What is current best OS and desktop

[tckosvic]

Not best place to ask this (in a manjaro-plasma forum) but I'm asking for opinions on what is "best" current OS and desktop combination for pinephone.  Looking for SMS, MMS, and phone to be completely reliably working.  Don't know where to pose this queston to a broader audience.

Anyone doing comparisons between setups (OS, DE).?  I have been using manjaro/plasma as I heard 6 months ago or so that manjaro/plasma was most complete.  It is getting there but things do not always work.  I don't like the continually 1/2 screen operation.  I also don't like when the system doesn't open desktop and you need to continually reboot and reenter pw.

Would anyone have knowledge of a combinatin OS/DE that has overtaken manjaro/plasma.

thanks for any opinions.  I'm willing to do some testing.        tom kosvic

[bcnaz]

@tckosvic

Are you asking about "Out of the Box" functions ?
(( a Linux expert could probably "Tweak" 'most' of the popular operating systems into working))

1) I don't think ANY "System" supports MMS text "Out of the Box" ... YET.

As opinions are based on what each person wants or expects from their system(s).
What is perfect for one user, may be totally un-acceptable for the next user.

Just my "opinion" but KDE is just too much "Like Google" for me.
When I "Tried the Falkon browser", it automatically installed 4 extra Apps, these tie all of your App's together... ? ( NOT COOL)
and this is not removable.. !

Using the sd cards to test the different desktops and operating systems is a Great way to "Try" the available systems !
YOU get to test drive almost any available system for "yourself" and not take someones word for what pleases "them".

UP until recently, I have been trying to test most of the systems with an 'un-biased' opinion just to compare them, and share my opinions...
..BUT, as the dust is settling, I have started to really dis-like the Plasma desktops, their Apps do things that they do not advertise, or warn you about.
--- ( Like it being hard or impossible to un-install bum App's)

I started with the Brave Heart Edition phone, and have been attracted to the Pinephone ever-since.
..You do NOT need to be a Super Linux Geek to have a working Pinephone. ** (Though that would HELP)

But you do need to exert some effort to try as many different systems as you possibly can.... ..* in the early Brave Heart days,
I sometimes flashed 6 different systems in a single day to my sd cards.

SO in an effort to give you an "UN-Biased Opinion" :
"Try more systems", .. .. some ARE pretty dependable now. (Plasma is 'Flashy', Phosh is more 'Intuitive' ...)

[ryo]

When it comes to distro's, I still believe that Mobian and Arch are the most ready.
It would be nice to see their non-systemd variants (Devuan and Artix respectively) on the PinePhone at some point.
I know there's a PinePhone-only distro that's based off Void Linux (which is another distro without systemd), but that project seems to be dead.

When it comes to desktop environments (smartphone environments?), I don't think there's a best one, but rather a least bad one.
Phosh is by far the least bad DE, though still pretty salty about their decission to take away the ability to close the app menu when no apps are running and also no way to re-enable it unless you're willing to fork it, and rebase once every week to make sure it remains enabled and creates no new bugs, while still taking in the latest features.
SXMO is pretty much a suckless DE (pun intended), but it's difficult to type on, the operation of the phone requires re-conditioning, and some of the baked in functionality is pretty useless if you're not in the United States.

As much as I like Plamo as a purely phone-targetted DE, it's still a massive glitchfest.
Lomiri is by far the most stable one, but the fact it can't run any desktop apps natively is a massive deal breaker to me.

All the DEs designed for desktops just aren't usable without a hardware keyboard and mouse, though it would be awesome to see a smartphone optimized version of i3, which is what I believe is the least bad DE (actually WM, but I said DE on purpose because there's just no good option these days) for desktops.

[tckosvic]

Appreciate viewers taking time to comment re: most functional pinephone OS/DE.  I am hearing no clear standouts.  I am hearing try them with sd card.

Most likely "best" might be arch-phosh combination.  Will look for that.

I think manjaro is arch spinoff.  I will try the manjaro-phosh for a test.

