As I see it, apps are “accidentally” working together to help my #librem5 usability
When I set up read-it-later it didn’t store my credentials since the keyring wasn’t set up
When I configured Geary, it pointed that out and helped me set it up. But it doesn’t unlock the keyring at boot, so it won’t alert for new messages until you do that. The L5 reboots way more than you’d expect so this matters
Since I installed Tootle, every boot asks me to unlock the keyring
The Librem5 is a fussy thing
Looks like #Tootle works OK on the #Librem5 as a Mastodon client.
You can see toots and (if you are seeing this) you can toot too. :)
It seems to be missing a way to follow a hashtag easily. I see how you can search for them, but I’m hoping there’s a less-involved way to do that. Right now, I’m using Firefox for that. Can anyone point me to something I’m missing?
So I guess there are people trying to figure out their #librem5 ship dates based on the campaign history. I just happened across a file where I’d been checking on the campaign website every couple weeks or so. If Purism hasn’t shipped past these dates, maybe this is helpful to that effort?
Beware of typos here. There is no warrantee on accuracy, this was just collected for my own amusement.
#librem5 Daily Driver Stories – Reboot Drama
I wanted to see if I could see the latest batch of Space-X Starlink satellites go overhead one evening. Since I’m nervous about data connectivity, I loaded up the https://heavens-above.com/main.aspx page with the sighting details before I stepped outside.
It was a good thing I didn’t need to refer to that page since the phone had shut itself off in my pocket after I stepped out. There was plenty of battery available, it was just off.
#librem5 Daily Driver Stories – Connectivity Drama
I’d tooted that data connectivity can come and go sporadically. Now I’ve captured that in a screen shot.
This is the top of the Geary e-mail app. I was away from home so it makes sense that the Wi-fi shows disconnected. The fact I’m seeing good mobile connectivity/bars that’s suspicious
A minute before this an incoming call came through. A few minutes after this connectivity came back on its own, but that doesn’t always happen.
#librem5 Daily Driver Stories - Charging Drama
I've seen this a couple times…
- Plug it in - no LED
- Re-plug it - still no LED
- Re-plug it - LED flashes red
- Re-plug it - device spontaneously re-boots
Another time, I ignored the blinking and it eventually stopped and charged normally
Purism’s support page is making me nervous here (https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Development_Environment/Phone/Troubleshooting/LED_Colors.html#librem-5-troubleshooting-charging)
“If the light flashes red once per second, there is a problem with the charge controller. Contact Purism”
#librem5 Daily Driver Stories - Charging Drama
I've seen this a couple times...
- Plug it in for the evening (and leave it plugged in for this story)
- Device doesn't charge
- Device runs down and shuts itself off
- Device seems to start charging once off
- Next day (~5 hours after shutdown) notice charging light is still on and device is off
- Boot it up and instantly see 100% charge
I wrote a script that periodically captures up-time and charge state to help figure this pattern out
Did some playing with the #Librem5 GPS. I want to build something that can record where I’ve been. I did an Android version of this but I’m excited to rebuild it w/o Google & w/free software.
Grabbed raw nmea data with
sudo cat /dev/gnss0 > output.nmea
Used gpsBabel (not on the L5) to convert to gpx
gpsbabel -i nmea -f output.nmea -o gpx -F output.gpx
I then imported that into QGis
The spaghetti-looking area was me shoveling my driveway. Then I took a stroll around the block
‘tis a start😃
I did it! I took a picture with the #librem5 camera!
oh…
wait…
I took a picture with the librem5 camera in it. Gotta say "in it." 😉 Of course, the L5 cams still don’t work. Megapixels on my manjaro #pinephone took this
This is my sarcastic way of pointing out that today, right now, well into evergreen shipping, this page https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ still says:
“Upon initial shipment of the Librem 5, it will offer the essentials: phone functionality, email, messaging, voice, camera, browsing.”
Wallabag/ReadItLater – Now works!
I’d tooted before that it would forget all the credential junk each time you start it, which is a really frustrating. It seemed keyring-related and I still don’t know much about that.
Well Geary inadvertently fixed it! Geary noticed there was no keyring configured and asked for a password to set it up. After that, ReadItLater seems happy to use it too.
I now have #wallabag working on my #Librem5 which is very cool!
