Does anyone here use a linux phone in 2018?

Originally Posted by nzoomed Pine64 is basically a single board computer, there is quite a following for these, particularly with hobbyists, and no surprise it sold. I am not overly impressed with its reliability (I think its overheating issues from what i read) but there is not much support with distros currently from what I can tell Perhaps their ecosystem will change over time as their products become more popular, but raspberry pi seems to be the dominant one on the market even though there are many other better SBCs on the market.

As far as the Linux phone, Ondoho has said what I would have said. Great post.

As far as the raspberry pi being inferior. I own one, another one on the way right now. From what I see, RPi took a little more time in designing the 4. Most others WERE better but after the 4 was released people changed their tune. They are hard to match for their price.

Whats your view on ubuntu, is that too over commercialised for your liking? They appear to have done alot in the linux space to help gain adoption, and also help Debian development along the way. Linux mint seems to be a popular alternative but is still based largely on Ubuntu anyway. Ive tried out Kubuntu and i cant say I can really complain about it. I really just want to find a distro that works well and has good support. Ive always played around with Debian over the years, and Red Hat back in the early 2000s. Debian and its derivatives seem to be what most distros are based on these days, so is likely a good idea to use something based on Debian.

This is offtopic, but... I've used both Ubuntu and Mint quite a bit. Mint wins hands down for me. I still use it all the time. Ubuntu is going with snaps, mint is going with flatpak. I don't like either or of these package systems but flatpak is a little more tolerable.

Originally Posted by Mill J As far as the Linux phone, Ondoho has said what I would have said. Great post. As far as the raspberry pi being inferior. I own one, another one on the way right now. From what I see, RPi took a little more time in designing the 4. Most others WERE better but after the 4 was released people changed their tune. They are hard to match for their price. This is offtopic, but... I've used both Ubuntu and Mint quite a bit. Mint wins hands down for me. I still use it all the time. Ubuntu is going with snaps, mint is going with flatpak. I don't like either or of these package systems but flatpak is a little more tolerable.

Nothing wrong with the raspberry pi, ive used them and I think they perform better than my pine64 i bought off kickstarter, even if it is 32 bit.
I think the 64 bit thing is more of a marketing thing since it was the first 64 bit SBC.
Value for money the pi is all round pretty good, what i was saying about the other SBCs on the market is there are a few better options out there, but they do cost more.
I think it was the beagleboard x15 I was thinking of, but its pretty pricey, but there are other boards with a similar texas instruments chip out there too I think.

Perhaps I should give Linux Mint a go, it seems to be pretty popular these days. When I first heard of it back when it was new, many I knew were not happy with it, said it was too much like Microsoft, perhaps things have changed.
Either way, as long as both distros continue to support APT and debian packages, I wont complain.

Originally Posted by nzoomed . Value for money the pi is all round pretty good, what i was saying about the other SBCs on the market is there are a few better options out there, but they do cost more.

My point exactly.

Perhaps I should give Linux Mint a go, it seems to be pretty popular these days. When I first heard of it back when it was new, many I knew were not happy with it, said it was too much like Microsoft, perhaps things have changed. Either way, as long as both distros continue to support APT and debian packages, I wont complain.

Mint 17.1 was my introduction to Linux. It was very buggy. I'm now running 19.3 and 20 both run much faster and way more stable.

Originally Posted by nzoomed Perhaps I should give Linux Mint a go, it seems to be pretty popular these days. When I first heard of it back when it was new, many I knew were not happy with it, said it was too much like Microsoft, perhaps things have changed. Either way, as long as both distros continue to support APT and debian packages, I wont complain.

It won't let you down.

Originally Posted by Sahilty It won't let you down.

I just took a look and see they dont do it with KDE anymore, which is a shame.
I guess I can still install it, but dunno if it would cause any complications.

Curiosity was engaged after reading

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...49-4175681321/


So. Since my new battery is on order < aint screwing with cracked screen >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjAWMKi_NAE

Looks like compatibility time is catching up.

Well it's no longer 2018 but I'm posting from my new PostmarketOS Edition PinePhone. First time using a real linux phone. I'm using desktop Firefox and it's very snappy so far. We'll see how long that lasts when I start tinkering

Edit: LQ thinks I'm posting from android. Might need to check out the useragent.

^ Super!

Can you make phone calls & send SMS?
How's battery life?

