Are you using the Pinephone as your daily driver?

[TRS-80]

the inability to transfer files besides an awkward workaround of pulling out a microsd card (I couldn't figure out proposed SSH or syncthing or other solutions, although they apparently work for others - I think this is solvable but I saw even a recent post where someone was struggling with it and I couldn't follow along with their solution. This was a major use case functionality failure, as I wanted to type things up and transfer them over off the Pinephone and was unable to do so - I had expected I could just plug the device in to a computer or a usb stick to transfer files back and forth);

Well if you like the click click GUI you may not like this solution, OTOH I find it cumbersome to plug a physical cable between my device and computer to transfer files when this can be accomplished over the network (and IMO that is a much more Linux-ey way of doing so).

Personally I like using TRAMP (in Emacs) but again if you prefer click click GUI you are probably not going to like that.

I think maybe software development momentum dropped off more than expected?

Maybe so. Search around Internet for posts my Martijn Braam, Drew DeVault, Tuxphones and others who have been critical of PINE64 turning into a Manjaro monoculture.

I saw someone made a backlight for the keyboard which I think is a good idea.

A backlight? Where? I've only seen where (I think it was Megi maybe) had soldered an LED to a USB-C plug and was sort of using that as a keyboard light (lol).

[Kevin Kofler]

the inability to transfer files besides an awkward workaround of pulling out a microsd card (I couldn't figure out proposed SSH or syncthing or other solutions, although they apparently work for others - I think this is solvable but I saw even a recent post where someone was struggling with it and I couldn't follow along with their solution. This was a major use case functionality failure, as I wanted to type things up and transfer them over off the Pinephone and was unable to do so - I had expected I could just plug the device in to a computer or a usb stick to transfer files back and forth);

SFTP should just work for transfering files. Make sure sshd is enabled on the PinePhone:

• First check your /etc/ssh/sshd_config on the phone to make sure it is reasonably secure. In particular, you want these:
  
  Code:

  PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
ChallengeResponseAuthentication no
  because, considering how trivial the PIN-style user passwords normally used on Plasma Mobile are, you definitely do not want to rely on those for authentication. Instead, put your desktop/notebook's public key in the PinePhone's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. (Only if you cannot figure out a way to set this up without using SFTP, copy the file over SFTP with password authentication temporarily enabled and then immediately disable it. But it is more secure if you transfer the public key using a USB stick or a MicroSD card.)
  
• Enable sshd with
  
  Code:

  sudo systemctl enable --now sshd.service

Then whenever you wish to transfer files from/to the PinePhone:

• Make sure both your desktop/notebook and your PinePhone are connected to the same WLAN (wireless local area network, i.e., WiFi network).
  
• Run
  
  Code:

  ip addr
  on the PinePhone to figure out its current IPv4 address. (If you are on your home network, you can probably get your WiFi router to assign a static IP address that you can then, if you cannot or do not want to remember it, give a static name through the /etc/hosts file on your desktop/notebook.)
  
• Point your favorite GUI file manager on the desktop/notebook to sftp:// + the IPv4 address you got above. (Pretty much any GNU/Linux GUI file manager supports SFTP out of the box.)
  

It is really no different than transfering files between 2 GNU/Linux computers.

[Zebulon Walton]

I usually use sshfs and it works OK. NFS (Nightmare File System) or Samba might be other options. It's still convenient though to just be able to hook up the USB cable with the Pinephone becoming a USB drive. I'm running Mobian and it does not support doing that directly, but with tow-boot it's easy to boot into a mode where you can at least get to the eMMC that way.

[alaraajavamma]

I usually use sshfs and it works OK. NFS (Nightmare File System) or Samba might be other options. It's still convenient though to just be able to hook up the USB cable with the Pinephone becoming a USB drive. I'm running Mobian and it does not support doing that directly, but with tow-boot it's easy to boot into a mode where you can at least get to the eMMC that way.

I am using this:
https://github.com/viveris/uMTP-Responder

And my setup is working like this:
- I have to be logged in
- I plug USB to computer and I can see my Home folder as external drive
(I have disabled all hidden folders and everything outside Home folder but that is not mandatory)

Not sure does it work with Mobian but with Manjaro it works.

[dante404]

@topic: I used my Pinephone with Mobian for over 1 year (I think) as my daily driver and was most of the time really happy with it, it was definitely not perfect (low performance, sub-optimal battery life, bulky, have to use usb stick to transfer files, a crash once every few weeks or months, a strangely dis- and reconnecting modem since a few months, I have to start pulseaudio manually after boot since a few months, ...)... BUT it was usable and still absolutely ok for me for staying away from Google/Apple!

