Hi
Been a while since I've tried any distro for the PinePhone.
Wondering if any of the current distributions out there today have good/working modem and audio support? Last time I tried, sound was just to bad and the modem silently stopped working mid day several times excluding my from both calls and messages without notifications. Would love to start using my PinePhone on a daily basis. All I personally need really, is audio and cell-connection to be working.
Try the multi-distro image: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11347.
Concerning, the modem and sound, they work practically flawless for me on Mobian.
Thank you,
not particularly interested in running multiple distros, just want one that is working and I like deb so I'll give it a try.
Have you used your phone continuously for a day, or a couple of days that you are sure it works well?
01-07-2021, 12:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-07-2021, 12:12 PM by kqlnut.)
I have been using Manjaro for the last couple of weeks and I'm using exclusively my Pinephone now (although I don't use my phone much in the first place). It's working pretty well. I don't have any audio quality issues when calling although I frequently have the problem when calling people that my phone says it's still connecting the call (no call timer yet, also no dialing/connection tone, although there usually is one) the other person seems to already have picked up. I then can only hear them after a couple of seconds. Mobile data is working reliably for me now (it hasn't about 2 months ago) for the most part. Sometimes the modem doesn't come back up properly after sleep (happens quite regularly, about once per day). For those occasions I have a little bash script that restarts the modem, so I don't have to reboot the phone and that works well enough:
Code: echo "0" | sudo tee /sys/class/modem-power/modem-power/device/powered
to power down the modem (in case it isn't already; after that I put sleep for 15 seconds to make sure it can power down, not sure, if that's necessary) and then writing 1 to that file the same way to power it back. Takes about 15 seconds to restart and then everything runs fine again.
Notifications don't really work (at least the LED doesn't), I just check the phone from time to time. I always get notifications for missed calls in Phosh, always for Telegram (if it's open), only sometimes for SMS (sometimes they only appear in chatty).
kqlnut, aw, that sounds unreliable :/
Yes, it is indeed, for sure not acceptable for everyone. It's enough for me at the time since I don't rely on my phone for work, but there definately are still big shortcomings. Although development has been taking amazing steps in the past months from what I saw. The biggest annoyance for me though is still that it takes too much time for the phone to ring for incoming calls during deep sleep.
I'm not sure how other distros compare at the moment, but at least the last issue is distro independent (at least for the ones using Modem Manager).
fsflover,
tried Mobian, sound is still abysmal going both directions, completely unusable imo... are you really okay with that sound quality/volume?
Not sure why Mobian would give you audio trouble. I had lousy audio on Manjaro. But I tested Mobian running from the SD for several days, and when the audio and everything else seemed stable enough, I installed it. That was 2-3 weeks ago. It still works fine for me.
My troubles are ones I had with Manjaro, too.
When I wake the phone up sometimes the touchscreen is screwy. To login I have to hit everything twice because it never registers the first tap. I thought that was all of it. But I found out today (or maybe it just started today) that it applies elsewhere. When I tap the top, for instance, it drops down the notifications. If I hit the power button top right, it closes notifications instead of opening it up to choose locking, shutting down, etc. This doesn't happen every time. And since I never noticed the new problem until today it may be inconsistent.
That and updates. It keeps telling me there are some, it keeps downloading them, it keeps restarting the phone to install them, then it doesn't install and repeats the process when it runs up again.
But as for audio, I've tested it dozens of times and it hasn't been a problem once since I switched.
Phydeaux3;
its not that the audio is unstable, its that its extremely poor quality and low volume. If I'm not in a completely quiet room (there is no way I can be out and about and take a call), its very hard to understand what someone is saying. Same goes for the mic. When I've tried it out, people complain its low and very hard to hear what is said, crackling and such. So, it seems to go both ways.
I've tried UB, Manjaro, Postmarket and now Mobian, they all act exactly the same.
Did I get a crappy PinePhone, or whats up? I mean, I can't imagine anyone thinking what I'm experiencing to be acceptable.
01-19-2021, 02:01 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-19-2021, 02:07 AM by calinb.)
(01-07-2021, 11:54 AM)GloriousCoffee Wrote: Thank you,
not particularly interested in running multiple distros, just want one that is working and I like deb so I'll give it a try.
I've had my PinePhone for over a couple of months now and I find that the "one that is working" varies from day to day and week to week--depending on updates and what features I require to be functional.
Overall, Mobian works the best for me so I keep it installed on my eMMC and I keep it up to date. When something breaks on current Mobian that I need (for example, the Mobian phone application has become unstable, of late), I boot to one of the OSes on the multiboot SD card. Again, for example, the older version of Mobian on my multiboot SD has a phone application that continues to work well, even though my up-to-date Mobian on eMMC curently has an unreliable phone ap.
Anyway, that's my current PinePhone usage model.
(01-07-2021, 11:54 AM)GloriousCoffee Wrote: Have you used your phone continuously for a day, or a couple of days that you are sure it works well? In my experience, updates will sometimes break things so, if you find that your PinePhone works well (or well enough?), perhaps discontinue updating at that time. On the other hand, I guess I've never found any system that works well enough that I don't wish to roll the dice for improved functionality or stability with an update. At least basic voice and SMS functionality are only a multiboot selection and re-boot away--in my experience anyway!
The nice thing about Megi's multiboot is you can boot to eMMC or one of the multiboot OS options or Jumpdrive on SD without taking the back off the PinePhone to swap SD cards in or out.
Finally, be advised that all the multiboot OSes share the same kernel. Sometimes they break if you update them.
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