Possible to use the Pinephone as a PC?
#1
So I'm looking for a new laptop and might consider buying a Pinebook at some stage. However, I'm wondering with the right setup whether I can simply use my Pinephone as a PC? So when I'm out and about it's a phone, but when I get home, I "plug it in" and it becomes my home PC.

Cheers,

P.
#2
(10-08-2020, 06:09 PM)Pinoideae Wrote: So I'm looking for a new laptop and might consider buying a Pinebook at some stage. However, I'm wondering with the right setup whether I can simply use my Pinephone as a PC? So when I'm out and about it's a phone, but when I get home, I "plug it in" and it becomes my home PC.

Cheers,

P.

That's what the convergence option is for:

https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-com...martphone/
#3
Remember to check what state the support for the convergence option is in before you buy. From what I can tell not all distros have support for it so far, and those that do are a bit hit-and-miss about which displays it will work with for reasons that I don't think have been discovered yet. The same goes for power delivery using the convergence option - I think Megous has most of it sorted but it's not made its way into many distros yet. I don't think any showstoppers have been identified though, so it may all be working fine by the time you're ready to buy.

https://xnux.eu/devices/feature/anx7688.html
#4
(10-08-2020, 09:12 PM)evilbunny Wrote:
(10-08-2020, 06:09 PM)Pinoideae Wrote: So I'm looking for a new laptop and might consider buying a Pinebook at some stage. However, I'm wondering with the right setup whether I can simply use my Pinephone as a PC? So when I'm out and about it's a phone, but when I get home, I "plug it in" and it becomes my home PC.

Cheers,

P.

That's what the convergence option is for:

https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-com...martphone/
@evilbunny: Don't be evil!

That's what the convergence option is in theroy thought for.
At what date it really will work is currently unknown.
#5
It's possible. Although it is not yet fluid enough. Look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD_UNwRGFsU&t=120s
#6
(10-09-2020, 05:41 PM)Avisando Wrote: It's possible. Although it is not yet fluid enough. Look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD_UNwRGFsU&t=120s
I was not able to reproduce that.
My Monitor made by Acer which works perfectly with HDMI input together with _all_ other hardware I have, was not recognized by the USB-dock.
#7
(10-10-2020, 01:51 AM)LinAdmin2 Wrote:
(10-09-2020, 05:41 PM)Avisando Wrote: It's possible. Although it is not yet fluid enough. Look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD_UNwRGFsU&t=120s
I was not able to reproduce that.
My Monitor made by Acer which works perfectly with HDMI input together with _all_ other hardware I have, was not recognized by the USB-dock.
As indicated in the video, to activate the "Desktop mode" the image provided on this page was used: https://xnux.eu/p-boot-demo/. Among the multiple distributions that this contains, I have used "pmOS / Plasma Mobile" that appears in the video. However, the "KDE Neon" distribution contained in the same image works even better.
#8
(10-10-2020, 06:03 AM)Avisando Wrote:
(10-10-2020, 01:51 AM)LinAdmin2 Wrote:
(10-09-2020, 05:41 PM)Avisando Wrote: It's possible. Although it is not yet fluid enough. Look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD_UNwRGFsU&t=120s
I was not able to reproduce that.
My Monitor made by Acer which works perfectly with HDMI input together with _all_ other hardware I have, was not recognized by the USB-dock.
As indicated in the video, to activate the "Desktop mode" the image provided on this page was used: https://xnux.eu/p-boot-demo/. Among the multiple distributions that this contains, I have used "pmOS / Plasma Mobile" that appears in the video. However, the "KDE Neon" distribution contained in the same image works even better.

I got very excited when you said "KDE Neon"! That's what I'm currently using on my laptop.

When you say it's not fluid, do you mean that it can't really be reliably used as a laptop just yet?
#9
If you've used a PINE A64(+), PINE A64-LTS or SOPINE, these phones are pretty similar in specs (with the exception of the extra GB of RAM in the convergence edition), so imagine that with less code maturity. I hope to have a decent lightweight desktop option, and it should be plausible, but it may take a while to get some smooth running options.
------
it doesn't get happy
it doesn't get sad
it just runs programs
#10
(10-11-2020, 12:24 AM)Pinoideae Wrote:
(10-10-2020, 06:03 AM)Avisando Wrote:
(10-10-2020, 01:51 AM)LinAdmin2 Wrote:
(10-09-2020, 05:41 PM)Avisando Wrote: It's possible. Although it is not yet fluid enough. Look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD_UNwRGFsU&t=120s
I was not able to reproduce that.
My Monitor made by Acer which works perfectly with HDMI input together with _all_ other hardware I have, was not recognized by the USB-dock.
As indicated in the video, to activate the "Desktop mode" the image provided on this page was used: https://xnux.eu/p-boot-demo/. Among the multiple distributions that this contains, I have used "pmOS / Plasma Mobile" that appears in the video. However, the "KDE Neon" distribution contained in the same image works even better.

I got very excited when you said "KDE Neon"! That's what I'm currently using on my laptop.

When you say it's not fluid, do you mean that it can't really be reliably used as a laptop just yet?
In my experience, only Firefox works satisfactorily on the "KDE Neon" version that I have discussed [for now].


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