Since a few days I think about ditching my two PinePhones for the first time and get something completely different*, for a current combination of three main reasons:

1. Since about 2-3 weeks my main phone crashes (sometimes) OR completely freezes (very often) OR the touch screen "gets stuck" (less often) multiple times a day (at least twice, sometimes more) and needs a hard reboot. It happens while phone is in use at least twice a day - but happens also nearly every night while it's on the charger, in the morning the phone is "on" but you don't get to see more as the screen backlight. Perhaps it's this "flipping frames bug" I've read about here on the forum, but then I don't understand WHY it happens now multiple times a day and last year only once a few weeks or even months (I don't use my phone more or different now!). Therefore I think it has more to do with an Mobian update OR (more likely) the hardware is just dying...

2. I wanted to switch to my back-up-PinePhone as my new daily driver to check if it is more stable (nearly unused, newer revision) and updated it, but it still has this problem https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=15076 which I was never able to solve. And you HAVE to reboot your PinePhone sometimes, and it should take 1-2 minutes maximum then and not 10 minutes if you need your phone right now...  

3. Axolotl (Signal) (which of course already had some bugs before) is nearly unusable for me since a few days ( https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...47&page=21 ), but these days I really need it. I'm afraid I will have to use a device which can run official Signal client or an other Axolotl build wich is technically different to the Mobian one (UBports AFAIK?).

*Not easy to find a replacement for a PinePhone user: A Volla Phone with UBports? No Mobile-OS without Full-Disk-Encryption for me, that's a No-Go! A PinePhone Pro? Not really usable at the moment AFAIK! A expensive Librem 5? That would be only remaining option I know of (beside a de-googled-Android-Thingy of course... ) and would hopefully at least successful boot and don't crash (that often), but official Signal Client also won't work there. Don't know what I should do/get...

It's sad, I love it to have a real Linux on my smartphone and I had a good time with my (main) PinePhone after switching to Mobian (except some upgrade, dependency and audio problems Mobian had a few months ago, but they were all fixable)... but I don't really want to by a THIRD PinePhone (non-pro) in less than 2 years and just HOPE it doesn't have fundamental problems like "not booting 9/10 times" or "freezes 2-4 times a day"...

EDIT: Let's withdraw the mentioned "expensive Librem 5" as alternative, the "cheaper" not-built-in-USA-version is currently 1299$ (also not in stock/long delay) - To much for a smartphone for me (I really thought it costs 600-750€ until now, that would have been painful but perhaps an option, but not > 1000€)...

[zetabeta]

@topic: I used my Pinephone with Mobian for over 1 year (I think) as my daily driver and was most of the time really happy with it, it was definitely not perfect (low performance, sub-optimal battery life, bulky, have to use usb stick to transfer files, a crash once every few weeks or months, a strangely dis- and reconnecting modem since a few months, I have to start pulseaudio manually after boot since a few months, ...)... BUT it was usable and still absolutely ok for me for staying away from Google/Apple!

Since a few days I think about ditching my two PinePhones for the first time and get something completely different*, for a current combination of three main reasons:

1. Since about 2-3 weeks my main phone crashes (sometimes) OR completely freezes (very often) OR the touch screen "gets stuck" (less often) multiple times a day (at least twice, sometimes more) and needs a hard reboot. It happens while phone is in use at least twice a day - but happens also nearly every night while it's on the charger, in the morning the phone is "on" but you don't get to see more as the screen backlight. Perhaps it's this "flipping frames bug" I've read about here on the forum, but then I don't understand WHY it happens now multiple times a day and last year only once a few weeks or even months (I don't use my phone more or different now!). Therefore I think it has more to do with an Mobian update OR (more likely) the hardware is just dying...

does ssh respond, ping or ttyescape?

even i got few total jams on a pinephone (mostly manjaro), which i think is different issue than "flipping frames bug". however, some case flipping frames jams system totally and it's visible on a screen some way, usually gray.

i still recommend those "flipping frames" preventions.

2. I wanted to switch to my back-up-PinePhone as my new daily driver to check if it is more stable (nearly unused, newer revision) and updated it, but it still has this problem https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=15076 which I was never able to solve. And you HAVE to reboot your PinePhone sometimes, and it should take 1-2 minutes maximum then and not 10 minutes if you need your phone right now...  

3. Axolotl (Signal) (which of course already had some bugs before) is nearly unusable for me since a few days ( https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...47&page=21 ), but these days I really need it. I'm afraid I will have to use a device which can run official Signal client or an other Axolotl build wich is technically different to the Mobian one (UBports AFAIK?).

i was able to install waydroid on a x86_64 computer and "signal" in it. i needed it for simple thing. serious caveat, no camera support, forget linking to desktop programs. waydroid requires wayland, running wayland on x11 might be tricky. some cases desktop environment has support by itself or could be added, if not, then "weston" (or similar) could be used.

