem 5 costs $800 and that's a lot of money, because I only invest like $200 for my "newer" notebook. I buy a used notebook on ebay every 5-8 years and it's more than enough for my daily use (coding, writing, surfing, communicating, ordering, online banking, etc.).
Investing more than 4 times for more for a phone, which is restricted (compared to Android) seems super expensive. Especially the hardware specs don't look pretty good. Phones for the same price have twice as much cores and ram.
For this amount of money I would expect to use it for more than just a phone.
Thanks a lot for your long answer :)
Is it possible to share the current position of your listened podcasts to other devices?
I am looking for years for a podcast software, which can do this, but it looks like if something like it exists you get forced to use a proprietary server and get spied on/have to share personal data.
Thib
maxmoon 🌱
Fossman
Jan Vlug
Sebastian Krzyszkowiak
