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PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

pine64.org

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Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#111

Post by stOneskull »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #105
matkoniecz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. > How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? In many cases they win by default. If "no leaking of personal data"…

> That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. I love Linux. I'm a Linux desktop user but I can 100% say my experience is degraded compared to mac and windows users. Not just in apps that are there but in small things like sometimes it changes which mic is being used without telling me. Driver support is also a thing. I have my GUI crash on me on…

linux mint somewhat improves ubuntu for the desktop, and fixes many of the little things.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#112

Post by stOneskull »

KronisLV wrote: post #72
superasn wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to feel the exact same way until 2 years ago. But my experience has been absolutely brilliant with Linux mint in the last 2 years. No driver issues, super nice UI and everything just works now! As a matter of fact the only use I have for Windows now is for playing games (also Photoshop). Otoh the amount of clutter and issues I have to deal in Win10 is just bad. I digress but thankfully there is a tool called "…

For anyone interested, here's the homepage of Linux Mint: https://linuxmint.com/ It is based on Ubuntu and uses the Cinnamon desktop by default, however personally i also rather enjoy the XFCE spin, for example: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4103 To that end, i also enjoy smaller distributions like Xubuntu, which are just customized Ubuntu, should someone not necessarily want to use Mint in particular: https://xubunt…

i think if you are going to go with debian for the desktop, you may as well go with mx linux

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#113

Post by fendy3002 »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #105
matkoniecz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. > How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? In many cases they win by default. If "no leaking of personal data"…

> That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. I love Linux. I'm a Linux desktop user but I can 100% say my experience is degraded compared to mac and windows users. Not just in apps that are there but in small things like sometimes it changes which mic is being used without telling me. Driver support is also a thing. I have my GUI crash on me on…

> I have my GUI crash on me on a semi regular basis

That's true for me at 16.04 or below. I don't really remember encountering one on 18.04 or 20.04 though. May share your use case?

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#115

Post by magpi3 »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #12
katmannthree wrote: post #3

The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…

> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution. I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The realit…

You have to think of the long game when comparing open source and closed source projects. If you need an app in a year, a well-funded closed source effort will win every time. But open source projects with significant mind share from developers (market share is irrelevant for the most part... developer mind share is the true wealth of an opensource project) just keep improving. Both Linux (yes even on the desktop), Blender, and LibreOffice(which admittedly still has a long way to go) are examples of this.

I would argue the closed source software you use is generally higher quality because we are just at the beginning of the conversation when it comes to software. If an open source project with enough mind share can take a long enough view, it is hard to see how it WON'T someday surpass its closed-source competitors. Funding is generally on the side of a closed source project, but time is always on the side of an open source one.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#116

Post by scoopertrooper »

theodric wrote: post #83
katmannthree wrote: post #3

The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…

You have a strange definition of "great." If any other phone exhibited those characteristics, I would write it off as garbage, not excuse its faults with a promise that they'll be fixed Real Soon Now™

You "I want a reliable phone that meets my daily needs" types like to think you have a monopoly on the term "great". Some of us like to take the scenic route to reading our messages.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#117

Post by d110af5ccf »

onli wrote: post #47
deltaonefour wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. I would argue Linux is only superior from the IT software perspective. This is a very narrow perspective that is only inflated if you're in IT or on an IT related site like HN. From almost every other dimension Linux is inferior and therefore from an Overall perspective it is inferior. The most importa…

The common Linux interfaces are very easy to decipher and have a good usability. Usability is measurable property, so that's not a guess, just a fact. Add to that the higher task purpose you can get with Linux (partly boosted by not having annoying blockers to get work done, like Windows ads and forced reboots) and the infinitely higher customizablity (for the user's needs and wants) and for general computer usage, t…

> common Linux interfaces are very easy to decipher and have a good usability

Then you are an absolute god of IT and have a very skewed perception of things as a result; alternatively you've made up your own definition of the word "usability" that absolutely no one else uses.

I think Linux is great. I love the customizability it brings to the table and get a lot out of it. The time and effort invested to get here has been significant though. The manpages are dense. Commands are arcane. Error messages are very often inscrutable.

The major distros do a reasonable job as long as everything is working and there happens to be a well maintained program in the preconfigured repos that works well for whatever task it is you're trying to accomplish right then. I've set up Ubuntu for relatives who aren't tech savvy to do basic office work and everything is flawless.

The user experience just isn't on the same level as the proprietary OSes though. There are far fewer well polished apps. Many vendors don't provide compatible versions of their software. The latest gadget you bought probably requires Windows or iOS to sync or whatever it is you need it to do. Leave the well trodden path for whatever reason - something breaks, your new device isn't recognized, something else - and things aren't pretty.

It's not really the OS's fault. FOSS apps are largely written and maintained by volunteers instead of highly paid teams. All modern systems have a staggering amount of complexity under the hood and Linux distros intentionally give you access to it. But if you want or are forced to tinker then you're going to have to contend with it one way or another.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#118

Post by Findeton »

sorairopicture wrote: post #11

this seems cool if distros become more polished from what i have seen this could be amazing

Honestly I'm not looking for an amazing phone, just a less shitty one. I'll probably buy a PinePhone to tinker with it and support the idea, but I don't expect it to be really usable. I hope in the coming years they'll get a usable/stable version. Of course I don't expect a great camera/software or anything like that.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#119

Post by [deleted] »

pessimizer wrote: post #36
gm wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL, so true. I often need to have online meetings with engineers that for some reason prefer Linux as their desktop OS. Guess which meeting participants _always_ delay the meetings because they can't get their audio/video working for routine meetings? If that happens to pretty tech savvy software engineers, the average user has zero chance of using Linux as a desktop effectively.

It's very difficult to make most proprietary enterprise trash work with Linux. That will always be the case, no matter how superior or inferior the OS is, because unlocked hardware/OSes are bad for some business models based on lock-in/subscriptions, and that are meant to be a portion of entire ecosystems that are being sold. The only reason most of them work eventually is because Linux users are tinkerers, and usual…

[deleted]

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#120

Post by fsflover »

nousermane wrote: post #107
emteycz wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget about the price: $200 doesn't get you flagship experience.

Depends on which year's. Pine64's SoC, Allwinner A64 is 4x 1,2 GHz Cortex-A53 chip, giving you about the same level of raw performance as a 2013 flagship phone.

And it will run smoothly, if you choose simple software: https://sr.ht/~mil/Sxmo/.
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