Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 and today I am messing around with my prototype PinePhone to see if I can’t get it on the cell network for good. Let’s get started!
My Carrier History
Around four years ago, my family had to switch away from a cellular company that let its coverage degrade. We’d been with them since I was small, but for whatever reason, they opted to wait for new technology before replacing a destroyed tower. They lost us as customers over it. I had just gotten my PinePhone at the time. I had made one short call on it.
I made an honest effort to research network compatibility and thought I had made a match, but our then-new carrier turned out to be very closed-minded about allowed 3rd party devices. I poked at it for a while, learning a little bit each time, but progress was very slow.
In recent months, the family’s phones have been succumbing to planned obsolescence. I found a carrier for my area on the PinePhone’s compatibility chart, and we made the switch.
Linux Phone Basics
Unlike phones in the Apple/Android ecosystems, Linux phones run Linux. It won’t argue if you install –say– the full version of Firefox instead of one optimized for a mobile desktop environment. While using an app store is an option, the command line is available for those who wish for a challenge on a touch screen.
I am the proud owner of a PinePhone Ubports Edition, the second prototype phone produced by Pine64. It originally came with Ubuntu Touch installed, but the experience was kind of slow. This led me to look into lightweight options, and I flashed PostmarketOS/Plasma Mobile to an SD card to explore.
Recent Developments
I finally committed. While working on another project within the past month, I installed PostmarkedOS internally. My first mistake was trying to approach this installation as a normal Linux installer. Nope. It had me configure everything from the command line. My second mistake was installing a desktop grade version XFCE. While I still had access to a terminal, the sub-compact on-screen keyboard was a crutch at best, but I used it to 1. connect to Wi-Fi, 2. update and install Plasma Mobile, and 3. remove XFCE – all while trying to get it ready to test at the new carrier’s store the next day.
The next day came, and things worked out so I could be at the store. Good thing too, because I had previously disabled my modem by a dip switch under the back cover. I also noticed a bunch of apps missing from my minimal Plasma Mobile installation, and I kept mistaking some sort of configuration app for a browser. I made the connection later.
Ultimately Plasma Mobile kept crashing, so when I went back to my SD card, I did some more research and chose Phosh (Phone Shell), an even lighter weight desktop environment developed my Purism for their Librem 5 phones. So far, no memorable crashes, but I’ve not stress tested it yet.
Access Point Name
So, I put my new SIM card into my PinePhone running PostmarketOS/Phosh, and I got intermittent signal thanks in part to a combination of only using on 4G technology and solar activity strong enough to decorate night skies across the US in aurora borealis. The catch was an error manifesting as an orange square with a black exclamation mark.
While waiting for an afternoon to help out at the church office for the afternoon, I reached out to the Pine64 community on a whim. Shortly after, a helpful user there walked me through setting up the correct Access Point Name based on my carrier. Minutes later, I received an important incoming call, and the connection held up for minutes, unlike the seconds I would get out of Plasma Mobile (Thank you, Jesus for that timing!).
Takeaway
I am thankful to have a working phone again. I still have challenges ahead, like filching apps from the Play Store using Waydroid (or a similar compatibility layer) and having a simple unlock password while using a longer password for disk encryption and administrative tasks.
Final Question
Did you get a chance to see the northern lights this time around? I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below or on my Socials!