Focusing not just on thinkering but on usability as well
I’m using e/os. It’s, in my opinion, the best compromise between a normal device and the best out there like Jolla and Graphene.
something that’s officially supported by either ubports or sailfishos. postmarketos/mobian/etc is great but still seems pretty rough.
I don’t have a Linux phone myself, but from all I’ve read the Furilabs FLX1s is the most “Just works” Linux phone today that runs a community UI (Phosh+GNOME). Supposedly it runs Android apps well, and regular Flatpaks.
I think Jolla has a more custom software stack, but it also supposedly works well.
See also @linmob@linuxmobile.social.
I have the FLX1s. It’s buggy AF, but it works
I’m not sure how I’m supposed to access that community
turns out its a mastodon account. if you’re on mastodon paste that address into your search
the fediverse is frustrating like that.
Interesting device, pity the screen is relatively low res. Also non EU if that means anything.
If you can, wait for the new jolla phone
There is also Jolla phone.
Of note if you’re not in Europe:
The initial sales markets are EU, UK, Switzerland and Norway. Entering other markets, such as the U.S. and Canada are to be decided due course based on potential interest from the areas.
We have designed the cellular band configuration to enable potential future markets, including major U.S. carrier networks.
Jolla gives the best out of box experience.
OnePlus 6/6T + PostmarketOS (I run NixOS on mine but I’m weird). Seriously.
Been very interested in NixOS on mobile. Would love more thoughts and some details about the process of getting it installed. What window manager are you using?
Does it work well? Do you have more to say, maybe a blog? It looks like I can get one as used on a local market, I might want to give it a try.
You mean NixOS? Well, it’s definitely not as polished as pmOS, but most things do work. My gf is using it as an LTE-enabled music player, and I’m using it to ssh into my servers when I’m out and about.
It required some hackery to get GPS and the modem to work, but then it’s mostly similar to pmOS. I need to find some time to sit down, clean up my config and publish it somewhere, but life’s main quest line is preventing any side projects rn.
If you can get it for not too much money, I’d definitely spring for it. Even if you find it doesn’t suit your daily needs (it probably doesn’t just yet), it will at least be a fun toy for playing with mobile linux.
Yeah, cool, thanks for the feedback! I guess I’m interested in both, postmarket and nix, but NixOS is just more interesting to explore.
I’ve got a Surface RT 3 a week ago, and I’m playing with mobile Linux on it. Not all shiny, but I’m very happy with what I’ve got for $30 / €25. It mostly works, and the battery life is amazing. It cannot sleep, but apart from that, it’s a nice typewriter.
I think getting 1+6 at a nice price would be great and educational.
It is not good. I have the one plus 6t and tried pmos with a few of the ui choices. There are many, many broken workflows.
have a look at the de-googled android roms too (like crdroid and lineage os), would guarantee for a much wider selection of devices. unless you have a use case which mandates linux.
Having used one, I can guarantee that Jolla is the best in terms of maturity, UI, Android compatibility and many other fronts
Also Volla and Fairphone.
My oneplus 6 is running postnarmetos fine, the hardware is still good but depending on where you get it you might need to replace the battery. My battery worked but only held about half of the charge it should. They are also oled screened so expect a little burn in from all the years of use, especially the status bar if the old user ran light mode.
I was actually thinking about this, oneplus 6/6T seems to be well supported by ubuntu touch, mobian and postmarket os, and it can be pretty cheap compared to new linux first devices! But the non-replaceable battery is a pain in the ass, didn’t know about the oled thing, will keep in mind…
Hard to say without more context. I’d check the existing distributions and pick one that suits you. Their websites usually have lists with compatible devices.
PostmarketOS is interesting for tinkering, grapheneOS just works reliably. Everything else in between
PostmarkedOS is a bit frustrating as it makes you jumping through many hoops if you want to install anything not 100% FoSS (due to alpine base)
I personally think arch and mobian are the best options right now, using the phosh UI (I like gnome-mobile as well, but it is not as mobile friendly as phosh)
Now to the hardware part, you have basically two options:
- Use a phone where most drivers are in the mainline kernel, but with bad performance due to weak SoC (e.g. pine phone pro)
- Use a phone with strong(er) SoC but relay on custom kernel from the phone brand, locking you in place of the version of the kernel they modified (e.g. oneplus 6, I think)
At least this is how I remember it
When we come to App support; you mostly have to rely on webApps for proprietary services like train ticket, uber, etc.
For massages, I would recommend a Matrix server and the various bridges to third party messaging services that exist for it (be aware that some services consider a connection via bridge as incompatible with their ToS and may block you)
