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I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

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Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#521

Post by fzeindl »

palata wrote: post #399
fzeindl wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped in 2018. I realize that a lot has been done since then, but the base code wasn‘t changed, otherwise old apps wouldn‘t run anymore. My gripe with android is that I think it wastes a lot of resources by being very inefficient in software. Just enable the debug mode to see what portion of your screen refreshes and repaints and stand back in awe while nothing changes and you still get hundreds of repaints.

> Just enable the debug mode to see what portion of your screen refreshes and repaints and stand back in awe while nothing changes and you still get hundreds of repaints. And you are positive that this hasn't change in almost a decade? > My gripe with android is that I think it wastes a lot of resources by being very inefficient in software. As opposed to what? This thread is about Linux on Mobile. Are you saying tha…

> And you are positive that this hasn't change in almost a decade?

No, it is a guess.

> As opposed to what? This thread is about Linux on Mobile. Are you saying that Linux on Mobile is a lot more efficient than Android?

Opposed to iOS. Android is largely Linux, I think Linux is great and highly performant, just the Android SDK isn‘t.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#522

Post by stiray »

stiray wrote: post #325

I bought Jolla Phone 2026. Was thinking about Pixel 10 and another round of GrapheneOS, but changed my mind. Was using Sailfish OS on Sonys phone but drove me nuts for two reasons: - had to reverse banking up to kick out the checks each time when new version came out and I became quite proficient at it (decompiled into git and each new version over it, then git diff, and fix the checks, committed the changes) - worse…

Just to clarify bluetooth situation: https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/release-notes-pispala-5-1-0-1...

/*

The AppSupport Bluetooth Bridge shares the phone’s Bluetooth controller between Sailfish OS and AppSupport. It acts as a router, so each Bluetooth device can be handled by either Sailfish OS or AppSupport without handing the whole controller over.

For most devices this is controlled through pairing. BLE devices are more complicated, and that is one of the areas where broader testing will be useful.

For now, you should reboot after installing. The Bluetooth settings page now has an extra option to route incoming pairing requests to AppSupport. Devices found during scanning also have a long-press context menu option to pair them with AppSupport. You can see devices paired with AppSupport on the same page, and you should also unpair them from there when needed. Turning Bluetooth on and off in Sailfish also turns it on and off in AppSupport. You should not try to turn it on or off from Android apps.

Android apps that are designed to pair with devices internally should be able to do so.

If you have previously handed Bluetooth completely over to AppSupport as described elsewhere on the forum, revert those changes first. Otherwise things are likely to break."

*/

I hope it helps.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#523

Post by tmzt »

reorder9695 wrote: post #294

I've come to the conclusion that I actually really like Android as an operating system, the internals seem remarkably well thought out and ideal for the mobile use case (so long as you're running a userdebug build with the ability to adb root in when needed), most of people's issues aren't really with Android (although Google reducing the AOSP release schedule isn't a good sign). I think the real problem is Google Pl…

If you're looking for way to get userdebug functionality without building a huge source tree, I created regraph[0]. It's similar to other solutions but does not inject sudo or root, other than the supported adb root path.

It starts with an upstream GrapheneOS build and modify the system image (super) in place, signed with the published userdebug keys.

[0]https://github.com/tmzt/regraph

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#524

Post by [deleted] »

inigyou wrote: post #424
fooqux wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't go in person. That just wastes everyone's time as corporate will never hear about it. Instead, call them. Insist to talk to a human. Corporate really doesn't like call center calls, and they usually have monitoring set up to track why people are calling.

Doubt that. They care about average call metrics but not why people are calling, and the call center operators have absolutely no ability to fix anything and will just work to get you off the call as quickly as possible.

[deleted]

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#525

Post by jolmg »

Telaneo wrote: post #429
inigyou wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What banks care about is complaints volume and account closures. If you can't use your bank on your phone, go complain in person to your bank. Just do it even if you think nothing will happen. Best case they unlock the website for your account, worst case nothing happens but they still got a complaint and will have to do something if they get enough similar ones.

> If you can't use your bank on your phone, go complain in person to your bank. At my non-existent bank branch?

Are there places where there are no branches of any bank within reach?

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#526

Post by Telaneo »

jolmg wrote: post #525
Telaneo wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you can't use your bank on your phone, go complain in person to your bank. At my non-existent bank branch?

Are there places where there are no branches of any bank within reach?

Any bank? I'm sure I'll find one.

Any bank I'd actually want to associate with? No.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#527

Post by crabbone »

inigyou wrote: post #425
crabbone wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in my experience. My bank wouldn't even talk to me when they discontinued support for a phone I had. They don't even have anyone to complain to, which is by design. You can complain about non-technical stuff, but there's nobody to report problems with their Android app. They know full well that it's more important to you to have it working than it is for them to make sure it works for you. You will throw away alm…

Yeah so show up to the branch and be like "let me access my money or close my account"

Not going to work... I have to schedule an appointment, using the phone (they used to have special devices that could be used instead, but they discontinued them too). If I just show up at the branch office, they won't even let me in :) I'm not able to close my account w/o a phone either at this point.

If I insisted on not using my phone, perhaps, I could... mmmm... hire a lawyer? to get the bank's attention... otherwise I'm completely at their mercy.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#528

Post by Telaneo »

CalRobert wrote: post #230
Underphil wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone's situation is different I suppose. But I do tire when people choose the convenience over the freedom. Not saying that's what you're doing, but I hear it often enough.

We chose that when we stopped using cash.

So before I was even born?

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#529

Post by jodrellblank »

penguin_booze wrote: post #260

I'm all for using a Linux phone. The caveats thereof are mentioned in this thread. I've a wish list of one, though: make the Web the primary GUI front end. Essentially, apps are a specialised browser window. That way, I can program (both the front- and back-end) in plain text, just using regular Linux tools and a text editor -- no bloatware and gargantuan IDEs mandated.

Remember when that was a thing and then its developers killed it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#530

Post by vrinsd »

pjmlp wrote: post #507
vrinsd wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are in the minority of people that feel Android is a well built "OS". Maybe from an end-user point of view it "does what you want" but its underlying architecture I think is pretty poor. I have spent the past 2 years off and on modifying AOSP (for "reasons") and I am constantly amazed the poor quality of the code base and badly architected the overall system is. It's a bunch of re-inventions of the wheel…

This is exactly why it is a well built OS, versus the lack of imagination of FOSS community to move beyond copying UNIX over and over again. Yes, it has a few warts, still much better than fitting UNIX with X Windows on a phone, with a C SDK, like FOSS keeps trying since Open Moko. Same kudos goes to Apple by pushing Objective-C and Swift, no matter what. Microsoft unfortunately no longer seems to know what Windows i…

No idea what you mean by "well built OS" when Android has so many corner cases and weird "hard coded work arounds" and crazy development process that its behavior is often unpredictable and downright irrational.

And what do you think iOS / macOS is based on? UNIX userland from the BSDs with the Mach kernel, Mach IPC, etc. Fun note: It's easier to cross-compile standard UNIX utilities and programs for iOS/macOS than it is Android since Android effectively has its own user-land.

macOS and by extention iOS are, by comprarison to Android, actually pretty well architected. The choice of kernel (Mach, Linux) is really not the limiting factor, it's how you plumb together the layers above the kernel and that's what Android has done badly.

Lastly, just because OpenMoko may or may not have done something ideally (~20 years ago?) doesn't mean the current efforts (postmarketOS, Plasma, PHOSH, Sailfish) have done it badly. Actually most of these efforts are leveraging the fairly refined parts of a modern Linux environment and are MUCH easier to work with at the lower levels than Android.

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