# I am the Watcher. I am your guide through this vast new twtiverse.
#
# Usage:
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/users View list of users and latest twt date.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/twt View all twts.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/mentions?uri=:uri View all mentions for uri.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/conv/:hash View all twts for a conversation subject.
#
# Options:
# uri Filter to show a specific users twts.
# offset Start index for quey.
# limit Count of items to return (going back in time).
#
# twt range = 1 18
# self = https://watcher.sour.is/conv/mcoz7za
Really hoping for a phone with a Linux-based OS on it that doesn't have outdated hardware by at least 4 years. Tricky because that'd be expensive to build for a small market share. Best hope is to flash Ubuntu Touch, or something similar, on an old Samsung, I think.
I'm not sure it's a hardware problem per se... π€ The problem I have is even if there was a good Linux Smartphone of some kind, what would I do with it? The apps and UI/UX for them is umm well sucky at best π The experience is rather terrible π’ -- What I _really_ want is an iPhone running a variant of iOS that has all of Appleβ’'s iCloud and other "cloud" shit "code removed". I just want a few essentials apps and maybe a browser. I _honestly_ couldn't care less about an "App Store" either, since you know... PWA(s) are a thing π
I'm not sure it's a hardware problem per se... π€ The problem I have is even if there was a good Linux Smartphone of some kind, what would I do with it? The apps and UI/UX for them is umm well sucky at best π The experience is rather terrible π’ -- What I _really_ want is an iPhone running a variant of iOS that has all of Appleβ’'s iCloud and other "cloud" shit "code removed". I just want a few essentials apps and maybe a browser. I _honestly_ couldn't care less about an "App Store" either, since you know... PWA(s) are a thing π
@prologic this reminds me of my thought experiment where if microsoft open-sourced windows (or apple on os-x) i theorise that both companies would sell more things
i may even run osx or windows at that point.
i currently run grapheneos and the user experience is fairly well put together, it's fully google-stripped and you can use many apps you know and love. but i'm not a good pitchman. i've rocked a flip-phone for a decade.
@prologic Personally, I really like to try new things, even if they aren't the _best_ solution. I'd love to see more of an ecosystem fleshed out for Linux and standardised so it can be incorporated across the board, but that will takes years upon years and capital to get to a good state.
I agree with both of you @mutefall and @screem -- I'd like to see an ecosystem grow for Smartphones whereby consumers _can_ choose to have a Smartphone with either Android, iOS or Linux. The later of course _does_ exist, but it's just not very good, it needs more people involved I _think_. -- Maybe that's what needs to happen. I _mean_ this is how Linux on the Desktop happened right? π
I agree with both of you @mutefall and @screem -- I'd like to see an ecosystem grow for Smartphones whereby consumers _can_ choose to have a Smartphone with either Android, iOS or Linux. The later of course _does_ exist, but it's just not very good, it needs more people involved I _think_. -- Maybe that's what needs to happen. I _mean_ this is how Linux on the Desktop happened right? π
@prologic PinePhone seems to be the leader in this space with their "all-in-one" solutions, purism has just begun with their phones but the specs are...something to be desired. Don't even get me started on the design π
@prologic Ubuntu Touch is possibly the lead in software only, but obviously there's way too many devices to even test and provide official support for.
i feel linux on the desktop hit mass-acceleration when gaming started to work properly on it. my theory is if you had native support for games in linux and gpus worked amazingly (i'm talking to you, nvidia), you'd see an even bigger adoption of linux as it gives most computer enthusiasts what they want and is still an open system full of possibilities and choice.
@mutefall Agreed π (not that I'm a big gamer myself due to my vision impairment, but I like playing chess does that count?! π
@mutefall Agreed π (not that I'm a big gamer myself due to my vision impairment, but I like playing chess does that count?! π
I wonder how niche the market would actually be? I feel like half the people I know would love a phone that didn't mean either selling your soul to the world's biggest advertising company or being locked into an expensive walled garden by the world's most profitable brand.
@prologic I'm not so sure there'd be a lack of good apps, I don't think the situation on the desktop translates well to mobile. Google is pushing flutter pretty hard for mobile and it's getting pretty good adoption, and it's inherently cross-platform - Canonical are even using it for desktop apps.
@caesar The issue Linux faces, in my opinion, is that Apple is incredibly good at 2 things:
1. Marketing
2. Simplifying the user experience
2 things any Linux-based OS hasn't really been good at in the past.
@caesar I even had a friend recently change to Android and change back to iOS because there was too much to customise on Android.
@screem Wow haha I'd never thought of Android as having much in the way of customisation options β though I guess some vendors add a lot of that sort of stuff. I'm not one to customise my operating systems much β I like good clean defaults and I don't really like to change them. I love macOS because I feel it hits the sweet spot there, but I loathe iOS because it's just too locked down. I don't care for UI customisation, but how can you forbid me to install my own choice of *web browser* FFS. Or anything else not blessed by the gods at Apple.
@screem my theory on this is because corporations haven't learned how to make money with oss/foss yet. also, i do understand the abundance of customisations available for the android ecosystem. even with an alternate os such as graphene or calyx you're still riding base android. took me a good week to get the device how i like it. now it sits in a drawer until i go out and need to yarn or signal
@prologic chess is a wonderful game. i've recently dusted off my chess set to get back into thinking mode.