Which OS to choose?

[buffer]

This guy has a very good review of most of the OS's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4GchfTPx0

---

As I mentioned here, but this is a more relevant thread for it... I think phosh is the best user interface besides gnome. I've distro hopped a lot so I kind of already know what I want. I'd like to test the debian+phosh combination, and I'm really interested in the Manjaro line and NixOS, as well as testing out Gnome 3 on pmOS...

With pmOS it's a good sign that it is very stable already. But, I imagine the package environment being a bit like the OpenPandora which also ran on Alpine Linux Ångström, sorry. The community had to repackage everything for the device. Not for just ARM, but for the specific OpenPandora system. Simple as it was, the thing that killed it for me most was not having that standard Debian or Arch, etc, repository. And there weren't many others who created packages, for as simple as the process was, not everybody is a package maintainer, and getting updates late is a security flaw.

I also criticize the part of the Wiki where pmOS basically only supports "cooperative firmware" and not "ugly hacks" because they won't accept fixes to proprietary firmware that are "ugly", which doesn't bode well for longevity if it becomes the main OS shipped with PinePhone.

I'm also amazed that they don't have a link to their online repository or reference it anywhere in their wiki. Do the packages come directly from Alpine? If so, then there is a big repository.

I like that pmOS supports APKs, but many of the good ones are ports from mainstream distros. And I think it would be easier to add support for APKs under debian with something like shashlik than the other way around. Correction: Alpine apks are entirely different from Android apks...darn.

Looking through the Alpine wiki and repo, another thing that I notice lacking is accessibility packages like the TTS "festival" apps, I need those.

In conclusion pmOS is a good start, but I want to push farther.

So I would definitely use a debian-arm (preferable without systemd) distro (sooo... Maemo Leste? ) for a reliable distro that won't crash on me. I might also, in the future, use guixsd-arm if it proves to be as stable (would love to try it, but remember we would have to rely on a third party for any proprietary blobs or proprietary software). Also, both guixsd and debian offer reproducible builds. Alpine doesn't...yet. For tinkering I would use Manjaro at first and then branch out to Void (based on Arch) or something crazier.


So basically I will ultimately stay with one that at least has:

• Calls and texts must work above all else
  
• SSH access
  
• usable terminal on the phone with a good keyboard
  
• fully featured touch responsive user interface
  
• Firefox so I can get my banking, govt, work, etc, done -- without ever needing to install a proprietary "app" from Google. It can simply run in JavaScript.
  
• takes advantage of repositories maintained by the mainstream distros
  
• full language options, I want spanish interface and keyboard + in dvorak layout
  
• as system matures, perhaps a more long term update cycle (or anything to prevent breakage)
  
• everything else being equal, the one with reproducible builds will win me over
  
• accessibility apps (like festival TTS) are a must