Post by @carbonatedcaffeine@social.treehouse.systems

@carbonatedcaffeine@social.treehouse.systems

2026-07-23 15:30 UTC

Day six of daily driving my PinePhone Pro – 23/07/2026 Yes, these logs are still going. I think I'm at the stage of transitioning between Android addict to mobile Linux sigma. Be sure to check the previous ones because I have written a LOT! Today is a bit of a break from the previous logs where today I will be sharing some of the important discussions that I’ve had with members of the community in the PinePhone chatroom. Aight, let’s get into it! So, one of the biggest things that have bothered me so far are the on-screen keyboards. In this case though I think that the thick screen protector is the cause of my issues. Phosh-osk is a nice keyboard but I wish the keys were slightly taller by default like in Sailfish. Immediately after trying the Sailfish keyboard I can type pretty quickly. Malit is okay too, but somehow the way haptics work on these mainline distos with Malit seems to slow down typing. The only way I can describe it is when I press on the keyboard it sends the trigger to feedbackd for haptic feedback, but if I press another character, the haptic feedback from the first key is still going. It doesn't start another trigger for haptic feedback it waits until the last one is finished, but you can still press another key and it shows up in the text input box. So it just ends up feeling really horrible. P.S: Community member Aaron mentioned this “Plasma switched to plasma-keyboard a while ago. It's very similar to maliit. With longpress copy/paste dialog being broken lately for qt stuff I use. It's a non starter to rely on plasma-keyboard/plasma mobile. I need a keyboard I can copy/paste with” Speaking of… I decided to try the Sailfish OS port by @piggz@fosstodon.org on my PinePhone Pro and had a really good experience. I ended up having a conversation about Sailfish with some community members about how locked down of a platform it seems to be. Sailfish seems like an open platform at first where all of the user interface libraries are open source. You can make apps using the library. The core apps are all open source. But the actual user interface we interact with is not open source at all. So you’re locked into their own operating system platform that is semi-open. I’ll be honest though, I was originally trying to justify it but I could not. I talked with kernel developer megi today about some of the issues I’ve been facing. I will make a quick log catcher script so that I can quickly snatch logs whenever I find myself away from the computer. I will attempt to catch the modem crashing issue next time. As for reliability today, I didn’t face any significant problems which was really nice. No modem or WiFi crashing shenanigans. I will leave you all off with a great discussion we had about the meaning of OpenSource work and the importance of licenses that protect peoples work. I had this conversation with community member UndeadLeech and abcde. Looking forward to publishing tomorrows log! See ya! #pine64 #pinephone #pinephonepro #mobilelinux #linuxmobile #sailfishos #phosh

Replies (3)

@carbonatedcaffeine@social.treehouse.systems 2026-07-23 15:34

Context: We were talking about SailfishOS Because one of the major reasons why I use Linux on my phone is having control over the software that is running on it. I enjoy messing with software, there's a reason why I've written my own desktop environment and sent patches to other stuff to make it work (better) for me. This is WHY I use Linux on my phone. Turning things into some sort of walled garden out of fear people might improve on your UI is the exact opposite mindset of what Linux mobile should be all about. Tbf Jolla is a company after all. If the only way you can stay in business is being closed source, then maybe it shouldn't be. OpenSource is objectively better but more work gets done when people are paid to work on a project. If that's your top priority, you're free to use iOS. Personally I probably spend more time working for free than on my dayjob. :P What also annoys me is when big companies can just utilize your work for free and rake in a lot of money while also depending on your project you work on (probably contributing nothing back). And that's why MIT is a massive scam that open source could unfortunately be tricked into. It's really unfortunate how well the marketing against viral licenses worked. What would be a better license GPL is what I use for all my applications. In fact my previous employer also used GPL for all their open source project, not because they were such a big fan of the license, but specifically because it prevents others from taking advantage of you (to a degree). I guess in a way that makes them a fan of the license, but you get what I mean. … It is not impossible to be paid to do open source work. I would chip in for a programmer finding a block of work and asking for donations to get the work done. I find it strange that there seems to be this aversion to paying when you are not forced to do so. I paid a lot of money to musicians for their work, even though i ethically do no not buy music from the distributors, as they keep too much for themselves. Money just ruins everything. I have paid for open source work, just like I pay for any work I appreciate, if practical and making a difference. Being contractually forced to do so is not the only reason to pay money. It has been weird sometimes when I asked people for bank/paypal details though. Some just did not understand that they earned money (in my opinion). Also, I provided work. Some people told me things like: do not send me money, my aunt lives "near you" (it was over 50km away), send her some flowers on bday etc. So I do, and they are both happy with the arrangement :P. I do not see FOSS software as 'a competing product' but as a 'human heritage', that I try to use before considering commercial options. This makes me willing to look at product based solutions, but first I look at solutions available to me based on my heritage. Well said abcde. I like your perspective. It made making the right decisions more easy

Open ##5088694
@agx@ruhr.social 2026-07-23 16:25

@carbonatedcaffeine@social.treehouse.systems > Phosh-osk is a nice keyboard but I wish the keys were slightly taller by default like in Sailfish. You can shift the whole keyboard up if your device it tall (this helps on e.g. the OP6 a lot, you can also keep the size constant independent from display resolution, in case your distro doesn't do that by default already): https://peertube.debian.social/w/bt79rAL3oUPJd4KmyTcW2k EDIT: There's a playlist with all OSK related tips and tricks at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mloS8SYEBgo&list=PLsY7VGVfFWm6bEUEGlgYlFQH0ZnqYGnoe @piggz@fosstodon.org

Open ##5088697
@abranson@mastodon.social 2026-07-23 20:49

@carbonatedcaffeine@social.treehouse.systems @piggz@fosstodon.org There’s a difference between having the source and being in control of the software you use. Sailfish gives you root access, and most of that closed UI is just QML text files. There's even patchmanager to customise it. It certainly has limits, but comparing it with iOS is so black-and-white that it misses the point. In return, you get mature, stable software with a level of productisation that’s hard to achieve through donations and volunteer effort alone.

Open ##5088698