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I'm often faced with problems that would've been trivially easy to solve if I'd been dealing with them on 15-20 year old equipment and software. For example, t

I'm often faced with problems that would've been trivially easy to solve if I'd been dealing with them on 15-20 year old equipment and software. For example, the Google Assistant confirmation noise is ear-shatteringly loud and unpleasant. Facing a similar problem twenty years ago I could've just found the noise's audio file and deleted it, replaced it with something better, or even replaced it with a smaller-amplitude version of itself. In 2020 I can do absolutely nothing about this problem other than making my media volume so quiet I can't hear the things I actually want. My phone is mounted in the center of my dashboard but faces me in the driver seat. The phone's compass senses this. Google Maps senses this as well, and on a good day shows my arrow sliding sideways down the highway. On a bad day it becomes convinced I am either driving down the highway in reverse or am actually in the opposite lane, and falls all over itself trying to recalculate my route. I often fantasize about the compass being a plug-in unit that I could rip out and smash into powder with a hammer.

maheart 6y ago
This is why I use SailfishOS. Modern Android and iOS are so insanely complex, it seems impossible to do the simplest things with code. Yes you can root your phone, and you have access to (Android) source code including 3rd party FOSS apps and build tools. However, writing code, building, and iterating on the device is almost non-existent (I don't consider termux an ideal fit), not to mention the sandboxing/protections that are in place. The hacker spirit still seems very much alive in the SailfishOS community. The community isn't big, but people come up with smart ideas that leverage existing solutions. SSH in, write Python code, write QML, zypp install build tools, pip install libraries (inside virtualenv), execute it, see changes on screen, hook into the existing system using xdg standards and dbus, manage services with systemd. It's fun to hack on. If I had to characterise it, Android/iOS vs SailfishOS, is the equivalent to Java vs Python. The former is well-engineered, secure, perhaps overly architected, and widely used for "serious" and Enterprise solutions. It certainly has good reasons for how it does things. The latter is more organic; the same solutions can be achieved (with certain caveats) but with less hassle. From a developer perspective, Android and iOS have sucked all the fun and creativity out of the devices. * Sorry about piggybacking off top post, I just found that it strongly resonated what I've thought.
- rajlego 6y ago
  IIRC, fairphone supports sailfish I think, I'm currently happy with my iPhone 8 but if I ever upgrade I might go with sailfish + fairphone.
  - Fnoord 6y ago
    Fairphone 2 does, but its community edition hence lacks Alien Dalvik, the Android emulator. Fairphone 3, which is more stable and better hardware than FP2 doesn't. Although it should be possible to port it, that's a community project. You can run SFOS CE on quite some devices out there. PinePhone supports 13 OSes right now as it is, including SFOS, but again CE. For a list of officially supported "Sailfish X" devices, see [1] [1] https://jolla.com/sailfishx/ https://jolla.com/sailfishx/
- siraben 6y ago
  What device are you running SailfishOS on? I'm considering switching to a FOSS-based OS on an Android device at some point but I'm concerned about specs being poor and lack of availability of apps (living off FDroid's repos wouldn't be enough for me).
  - maheart 6y ago
    I use the Xperia X. Newer phones are supported (e.g. XA2), and I'm speculating here, but I imagine even newer phones are in the pipeline (e.g. Xperia 10 II). I don't recommend SailfishOS to anyone who is looking for the fastest/most supported device out there. I recommend SailfishOS devices to those who primarily use their phone as a phone (and a desktop/laptop as their primary work station), and want an independent mobile device, or want the Linux ethos on their phone.
f1refly 6y ago
I can highly recommend OsmAnd+ for navigation, it's fully customizable to whatever you want it to do (I was rather suprised it had relevant hiking routes available on my last vacation). You can tell it to use the direction it gets from the compass to calculate your oriantation or, much more sensible for navigation by car, just figure that out from the recent gps fixes.

maheart 6y ago

This is why I use SailfishOS. Modern Android and iOS are so insanely complex, it seems impossible to do the simplest things with code. Yes you can root your phone, and you have access to (Android) source code including 3rd party FOSS apps and build tools. However, writing code, building, and iterating on the device is almost non-existent (I don't consider termux an ideal fit), not to mention the sandboxing/protections that are in place. The hacker spirit still seems very much alive in the SailfishOS community. The community isn't big, but people come up with smart ideas that leverage existing solutions. SSH in, write Python code, write QML, zypp install build tools, pip install libraries (inside virtualenv), execute it, see changes on screen, hook into the existing system using xdg standards and dbus, manage services with systemd. It's fun to hack on. If I had to characterise it, Android/iOS vs SailfishOS, is the equivalent to Java vs Python. The former is well-engineered, secure, perhaps overly architected, and widely used for "serious" and Enterprise solutions. It certainly has good reasons for how it does things. The latter is more organic; the same solutions can be achieved (with certain caveats) but with less hassle. From a developer perspective, Android and iOS have sucked all the fun and creativity out of the devices. * Sorry about piggybacking off top post, I just found that it strongly resonated what I've thought.

rajlego 6y ago
IIRC, fairphone supports sailfish I think, I'm currently happy with my iPhone 8 but if I ever upgrade I might go with sailfish + fairphone.
- Fnoord 6y ago
  Fairphone 2 does, but its community edition hence lacks Alien Dalvik, the Android emulator. Fairphone 3, which is more stable and better hardware than FP2 doesn't. Although it should be possible to port it, that's a community project. You can run SFOS CE on quite some devices out there. PinePhone supports 13 OSes right now as it is, including SFOS, but again CE. For a list of officially supported "Sailfish X" devices, see [1] [1] https://jolla.com/sailfishx/ https://jolla.com/sailfishx/
siraben 6y ago
What device are you running SailfishOS on? I'm considering switching to a FOSS-based OS on an Android device at some point but I'm concerned about specs being poor and lack of availability of apps (living off FDroid's repos wouldn't be enough for me).
- maheart 6y ago
  I use the Xperia X. Newer phones are supported (e.g. XA2), and I'm speculating here, but I imagine even newer phones are in the pipeline (e.g. Xperia 10 II). I don't recommend SailfishOS to anyone who is looking for the fastest/most supported device out there. I recommend SailfishOS devices to those who primarily use their phone as a phone (and a desktop/laptop as their primary work station), and want an independent mobile device, or want the Linux ethos on their phone.

f1refly 6y ago

I can highly recommend OsmAnd+ for navigation, it's fully customizable to whatever you want it to do (I was rather suprised it had relevant hiking routes available on my last vacation). You can tell it to use the direction it gets from the compass to calculate your oriantation or, much more sensible for navigation by car, just figure that out from the recent gps fixes.