Beginner howto

[ionmich]

I just ordered a Pinephone Pro. Is there a post covering starting instructions?
Thanks in advance.

[fxc]

I just ordered a Pinephone Pro. Is there a post covering starting instructions?
Thanks in advance.

https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro

[ionmich]

I just ordered a Pinephone Pro. Is there a post covering starting instructions?
Thanks in advance.

https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro

Many thanks. I can take my time reading them without the pressure of a new toy.

[mikehenson]

I just ordered a Pinephone Pro. Is there a post covering starting instructions?
Thanks in advance.

I like using Arch Linux. This is how I did everything on my PinePhone Pro

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18192

[tckosvic]

I just ordered a Pinephone Pro. Is there a post covering starting instructions?
Thanks in advance.

I like using Arch Linux. This is how I did everything on my PinePhone Pro

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18192

@mikehenson,  what are your PPP successes with running arch linux in terms of best desktop, battery life, communicability (voice, sms, mms),  running from phone memory vs sd, and app usage?

[mikehenson]

@mikehenson,  what are your PPP successes with running arch linux in terms of best desktop, battery life, communicability (voice, sms, mms),  running from phone memory vs sd, and app usage?

Sorry for the late reply. How is the new phone coming along?

As of today (2023 July 19) I have daily driven the PinePhone Pro for 4 months now. Before the Pro, I was using the original PinePhone as my daily for over a year.

Device: PinePhone Pro
OS: DanctNIX Arch Linux with Phosh
Kernel: Linux danctnix 6.4.1-1-danctnix
Phosh version 0.28

Best desktop:
I have only tried Phosh. 
Over a year ago, phosh was the first to support MMS with mmsd-tng. 
Over a year ago, I created my own keyboard layout for squeekboard. 
Over a year ago, I created custom desktop icons for suspend, camera, brave browser links to weather, facebook, work email. 
I guess phosh has most of everything I need as a daily driver. And a custom keyboard is priceless! I have quick keys set for most used statements. 

Battery Life:
In suspend mode, the battery drops maybe 10% per 4 hours. 
With screen ON and texting or emailing, it drops maybe 15% per hour. 

Communicability (voice, sms, mms)
All work. EDIT: The calls have an echo on the Pro only. I am still trying to troubleshoot that one. Calls work with a few OS tweaks. Do not use "speaker"
Calls, SMS and MMS all have worked for a over a year now. (both on the original and Pro). It works much better with the Biktorgj firmware and correct ADSP version for your carrier.
Carrier: Patriot Mobile in the USA (T-Mobile SIM card) 

phone memory vs sd
I run the OS off the phone memory. I use the SD card for Videos, Pictures, Music, and Audiobook

app usage
Texting - chatty
Contacts - gnome-contacts (connects well to a google account, I local host all contacts now)
Calls - gnome-calls
E-mail - geary (connects well to a google account)
Internet - brave (use brave for Facebook and work email)
Calendar - gnome-calendar (connects well to a google account)
Navigation/Maps - osmin
Music/Audiobooks - sayonara-player
Bible app - bible_gui
Text editor - gedit
File Manager - pcmanfm
"Dropbox" - syncthing
Doc viewer - evince-mobile
Camera (Pro) -  does not work yet
Camera (original PinePhone) - megapixels

[Jite]

@mikehenson,  what are your PPP successes with running arch linux in terms of best desktop, battery life, communicability (voice, sms, mms),  running from phone memory vs sd, and app usage?

Sorry for the late reply. How is the new phone coming along?

As of today (2023 July 19) I have daily driven the PinePhone Pro for 4 months now. Before the Pro, I was using the original PinePhone as my daily for over a year.

Device: PinePhone Pro
OS: DanctNIX Arch Linux with Phosh
Kernel: Linux danctnix 6.4.1-1-danctnix
Phosh version 0.28

Best desktop:
I have only tried Phosh. 
Over a year ago, phosh was the first to support MMS with mmsd-tng. 
Over a year ago, I created my own keyboard layout for squeekboard. 
Over a year ago, I created custom desktop icons for suspend, camera, brave browser links to weather, facebook, work email. 
I guess phosh has most of everything I need as a daily driver. And a custom keyboard is priceless! I have quick keys set for most used statements. 