*Not easy to find a replacement for a PinePhone user: A Volla Phone with UBports? No Mobile-OS without Full-Disk-Encryption for me, that's a No-Go! A PinePhone Pro? Not really usable at the moment AFAIK! A expensive Librem 5? That would be only remaining option I know of (beside a de-googled-Android-Thingy of course... ) and would hopefully at least successful boot and don't crash (that often), but official Signal Client also won't work there. Don't know what I should do/get...

i have a backup plan, volte capable basic phone. in this case it is NOT android based. i'm not going to advertise here, but no north american frequency bands.

It's sad, I love it to have a real Linux on my smartphone and I had a good time with my (main) PinePhone after switching to Mobian (except some upgrade, dependency and audio problems Mobian had a few months ago, but they were all fixable)... but I don't really want to by a THIRD PinePhone (non-pro) in less than 2 years and just HOPE it doesn't have fundamental problems like "not booting 9/10 times" or "freezes 2-4 times a day"...

i hope some good comes from this pinephone train. i didn't go on this on a quick fix. i'm quite pissed about android. what i have learned from android, its bootloader (fastboot) is too much controlled, thus less user control. android is too much tied to google's components, even if you de-google that android device. many apps rely on "google play services". even aosp development is on the hands of google. ios is totally controlled by apple directly.

[zetabeta]

1. Since about 2-3 weeks my main phone crashes (sometimes) OR completely freezes (very often) OR the touch screen "gets stuck" (less often) multiple times a day (at least twice, sometimes more) and needs a hard reboot. It happens while phone is in use at least twice a day - but happens also nearly every night while it's on the charger, in the morning the phone is "on" but you don't get to see more as the screen backlight. Perhaps it's this "flipping frames bug" I've read about here on the forum, but then I don't understand WHY it happens now multiple times a day and last year only once a few weeks or even months (I don't use my phone more or different now!). Therefore I think it has more to do with an Mobian update OR (more likely) the hardware is just dying...

2. I wanted to switch to my back-up-PinePhone as my new daily driver to check if it is more stable (nearly unused, newer revision) and updated it, but it still has this problem https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=15076 which I was never able to solve. And you HAVE to reboot your PinePhone sometimes, and it should take 1-2 minutes maximum then and not 10 minutes if you need your phone right now...  

i forgot this one. i have started to suspect that allwinner SoC is second-level quality. some work and others don't. in this "flipping frames bug", powersaving issue happens all pinephones but frequency change bug only in some pinephones. do we play lottery in these chips to get good or bad one!?

i noticed that fedora kernel does not crash on frequency change on any pinephone. this could be used as a hint, kernel and mesa developers change something and linux.os start to do weird things. maybe those total jams could indicate new bugs, and may behave slightly differently on different pinephones.

i used weird hack to install uboot on mobian, because i needed bootable mobian on sdcard. i don't have lot of experience about tow-boot, but is it stable enough?

[Zebulon Walton]

I am using this:
https://github.com/viveris/uMTP-Responder

And my setup is working like this:
- I have to be logged in
- I plug USB to computer and I can see my Home folder as external drive
(I have disabled all hidden folders and everything outside Home folder but that is not mandatory)

Not sure does it work with Mobian but with Manjaro it works.

Thanks, I'll give that a try!

[Zebulon Walton]

I compiled uMTP-Responder but found that even using the supplied Mobian config file the program yielded a cascade of error messages when run.

I did find looking at the "issues" discussion on the github page there was a post mentioning there is a Debian "utmp-responder" package. I installed that package but it doesn't seem to work either. I'll take a closer look when I have time.

[dante404]

@zetabeta : Thank you very much for your tipps and hints!

...but sadly my backup phone (the one with the boot problem) now ALSO starts freezing (I used it while tried to figure out how I could make console output visible on screen while booting), so I'm afraid working on the boot problem would be another waste of time.  

My primary phone (which worked so well over the last year) now freezes about every 5-10 minutes if really used. That's of course no longer bearable.
I hate to say that as an former fanboy, but I think the PinePhone hardware is sadly just... really bad. Quality-wise. Or it's some kind of lottery if you get something that works or garbage. I don't see any other explanation for this fast sudden downward trend in stability on BOTH of my devices except low quality hardware.

Perhaps I could get a Librem 5 for a few hundred bucks on ebay (paying 1299$ AND wait 52 weeks for a new one is errrr... )... -> Does anybody know how stable and usable the Librem 5 is today?
Or does one know a good online review which is maximum a few months old? (All the old 'launch reviews' I find online are of course not relevant in 2023 for a device like the Librem 5). I would be grateful for every hint/link about this...
These days I really need a smartphone which overall/most of the time really works (as my PP did last year) and is usable (and I don't want to enter the invasive Google/Apple world which I managed to avoid for my whole life so far).