From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

I got a PinePhone. It runs Manjaro Linux which uses KDE Plasma.

It's makes a poor smartphone, but it *does* work. I got it, because I
wanted a phone that worked and didn't depend on Apple or Google.

Although still Linux, it's very different from Slackware. Does anyone
know of any PinePhone forums?

Thanks.

-Joe
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Wed, 09 Jul 2025 03:02:39 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I got a PinePhone. It runs Manjaro Linux which uses KDE Plasma.

It's makes a poor smartphone, but it *does* work. I got it, because I
wanted a phone that worked and didn't depend on Apple or Google.

Nice! Feel free to tell us more about it.

Although still Linux, it's very different from Slackware. Does anyone
know of any PinePhone forums?

Maybe this one:

https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=120

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

Thanks for the review of the phone!

As I said, it works. It has some bugs and/or quirks, but so far, they
are tolerable. I'm still hoping to get it working with Slackware.
There are 21 choices for operating systems, and Slackware *is* one of
them. I'm still working on getting Slackware to boot, however. The documentation is sketchy, but there are wikis and forums available. And
I've been consulting duck.ai.

If Slackware would be installed, would it be possible to in Slackware
install hardware specific applications like to make phone calls, use the camera, GPS and so on? Does it run an X server and X applications? Or
does it, more like Android, require that all applications are written specifically as "phone applications"?

and -browse the Internet by connecting to my home WiFi. It has a bunch
of apps.

Does this mean that you are unable to connect to internet by cellular networks?

Year 2009 I made the step into the smartphone era by ordering a HTC
Dream, the Android developer phone, from Google. I thought that it was
pretty cool to have internet in your pocket and being capable of writing
your own applications for the phone. Unfortunately, after only a few
months, the phone stopped receiving updates and is since then stuck on
Android 1.6. I also quickly found that I did not like the java way of
writing applications.

I realize that transitioning away from Android is going to be painful as
I have been used of having my contact book in their cloud and enjoying
the integration between the contact book, google maps and GPS
navigation. On the other hand, I would really like a free/libre system
where you know that you easily can customize your own Linux kernel and it would be nice if it could run standard Linux applications like xterm and
gimp.

Some years ago I wrote some rants about my experiences as an Android
developer at http://poolhem.se/android_developer/

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

I've been thinking about doing this for several years. I decided I
didn't like the Librem - too expensive and hard to get. Since the
PinePhone was getting pretty good reviews, I decided to try it.

I personally would rather have a Librem 5 for its slightly better specs,
build quality, and better software optimization, but hey, choice is cool
:-)

I paid a little more and got the clear plastic, soft protective case,
which is actually quite nice. I thought the phone was reasonably priced, but there was another 25% for the tariff to import into the US from
China, and shipping charges, of course.

Not to get political, but I REALLY wish these stupid tariffs would go
away. They're majorly infringing on my buying habits.

As I said, it works. It has some bugs and/or quirks, but so far, they
are tolerable. I'm still hoping to get it working with Slackware. There are 21 choices for operating systems, and Slackware *is* one of them.
I'm still working on getting Slackware to boot, however. The
documentation is sketchy, but there are wikis and forums available. And I've been consulting duck.ai.

I've always thought it would be cool to have Slackware on a Pinephone
with a friendly mobile GUI and all the features of the phone working
OOTB. Personally, I'd run Phosh on it. I wouldn't even care how good or
bad the optimization is, I'd use the everloving crap out of it.

It has a touch screen, 64bit ARM operating system, 2.9GB of RAM, and
three ways to boot (flash, eMMC, and SD card). It came with a USB C to A cable, but no brick.

No brick = sad :-(

It arrived two days ago. I'm still getting used to it, but I swapped my
SIM card from my Android phone, and I now use my PinePhone it its place.
I can: -use the supplied address book software, -make and receive phone calls, -send and receive text messages, and -browse the Internet by connecting to my home WiFi. It has a bunch of apps.

