11-22-2021, 04:31 AM
While I have been advocating for fresh new mobile apps and a community contributions repo specific for mobile there is a second way to populate mobian with useful apps, it also is a nice quick shortcut. We need the working app ecosystem which have made Debian a useful daily OS for decades now. Daily driver app ecosystem = more everyday users = exposure = even more users = more diverse devices(and i2c addons) designed with FOSS drivers in mind = a wider choice on pricepoint and HW features.
Reskinning desktop apps is a major contribution to making Mobian and pinephones(as well as other compatible devices) daily driver useful.
Resizing desktop apps optimized for HD desktops is not enough.
Most of the desktop apps in the Mobian and Debian universe are already in the repos but are nearly useless even with a stylus as the capacitive touch interface is designed for fat human fingers so between 8-12 mm is the smallest a 'touch' to the touchscreen can be, even the resistive screen seen on very old phones and devices required a stylus and good eyesight to navigate chrooted desktop apps.
Almost all of the apps in the FOSS Linux/Unix universe are modular, they can have a second mobile friendly skin contributed to the git and once approved pushed to unstable and then onward.
I look forward to a day when most Debian(and most FOSS distros who follow) packages in the repos has an easy option in the UI or a trigger in the .deb to switch to a small touchscreen skin making those apps usable on mobile and small embedded devices.
Debian has taken a big step in fostering Mobian as an official fork, let the Mobian leak into Debian and standardize inclusion of a mobile friendly alternative GUI. there will be more use cases than we think and it will place Debian as the best and most flexible choice for mobile and embedded systems, hopefully displacing the current non-free option of putting Android on every refrigerator, phone, treadmill, and TV, or at least taking over the DIY space and diverting those person-hour hacking and customizing resources to the FOSS cause.
This is what I had hoped for years ago with Ubuntu Touch and convergence, we have full native x11 now, no wonky unfamiliar libhybris hacked interfaces for drivers or surfaceflinger. The real apps you are used to using on desktop with a mobile skin on debian repos.
There is still a need for users writing mobile specific apps and web apps, as is an easy path to entry contribs repo solution to host these; but we have thousands of excellent apps which only need a useful mobile skin!
Reskinning desktop apps is a major contribution to making Mobian and pinephones(as well as other compatible devices) daily driver useful.
Resizing desktop apps optimized for HD desktops is not enough.
Most of the desktop apps in the Mobian and Debian universe are already in the repos but are nearly useless even with a stylus as the capacitive touch interface is designed for fat human fingers so between 8-12 mm is the smallest a 'touch' to the touchscreen can be, even the resistive screen seen on very old phones and devices required a stylus and good eyesight to navigate chrooted desktop apps.
Almost all of the apps in the FOSS Linux/Unix universe are modular, they can have a second mobile friendly skin contributed to the git and once approved pushed to unstable and then onward.
I look forward to a day when most Debian(and most FOSS distros who follow) packages in the repos has an easy option in the UI or a trigger in the .deb to switch to a small touchscreen skin making those apps usable on mobile and small embedded devices.
Debian has taken a big step in fostering Mobian as an official fork, let the Mobian leak into Debian and standardize inclusion of a mobile friendly alternative GUI. there will be more use cases than we think and it will place Debian as the best and most flexible choice for mobile and embedded systems, hopefully displacing the current non-free option of putting Android on every refrigerator, phone, treadmill, and TV, or at least taking over the DIY space and diverting those person-hour hacking and customizing resources to the FOSS cause.
This is what I had hoped for years ago with Ubuntu Touch and convergence, we have full native x11 now, no wonky unfamiliar libhybris hacked interfaces for drivers or surfaceflinger. The real apps you are used to using on desktop with a mobile skin on debian repos.
There is still a need for users writing mobile specific apps and web apps, as is an easy path to entry contribs repo solution to host these; but we have thousands of excellent apps which only need a useful mobile skin!
