#linux mobile

[kde-plasma-official]

whats the status of like. using linux on a phone. it feels like there are two parallel universes, one that kde lives in where people use linux on phones, and one where if you google linux phones you discover theyre almost usable but they can barely make phone calls or send texts and they only run on like 4 models of phone

don't have much experience with linux on phone so anyone please correct me if i'm wrong but

one of the problems with phones is that every vendor and manufacturer adds their own proprietary driver blob to it and these have to be extracted and integrated into the kernel in order for the hardware to function.

as companies don't like to share their magic of "how does plastic slab make light", reverse engineering all your hardware is quite a difficult task. Sometimes there just isn't a driver for the camera of a phone model yet because no one was able to make it work.

So naturally, this takes a lot of time and tech is evolving fast so by the time a phone is completely compatible, next generations are already out and your new model obsolete.

Also important to note: most of this work is made by volunteers, people with a love for programming who put a lot of their own time into these things, most of them after their daytime jobs as a hobby.

Of course, there are companies and associations out there who build linux phones for a living. But the consumer hardware providers, like Pinephone, Fairphone and others out there aren't as big and don't have this much of a lobby behind them so they can't get their prices cheap. Also the manufacturers are actively working against our right to repair so we need more activism.

To make the phones still affordable (and because of said above driver issues) they have to use older hardware, sometimes even used phones from other manufacturers that they have to fix up, so you can't really expect a modern experience. At least you can revive some older phones. As everything Linux.

Then there's the software providers who many of are non-profits. KDE has Plasma Mobile, Canonical works on Ubuntu Touch, Debian has the Mobian Project and among some others there's also the Arch Linux ARM Project.

That's right baby, ARM. We're not talking about your fancy PC or ThinkPad with their sometimes even up to 64-bit processors. No no no, this is the future, fucking chrome jellyfishes and everything.

This is the stuff Apple just started building their fancy line of over-priced and over-engineered Fisher-Price laptop-desktops on and Microsoft started (Windows 10X), discontinued and beat into the smush of ChatGPT Nano Bing Open AI chips in all your new surface hp dell asus laptops.

What I was trying to say is, that program support even for the market dominating monopoles out there is still limited and.... (from my own experience from the workplace) buggy. Which, in these times of enshittification is a bad news. And the good projects you gotta emulate afterwards anyways so yay extra steps!

Speaking of extra steps: In order to turn their phone into a true freedom phone, users need to free themselves off their phones warranty, lose their shackles of not gaining root access, installing a custom recovery onto their phone (like TWRP for example), and also have more technical know-how as the typical user, which doesn't quite sounds commercial-ready to me.

So is there no hope at all?

Fret not, my friend!

If we can't put the Linux into the phone, why don't we put the phone around the Linux? You know... Like a container?

Thanks to EU regulations-

(US consumers, please buy the European versions of your phones! They are sometimes a bit more expensive, but used models of the same generation or one below usually still have warranty, are around the same price as over there in Freedom Valley, and (another side tangent incoming - because of better European consumer protection laws) sometimes have other advantages, such as faster charging and data transfer (USB-C vs lightning ports) or less bloated systems)

- it is made easier now to virtualize Linux on your phone.

You can download a terminal emulator, create a headless Linux VM and get A VNC client running. This comes with a performance limit though, as a app with standard user permissions is containerized inside of Android itself so it can't use the whole hardware.

If you have root access on your phone, you can assign more RAM and CPU to your VM.

Also things like SDL just released a new version so emulation is getting better.

And didn't you hear the news? You can run other things inside a VM on an iPhone now! Yup, and I got Debian with Xfce running on my Xiaomi phone. Didn't do much with it tho. Also Windows XP and playing Sims 1 on mobile. Was fun, but battery draining. Maybe something more for tablets for now.

Things will get interesting now that Google officially is a monopoly. It funds a lot of that stuff.

I really want a Steam Deck.

Steam phones would be cool.

[solus-official]

