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Pine Phone Arrival.

02/27/2021

A friend in the fediverse, is convinced that in two years, hardware like the

PinePhone will be deemed illegal. I hope he's wrong but I can't discount his

notion either. In an age where big tech companies can censor people at will,

decide what apps one can use on his/her phones and or devices and government

corrupting both the language and policy, I'd say my friend @Tourgen@paypig.org

may have a valid perception. I get the usual questions as to what would actually

motivate one to get a PinePhone and some people like to imply that the assertions

of many reviews consumed, would leave them thinking that the functionality is

questionable.

Perhaps, they and their numerously consumed reviews are correct. However, I think what

escapes many, is the rarity an entity such as the PinePhone really is. All the pieces

on and in the Phone itself works, any consolidation will take skilled re-engineering,

witchcraft, hacking, coding trial and error. I submit that the developers of the PinePhone

and related interests have a far better road to trod looking down the road, than

say the early adopters of Linux did and look how well that turned out. Since when

did we just roll over and die when things didn't go our way? Since when have we

decided to relegate ourselves to being quitters? I thought so. Do I need to say

anything further? Okay I will. If the early Linux pioneers had been a group of

quitters where would our light be then?

So the motivation imperative for having, working and developing on a PinePhone,

at least in my personal perspective, is one of realized potential. I don't even

like phones generally, I certainly don't find looking at their little screens

all that appealing. I rarely carry mine with me and when I do it's ZTE Model

Z432, little more that a flip phone running 3g with no WiFi card. No, for me the

PinePhone represents freedom. It means that I can install, reinstall, change,

modify, customize and use whatever apps I find useful to me in a complete Linux

environment. That's empowering. It's very empowering, especially in the light and

context of how many people, entities and organizations are vying for the opportunity

or chance to control us and bend us to their wills. It should not be lost on us that

the big tech companies role for us is to have us do the group think or be platformed

into obscurity, exile or worse. It can't be lost on people on how the two major

players in the mobile phone industry have so much massive control over ordinary

and not so ordinary minds. It can't be lost on us on just how out of control they

want us to be, to the point, it seems that we must jump through hoops to get

root access to the devices we pay for and they claim to own. So one will excuse

my motivations if they do not care well for the likes things not functioning just

because I want them to.

There are thing to consider as well, the PinePhone has a host of operating systems

or Linux distributions just waiting to be ported to it and my understanding is

that some work better than others and it is for one to seek what one wishes.

The fact is also true that I only just received my phone it's running a beautiful

front end graphical user interface (GUI) which is called KDE Plasma and at it's

very core is Manjaro Linux. I've never used Manjaro before, its a very recent

distribution from my perspective as I started out with the likes of Redhat Linux

5.1 Debian Linux Sarge, Turbo Linux, Slackware and the like. I did have the

opportunity to run Arch Linux, from whence I think Manjoro is related. I don't

like any other Linux distributions except Debian. Debian based distributions are

fine in a pinch but I'm a Debian supremacist. Debian just has them all beaten by

the choices and sheer numbers of packages. However, I'll withhold all impulses to

immediately change the OS on my PinePhone just yet. I love learning new things

and even with the limitations getting a chance to play with an Arch Linux like

OS is a good thing to learn.

So there it is an initial synopsis of why I'll support the PinePhone and similar

endeavors in freedom and technology. No doubt not the last words I'll be saying

on the subject but it's an opening salvo. For those interested in obtaining a

PinePhone, the Pine Store is always a good place to start. Thanks for spending

the time and may the learning forever continue and happy hacking.