What would be the right Pinephone OS for me? (mainly from Ubuntu background dev)

[jcun4128]

I was expecting to be able to just do stuff like sudo apt install htop etc... but that did not happen.

At this time I still haven't figured out what is the equivalent thing of apt for KDE Plasma Mobile eg. is it yum/pacman/etc...

I did see there is Ubports... I might try that. I'm coming from web development side I was intending to use VS Code for example and run Node locally but maybe I completely misunderstood what this phone can do right now? I think VS Code can run on ARM.

I also noticed the dock doesn't charge my phone. I'm still trying to get video output from the dock to an external hdmi monitor, was looking at some threads.

I think I will have to get an SD card/try different OS's that way.

I'd appreciate any thoughts. At this time I'm more interested in the dock-computing aspect than an actual phone eg. sms.

[evilbunny]

I was expecting to be able to just do stuff like sudo apt install htop etc... but that did not happen.

At this time I still haven't figured out what is the equivalent thing of apt for KDE Plasma Mobile eg. is it yum/pacman/etc...

I did see there is Ubports... I might try that. I'm coming from web development side I was intending to use VS Code for example and run Node locally but maybe I completely misunderstood what this phone can do right now? I think VS Code can run on ARM.

I also noticed the dock doesn't charge my phone. I'm still trying to get video output from the dock to an external hdmi monitor, was looking at some threads.

I think I will have to get an SD card/try different OS's that way.

I'd appreciate any thoughts. At this time I'm more interested in the dock-computing aspect than an actual phone eg. sms.

There is a 17 in one image for the pinephone, I haven't tried it, but that's probably the best way to start if you want to find an OS that suits you.

[jcun4128]

17 in one image for the pinephone

Oh that sounds interesting. I'll try and do that instead, right now I was following Mobian's instructions since I've essentially bricked my phone already by setting a password but the pin doesn't honor it. (saw some fix for this) but I think already I'm ready to try a different OS than KDE Plasma sorry to say I know these things are not easy.

I also apologize there is a Pinephone general area I should have posted there.

[LazLong]

Agree that Meg's (Megous) multi-distro is useful for checking out the various OS's.  (https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11347)  

Mobian is Debian based and is one of the more functional OS's for the PP so would think it would have much that is familiar to you if you're comfortable with using "apt" based package installation.  Manjaro is also one of the more functional distros on the PP but will probably require learning new command line syntax.

Unless I'm mistaken UBPorts presently lags behind some of the other Pinephone distros but other folks may be able to expand on that further as I am not fully up to date on its status.

Would suggest searching the forum for key words such as "convergence", "dock", "hub", and other similar terms since you indicate you are primarily interested in the "dock-computing" aspect.

The forum's "Search" is your friend.  Welcome and good luck.

ps haven't seen recent posts from @bcnaz but in the past he has had a multitude of useful insights and experience in basic usage of the phone and
current status of its functionality although possibly not specifically on PP-PC convergence issues.

[jcun4128]

I actually ran into Megous on HN before haha, crazy, he was doing some work with video capturing on the Pinephone.

I was reading around and it seems like Mobian/Arch are "the best" so far... what I am interested in as well is the Sxmo because it sounds like the closest thing to i3. My "fantasy" is something like the Windows Phone UI (simple squares) but with i3. I don't know I wish I could get some numbers I was going to look in Sxmo threads to see what kind of base ram they're getting. From what I saw with KDE Plasma it was hovering at 1GB and then 1GB in cache so about 1GB free of RAM.

I wasn't aware of the convergence term/what it means, I guess that makes sense.

Yeah the dock seems to be working other than the HDMI/charging the phone. I'm hoping it does charge the phone as that would suck if it just runs until it dies even when plugged into a power source.

Anyway still excited overall, maybe one day we'll have 12GB Linux phones like the Samsung flagships.

[evilbunny]

Oh that sounds interesting. I'll try and do that instead, right now I was following Mobian's instructions since I've essentially bricked my phone already by setting a password but the pin doesn't honor it. (saw some fix for this) but I think already I'm ready to try a different OS than KDE Plasma sorry to say I know these things are not easy.

You can use jumpdrive to mount the emmc on a computer and then you just edit the shadow file

[jcun4128]

Thanks for the tip about jumpdrive.

I've been failing trying to install Sxmo directly(keeps booting KDE on eMMC). Was considering going the Postmarket way... but I think I'm gonna go back to Mobian and check out the lightdm. I want to see the RAM savings.

While I do like using Linux for web development(eg. servers and what not as I have not touched the Windows side at all)... I'm definitely not a pro Linux user though... so yeah I guess my interest in digging deep down into some of this not-so simple stuff only goes so far.

Idk... I guess if it was a necessity thing I would find a way to make it work. I still want the Windows Phone-like UI with i3/Linux underneath.

edit: oh no I got it. I had to use gparted to completely remove stuff on the sd card so no /sdb1 just /sdb for my case. I have jumpdrive running now

[ryo]

I was expecting to be able to just do stuff like sudo apt install htop etc... but that did not happen.

At this time I still haven't figured out what is the equivalent thing of apt for KDE Plasma Mobile eg. is it yum/pacman/etc...

From what I understand is thet KDE Plasma Mobile that comes with the current batches of Pinephone is running on top of Manjaro.
So "pacman" is used on it.
If you absolutely can't live without "apt-get"/"apt"/"aptitude" (just why do Debian based distributions have 3 different package managers these days?), I suggest Mobian.
Even for other reasons I recommend Mobian, it's by far the most daily driver ready apart from UBPorts.
I actually use it as my daily driver even, and leave my iPhone, Android phones, and Ubuntu Touch phone at home (I take my garake with me for LINE or the 10.000 in 1 possibility of being called by someone).

I did see there is Ubports... I might try that. I'm coming from web development side I was intending to use VS Code for example and run Node locally but maybe I completely misunderstood what this phone can do right now? I think VS Code can run on ARM.

While UBPorts can run desktop software through virtualization (a kind of docker-like environment that doesn't even work most of the time), it's for all tends and purposes a typical mobile OS.
If you want to run VS Code, you'll be better off using Mobian instead.
Or otherwise learn how to use VIM or NeoVIM, since terminal apps work perfectly fine on UBPorts.

I also noticed the dock doesn't charge my phone. I'm still trying to get video output from the dock to an external hdmi monitor, was looking at some threads.

In my experience, the USB connector of the dock is just a bit too loose.
Make sure you put the phone in a fixed position and not make even a slight move of the dock, or it'll disconnect again.

I think I will have to get an SD card/try different OS's that way.

Have fun.

I'd appreciate any thoughts. At this time I'm more interested in the dock-computing aspect than an actual phone eg. sms.

See all the other mini responses I gave above, and responses from others here too of course.