02-07-2022, 02:37 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-07-2022, 02:59 AM by lllsondowlll.)
My personal experience with distro hopping over the past couple of days.
Mobian's stable release is bugged and thinks the phone is always charging, seems to be the most behind the curve in favor of stability over functionality and looks. App store interface and included gnome apps are somewhat outdated and lacking. Mobian unstable does better but seems to still be a little out dated by a week or so. Plus I wasn't thrilled how the phone would not indicate whether or not Mobian is booting which no other distro has issues with addressing via led or vibration indicators, not Mobian though. Seems to be bugged with haptic feedback as well. Either too aggressive or nonexistent. Mobian is a "safe" distro with lots of documentation but definitely not the "best".
Arch (unofficial) Phosh is just Arch with stable Mobian Phosh packages pulled in. Seems to be behind Manjaro stable in a lot of ways when it comes to Gnome apps and interface. Seems to be more compatible with PPP than Mobian. App store interface is lacking. Suspend works out of the box unless kernel is upgraded. It's more or less Mobian with Arch underneath. Doesn't really bring much else to the table that would impress or really set it apart from Mobian for me personally.
Arch (unofficial) Plasma is just Arch with Plasma, similar to the above notes.
Manjaro Phosh Stable has a lot more gnome packages shipped by default, improved out of box functionality (such as charging states and haptic handling), and a pretty fleshed out app store functionality that sets the rest of the above distros apart. The stable Phosh apps are more up to date than Mobian. The interface theme, icons, and App store that functions exactly like the desktop package manager really gives this distro shine over the previous two.
Manjaro Phosh Unstable is the closest to true Arch Linux bleeding edge you can get and is what I use as my daily driver. Lots of added functionality and stability fixes with the latest kernels and app updates as soon as they are available. Suspend is broken but this is a known issue for most distros running recent software. It's an issue with U-boot that should be resolved soon from what I hear.
Manjaro Plasma - This is what ships with the phone, I liked it but it feels a little too unstable for me and has issues with app scaling when translating desktop apps to mobile. Phosh seems to handle this very well.
In conclusion: Really the most complete distro will depend on your needs and I recommend you do some distro hoping on an SD card for yourself to see which one meets your needs the best.
Mobian's stable release is bugged and thinks the phone is always charging, seems to be the most behind the curve in favor of stability over functionality and looks. App store interface and included gnome apps are somewhat outdated and lacking. Mobian unstable does better but seems to still be a little out dated by a week or so. Plus I wasn't thrilled how the phone would not indicate whether or not Mobian is booting which no other distro has issues with addressing via led or vibration indicators, not Mobian though. Seems to be bugged with haptic feedback as well. Either too aggressive or nonexistent. Mobian is a "safe" distro with lots of documentation but definitely not the "best".
Arch (unofficial) Phosh is just Arch with stable Mobian Phosh packages pulled in. Seems to be behind Manjaro stable in a lot of ways when it comes to Gnome apps and interface. Seems to be more compatible with PPP than Mobian. App store interface is lacking. Suspend works out of the box unless kernel is upgraded. It's more or less Mobian with Arch underneath. Doesn't really bring much else to the table that would impress or really set it apart from Mobian for me personally.
Arch (unofficial) Plasma is just Arch with Plasma, similar to the above notes.
Manjaro Phosh Stable has a lot more gnome packages shipped by default, improved out of box functionality (such as charging states and haptic handling), and a pretty fleshed out app store functionality that sets the rest of the above distros apart. The stable Phosh apps are more up to date than Mobian. The interface theme, icons, and App store that functions exactly like the desktop package manager really gives this distro shine over the previous two.
Manjaro Phosh Unstable is the closest to true Arch Linux bleeding edge you can get and is what I use as my daily driver. Lots of added functionality and stability fixes with the latest kernels and app updates as soon as they are available. Suspend is broken but this is a known issue for most distros running recent software. It's an issue with U-boot that should be resolved soon from what I hear.
Manjaro Plasma - This is what ships with the phone, I liked it but it feels a little too unstable for me and has issues with app scaling when translating desktop apps to mobile. Phosh seems to handle this very well.
In conclusion: Really the most complete distro will depend on your needs and I recommend you do some distro hoping on an SD card for yourself to see which one meets your needs the best.