Not trying to pry, but what carrier? I've heard carrier coverage for
most of these Linux-native phones tends to be kinda spotty, so I'd like
to know who to look out for.

-TronNerd82
--
I didn't choose the Slackware life.
Oh wait, that's a big fat lie.
But the Slackware life also chose me :)
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:38:30 -0000 (UTC), Henrik Carlqvist wrote:

Thanks for the review of the phone!

As I said, it works. It has some bugs and/or quirks, but so far, they
are tolerable. I'm still hoping to get it working with Slackware.
There are 21 choices for operating systems, and Slackware *is* one of
them. I'm still working on getting Slackware to boot, however. The
documentation is sketchy, but there are wikis and forums available.
And I've been consulting duck.ai.

If Slackware would be installed, would it be possible to in Slackware
install hardware specific applications like to make phone calls, use the camera, GPS and so on? Does it run an X server and X applications? Or
does it, more like Android, require that all applications are written specifically as "phone applications"?

Those are good questions. I don't know the answers. I'm hoping that Slackware on the PinePhone will still behave like Slackware with added commands that operate the cellphone modem and other cellphone features.

and -browse the Internet by connecting to my home WiFi. It has a bunch
of apps.

Does this mean that you are unable to connect to internet by cellular networks?

The cellular connectivity is fine. It has WiFi also. And Bluetooth.

Year 2009 I made the step into the smartphone era by ordering a HTC
Dream, the Android developer phone, from Google. I thought that it was
pretty cool to have internet in your pocket and being capable of writing
your own applications for the phone. Unfortunately, after only a few
months, the phone stopped receiving updates and is since then stuck on Android 1.6. I also quickly found that I did not like the java way of
writing applications.

Speaking of updates, I'm currently struggling to get my PinePhone to run updates. Something is wrong. I think it wasn't meant to work this way.
Let me explain. I got the phone with the OS already installed. Then I
tried to update it, and the updates failed, despite my efforts. (It
could easily be that I'm failing for lack of knowledge, but I'm certainly putting out enough effort!)

Perhaps I need to start with a fresh install instead?

I realize that transitioning away from Android is going to be painful as
I have been used of having my contact book in their cloud and enjoying
the integration between the contact book, google maps and GPS
navigation. On the other hand, I would really like a free/libre system
where you know that you easily can customize your own Linux kernel and
it would be nice if it could run standard Linux applications like xterm
and gimp.

Some years ago I wrote some rants about my experiences as an Android developer at http://poolhem.se/android_developer/

I read your rants. Sounds like you had some fun as a developer! But
there was trouble too, yes?

regards Henrik

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:31:23 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

On Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:38:30 -0000 (UTC), Henrik Carlqvist wrote:

Some years ago I wrote some rants about my experiences as an Android
developer at http://poolhem.se/android_developer/

I read your rants. Sounds like you had some fun as a developer! But
there was trouble too, yes?

Yes, initially it was fun and a fantastic thing to have something in your pocket that you could write applications for yourself. However, I relly
did not like the Java language with its very Android specific API.
Android development is now on my list of "been there, done that". I do
not even maintain any of my Android projects anymore.

Another development almost in the same status are my php projects. Its in
a status better described as "been there, almost done with it". I still maintain my php projects, but I will not start any new php project. The
sad thing with php is that it is a moving target constantly changing its
API so those projects do require some maintenance to clean out bit rot.
Once there was the abbrevasion LAMP, describing the dynamic quartet
Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Since then, PHP has completely rewritten
its API to access MySQL/MariaDB databases.

My projects written in pure C has survived better during the years,
however, I will not again engage in any new project related to nVidia.
NVidia are nice enough to provide XML output from their program nvidia-
smi, great for other programs to parse. Unfortunately, they change the
syntax of the XML output with new versions of their driver. It would be
OK if they added or removed fields as features were added or removed, but
for some reason they keep on renaming existing fields. As late as
yesterday I got a bug report that they have done so again: https://sourceforge.net/p/nvgpu-smi-snmp/tickets/1/
Previously I have found about those changes myself.

Sorry about adding even more rant about different software development targets.

