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+--- Forum: General Discussion on PinePhone (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=127)
+--- Thread: It Was Going So Well... (/showthread.php?tid=15575)
It Was Going So Well... - Dog House Dave - 12-20-2021
Hello all...
... I've been using my PP as a daily driver for a few weeks now, and all has been well until a few nights ago. I only really want a phone that can send and receive calls and texts and basic mobile data, and this had all been working fine up till now...
... However, just when I needed it in a real emergency situation, it let me down...
... A little context... I have been using Mobian/Phosh, installed on the EMMC, which I have been keeping up-to-date via the software update app. My network service provider is Vodafone in the UK, on a Pay-as-you-go SIM and I had no problems with them on both Mobian and Manjaro Phosh - the two main distro's I've been testing.
... I tend to switch the phone off when I'm not expecting a call, as the battery is still pretty bad, regardless of which distro you use. So anyway, I'm out and about and need to make a call... I turn the PP on - everything seems fine - go to make a call and... nothing!!! Basically, all functions worked until the point that I pressed the call button (or dialed the number on the keypad). Instead of screen changing to the call screen with the big red button to hang up, the call list showed the call as rejected (bent arrow pointing down). After rebooting, and pulling the battery, I had to give up and ask to borrow a mates phone - an iPhone 5 - a 2015 model that still seemed to be working as effortlessly as the day it was made - oh, the shame of it all...
... I resisted throwing my PP against the wall and had a look at it the next day. For some reason, a few of the settings had changed, however, these were settings that I didn't think would affect the call, but once I had played with them, the phone started working again... these settings were... ... 1) The APN was deselected - this had changed to default in the past and calls still worked, however, on this occasion, both the Vodafone and default option were off. ... 2) The time and date were wrong, as the WiFi was not in use and the phone had been off all day. ... After fixing both these problems, calls, text and mobile data all started working again - although I couldn't say for sure that either was the problem in the first place.
... despite being up-staged by an old iPhone, I have forgiven my PP and decided to continue using it as a daily driver... but if it happens again, it may be the end of the road for me and PP... but I am a sucker for punishment...
RE: It Was Going So Well... - nelstomlinson - 12-21-2021
In 1997 when I started using Linux there was always something that almost worked, every update broke something, it generally took a lot of babysitting. Now, 25 years later, my Linux computer is way less fussy than the Windows computers at work. However, it's still a PC, still has issues.
I'm confident that all the distros are going to make great strides in the coming year or two, and will soon get to the same point that Mainstream Desktop linux is at today. Will that be good enough? Maybe.
Phones are supposed to just work, aren't supposed to have issues. In the PC desktop world we accept frequents updates and occasional issues, even with stable linux distros. I wonder if we will ever get the extreme reliability for the basic phone functions that we currently get from a stupid flip phone? Linux-as-phone may be a category error: maybe the better answer is a dedicated HMI for the modem, that just does phone/SMS/MMS, but does it 100% of the time. Unfortunately, I don't think that's cool enough that any significant number will work on it.