So far, we have learned how to switch the modem on via terminal commands to enable phone calls and texting.

However, it seems that the phone battery drains very quickly when this is on. Somebody mentioned power management to be developed.

Here is something else that occured to me:

On my Android phone, making phone calls and using mobile data are two very different things. Phone calls/texting is always on if I have a sim card inserted, but mobile data can be switched on and off. If it is on, it drains the Android phone battery just as badly as my Pinephone.

Can these 2 functions be separated on the Pinephone as well?

At the moment, my notification area (in Postmarket OS) shows 3 symbols:

- phone signal strength (vertical bars)
- 4G (mobile data)
- Wifi signal strength (scope bars)

If I was able to switch "4G" off but keep the other two going, I am sure it would improve battery life.

Is there any terminal command that can do that?

Now I have settled for Postmarket OS (for the time being), I want to look a bit deeper into it and am currently reading the Wiki here:

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Main_Page

Specifically (and for quick, satisfyning results), I can recommend this page:

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/CoreApps

Core Apps have been developed to work on small screens, but perhaps not not as small as the Pinephone. Some need more adjusting. Still, they look very impressive.

today when I turned on my phone the  apps on the desktop were missing, and they do not turn up in the search.
the ones I care about are the file manager, and the terminal apps. what are the proper names of these apps, and how do I return them to the desktop.

According to the user manual (http://files.pine64.org/doc/datasheet/pi...l_V1.0.pdf) of the Allwinner A64, it supports Hardware accelerated video encoding.

Quote:A64 provides almostfull  motion  playback  of  up  to 4K high-definition  video,and  supports H.265 decoder by 4K@30fps ,H.264 decoder by 1080p@60fps, MPEG1/2/4 decoder by 1080p@60fps, VP8 decoder by 1080p@60fps, AVS/AVS+   decoder   by   1080p@60fps,VC1   decoder   by   1080p@30fps,   H.264   encoder   by 1080p@60fps with dedicated hardware.

On the topic of research and apps that help document research and write research papers in Linux (Fedora Workstation 31) this is my experience and opinion:

LibreOffice is most compatible with the all formats for research conferences and journal paper publication, it even supports LaTex format. https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

Gnome Latex works great and is one of the best apps for Latex format. https://github.com/GNOME/gnome-latex

Zotero is a great application for research for references and bibliographies organization, supports Open ID login by OpenID Foundation https://www.zotero.org

Atom is one of the best text editors for code writing, you can “hack it” (legally and supported by FOSS licence) and make it your own to best suite you + post it on github https://atom.io

(I hope Microsoft will not change that and give priority to their VSCode text editor)

DataHub (Guthub for datasets) CLI tool works in Linux, website works fine, they should have a graphical tool soon (not sure if CLI works in other Operating Systems) https://datahub.io

(Get Archive https://github.com/datopian/data-cli.../data-linux.gz

unzip archive, make file executable “chmod +rwx data-linux” or “chmod 777 data linux” and start from terminal.)

Joplin is great note taking to do list app, supporting markdown format https://joplinapp.org syncing with NextCloud https://nextcloud.com (other sync options supported).

Firefox one of the best browsers that respect privacy and is not chromium based. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

My Recommended Linux Operating system is Fedora Workstation with software from https://labs.fedoraproject.org or just use Fedora Labs from start.
My Recommendation based on experience for doing research in Linux (Fedora Workstation) is:
LibreOffice + Gnome Latex + Zotero + Atom (and github) + datahub CLI + Joplin + Firefox.

Any comments or advice are welcome here, I am always happy to learn about new FOSS (free and open source software) applications that are used in research today.

I plan to get a PineBook Laptop soon any recommendation on what Linux OS is best supported?

Regards, Alex

I hate to be that guy, annoyingly reminding about inconvenient to hear things, but still, I need to, since this silence and lack of reaction is a bit frustrating.

As we know, it turned out, rk3399's UART2 (or all of them) is put by Rockchip in the non-standard 3.0V power domain. This affects RockPro, PBP and future HardRock. Literally every USB-UART adapter is 3.3/5V but not this 3.0V and even though the difference can seem insignificant, still, rk3399's datasheet claims maximum of 3.15V for the domain, so it is rather questionable if it is safe to use.
Farther, to make things worse, it turned out, that the UART to earphone jack adapter for PBP being sold on the official Pine64 store, has inside the controller with IO lines set to 5V! without switching capabilities. This difference is already enough to make at least it cause instabilities when used.
This brings up two questions:
1) Is it possible to provide (for the newer revisions of RockPro and upcoming HardRock boards) onboard mechanisms, that will overcome troubles created by Rockchip and make using 3.3V adapters connected to 3.0V SoC lines safe? and if it is, is it planned?
2) why is the dangerous, incompatible UART-earphone jack adapter still being sold without even warning of its incompatibility? and are there plans to fix it?

sorry, I understand, that this may cause inconveniences, but the above issues are certainly inconvenient themselves. I am more than surprised about this silence on both sides. it's so often needed to use that UART, still there are such problems with this, doesn't it require attention or I missed something?

Hi everyone,

I am looking into building GUIs with Python on postmarketOS.  I am (currently) using plasma-mobile so I figured it would make sense to use PyQt5, maybe with Kirigami.  So I installed py3-qt5 (version 5.13.1-r1) from the community repository using APK.  However, when I go to import QtGui from PyQt5 in python3 I get the following error:

This is meant as the thank you thread. So many names, probably 99% of whom I don't even know.

But having just made my first Pine call (on pmOS/phosh as per this thread ) it is thank you to everyone who has got us this far. So many I am well aware and not just limited to Martijn, TL, the pm guys, the phosh guys, Lukasz, Megi, Bhushan, MoeIcenowy, Smaeul, Bart, ... Thank you all for amazing efforts.

To the folks in China and Hong Kong I am aware things are tough - your past efforts are bearing fruit, be strong!

Onwards and upwards.

Hello all,

on the same day when my Pinephone arrived, I straightly installed Ubuntu touch. My impression/experience is ..hard to explain since I didn't know what to expect.

I've installed most recent build available on 17/02/2020 CET evening using the Sandisk Extreme A1 Class 10 UHS-1. I didn't use SIM yet, I rather wanted to test basic things. Apart from everything which is known / reported not to work I have taken note of:
- using supplied usb cable, the battery didn't seem to charge or it was so slow that it wasn't noticeable (connected to laptop Lenovo T540p usb port) - even though battery indicator reported charging
- while having it connected to laptop via provided usb cable, screen sometimes activated on random basis (I didn't touch the phone) for few seconds
- while having it connected to laptop via provided usb cable, charging indicator changed on random basis, sometimes it showed it's charging sometimes not (I ensured I didn't touch cable nor phone at that time) this seems to be related to the point above
- I can hear strange "knocking" sound  when the phone is booting, seems to be from the speaker
- when I left the phone powered on during the night, I couldn't "wake" it up by pushing / holding the button on the next morning. I had to remove the battery and put it in again. It worked and booted afterwards
- wifi signal strength (as reported by indicator) is 25-50% lower than on e.g Iphone SE at the same place



I guess I'll fire up issues on git as soon as I have some energy left for it.

What are your observations when it comes to the basic device functionality with ubuntu touch ?