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Sat, 12 Jul 2025 09:51:52 -0000 (UTC), Henrik Carlqvist wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jul 2025 09:31:23 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

On Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:38:30 -0000 (UTC), Henrik Carlqvist wrote:

Some years ago I wrote some rants about my experiences as an Android
developer at http://poolhem.se/android_developer/

I read your rants. Sounds like you had some fun as a developer! But
there was trouble too, yes?

Yes, initially it was fun and a fantastic thing to have something in
your pocket that you could write applications for yourself. However, I
relly did not like the Java language with its very Android specific API. Android development is now on my list of "been there, done that". I do
not even maintain any of my Android projects anymore.

Another development almost in the same status are my php projects. Its
in a status better described as "been there, almost done with it". I
still maintain my php projects, but I will not start any new php
project. The sad thing with php is that it is a moving target constantly changing its API so those projects do require some maintenance to clean
out bit rot. Once there was the abbrevasion LAMP, describing the dynamic quartet Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Since then, PHP has completely rewritten its API to access MySQL/MariaDB databases.

My projects written in pure C has survived better during the years,
however, I will not again engage in any new project related to nVidia.
NVidia are nice enough to provide XML output from their program nvidia-
smi, great for other programs to parse. Unfortunately, they change the
syntax of the XML output with new versions of their driver. It would be
OK if they added or removed fields as features were added or removed,
but for some reason they keep on renaming existing fields. As late as yesterday I got a bug report that they have done so again: https://sourceforge.net/p/nvgpu-smi-snmp/tickets/1/
Previously I have found about those changes myself.

Sorry about adding even more rant about different software development targets.

No worries! Your rants are refreshing to read, and I can relate just a little. I write code only for myself and my "products" that I offer
online. This is mostly Bash, but I have written a *little* C, Python,
and PHP. The PHP was for the download and hit counters on my two
websites. The Python was for a tool I wrote that sends emails. And I
have a smallish collection of C code that does various handy things,
mostly running hand-in-hand with Bash.

I've never written any Java.

Many years ago I teamed with a programmer who wrote some database
routines for me that I used in some Fortran and batch code that I wrote.
My code processed engineering test data using the database routines, then prepared and used gnuplot data to make some nice graphs. The graphs made
the managers really happy. I was a structures engineer at the time, but
I wrote code too.

You worked for nVidia - how interesting! I read the sourceforge.net URL
that you provided - sounds like they still need you!

regards Henrik

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:30:08 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

You worked for nVidia - how interesting! I read the sourceforge.net URL
that you provided - sounds like they still need you!

No, I haven't been a employee of nVidia, I have only written an snmp
agent which calls the utility nvidia-smi to provide GPU data by snmp
which then can be plotted in grapshs by tools like mrtg.

To be fair, not only changes in the XML output from nvidia-smi has caused
bit rot in that code. Also changes in net-snmp has caused bit rot. To
make things worse, the code that net-snmp has caused bit rot in is code automatically generated by a tool provided by net-snmp.

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Mon, 14 Jul 2025 09:43:55 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I am mostly happy with it.

Thanks for the update!

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 03:02:39 -0000 (UTC), Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I got a PinePhone. It runs Manjaro Linux which uses KDE Plasma.

It's makes a poor smartphone, but it *does* work. I got it, because I
wanted a phone that worked and didn't depend on Apple or Google.

Although still Linux, it's very different from Slackware. Does anyone
know of any PinePhone forums?

Thanks.

-Joe

Thanks for your comments and support, everyone who posted. Here's an
update, almost one week after my phone arrived:

I joined the manjaro forum ( forum.manjaro.org ), and I got some
encouragement and some helpful advice and information there.

I read a lot online, and I got a lot of help from duck.ai.

And I spent some time trying things - mostly trying to get various things
to work, like the docking bar. And the terminal software was giving me trouble. And I found a better power supply to use - this improved the charging performance.