UBUNTU TOUCH | DAY ONE

If you didn't see one of my previous posts, I've got a phone to experiment with, and I'm gonna be trying out various mobile operating systems! (Primarily linux based! Not that android isn't linux but lets be real.) please ignore my greasy ugly hand Installation Process: The installation actually wasn't that bad! Was kinda awkward trying to get the phone updated to the correct version without upgrading too far, but after that was dealt with everything else was taken care of very smoothly and easily with the UB Ports custom installer! Didn't have a fail state, nor did the phone brick! I'd rate this an 8/10! Setup and Tutorial: Setting up the phone after the install was very fast, frankly there wasn't much to set up. Thankfully it's not like Google or Apple where they ask for your firstborn son before even asking for your SIM card. Just needed to set up a password/passcode, set up my SIM (Which was thankfully automatic kinda, details later) and confirm a Wi-Fi connection if I wanted to!) Tutorial however, was a bit lackluster. While it was descriptive, it also only popped up on my first time seeing each screen. (E.g. I didn't get the tutorial for the phone app until I opened the phone app.) While I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, it also means I would need to walk through every inbuilt app to make sure the tutorials are all done. kinda annoying in my personal opinion. Overall I'd rate this 6~7/10. Usage and Experience: For day one this isn't super important, however first impressions do matter for most people. The OS as a whole was very snappy, and never froze or lagged in any of my testing. Additionally, the pull-down shade is very nice! Could be simplified a little more so that you don't need to scroll sideways, and it would also be nice to see more settings overall since the system seems to be quite bare for settings at the moment. However one of the things that really bothers me as a button-enjoyer is the OS not having a button navigation method. The only way to navigate between screens is to swipe from the sides, top or bottom as gestures, similar to Apple and the recent Android iterations. These gestures don't even work perfectly either, which makes it more annoying that I don't have a home button or back button. If there is a home-swipe or back-swipe, then the tutorial did not detail it, and I cannot find it anywhere in the settings. Overall, it's a 4/10 but with LOTS of potential! Functionality: This focus' almost entirely on how it functions as a phone, and if it's problematic for any reason. So far it seems great outside of one issue, as commented on earlier (This is the details later bit lmao). Plugged an active SIM card into the phone and it automatically logged the APN and other important information which was very nice. Tested the mobile data and texting, and found no issues except for maybe being unable to send MMS (Need to double check that it was not a file size issue.) However, this entire time I've not had the ability to make or take calls. I'm not sure why, the APN, provider, and everything in the settings is correct to what I can tell. I may attempt to either reinstall the dialer application, or erase and manually set the APN in the event that might fix it. If I cannot get calling to work this score will look a lot uglier. Overall, it's a 7~8/10! for now.

App Availability: Seems great! The built in app-store, or "OpenStore" is pretty cool, and seems to have a lot of useful apps. I did notice a small fraction of android apps that I could use (Like Slack, thanks workplace -ﻌ-) but they were just WebUI apps, which isn't bad, but it's bad. I haven't attempted to set up or use Waydroid, but I will not have that change the score at all since using Android apps (kinda barely) defeats the purpose of an alternative operating system. Overall score, 8/10, but needs a deeper dive.

I'll likely put out another update at either 15 days or 30 days!

Whenever you guys think you want one!

[dracula-theme-official]

I'm setting up an old Linx 1010B windows tablet to run Linux for taking notes in class, and was wondering what WM or DE people recommended for touchscreens, preferably lightweight ones, 2gb of ram isn't a lot

[potsiefaerie]

@androsthechill is trying to convert me to Linux and I have a new laptop that's running fedora now, and uh. This is fine, probably... 😅

So hello world, from inside Linux? I've run mint before but this is going to be an adjustment I think...

But thanks for the laptop upgrade, love 💗

[definitely-zen-browser]

fuckin hate when people say the software thay're promoting is "available for PC and mobile" but they really mean "available for windows 10/11 x86, iOS, and android"

there's more than 3 fucking operating systems.

are devices running linux not PCs?

what about Macs?

How about KalibriOS? do you support that?

And HarmonyOS? that has roughly the same market share on mobile that linux does on desktop.

can it run on ARM or RISC-V?

if it does support linux, what package managers can you install it with?

and for fucks sake if it costs money at least say how much

if you mean windows 11 x86 then just fucking say windows 11 x86, it's not that hard.

[bmpmp3]

tech youtuberism is a disease. and i have been infected.

[biveii]

im not sure if i'm just dumb and can't figure it out, but the sticker section of the menu never shows all of them ;_; it shows like 10 even though i have way more. i know i can see them all in the emote wheel, but i want to equip certain ones instead of having to go through all of them just to place the one i want

[tilos-tagebuch]

The dream of Linux on the smartphone 🐧

Why is it so difficult to bring a truly free operating system to mobile devices...?

Android may be based on Linux, but a real Linux on the smartphone is something completely different and a real rarity for several reasons.

Note 0815-info.news: I have been using a Linux phone for about 3 years, first the "Volla Phone" (a German! product) and for about a year a Google Pixel 3a. OS is "Ubuntu Touch" and you might think Phone and Linux would be made for each other! Zero problems! Everything runs absolutely smoothly + its own app store, which is abundantly filled... I don't miss anything! My phone, my software, my privacy!

Source: https://www.0815-info.news/Web_Links-Der-Traum-von-Linux-am-Smartphone-visit-11571.html

[learnandbuild]

Summer Internship Program 2024

For More Details Visit Our Website - internship.learnandbuild.in

[danceintheskies]

WHAT FHE HELL

[knightjp007]

You'll have no real computers, and you'll be happy

This is in response to a brilliant article written by Bryan Lunduke over on his website. I would suggest first reading that article before going ahead with this one. https://lunduke.substack.com/p/microsoft-and-google-youll-have-no?publication_id=462466&post_id=117258457&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true Bryan’s original article. As Bryan has mentioned, this isn’t a new idea. The idea of…

[solus-official]

