"I've used Linux's GNOME interface on a phone, and it's great ... I'm just waiting for a good phone to put it on" (#PinePhone)
https://www.howtogeek.com/i-ran-linux-on-my-smartphone-its-still-held-back-by-hardware/
@lupyuen The PocketCHIP ran Debian Linux with Gnome on much less powerful hardware. The evolution of GNOME: 512mb of RAM and one 32bit core is plenty to I can't be responsive with four 64bit cores and 2gb to 3gb of ram.
It definitely seems like GNOME is part of the problem.
@AmpBenzScientist @lupyuen To be fair, PocketCHIP had a 480x272 display and the same GPU as the PinePhone (with fewer cores though). Even Neo Freerunner was fast in QVGA mode.
@dos I just saw the Librem in you name. The Librem was the phone we secretly wanted too. The hardware in the Librem was not a SBC that got turned into a smartphone. When people broke their Pinephones, it was a sad sight to see. Doing that to a Librem would have been devastating.
The SoC in the Librem was much stronger and perhaps the device was better in many ways as a usable phone. The Pinephone was an accomplishment in many ways but I think it's safe to say that both helped pave the way for Linux smartphones.
@dos @lupyuen The CHIP also had a custom distro. NTC and the community did a lot towards the same goal. The Pinephone was impressive but the community behind it seemed to have many goals. There was supposed to be a BSD distro available too.
Having received the early released PocketCHIP and the first available Pinephone version, neither were a disappointment. The Pinephone was arguably the best Linux Phone in terms of hardware support and the community.
The hardware isn't very powerful and that's a fair point to make but it's about as open as possible. Perhaps it's not powerful enough now but it was always underpowered. The budget SoC from 2012 lasted in a Linux smartphone for about 4 years.
My point is that it is possible. A phone that could not play videos made Linux phones a reality.