EdTheDevJun 15

Have you ever wanted to learn a new variant of Linux, but felt that the efficiency of the Linux kernel was just too snappy and responsive on modern hardware - such that your learning iterations were destined to be too quick and successful?

If so, let me tell you about the current state of Linux phones!

Sorry, for the sarcasm. I am #boredomposting while I wait for my Linux phone to update some packages.

The graphical updater has been rubbish for me on the #PinePhone (on #ManjeroLinux), but the #cli is seems to be (slowly) succeeding in applying udpates, right now.

I'm tempering my expectations, but the CLI works fine most of the time.

I really hope this works!

Show threadEdTheDevJun 15

update: it did not work.

I'll try flashing a version of Linux I'm more familiar with, next.

#Linux #LinuxPhone #cli #there_was_an_attempt #JustKeepSwimmingJustKeepSwimming

Show threadEdTheDev5d ago

Linux Phone update:

I messed around trying to flash Mobian (mobile Debian) on my PinePhone, but I got a flashing light error code, and could not find any documentation for error codes in TowBoot.

"But, Edward!", you say, "If lack of documentation stopped your project, why not see if the famously excellent Arch Wiki can solve it?!"

Well, I tried that too!

And what happened is - I now have a snappy responsive Linux phone running Arch!

#Linux #mobile #archlinux #mobian #pinephone #floss #privacy #ivoidwarranties

Show threadYankeeDoodleAndy5d ago

@EdTheDev Would you really say Arch on a pine phone is snappy? I tried it some time ago and it was okay. I tried postmarket the other day and it has about the same performance I remember Arch having.

Every app takes a couple seconds at least to load, which isn't too bad, but Firefox can really drag. It's much better when using an HTML-only search engine, but I have yet to find a way to set that as a default in mobile Firefox.

If things are better on Arch though maybe I should give it another shot on my pine phone.

Show threadEdTheDev4d ago

@ablatedsprocket I'm not as far as anything as aggressive as browsing the web. Haha.

I'm just relieved that basic tasks like switching windows, changing settings, and opening a terminal are snappy with Arch Linux, on my PinePhone64 (with the default settings).

The Manjero Linux configuration that it shipped with had multi-second delays for most actions, ad was effectively unusable.

I will provide further updates here as I try more things.

#pinephone #archlinux #linuxphone #floss

Show threadYankeeDoodleAndy3d ago
@EdTheDev I'll try it out, too then. Are you using phosh? The best experience I had in terms of snappiness was with sxmo, but that's a lot more config and a very different experience IMO.
Show threadEdTheDev3d ago

@ablatedsprocket Yes. I believe I'm using Phosh on Arch.

Thanks for the tip on sxmo. It looks promising. I have added it to my list to try out. I think I am going to need a lighter window manager than Phosh if I ever want to use my (not pro model) PinePhone as a daily driver.

I'm having such a nice time being in completely over my head with all this.

Show threadYankeeDoodleAndy
@EdTheDev good luck with sxmo if you try it. I personally don't recommend it, too many things I didn't realize I would have to set up myself, for example a power menu.
Jun 24 at 9:59pmWeb
Show threadEdTheDev3d ago
@ablatedsprocket Oh yes. I'm probably too busy to mess with manually setting up separate common applets, this year. Thanks for the pointer.