someUnexpectedSparks @someunexpectedsparks@librem.one

@zwerg12 asked about network speed, but I'm not going to answer. It’s not to be a jerk, I’m just not that interested.

I don’t stream. I prefer to own files and copy them over. Ya, its not as easy, but no ads or surveillance. Connectivity isn’t a worry. Stuff I buy doesn’t disappear when contracts change. I support artists directly.

I use the web, but phone and browser capabilities interfere in that story.

I’m in no way a network engineer, so I worry about accuracy.

Sorry
#librem5 #dogwood

This is totally awesome. Or totally silly.

The #librem5 #dogwood has a working spreadsheet app. You don’t believe me?

It is “sc” the spreadsheet calculator for unix/linux. It is a fully working spreadsheet. Well, you may want to debate “fully”. Call it spreadsheet functionality without all the cruft/fluff and unneeded features. You #terminal folks say you like that, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc_(spreadsheet_calculator)
#sc

Tried a few ePub readers...

Calibre crashes on boot (Could not find the Qt platform plugin "wayland")

Okular boots, but isn’t full screen so the nav is unreachable

#foliate boots, goes full screen, and it … it … works! The catalogs work (standardebooks, feedbooks, project gutenberg). I grabbed a book and started reading. I was able to read an ePub file I had. Another ePub I had seemed to send it into infinite loops or something. So I guess I’m saying 2 out of 3 ain’t bad?
#librem5 #dogwood

When the squeekboard modifier keys appeared a week or so ago, I really wondered if I had just missed them. So I started looking for info on updates.

The info about them in the phone isn’t great. I don’t see a way to look at past updates, so I waited for another to toot.

3 screens here

1. Update Announcement
2. Package list
3. Package details (empty wherever I’ve looked)

Off-phone, I found the squeekboard change mentioned in their repo. Which made me feel better.
#librem5 #dogwood

Entering secrets in wallabag got me looking at cut/paste

Finger touch/drag to select text didn’t work in Epiphany. Gedit supports it, but it was fidgety for lines wider than the screen.

Squeekboard helps since CTRL & ALT are toggles. My go to approach became putting each secret in a file so I could CTRL-a, CTRL-c them. You know what I want? SHIFT should be a toggle too. SHIFT-navkey would be awesome!

It’s user-configurable, I may try. Having the source rocks.
#librem5 #dogwood #squeekboard

Wallabag/ReadItLater - Sort of works?

Enter your username and secrets (about 128 character's worth) and then it takes a looooong time to sync your stuff (I went to bed)

In the AM, I could navigate and read articles. It was slow. But I can tolerate it since - you know - linux phone!

The deal-breaker though, is it forgets my credentials. You have to re-enter them every launch. Bah!

There is a closed bug about access to the keyring. I may try to debug another day...
#librem5 #dogwood #wallabag

syncthing!

This makes me unreasonably happy

Installed from cli w/apt. Got 2 icons (start & web ui) in phosh, which I didn’t expect. It connected with my other machines in a few minutes. Files now syncing over both wi-fi & mobile. Smooth

This is real gnu/linux!

I’m building a home-grown, personal-cloud, screw-ball, palm-pilot replacement thing and I’d bet on syncthing as a core technology. Picture me as Hannibal Smith - I love it when a plan comes together.

#librem5 #dogwood #syncthing

OK, since I said the Librem5 was “crashy”, I feel obligated to follow that up by saying I haven’t seen a crash since I said that.

I had pretty light usage during that time - mostly charging, a couple/few hours of use per day. But still, gotta adjust my stats. They are trending in a good direction.

#librem5 #dogwood

https://social.librem.one/@someunexpectedsparks/104781878661089200

Podcasts (3/3)

The gnome podcast notifications are cool.

Here’s one on the lock screen while a podcast is running. The other is in the notification area of the settings panel (shown on top of a blank browser page).

