SailfishOS Appretiation Thread
 

For half a year I have been using this operating system on a phone that I specifically bought for the purpose (*).

I have been dreaming of "real" GNU/Linux on a smartphone for years, and this is it:

• A wayland session with a Qt desktop
• RPM package management with all tools required: zypper, pkcon...
• Full interaction with the (file)system is possible in ways any Linux admin is familiar with (anybody trying this on Android knows why this is a big thing)
• Customisation through user systemd services etc.
• A capable community creating useful (!) FOSS software

Historically, it has developed from the Jolla phone which in turn has developed from Nokia's last (***) smartphone, the N9.

One can always use the OS for free, but has to pay for certain features: On-device OS updates (**), Android support, Text predicition. Here's a good overview of what you get and what devices are supported.

[ The free version and the payed version use different websites; this is very confusing. For example, certain regionally limited licensing of the payed version does not apply to the free version. Both versions are identical inasmuch as the payed version is just a set of addons on top of the free version. They also use the same support channels. ]

Some parts are not FOSS - you can get a good overview on the lower half of this page and here.

However, I trust this company infinitely more than, say, Google - for many reasons: they're small, they're in the EU, they clearly respect their non-paying users, they have transparent Terms & Conditions and a comprehensive Privacy Policy:
https://jolla.com/privacy-policy/
https://jolla.com/sales-terms-conditions/
https://jolla.com/terms-of-service/
https://jolla.com/sailfish-eula/

Websites, community and support channels are scattered beyond words:
https://talk.maemo.org/
https://forum.sailfishos.org/
https://together.jolla.com/
https://jolla.zendesk.com/
I believe this has at least partly historical reasons.
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OK, that's enough for a first post.
Who else uses SailfishOS?
Share your experience and hacks?
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(*) It was dirt cheap. The market is so saturated with smartphones, they sell for a fraction of the price just a year or so after their release. I bought the Sony Xperia XA2 for 60EUR - it went for ~300EUR in 2018!

(**) however, it's always possible to reinstall when a new version comes out.

(***) meaning: the last before the hostile take-over.

Never mind the OS, that Jolla shop page shows a thing called a Gemini PDA and it's got a five row qwerty mechanical keyboard. :D :D :D

The Planet/Gemini website is atrociously bad... but its a six inch device with a REAL KEYBOARD!!!!

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c..._1400_s_2.webp

I need to decide whether to get a sim-based one or not, or maybe the Cosmo depending on what "planned support" actually means.

/me is super excited.

So uh, yeah... not yet a Sailfish user, but very likely to be trying it in the near future. :D

I've been wanting to try Sailfish since I now own a supported device and it looks like it should run very smoothly on it.

I'll need to get more sdcards first or maybe I could try Megi's multiboot image.

Agree about their website. Wix, srsly?

Where are you reading "planned support"? For the Gemini PDA?
Anyhow, SailfishOS has been going for almost a decade (counting in its heritage it would be more like 15 years) and it's not likely to drop dead anytime soon.
If this particular device gets you tickled, Sailfish is historically affiliated with the Nokia N900, and on talk.maemo.org you can find many like-minded people as well as talk about and other mobile devices with keyboards.

The thing that got me really tickled is that I finally (*) got SSHFS support working. Not only working, but accessible by all software, too!
This means: no more media servers required, I can listen to music & watch video & open password databases straight from my server. And it works really well, too, on a 4G connection!

Honorable mention: Deadbeef for SailfishOS.

(*) "finally" meaning: after years of pining for something like that on Android. Sometimes hearing that it's possible, only to get disappointed: either it works only inside the terminal app, or one needs to run a full Linux distro in a chroot...

No, for the Cosmo Communicator - the Planet Computers store has the following for Gemini and Cosmo:

https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/gemini-pda-1
> OS: Android OS 7.11 upgradable to 8.1 as standard.
>
> User installable Sailfish, Linux Debian and Linux Kali.

https://store.planetcom.co.uk/produc...o-communicator
> OS: Currently supporting Android OS.
>
> *Planned support for Sailfish, Linux Debian and Linux Kali.

I still haven't gotten around to checking whether that means that on the Cosmo those OSes don't yet work at all, or only the common features work and not (e.g.) the external screen, or something else.


Thanks, I'll probably pop-up over there once I've actually done a bit of research, since I'll no doubt still have questions, and there looks to be at least a couple of existing Gemini users there.

SailfishOS is sure a unique OS. Right now I'm posting from the Webcat browser on the Pinephone(Although LQ probably only sees android in the useragent:(). Jolla certainly got something right, this is by far the fastest and smoothest os I've tried on this not so powerful device. The other OS's are catching up fast but none of them has this large an app repo.

This is still a very new port so there's a few bugs left to fix. I wonder if the Nemo UI will ever become a viable replacement. It would probably be the last part needed to get a fully open sailfish experience.

Seems to be a rather limited market.
And it appears to be only available for some Sony phones. I would expect the sales figures to be in the dozens.

^ it's poorly phrased IMO; of course the use of the website is not prohibited in any way.
And that is only for Sailfish X - the payed version - SailfishOS itself is free; in fact its biggest customers are all outside of the countries mentioned above, and many users as well, some of them significant software contributors.
Do I sense jealousy from someone living elsewhere? Surely you jest.
They've been doing this for a decade.
I assure you, it's more than dozens.

Personally I have not so good experience with WebCat, or SailfishOS' own browser (Firefox-based, but an old version). Native browsers are a real problem on SailfishOS; I have no clue why.
With Android support I can use my beloved Fennec F-Droid, but I believe there's an equally viable solution with flatpak & Angelfish.

Jealousy? No, sir. But limiting the market to EU excludes most of the major world markets - all of Asia including China and India, Africa, all of the Americas, Australia, and more. In short, more than 90 percent of the world market. However important you may consider the EU, it's only a minor part of the world geographically and in population. I wish them luck, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

"and more" - New Zealand and Antarctica ...?

According to who?

Europe has more than twice the population of the United States.

I'm definitely not in the EU and Sailfish works on my device, legally. But that's not Sailfish X. I think the free Sailfish has features you need to pay for such as Android app support, etc.

The United States is not the entire world. Even I admit that. :) :rolleyes:

https://www.worldometers.info/world-...pe-population/

^ don't use worldometer, use ourworldindata.org instead.

Whatever the percentage is, I'm sure there's a sane reason why the sale (again: NOT the usage) of Sailfish X (again: not SailfishOS as such) is restricted to these countries.
I'm sure they're not doing it to deliberately make less money, and not out of some sort of EU patriotism either (you weren't really suggesting that now were you?).
Again: I know quite a few people outside of Europe actively posting on their forums, hence using it.

I have no idea why they do it, just curious. Perhaps there are legalities I know nothing about, and I admit I know little about Sailfish. It popped up as a thing some years back, then disappeared from view unless one actively searched for it. Having a viable OS for phones other than the big two would be welcome, but at the rate things have been progressing, there isn't much hope in sight. I am not encouraged by having an OS that works on only one somewhat obscure brand of phones, and only a handful of its models, after a decade or so of work.

 

My guess is because Jolla includes customer support and MS Exchange support with the paid version of Sailfish - by limiting themselves to Europe they don't have to work awkward hours (or setup offshore offices) in order to provide that.

Regarding...
Sailfish X was only launched three years ago, and Sony Xperia devices were pretty popular devices at one point, at least in the UK. Again it's likely a matter of having experts focused on knowing those devices and being able to provide better support due to that.

You'd need big hands to hold all the devices Sailfish OS has been ported to.