08-30-2025, 11:32 PM
Apologies for starting in this sub-forum, I didn't see an "introductions" section.....
I'm a Linux user since 1998, but admittedly not a real "power user", every computer I own is Linux based, but I have to use an abomination at work like most people.
I have several years experience with SBC's and a healthy collection of them. As far as coding goes I know some C++, and know enough to do fun stuff, but I'm not a developer by any stretch of the imagination.
I'd like to order a PinePhone, and use it as my daily but I really need to know a few things before I do. I read through the forum some, and watched some YouTube videos but we all know how quickly things change and I didn't see anything super recent about my concerns.
It's understood that PinePhone is under development, and there are going to be quirks and plain old "don't work for that" scenarios (like everything Linux), so I'd like to see a baseline of what IS happening before I commit....
I'm not only open to trying different distros, but enthusiastic about it, so if one is better at giving me the capabilities I need than the others that's great!
The things I need from a phone are:
1) 5G phone service on T-Mobile (USA)
2) RCS chat
3) WhatsApp
4) FireFox, or a secure browser that isn't going to get blocked by places like my bank, preferably NOT chrome
-------------------
Also I'm curious what development environments can run, my go-to is Geany, and I've also just barely started dabbling in front ends so I'm curious what's supported, QT or something?
And I'm assuming there's a way to encrypt a folder and make a safe place for sensitive storage like LUKS?
Thank you for reading, I'm really excited to get some feedback, if I can do the 4 things above I'm ordering a Beta,I've looked at the Pro, but it's out of stock.
I'm a Linux user since 1998, but admittedly not a real "power user", every computer I own is Linux based, but I have to use an abomination at work like most people.
I have several years experience with SBC's and a healthy collection of them. As far as coding goes I know some C++, and know enough to do fun stuff, but I'm not a developer by any stretch of the imagination.
I'd like to order a PinePhone, and use it as my daily but I really need to know a few things before I do. I read through the forum some, and watched some YouTube videos but we all know how quickly things change and I didn't see anything super recent about my concerns.
It's understood that PinePhone is under development, and there are going to be quirks and plain old "don't work for that" scenarios (like everything Linux), so I'd like to see a baseline of what IS happening before I commit....
I'm not only open to trying different distros, but enthusiastic about it, so if one is better at giving me the capabilities I need than the others that's great!
The things I need from a phone are:
1) 5G phone service on T-Mobile (USA)
2) RCS chat
3) WhatsApp
4) FireFox, or a secure browser that isn't going to get blocked by places like my bank, preferably NOT chrome
-------------------
Also I'm curious what development environments can run, my go-to is Geany, and I've also just barely started dabbling in front ends so I'm curious what's supported, QT or something?
And I'm assuming there's a way to encrypt a folder and make a safe place for sensitive storage like LUKS?
Thank you for reading, I'm really excited to get some feedback, if I can do the 4 things above I'm ordering a Beta,I've looked at the Pro, but it's out of stock.