20241223-pinephone_postmarketos_vs_termux.txt.txt

As I've written before, I bought a Pinephone earlier this year. It was
not a good experience, although the crashes have been less frequent.
Now I'm only getting crashes whenever I try to rotate the screen on
VLC or go fullscreen. Still a big bug, but I can do other things as
well. I should mention I barely ever try any new apps because they all
run like shit.

I use PostmarketOS (PMOS; excuse me for any capitalization
differences). It's been the best OS I've used with it, but it's far
from perfect. I'm pretty sure my Pinephone only has 2GB RAM, which
would be decent 10 years ago, but really struggles with anything that
is mildly complex, like Firefox. I believe the app store in PMOS is
using mainly GTK stuff, but I don't know: they're all pretty slow,
which is a bit disheartening. I'm able to get links -g working, which
is great. Lynx also predictably works. I can even run a PHP server if
I wish, but the main feature I was looking for: a mobile Linux PC, is
just underwhelming thanks to the low-spec hardware. I've rarely used
it as such and the last time I did, I plugged it directly into a
monitor which evidently had a higher power output than the Pinephone
was prepared to handle. Nothing like smelling burning circuitry when
you're done with a session. To be fair, that is definitely user error
as the instructions clearly stated not to go over 10W with charging.
Nothing seems to have been damaged, but I know better for next time.

Once you get used to it, and maybe after a few updates, the lag is
less noticeable. I mean you still notice it, but it doesn't seem
interminable. Again, this could be any mix of the two excuses given.
It's still, IMO, not ready for primetime, but that's, again, an issue
with the hardware. A different review on itsfoss claimed it was
perfectly capable and could even use Kdenlive. They weren't using the
same OS I am and their model was the 3GB RAM version. Anyway, I find
it works best if you use it to do light browsing (as in not using a
"modern" browser with all the bells and whistles) or using it for
basic typing. I still don't like the lag that is present for virtually
every single GUI app. It's a big reason why I pretty much only use
links -g as a browser. Even then, links doesn't even show up in the
programs menu. But it is pretty cool to be able to turn off things
like GPS and cameras at the hardware level with switches. The
removable battery is another plus, but a glued-in battery would not be
a dealbreaker for me.

Now onto Termux on Android. Termux is pretty darn cool. It's basically
having a Linux CLI on Android. And you can install a lot of Linux
apps, although I haven't gotten links -g working. Links works just
fine, but obviously Android doesn't run Xserver without getting
further into it. Honestly I would love a port of Links/Links2 on
Android, but I highly doubt the devs would bother. I'm actually not at
all sure what the difference between Links and Links2 is, but I know
L2 has financial donations to spur feature additions.

But like PMOS, I can spin up a PHP server, edit in vim, and do a lot
of stuff. My phone even supports DisplayPort over USB-C, so I can plug
it into the aforementioned monitor to use it like an Android
PC/tablet. Android... 13? 12? whatever version I have has drivers for
network from the monitor, which is awesome, but the UI is really not
made for mouse and keyboard, which is understandable. I may have to
install newsboat on there, too.

The biggest difference is my Android phone has 12GB of RAM. That is an
incredible upgrade from my Pinephone and if it means sacrificing links
-g, I'll pretty much choose Android + Termux every time. The other
major hurdle to adopting the Pinephone as a daily driver for me is
that GVoice, my current phone provider, has no app for it. I was never
expecting it to, and you can use the website to administer that, but
the low specs again really make it unusable to someone without a ton
of patience and desire to make it work.

So basically I think if the Pinephone had better specs, even just 4GB
of RAM, it would be a much better experience. Maybe it's cores that
are holding it back, but I really don't have an understanding of what
makes more cores much better than actual more physical memory. I
imagine it's dividing up processes better or something. But yeah, it
would be nice if I didn't have to buy a Big G Pxel just to get a
decent true Linux phone experience. Until then, my Android phone will
continue to be my preferred option.