Anyway, I made some progress, and I no longer feel like quitting. I'm currently running a Manjaro build that I downloaded and installed to an
SD card. I like it better that the Manjaro that came with the phone.
And, although I'm still having some updating issues, the general
functionality and performance is better now. I am mostly happy with it.

-Joe
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Mon, 14 Jul 2025 21:22:38 -0000 (UTC), Henrik Carlqvist wrote:

No, I haven't been a employee of nVidia, I have only written an snmp
agent which calls the utility nvidia-smi to provide GPU data by snmp
which then can be plotted in grapshs by tools like mrtg.

Ah, I see! It sounds like your nvgpu-smi-snmp is a handy tool that
continues to get downloads! Is it written in C?

To be fair, not only changes in the XML output from nvidia-smi has
caused bit rot in that code. Also changes in net-snmp has caused bit
rot. To make things worse, the code that net-snmp has caused bit rot in
is code automatically generated by a tool provided by net-snmp.

The bit rot must be frustrating, though.

Automatic bit rot? How does that work? Is the problem in net-snmp or
the usage of net-snmp?

-Joe


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

A bit OT but anyone here with experience of the Jolla C2 phone?

/Martin
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:07:24 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

Ah, I see! It sounds like your nvgpu-smi-snmp is a handy tool that
continues to get downloads! Is it written in C?

Yes, it is written in C. It started as a fork of another tool to provide
SNMP data from nVidia GPUs buy querying the X server. I rewrote that tool
to instead do the querys by calling the tool nvidia-smi. My reason for
doing that was that I didn't want to assume that an X server is running
as cuda can be used to perform calculations on a GPU even without any X server.

Automatic bit rot? How does that work? Is the problem in net-snmp or
the usage of net-snmp?

I would say that it is a problem with the net-snmp API and the tools
provided to automagically create skeleton code to use that API. The SNMP
OID values are described in MIB files and they provide tools to
automagically create skeleton code to provide the OID values by SNMP. The remaining work is only to fill some values with actual data.

However, this automatic bit rot has not scared me off from writing more
snmp agentx daemons. I also have a project at https://github.com/henca/obis2snmp which makes it possible to monitor
some utility meters by snmp by connecting extra hardware. I use that to monitor my electricity meter and my water meter.

Sorry for getting a bit of topic, my SNMP projects do not have much to do
with any smartphone.

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

I write all my shit in GWBasic.

On Jul 16, 2025 at 6:43:46rC>AM EDT, "Henrik Carlqvist" <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> wrote:

On Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:07:24 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

Ah, I see! It sounds like your nvgpu-smi-snmp is a handy tool that
continues to get downloads! Is it written in C?

Yes, it is written in C. It started as a fork of another tool to provide
SNMP data from nVidia GPUs buy querying the X server. I rewrote that tool
to instead do the querys by calling the tool nvidia-smi. My reason for
doing that was that I didn't want to assume that an X server is running
as cuda can be used to perform calculations on a GPU even without any X server.

Automatic bit rot? How does that work? Is the problem in net-snmp or
the usage of net-snmp?

I would say that it is a problem with the net-snmp API and the tools
provided to automagically create skeleton code to use that API. The SNMP
OID values are described in MIB files and they provide tools to
automagically create skeleton code to provide the OID values by SNMP. The remaining work is only to fill some values with actual data.

However, this automatic bit rot has not scared me off from writing more
snmp agentx daemons. I also have a project at https://github.com/henca/obis2snmp which makes it possible to monitor
some utility meters by snmp by connecting extra hardware. I use that to monitor my electricity meter and my water meter.

Sorry for getting a bit of topic, my SNMP projects do not have much to do with any smartphone.

regards Henrik

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 03:02:39 -0000 (UTC), Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I got a PinePhone. It runs Manjaro Linux which uses KDE Plasma.

It's makes a poor smartphone, but it *does* work. I got it, because I
wanted a phone that worked and didn't depend on Apple or Google.

Although still Linux, it's very different from Slackware. Does anyone
know of any PinePhone forums?

Thanks.

