 I just installed the latest Postmarket OS (with Phosh) on a Pinephone and goodness they have come a long way. The OS is basically usable. Which is amazing on such an underpowered device. Also, convergence worked for me for the first time :) And yeah, I could easily use this with Helix Editor + git for development work on the go. (Keep in mind my daily dev machine is a 16-core desktop with 64GB RAM. So, no, it’s not the same experience. But is it usable? Heck yes.) 68 comments
@aral For signal there is https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.nanuc.Axolotl
Also Dino(XMPP Client) works very well on mobile. @blackfire Unfortunately (again because of Signal), it doesn’t interoperate. Sadly, Signal is about as closed as open gets. @blackfire Basically, if you sign up for Axolotl using the same number, it breaks your Signal account. @blackfire Update: axolotl apparently doesn't work on Postmarket OS according to this: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/index.php?title=Axolotl @aral @blackfire I host a matrix server with a signal bridge, which works quite well. Of course that bridge has access to the plaintext of signal, but since that runs on my own server in my home I don't mind. @aral I've been contemplating trying out FluffyChat ( https://fluffychat.im/ ) However, it took so long to get this small portion of my friends/family to use Signal for me (whilst they still use Facebook Messenger amongst themselves, urgh), that getting them to move to yet another thing seems like an uphill battle FluffyChat does seem to have a web app and a native Linux app @jokeyrhyme @aral FluffyChat is a nice Matrix client. And yeah convincing people to switch from crappy services is a challenge. Good luck with that. :)
 @aral if you want an encrypted matrix client that’s almost sure to work, you could use https://matrix.org/docs/projects/client/hydrogen; it’s optimized to runbon anything over having a wholly complete feature set. i’m uncertain that matrix has the same metadata privacy controls as signal does, but they are also working on a p2p solution that runs a local Dendron server; https://matrix.org/blog/2020/06/02/introducing-p-2-p-matrix/ though i’m sure you’ve heard of all of this 🤷 @calebjasik Yeah, Matrix is just too complicated for me to get my simple little head around, sadly. @aral mmm i think it’s similar to other federated platforms like mastodon, no? you can get a quick account via https://chat.mozilla.org and signing in with a Firefox account if you have one, mozilla irc transitioned to matrix a couple of years ago: https://matrix.org/blog/2019/12/19/welcoming-mozilla-to-matrix/ @calebjasik Thanks. I mean, I have taken a look at it. It’s overly complex and I’m not a fan of extreme complexity. I find it quite unusable. Also, not happy that they have VC (https://www.matrix.org/blog/2019/10/10/new-vector-raises-8-5-m-to-accelerate-matrix-riot-modular) while appearing as “a foundation.” Smells very Mozilla. So I’ll be steering clear. @aral fair. i always wondered how hard it would be to implement chat over activitypub, though i don’t know what allowance there is in activitypub for e2ee  @aral @calebjasik They seem much more privacy conscious than Mozilla. Can't comment on the protocol complexity, but I use about three clients regularly and they cover most functionality I want. Check out Nheko if you want a nice pmOS-friendly client, it's basically on par with Element. @csepp @aral btw, google funds nheko if you didn’t know https://matrix.org/blog/2020/09/09/gsoc-report-adding-features-in-end-to-end-encryption-for-nheko-reborn hmm i can’t find more info tho? i remembered google strongly funding the project…  nheko also works really well on phosh, and supports viewing/attaching media, etc. And e2ee seems to be working reliably in DMs and rooms.  @aral you could use a Matrix-Signal-Bridge and use a Matrix-Client on your phone @aral Just in case you decide to try it out: this ansible playbook makes installing and configuring the server and bridge a lot easier https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy And what about @delta ? I'm using it on my #pinephone and I can reach all of my contacts, because it uses #email, and they don't need to install #deltachat to receive and send me messages... @arbocenc That does look interesting. Will definitely have a play with it, thanks. (Mind you, it has taken years for folks to finally start signing up for Signal so… *sigh*) But yes, will check it out :) @aral @arbocenc @eivind @delta I'd be interested to learn what you think of Delta. Very user-friendly but how can email be secure? Also, how about Threema? Seems wonderfully secure to me - I can't actually find anyone to chat with. But it has a Linux client, it can be used anymously, even without a phone nr, and on Android at least it's light on the battery.  @aral On top of Delta Chat as e-mail messenger you might find https://webxdc.org interesting -- web apps shared in a chat -- isn't it strongly related to web0 / small web ideas? :) @delta I very much did find it interesting and yes, it absolutely is. In fact, we should have you on Small Is Beautiful to talk about it if you’re up for it (we stream every third Thursday… next one’s 21st of July if you’re free) :) @delta PS. https://owncast.small-web.org (the link to Small is Beautiful there has past recordings, although I have to get the last few up on the site still when I get a moment) :) @aral I self host synapse and the mautrix-signal bridge to use signal on mobile linux. It works really well! (I have actual signal installed on my android tablet, but you can do bridge only) @aral I personally think, an alternative to Signal is necessary. I think the devs are really toxic and Signal's UX is far from being on par with Telegram's UI / UX (I know, Telegram bad).  @aral @aral I've been on #postmarketOS edge since last December. My #Pinephone is my main, with SIM card. I use it daily. Earlier this year I had some issues that made me want to switch OS, but I didn't have the motivation to do so. Since then, most of the issues have been fixed. I do sorely miss a functional GNOME Software though. And I should at least go back to the proper 21.06 release which should be more stable than the edge channel. @gemlog It’s nothing to write home about. The back camera is serviceable. Front camera quality is comparable to the GameBoy’s (I exaggerate, but only slightly. Horrible yellow tint. Or pre-filtered retro if you’re a glass-half-full kinda person.) :)  @pixelherodev@fosstodon.org @aral@mastodon.ar.al we can't do two billion per second but we can do insanely complex ones in nanoseconds. So just a quick follow-up: this is still nowhere near ready for everyday use by everyday folks as you basically need to use the console/ssh to install apps (Software is not currently working). Just a heads up. If you’re a dev, sure, play with it and maybe even help make it better. I’ve switched my sim card over to it as a small experiment to see how much it changes my everyday experience. |
Gregory's Server
The biggest roadblock to my adopting this as a daily driver at the moment is the lack of secure messenger (e.g., Signal)
https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/jthjkx/signal_messenger_on_postmarketos/
(This isn‘t Pine64’s fault; it’s due to Signal’s policies over which platforms they support and which they don’t.)
#pinephone #linux