Anyone else with opinions?

thanks,          tom kosvic

[Zebulon Walton]

I find that Mobian with Phosh works well for me, but my phone needs are very basic. (Also I run Debian-based distros on just about everything else so I'm very familiar with that OS.)

[Dog House Dave]

Most likely "best" might be arch-phosh combination.  Will look for that.

   ...I have manly been using Mobian Phosh or Manjaro Phosh for the last month, both of which have been a bit hit or miss as a daily driver - but since installing the latest version of Manjaro Phosh (Beta 20) I have been very impressed with the improvements this time round.

  ...The interface is much smoother and faster than any other Phosh version I have used - really very pretty - and so far, I had had no problems with the basic functions, such as voice calls, SMS and mobile data.

  ...I haven't tried MMS, or email clients yet, and the battery is still very poor, but over all, Beta 20 has been great ...I may even do a full post review on it in a few days time if it still hasn't given me any problems - I highly recommend it as a pretty reliable basic daily driver... so far...

[ryo]

I think manjaro is arch spinoff.

Technically, you're not wrong.
However, a distro based off something else doesn't necessarily make it better, worse, or the same.
On the desktop, Manjaro is a fork of Arch, it was initially designed to be a simpler way of installing an Arch-based system with properly tested software and additional tools to make it easier to use for the less tech savvy Linux user.
But over time Manjaro evolved into becoming its own thing that just happens to be based off Arch.

And on phones, both Manjaro and Arch-ARM got developed in isolation from each other.
Manjaro just used what they already had for desktops, and slapped megi's kernel, ARM repo, and 3 mobile DEs on top.
Arch-ARM on the other hand is an unofficial fork of Arch itself maintained by an independent Arch user.
So Manjaro effectively has nothing Arch-ARM has and vice versa, but both do have what Arch has.

[parry]

I find that Mobian with Phosh works well for me, but my phone needs are very basic. (Also I run Debian-based distros on just about everything else so I'm very familiar with that OS.)

Hi Zeb, given your experience, could you possibly help me understand what the settings in the powermanagementprofilesrc file of my Manjaro based pinephone mean.  I am trying to see the screen, but it dims quickly
Here are the settings.. and my questions beside them
[AC]
icon=battery-charging

[AC][DPMSControl]     >> I presume this is the display power management signal
idleTime=60               >> What units are these
lockBeforeTurnOff=1    >> Exactly what does this mean.

[AC][DimDisplay]
idleTime=30000          >> So I have to presume this is the amount of time that it takes to dim the display, Again what units is this in
                                 >> and do I have the correct interpretation


[AC][HandleButtonEvents] >>Looks like some event handler
lidAction=1                      >> Hmm, I dont have a lid on this device
powerButtonAction=128    >> OK, what is this and how does this affect my device
powerDownAction=16       >> Same question here

[Battery][SuspendSession] >> This looks like the time it takes to suspend without any activity
idleTime=300000              >> Again, what units is this in
suspendThenHibernate=false  >>> Exactly what is meant here ?
suspendType=32              >> Even more obscure

[LowBattery]
icon=battery-low

[LowBattery][BrightnessControl] >> I assume this controls the brightness when the battery is low
value=30                                 >> some ill-defined value since it is not referenced to anything

[LowBattery][DPMSControl]  >> I am getting confused here
idleTime=30                       >> Units ?
lockBeforeTurnOff=1           >> Seems it locks the screen before it turns DPMS on

[LowBattery][DimDisplay]   >> How is this related to LowBattery Brightness control ?
idleTime=30000                 >> Confusing units

[LowBattery][HandleButtonEvents] >> Got me here  -difficult to interpret this
lidAction=1                       >> What lid ?
powerButtonAction=128     >> Hmm, looks like 2**6 but what does it mean
powerDownAction=16       >> Another confusing paramter.  What does it do ?

[LowBattery][SuspendSession] >> We already have battery suspend session above what is this ?
idleTime=300000
suspendType=1

Any help in deciphering this melange would be really appreciated, Coz, I cant see the bloody screen. Why oh why does Manjaro not have a screen brightness setting in the UI ??