my gemini capsule source
daily driver: realy rough draft
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diff --git a/capsule/2022-04-21-daily-driver.gmi b/capsule/2022-04-21-daily-driver.gmi new file mode 100644 index 0000000..694917c --- /dev/null +++ b/capsule/2022-04-21-daily-driver.gmi @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +# I switched to SXMO on the PinePhone as my daily driver + +The headline says it all. Well, there is kind of a backstory: + +## Breaking Phone Screens + +I have a history of breaking phone screens. Well, I didn't break the screen on my first phone, but I had that for less than 2 years. I did break the screen of my second phone (the Nexus 5) at least twice. Each time, I ordered a replacement screen, replaced it myself, and tried to be more careful. It was always a pretty reasonable cost, though that could be because the replacement LCD was aftermarket instead of stock. + +My third phone was a different story. The OnePlus 3T has a beautiful OLED screen. While the backlight wouldn't get as dark as the Nexus 5 could, using a software filter over the display was enough to make it dark enough for night usage. My first time breaking it was over a year ago. I thought it would be a good idea to take my phone apart to clean some dust that was in it (I hadn't yet learned the lesson that OLEDs are as fragile as a potato chip). I made the mistake of doing this blind (i.e. not reading the ifixit guide first). One oopsie-woopsie later, I'm left with a completely non-functional screen. Youch. +In my days of replacing the Nexus 5 screen, I had had different levels of breakage: Once, just the touch sensor was broken, so I walked around with a mouse plugged into my phone. I had also seen an LCD screen partially broken before, but having it completely broken was another thing. +=> https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy (Here's a life-pro-tip for any of you with broken android devices: If you've enabled USB debugging, you can use scrcpy to actually use your old phone) +I balked at the price of a replacement screen assembly: Over $100? The phone was, at ~$400, already the most expensive phone I had bought. +Instead of coughing out the dough, I spent a week without a smartphone. Really. Eventually, it was too difficult to manage, so I put my SIM in an old iPhone from a family member, and ordered the replacement screen. + +=> https://social.librem.one/@zachdecook/106026793545575754 (see also: My brief experience trying to use an iPhone). + +Having opened and closed a phone, it's just not quite the same afterward. Years of drops cause bumps in the frame, and it never wants to go back to the way it came. I decided I wouldn't replace the screen ever again. +You'd think "trying to be more careful" would follow, but I failed to add a tempered glass screen protector, and the case I put it in was definitely not the most protective. Do I ever learn my lesson? Well, the phone's already too big, so I'm not gonna stick it in some even bigger protective box. + +## The PinePhone and SXMO + +In the meanwhile, I got a PinePhone, and, having a good bit of unemployment time, got into SXMO, which had recently added Wayland support (Wayland is the display protocol on linux for the current generation) display. For several months I had been carrying both phones, and often patching SXMO to work better for some purposes. + +=> /capsule/ (I've written on my work with SXMO on status updates on my capsule) + +My OnePlus 3T decided to hit the pavement for the last time, and I put my sim card in the PinePhone. At least, I tried to. The 'micro to nano' sim adapter is tricky to insert. If you insert it in without the micro sim, then it will get stuck, and removing it might bend some of the pins. This was all already clearly noted by the pine64 wiki, which I dutifully didn't read before trying. +Being already an adept SXMO contribuser (fixing things on master rather than running edge or stable), I developed a new attitude toward computer problems. Everything that goes wrong is a learning opportunity. "Now's my chance to learn about configuring software to work with pipewire-pulse!" + +Configuring MMS was tricky. I had accidentally used the wrong Access Point Name when I configured my mobile network, which didn't prevent 4g from working, but it caused MMS messaging to fail. Tracking down the error message was difficult. It required me to manually launch `mmsdtng` with the `--debug` flag in order to *see* what the problem was. It's like all these disparate pieces were not made to work well together. + +Audio calls are still a headache. I think because it's only going over ALSA and not pipewire I can't get it to connect to bluetooth and switching to headphones is a small pain. Worst of all though is that "speaker phone" mode gives the receiving person a huge echo, and earpiece mode is quite faint to listen to. Thankfully, wired headphones with a microphone mostly work (with a minor kludge to get audio playback in both ears), so it's usable for long phone calls. + + |