Battery Life:
In suspend mode, the battery drops maybe 10% per 4 hours. 
With screen ON and texting or emailing, it drops maybe 15% per hour. 

Communicability (voice, sms, mms)
All work. The calls have an echo on the Pro only. I am still trying to troubleshoot that one.
Calls, SMS and MMS all have worked for a over a year now. (both on the original and Pro). It works much better with the Biktorgj firmware and correct ADSP version for your carrier.
Carrier: Patriot Mobile in the USA (T-Mobile SIM card) 

phone memory vs sd
I run the OS off the phone memory. I use the SD card for Videos, Pictures, Music, and Audiobook

app usage
Texting - chatty
Contacts - gnome-contacts (connects well to a google account, I local host all contacts now)
Calls - gnome-calls
E-mail - geary (connects well to a google account)
Internet - brave (use brave for Facebook and work email)
Calendar - gnome-calendar (connects well to a google account)
Navigation/Maps - osmin
Music/Audiobooks - sayonara-player
Bible app - bible_gui
Text editor - gedit
File Manager - pcmanfm
"Dropbox" - syncthing
Doc viewer - evince-mobile
Camera (Pro) -  does not work yet
Camera (original PinePhone) - megapixels

This is a really useful summary of your experience on the ppp (and pinephone). 

Just a couple of things I have noticed (running arch with sxmo and mobian):

To fix the echo on a call (the other person hearing themselves with really distorted audio to boot) switching to pulse audio definitely sorts out that problem as per Nicolas Roth’s blog post and forum post here. He was on Manjaro but on arch I have not found a good way yet of using pulse audio and pipe wire (via wireplumber) at the same time as there is a bug in arch that stops streaming of video within the web browser (it is still possible via mpv) when using the now deprecated ‘pipe wire-media-session’. I have to look into this more...

Photos via the flatpak ‘Snapshot’ are definitely possible with the help of libcamera. However, if that is not your thing it looks like Martijn Braam has recently got megapixels working to some degree on the ppp from one of his latest mastodon posts so I am sure it is coming soon to arch. 

I find arch and mobian great things to daily drive. I am just having a few issues with the ppp kb add on, which to me is essential to daily drive as it means I can comfortably get through 12 hours moderate to heavy use without thinking about it.

[Kevin Kofler]

Megapixels already used to work on the PinePhone Pro at some point. Not sure why it stopped working, possibly due to kernel driver changes to support libcamera. (That was also an issue on the original PinePhone, but was fixed in Megapixels there.) But there is indeed work now on making Megapixels work with less hardware-specific code, which screenshots on https://fosstodon.org/@martijnbraam show working on the PinePhone Pro.

[diederik]

I have not found a good way yet of using pulse audio and pipe wire (via wireplumber) at the same time as there is a bug in arch that stops streaming of video within the web browser (it is still possible via mpv) when using the now deprecated ‘pipe wire-media-session’.

I am quite sure that you should use either PulseAudio OR PipeWire+WirePlumber, not both at the same time.
You can also install pipewire-pulse with the PW+WP combo which emulates PA for apps that expect/need PA.

And yeah, definitely don't use pipewire-media-session, which was meant as a POC.

[Jite]

I have not found a good way yet of using pulse audio and pipe wire (via wireplumber) at the same time as there is a bug in arch that stops streaming of video within the web browser (it is still possible via mpv) when using the now deprecated ‘pipe wire-media-session’.

I am quite sure that you should use either PulseAudio OR PipeWire+WirePlumber, not both at the same time.
You can also install pipewire-pulse with the PW+WP combo which emulates PA for apps that expect/need PA.

And yeah, definitely don't use pipewire-media-session, which was meant as a POC.

Yes I agree with what you are saying, it is just that phone calls were so important to me. I have messaged Nic Roth as I have a question about what he did in Manjaro to get both working together.