Is PostmarketOS based on Alpine or AOSP?
What kernel does it use?

Originally Posted by ondoho ^ Super! Can you make phone calls & send SMS? How's battery life? Is PostmarketOS based on Alpine or AOSP? What kernel does it use?

My existing SIM cards were detected but I was unable to "register" on the cell network. I'll keep trying, it'll probably take a "bring your own phone" plan to properly work. That's what's listed in the wiki anyways.

PostmarketOS is based on Alpine. Most of the devices they support are Android devices, however the PinePhone seems to be the only one running mainline Linux. I think the same is true for Ubports.

I haven't taken the time to actually "time" the battery from fully charged to discharged, however Mobian and Ubports seem to last longer than PMOS right now, if you turn the screen off on those two, it takes very little battery.

I'm surprised at just how usable these OS's are getting. Still a lot of work to be done but if they get mms working it'll be plenty for me(providing I find a sim that works).

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Originally Posted by Mill J I'll keep trying, it'll probably take a "bring your own phone" plan to properly work. That's what's listed in the wiki anyways.

Sorry, I don't understand this, can you explain? Are you saying your mobile provider won't let you register with a "wild" device, you might need to get a separate SIM card with a permissive contract?

I haven't taken the time to actually "time" the battery from fully charged to discharged, however Mobian and Ubports seem to last longer than PMOS right now, if you turn the screen off on those two, it takes very little battery.

So, what, for Mobian or UBports, 2 days with average usage (no updates or system management, some phone calls/ internet usage/ music)? More? less?

Originally Posted by ondoho Thanks for taking the time to reply! Sorry, I don't understand this, can you explain? Are you saying your mobile provider won't let you register with a "wild" device, you might need to get a separate SIM card with a permissive contract?

No, I think the deal is that the modem IMEI isn't registered with the network, I think all it takes is to activate a sim with the IMEI number. What I tried was just putting a sim in from another active phone, i haven't tried to register it yet. On the PinePhone chat it seems almost everybody has sims working.

So, what, for Mobian or UBports, 2 days with average usage (no updates or system management, some phone calls/ internet usage/ music)? More? less?

PMOS is the fastest os I've tried. Buts it's hardly a fair comparison since the others were running on SDs. Wi-Fi worked absolutely perfect on all OS's but I really liked the PMOS Firefox. It's Fast on my 15kbps internet connection! It zooms and scrolls very nice just like you would expect on mobile.

Mobian has the experience that most Linux guys want and comes preloaded with the most apps and camera works although very poorly. All around probably my favorite.

Ubports it actually much smoother than I figured, even on an SD.

Speaker seems decent. Headphones were too quiet, probably fixable through software. Haven't tried calling but I tested the earpiece and it sounds decent.


I knew what I was getting so I'm actually impressed at how good everything works. Sure it got a ways to go but there's tremendous development right now.

I'll update when I get calling figured out. It might take a while.

^ Thanks again... but you didn't say anything about battery life?

Originally Posted by Mill J No, I think the deal is that the modem IMEI isn't registered with the network, I think all it takes is to activate a sim with the IMEI number. What I tried was just putting a sim in from another active phone, i haven't tried to register it yet. On the PinePhone chat it seems almost everybody has sims working.

So you're saying that it's a problem with a secondary SIM and the network, not your pinephone? But then you'd have the same problem if you put that SIM card into any other phone, no?
Sorry, I really don't get this. I have never experienced the sort of vendor lock-in that seems to be the norm in other countries' mobile markets. If that's what you're talking about.

Originally Posted by ondoho ^ Thanks again... but you didn't say anything about battery life?

That's because I was still testing. It's hard to test when you are constantly messing with it. Screen time really eats battery. So here are some stats of the PinePhone with screen off and suspended:

Ubports started at 99% 8.5hr later it's at 14%

Mobian started at 96%, 7hr later it's at over 70%

Pretty easy to see the winner.

So you're saying that it's a problem with a secondary SIM and the network, not your pinephone? But then you'd have the same problem if you put that SIM card into any other phone, no? Sorry, I really don't get this. I have never experienced the sort of vendor lock-in that seems to be the norm in other countries' mobile markets. If that's what you're talking about.

Pretty sure the problem is not the phone. Over here carrier like when you buy vendor locked phones from them. So it's an extra step when bringing your own phone. Like I said I'll try activating when I get time.

^ Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!