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Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

catcrafts.net

61–70 of 86 posts

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#61
post #3

Great job. My advice would be to not take the frustrating and useless road of a non-profit structure for some things that you do for pleasure. The for-profit will be simpler and give you more liberties, and if, in the end, you have the good mindset that you want your creations to be shared freely, you can do it anyway. It is a state of mind.

GrapheneOS is a non-profit and they make the most usable, private AOSP operating system.

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#62
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely curious, like what cool things?

Like using your phone as a desktop computer, when it's connected to a screen and keyboard and runs a full desktop OS. Having a full access to all desktop apps, development environments. Also this, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201496 . Also, choosing the OS means freedom to choose the interface you like or develop your own (or to pay somebody to do that for you). Freedom to not be in walled gardens.

We don't need multiple OSs for that. One unlocked and FOSS OS is enough.

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#63

I was recently working on porting PMOS to Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro, though switched to NixOS due to much faster update cycle. I got much further than I thought I would (though this was mostly possible due to LLMs without them it would waaaay longer), fixed everything including cameras except mic working in calls. Still bummered about that because I really wanted to try daily driving linux phone but alas not lucky. I wish a…

> I wish alternatives like Fairphone or other linux phones step up a game. They have too high a price and too low specs.

Check out the FuriPhone FLX1S, Jolla C2 and the Volla Phone Quintus - they all have decent specs for the price (relatively; the reality is that Linux phones will never be cheaper than mainstream Android phones due to the way the market forces work).

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#64
post #57
post #44

This is awesome stuff. Fully mainstream Linux with a normal userland running on a modern handset with all features will unlock a tremendous amount of change once it's there. Things like running a distributed database for a community on top of the devices they own, hopefully also running true mesh networking.

It's already unlocked on other more open phones. Why do you think this time it will be different?

I didn't know about the FLX1S+, which looks about as close as to what I want as there is right now.

What I'm looking for is an 8GB phone that I can run Docker on, to host apps like DHIS2 & OpenMRS3 (so a JVM). I have the impression that this isn't easily possible with Halium-based kernels, but I'm not an expert.

Edit: oh and full access to the radio chips, so I can set up mesh networks (and a cherry on top :-))

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#65
I feel the votes and excitement in this thread aren't from people with a Fairphone 6 or PMOS.

From the PMOS wiki: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp...:

> No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device.

I got a Fairphone 6 last year, after having a OnePlus 7 Pro which I bought in 2019 and still worked flawlessly, apart from not having received an update in several years.

The Fairphone 6 works. It's slower and more buggy than a 7 year old flagship though. I'll probably use it until it dies in however many years time, but my overall experience with Fairphone has been that I've paid a huge amount for a below standard, poorly supported, but apparently fair phone. The Fairphone forums are a trainwreck too.

I really, really wish Fairphone was better, but the entire company experience is so janky for how expensive the products are.

A prime example: I thought I lost a few eclipse pictures because they weren't showing in the gallery after I took them. I'm pretty certain it's this same bug from over a year ago: https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fairphone-6-camera-pictures-mi...

Me and my partner both got our oneplus 7 pros at the same time, and hers also lasted. She upgraded at same time and just wanted/needed a phone that works for work, so she opted for the Pixel 9a instead. It's cheaper, faster, more reliable and better supported.

Sorry to rant - it distresses me a lot when good intentions take a lot of money and deliver a relatively subpar product and service. I guess this is the price of principled tech. It's really not great, unfortunately.

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#66
post #65

I feel the votes and excitement in this thread aren't from people with a Fairphone 6 or PMOS. From the PMOS wiki: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp... : > No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device. I got a Fairphone 6 last year, after having a OnePlus 7 Pro which I bought in 2019 and still work…

> No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device.

See the other blog posts by the same author in the story posted.[1] He's added support for these and other hardware parts for the FP6, currently being upstreamed directly to the Linux kernel.

[1] https://catcrafts.net/posts

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#67
post #65

I feel the votes and excitement in this thread aren't from people with a Fairphone 6 or PMOS. From the PMOS wiki: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp... : > No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device. I got a Fairphone 6 last year, after having a OnePlus 7 Pro which I bought in 2019 and still work…

> No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device. See the other blog posts by the same author in the story posted.[1] He's added support for these and other hardware parts for the FP6, currently being upstreamed directly to the Linux kernel. [1] https://catcrafts.net/posts

Thanks for this. My main hope is that as PMOS become daily-driverable, the nature and number of irritated Fairphone users will quickly make PMOS a better alternative to any of the Androids available on FP6.

If that happens, the resultant hardware/software/freedom combo could be well worth the cost. I hope Fairphone make some big donations to PMOS if this happens - it would not be very fair for the people responsible for a buggy phone get all the money whilst the PMOS people who make it great, fair and open get nothing.

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#68
post #65

I feel the votes and excitement in this thread aren't from people with a Fairphone 6 or PMOS. From the PMOS wiki: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp... : > No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device. I got a Fairphone 6 last year, after having a OnePlus 7 Pro which I bought in 2019 and still work…

There are definitely trade offs with Fairphone but it's unfair (no pun intended) to compare them with a company like Google without mentioning their strong points.

Fairphone does focus on having a better social and environmental impact, this comes as part of the price. It does also focus on repairability which also comes as part of the price. If those are things you do not specifically value (which is fine), that definitely makes their products too expensive in comparison with other manufacturers. The support side could definitely be better but as a small company, I personally thinks it's okay.

I have a Fairphone 4 and I'm happy with it, it's fast, takes good pictures, and just works. It has great support in communities as well. I was able to easily change a part of a Fairphone 3 (dead usb c port) and the experience there was just great, they really made repairs super easy.

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#69
post #65

I feel the votes and excitement in this thread aren't from people with a Fairphone 6 or PMOS. From the PMOS wiki: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp... : > No internal speakers or microphones are currently working. Media sound (not calls) is working if connecting a Bluetooth or USB audio device. I got a Fairphone 6 last year, after having a OnePlus 7 Pro which I bought in 2019 and still work…

I share the same experience with My FP6. I want to love it. But the edges of experience are so rough it pains me damn near every day.

I'm flipping it as soon as Motorola releases their GrapheneOS compatible phone. I hate that I have no other decent options, and that phones are getting bigger and bigger, but I don't really have a choice.

If Apple would be so kind as to release an SE-sized phone again, I'd jump right back. iOS 26 is horrible, but they at least seem to be on the right track to improve things again.

Re: Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

#70
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely curious, like what cool things?

Like using your phone as a desktop computer, when it's connected to a screen and keyboard and runs a full desktop OS. Having a full access to all desktop apps, development environments. Also this, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201496 . Also, choosing the OS means freedom to choose the interface you like or develop your own (or to pay somebody to do that for you). Freedom to not be in walled gardens.

I suppose it would be relatively slow and how too little memory to be usable for programming, for example.
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