UBUNTU TOUCH | DAY THREE

I know in my last post I would update again around the 15 day mark however there have been some, lets say: bothersome, issues that I want to address. I'd like to state clearly that these issues are not deal breaking for people who really want to run a Linux phone. However, to me personally, I just want to address them as they made the intro to this phone difficult. 1. Battery - Short This issue may be caused by the phone itself, not Ubuntu. This phone was bought second-hand renewed, and definitely isn't new. However the battery just dumps itself when the phone is doing any activity. Just sitting idle in my pocket, I've found that it drops 30% in just an hour or two. It feels almost like an IPhone battery and makes me concerned for Longevity. The appstore has a battery management app, I'll talk about that in a later section. 2. Waydroid - Janky I attempted to use Waydroid once. I know this isn't much a chance and I will be giving it a second or third go as necessary, however it did not work for me. Simply activating it caused the battery to get even worse, and then a few of the apps that I intended to try and use with Waydroid (Productivity and Work related) were just non-functional, and it drained the battery even faster than it already did. I don't expect Waydroid to be the perfect compatibility layer. But I didn't expect for it to kick my ass as hard as it did. I am genuinely excited to try and get it running again and fiddle with it endlessly until it works the right way. 3. OpenStore & Settings - Not Available by Default? This is something that, personally, I'm not all too sure about. I know Ubuntu is Ubuntu and all the shit that comes with it, but somehow it just doesn't have settings until you create them yourself? I mean, I get it, Linux is what you turn it into, after all. It's why so many people love it. But I very, very, VERY strongly believe that some things that can only be found in an extracurricular app should be in the base Distro. I'm specifically talking about UT-Tweaks, and Swipe Sensitivity. If you're going to make a whole entire "gestures" system built into your Distro, without any alternative (Like three buttons at the bottom of the screen) then you better be ready to provide sensitivity adjustment for users who can't get it to work correctly. Apple gets away with not having sensitivity adjustment specifically because of the fact that they make the hardware as well, and constantly test to see if it's quality or not. (Also I think they actually do offer sensitivity options? I think? It's been a while since I've used apple.) Additionally I want to state that, holy fuck, why is there no Home function? Why can't I have apps running in the background without opening a different app? At first I thought I just didn't know what the gesture was to go home but no. Found and installed a tertiary app, which is just an invisible background and nothing else, if I close it then I can't "go home". I understand that you don't need to "go home" on any device realistically, but for me that's just something I'm so used to because I always have something calming and kind as a background. It's a metaphysical way for me to just turn my brain away from the device instead of doom-scrolling or working non-stop. I'm sure that, even subconsciously, there's at least one other person that understands what I'm talking about. And I also understand that, this is entirely a pet peeve! In fact, I know closing all of the apps to get home would be better for battery, and general phone function! I know that I shouldn't be mad over something that can be fixed by a 0.2 kb app that's completely free! And I know that if i'm this mad about something, I can just code a fix for it myself and try to have my changes committed to the full version! Yknow I had two more sections with text, but tumblr decided to just straight up delete them and I didn't have it saved anywhere. So this is what you get. A rant post with no conclusion. Thanks, Tumblr, I hate you forever.

[shadowblade8192]

i use this

(used to use a discord server but then i found out about this when i got a steam deck)

i do also keep that old server around for an emoji server cause i have fakenitro on vencord

does anybody else have a discord server thats only yourself and nobody else exclusively used to send images from your mobile phone to your tablet or computer

[davepaste]

Google please I can see the fucking

Desktop icon

ENABLE IT NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

[divinesheikahblade]

to anyone who sees this:

websites and their developers hate computer users. and dont be a smartass and say "well smartphones are computers too!!11!!1!1!!" yeah i know that. what i mean is pc, mac, linux users. anyone who isnt on mobile is getting discriminated against when we use the same websites that mobile users use.

it's because the companies know damn well that it's much, much easier to be on a phone or an iPad or whatever for a long time than it is to be on a computer. for this reason, they make their shit so much better on mobile and mobile-centered so that everybody gets on there and spends more time, giving the greedy companies more money.

i have an instagram account, right? right. so i get on there and i like my friends' posts and shit and i send people reels and stuff and i see people reposting stuff on their public and private stories. and im like "woah! that seems cool. i wanna do that" and i go to put something on my story, just like i would on mobile, and the option is just. not there. and im like What The Hell Man. the same thing with sending photos and recieving them.

i use instagram specifically as my example but this applies to any and every website nowadays. youtube, discord, twitter (fuck you im not calling it x), snapchat especially. i cant even make a snapchat account without being on mobile. not even tumblr, prized for its longevity, is safe from this bullshit.

please help me do something about this. help me do anything

[linuxiarzepl]

T-Mobile wybiera Red Hat do obsługi wspólnej chmury telekomunikacyjnej

Dzięki rozwiązaniu Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus, T-Mobile będzie w stanie zautomatyzować działalność operacyjną, obsługiwać natywne dla chmury aplikacje 5G oraz odkrywać nowe możliwości w zakresie przetwarzania brzegowego, sieci prywatnych i IoT. https://linuxiarze.pl/t-mobile-wybiera-red-hat-do-obslugi-wspolnej-chmury-telekomunikacyjnej/