source code for html website at https://zachdecook.com
Posts: Add daily driver post
| -rw-r--r-- | posts/common.css | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | posts/daily-driver.md | 41 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | posts/daily-driver/.gitignore | 0 | ||||
| -rwxr-xr-x | posts/script.sh | 1 |
4 files changed, 44 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/posts/common.css b/posts/common.css index e76738a..03cdc81 100644 --- a/posts/common.css +++ b/posts/common.css @@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ html body { margin: 1em 5%; padding: 1em 5%; - background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, .5); + background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, .75); + color: black; box-shadow: 0 0 10px 1px black; } diff --git a/posts/daily-driver.md b/posts/daily-driver.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2c70d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/daily-driver.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +# Preface (for the uninitiated) +The date is April the Fourth, in the year of my Lord, 2022. Common practice for adults and older teenagers is to use a smartphone either running an AOSP derivative (Google Android, LineageOS, etc), or iOS. [Pine64](https://pine64.com) ships a line of devices which run GNU/Linux by default, a development platform disguised as a smartphone. + +# I now use the PinePhone as my daily driver + +The headline says it all. Well, there is kind of a backstory: + +## Breaking Phone Screens + +> And if it breaks, you have to buy a new one. +-Strong Bad, describing technology + +Is this really how we should treat our devices? From the beginning of my experience with smartphones, I defied the establishment by replacing my screen not once, but twice. A replacement LCD made sense, not just "environmentally", but economically. + +Eventually I upgraded phones, and got the OnePlus 3T with a beautiful OLED screen. I had broken my Nexus 5's screen for the third time, and this time I was determined to be more careful. A tempered glass screen protector is a must for these modern devices. +My first break 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, and I also 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. +I balked at the price of a replacement screen assembly: Over $100? The phone was, at ~$400, already the most expensive 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 ordered the replacement screen¹. + +The repair went... not that great. Due to bumps in the frame acquired over time, it didn't want to go back together right. I vowed to never replace that screen ever again. + +## The PinePhone and SXMO + +Meanwhile, I got a PinePhone, thinking it might be good to have my own fallback device on hand. Eventually I got into SXMO (Simple X Mobile), which had recently added support for the current generation's display protocol. For several months I had been carrying both phones, and often patching SXMO to work better for some purposes. + +[(I've written on my work with SXMO on status updates on my gemini capsule)](gemini://gemini.zachdecook.com/capsule/) + +Last week, my OnePlus 3T 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 pins². +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. I had to manually launch `mmsdtng` with the `--debug` flag to even see what the error was. It's like all these disparate pieces were not made to work well together. + +I won't get into the pain that is audio calls, because this isn't supposed to be a gripe post. This is fun! This is not all sunshine and roses. This is my journey. + +### Footnotes + +1. In the mean time, I borrowed a family member's old iPhone. See also ["I used an iPhone for three days"](https://social.librem.one/@zachdecook/106026793545575754). +2. This was all already clearly noted [on the pine64 wiki](https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone#First_time_installation), which I dutifully didn't read before trying. +3. Life-pro-tip for any of you with broken android devices: If you've enabled USB debugging, you can use [scrcpy](https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy) to actually use an old broken-screened-device. + +This article was originally published on [gemini://gemini.zachdecook.com/capsule/2022-04-21-daily-driver.gmi](gemini://gemini.zachdecook.com/capsule/2022-04-21-daily-driver.gmi). diff --git a/posts/daily-driver/.gitignore b/posts/daily-driver/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/daily-driver/.gitignore diff --git a/posts/script.sh b/posts/script.sh index 5482e2c..e9cbb19 100755 --- a/posts/script.sh +++ b/posts/script.sh @@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ cat common.md tightchange.md | python3 -m markdown -o html5 > tightchange/index. python3 -m markdown -o html5 < rms.md > rms/index.html python3 -m markdown -o html5 < verovio.md > verovio/index.html python3 -m markdown -o html5 < fonts.md > fonts/index.html +cat common.md daily-driver.md | python3 -m markdown -o html5 > daily-driver/index.html |