10mo ago

"But my friend runs a PinePhone as a daily driver"

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Everyone saying Android is completely missing the point. I mean yeah, it runs the linux kernel, but i feel like most of yall wouldn't call ChromeOS linux on the other hand.
The obvious connotations are privacy, choice, wayland/x11 support, a useful terminal, a rich foss ecosystem, and arch btw.
- ChromeOS is Linux and even starting to become it's own full blown distro.
  \ ChromeOS even uses Wayland now.
  \ Lacros
  
  But it's proprietary software, right?
  
  Well yes, in the same way Android is; where it's based on an open source version of itself. (ChromiumOS)
- I'd agree with you in the context of standard (google) android.
  One caveat that I'd like to highlight, though, is that for me GrapheneOS and F-Droid handily achieve the privacy and rich FOSS ecosystem parts. Useful terminal depends on your definition :) but for my use case Termux fills the void.
  It doesn't feel like Linux (you can't even use Wifi and Ethernet at the same time for crying out loud) but for a relatively cheap low-power device, I like the flexibility.
  It's far enough from being a foot gun that I can give a Pixel 5 with GrapheneOS and some F-Droid apps to my grandmother and know she'll have no problems. Balancing that with having enough extensibility to scratch the itch for 99% of tinkerers is a feat to appreciate in my view.
  
  My point is really just that it is an entirely different software stack than the traditional linux experience. I cant just download the source for a standard linux app and compile it for android, it needs to be ported.
  I think pinephone and librem are the closest we have gotten to a proper linux phone. But the specs suck, and the mobile optimized app ecosystem isnt there yet. Thats the point of the op meme.
  
  I can confirm that my PinePhone runs the same software that I run on my desktop. I usually don't even need to compile anything, since a lot of packages in Debian repo have an ARM version. Not all apps have responsive UIs and some of the old ones lack touch support, though. But that is something that keeps improving over time (GNOME 4 and libhandy for example). You can also use CLI programs if you want.
- At least there's Termux. One of the very few things saving my already limited phone experience.
- I would call anything running the Linux kernel "Linux". Granted my LineageOS phone isn't very much like my Debian PC, but they're both Linux.

393 comments