#librem5 #dogwood

Podcasts (2/3)
You must set the audio output manually
- At first, it was playing like a phone call
- In the settings app under “Sound” I selected “Speaker Phone” & things got a bit louder. Not actually loud. Underwhelming
- I tried wired headphones. Not great. A few seconds of headphone audio, then a split-second burst of phone audio. Over & over. That was a week ago. Now, after a couple updates, still there but less often
- A Bluetooth headset worked fine – that’s the keeper!
#librem5 #dogwood

Podcasts (1/3)
I installed gnome podcasts from the flatpack ref from https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Podcasts I assume that's the way to do it, wasn't in the software app

It imported my OPML from my Android app fine

I don't think I like the app.
- video doesn't seem to work
- there doesn’t seem to be a view that only shows unplayed podcasts
- playback speed won’t go above 2.0x (I got used to 2.5x – don’t laugh)

But this is about the app, not the phone.
#librem5 #dogwood

Calls work
Mobile data works
SMS/Texts work
Does what it says on the tin, mostly

There are some quirks worth tooting for all of that, but not tonight

fwiw, I'm running on Consumer Cellular from the Washington DC suburbs. I have nothing to do with them, they just seemed to be most useful to me when my patience for reading phone company marketing BS ran out.
#librem5 #dogwood

There seem to be 2 types of crashes:
- small: pressing power brings things back
- large: simple reboot resistant. The long-presses in https://docs.puri.sm/Librem_5/Troubleshooting.html that are supposed to be only for birch seem to help. Or it could be random and I’m https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Skinner/Pigeon/

I need to take better notes, but it has been a few days since I’ve experienced a large crash. Maybe an update helped?
#librem5 #dogwood

Is the Librem5 crashy? Yes, the Librem5 is crashy.

Did they warn us Dogwood was crashy? Yes, they did warn us https://forums.puri.sm/t/dogwood-shipping-out-today/9920

I took delivery anyway and don't regret it. I'm having fun here and a lot works.

I see about 0-2 crashes a day.
#librem5 #dogwood

Woo Hoo! My wi-fi is back.

I have no idea why, or what happened. I recycled and rebooted a bunch and eventually one worked.
#librem5 #dogwood

Where did my wi-fi hardware go?

It has been working more or less fine since I got it. Occasionally it would drop-out, but a cycle of the kill switch or power would bring it back. Basically, a nuisance.

Today. It seems gone and I can’t figure out how to get it back. Bummer.

I wanted to play with it today, but all my plans involved wi-fi. Gonna hope a full charge and some time off sorts it out. I don't want to try to debug this.

Cellular is working fine.

#librem5 #dogwood

I got so excited tooting about modifier keys, I forgot to mention that there is

- no spell check
- no type-ahead suggestions
- no swipey typing

There is an emoji keyboard for some reason.
At first I thought there wasn't a phone number keypad - but the entering a phone number in contacts brings one of those up.
The screenshots I included last toot ago are from the "terminal" keyboard.

#librem5 #dogwood

A quick note on squeekboard, the librem5 on-screen keyboard

When I first started playing around with the phone, particularly in the terminal, there was no [Ctrl] key. WTF?

That's a problem. It actually put me off wanting to play with the phone. It felt like a Fisher-Price phone or something.

Then one day I see this...

Modifier keys. Arrow keys. They just appeared one day. Very cool!

Software updates ftw?
#librem5 #dogwood #squeekboard

By the way, I realize attempting to read a PDF on a phone is a stupid thing to do regardless of OS or hardware.

Stupid on a desktop too for that matter.

Let things reflow!

Gave evince (gnome document viewer) a try (2/2)

I went landscape to get wider & bigger text, but the side panel wouldn’t go away- wasted space.

UI toggle wouldn’t work. Keyboard shortcut wouldn’t work.

2 screencaps, one should have the sidebar, one shouldn’t. Can you see a difference?

The toggle worked in portrait mode, and on a different laptop, so I’m pretty sure it should work here too.

To me this kind of nuisance stuff is expected given where linux phones stand today.

#librem5 #dogwood