[Cialug] Ubuntu Touch for smartphones

[Nicolai]

Hi all,

Anyone running something besides iOS or Android? What do you run and
why, and what are the pros and cons?

I recently got an old "Android" phone (cheap for testing) and installed
Ubuntu Touch on it:

https://www.ubuntu-touch.io

My initial impression is, this is awesome! :-)

The installation was fairly simple despite some steps I'd never done
before. You only need a Linux machine, a USB-A to USB-C cable for
flashing, and a supported unlocked phone. The steps I was unfamiliar
with all relate to Android, as I normally use iOS, and we iPhone
commoners aren't allowed to mess with our own devices.

This phone makes and receives calls, browses the web, sends and receives
texts, takes pics, etc. There's a terminal app you can use to run some
commands like ls etc. From what I've read, the terminal is fairly locked
down, and if you want more than that then you can try postmarketOS which
is intended to be real/full Linux on a smartphone. I'll try that next.

https://postmarketos.org

The performance of Ubuntu Touch is good, despite this phone being old.

Looking around I see at least one TOTP authenticator app available but I
haven't tried it yet.

There are plenty of operating systems for people dissatisfied with
iOS/Android or Apple/Google: Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, Mobian, PureOS,
as well as some Android-based options like GrapheneOS and LineageOS. I'm
kind of jealous of Android users because chances are, they have actual
OS options. After this experience I feel that locked down phones are
kind of demeaning and it's hard to imagine my next phone being something
I don't control. Pixel and Fairphone are the most interesting.

Nicolai