OK, its slow and a bit fussy, but still cool
1/2
The #purism #librem5 app showcase series is nice, pointing out some apps that work pretty well. I thought the dictionary one (https://puri.sm/posts/app-spotlight-dictionary/) was a mixed bag.
Pluses:
- You can look up words
- You can set it up w/offline dictionaries
- Their offline instructions work well
I added a couple of other dictionaries to mine
sudo apt install dict-moby-thesaurus
sudo apt install dict-wn
So ya, I’ve now got an offline, non-spying, non-advertising dictionary. This is a good day.
2/2
The #librem5 dictionary app showcase glossed over one notable con.
The voice-over says "results are scroll-able in any direction” when it should say “text doesn’t re-flow, virtually guaranteeing some text will be off the screen at all times."
They don’t point out how setting librem5-goodies “scale screen” to 1.5 makes most things fit. Perhaps because doing that for a quick look-up is a bother?
This wouldn’t cut it on iOS or Android, but seems par for the course for linux phones today,
#librem5 daily driver stories from the past couple weeks:
1) Made a phone call. That worked fine. Well, the speaker phone didn’t work, so I guess it worked mostly fine. Right after that I tried to use mobile data – nothing. Cycling the kill switch got it started again
2) Shut itself off sitting idle and plugged-in. Nothing in the logs
3) (2x) Plugged it in, no charge indication. Re-plugging it “fixed” it
I didn’t use the pinephone much. I prefer debian-based distros and it is arch right now
@zoot@fosstodon.org @someunexpectedsparks thanks! /cc'ing #gnome #phoc and #squeekboard - without those #phosh wouldn't be possible.
Worth tooting how awesome #phosh is
Its the #librem5 and (sometimes) #pinephone home screen and just plain works. Launch/kill apps, no prob. Add shortcuts, no prob. Notifications, no prob. etc
How discouraging would it be if the phone’s “center” wasn’t solid as you fuss about trying all these non-mobile apps. It isn’t “why” you use a phone but it is integral to how.
As I understand it, this is largely @agx 's work. So here’s a thanks to you and the whole phosh crew for advancing mobile linux!
Since I whined about a pop-up in the #librem5 built-in weather app a few toots back (https://social.librem.one/@someunexpectedsparks/105437217046002328), if you use librem5-goodies and its “scale screen” to push the screen all the way to 2x, you can reliably see the whole thing.
I was curious how their application spotlight video (https://puri.sm/posts/app-showcase-weather/) was going to address it, or if they had fixed it. They didn’t, #purism just ignored it.
Anyway, here it is:
So I recently learned about the librem5-goodies and its “scale screen” app. It shouldn’t have to exist, but it does and that’s great for where the #librem5 is today. Can’t see a control or an app is rendering stuff off the screen? Just make the screen “bigger” and it might work.
If you’ve lived your life afflicted with “toothpick-fingers” and wonder why on-screen controls are so large, this is your day :)
For context (2/2), in my situation there are two key impediments to having a gnu/linux daily driver – software usability and overall reliability. That can happen on low-spec hw. In principal either the #librem5 or #pinephone can remove those limits with current devices
One day, I’ll notice that there’s been no random weirdness for couple/few months and make the switch. Right now, that interval is measured in days
I view buying these things as supporting the companies working to make it happen
For context (1/2), I don’t much care about the performance of the #librem5 or #pinephone. To me, the fact they exist at all is the awesome thing and a move in a good direction.
I want to make the switch. I’ve been reducing the apps I use on my Android phone to remove the creepy/tracky/surveillancey ones and the ones that I don’t expect to have a mobile-gnu/linux equivalent anytime soon. I don’t expect hw performance to be the limiting factor. Almost nothing performance-intensive is on my list.
Since I’ve tooted some #librem5 & #pinephone perf metrics, I want to note how truly limited in usefulness such things are. In many cases, unless you have a specific thing to optimize and test it carefully, knowing which resource is the bottleneck is challenging. I’ve tooted some factoids here, please use them responsibly😃
Related: one of my favorite quotes…
The first rule of program optimization is: Don’t do it. The second rule of optimization (for experts only) is: Don’t do it yet
I'll use this to toot a bit about linux phones, primarily the Librem5 from Purism. I hope to pass on some information that I'd be interested in if I was thinking about buying one.
I am not, in any way, affiliated with Purism beyond being a customer.
If you find any of this interesting or helpful, great. If not, well most of social media is moronic anyway, what did you expect? :)