-Joe

Hello,

Here's an update, now two weeks after I got my PinePhone:

I was having trouble with the docking bar. But perhaps I solved the
problem.

The docking bar has the potential to be terrifically handy, as it is
meant to provide keyboard, mouse, monitor and Ethernet connections.
Since Manjaro includes a terminal app, this would allow easy command line interactions with the phone. My docking bar wasn't working reliably
however, and I read online enough to know that I wasn't alone.

Sadly, this may have been a simple case of RTFM. However, the key point
could have been said with greater emphasis and clarity. It seems that my trouble was caused by the use of a power supply that could not produce
the required 3A, and a power supply, suitable or otherwise, was not
included. At any rate, my Anker 20W PD power supply and a *nice* Apple
cable arrived today by UPS. I plugged everything in, and - for now
anyway - the sporadic failures are gone.

Woohoo! I worry that my claim to success is premature, but I'm getting
an odd feeling that I'm past the docking bar hurdle and I will actually
be able go forward and address other matters. Mainly I want to learn how
to configure the phone and the O.S. and learn what I need to know about Manjaro. And beyond that, someday I would like to install Slackware on
an SD card and see what I can do with that, although that is a dream for later. Mainly, it's just a phone.

It still works, by the way.

-Joe
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Tue, 22 Jul 2025 05:03:17 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I was having trouble with the docking bar.

It seems that my trouble was caused by the use of a power supply that
could not produce the required 3A, and a power supply, suitable or
otherwise, was not included. At any rate, my Anker 20W PD power supply
and a *nice* Apple cable arrived today by UPS. I plugged everything
in, and - for now anyway - the sporadic failures are gone.

Great!

regards Henrik

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 03:02:39 -0000 (UTC), Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I got a PinePhone. It runs Manjaro Linux which uses KDE Plasma.

Here's a quick update.

I'm still using my PinePhone, and I'm getting to know it better.

I finally got the updates to work. In the process of updating, however,
I lost the existing audio settings. For a while I was panicked. The microphone levels were so high that I couldn't make calls at all. And at first I didn't know what the problem was. I got help from duck.ai (Duck)
who recommended that I add the pavucontrol package and use that to check
the audio levels. In the end that worked well, but it took a little
study, even with pavucontrol. The audio levels are complex, because of
the profile system that is used by pulseaudio. Now, however, I have a
well adjusted set of audio levels. Perhaps better than what I had on my
old Android.

Today I did some interesting things. I added gcc, and I am hoping to use
it to compile some of the code that I use on my PC. And I learned that I
can plug my powered, four port USB hub into the docking bar. That makes
room for up to three flash drives in addition to the Ethernet, keyboard,
mouse and monitor, although so far I've done just a little testing: I partitioned and formatted a flash drive on my PC, wrote a short file to
the drive, then read the file from the phone. Neat, huh?

I learned how to deal with a quirk of the phone. I wonder if there is a better solution, but for now I follow this sequecence of steps to shut
down when using the docking bar. The first step avoids the problem - otherwise the phone starts again after shutdown:

-Unplug power from the docking bar.
-Press the power button and count to three.
-Select shutdown.

I think this is related to another, minor quirk. The phone starts
without pressing the power button when I connect it to the power supply.

-Joe
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Wed, 9 Jul 2025 03:02:39 -0000 (UTC), Joseph Rosevear wrote:

I got a PinePhone. It runs Manjaro Linux which uses KDE Plasma.

Hello all,

I just wanted to let you know that I've been hard at work getting to know
my PinePhone. Still. The last time I posted I thought I had it figured
out. Then my eyes were opened, and what followed was a torrent of work
and troubleshooting.

Perhaps I'm at peace again. Anyway, I decided that I would continue
these posts on my website. Perhaps I'll come back here to give you an occasional update, but for frequent updates and stories about my
PinePhone, please see this URL:

https://joeslife.org/projects/pine64

Thanks to you all for your interest and support!

-Joe
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.slackware

On Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:13:52 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote:

https://joeslife.org/projects/pine64

Thanks for keeping us updated!

regards Henrik
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2