First system image of Sculpt OS for the PinePhone

[ttcoder at netcourrier.com]

Some short notes testing on a PP 2GB:


GUI:
If I had to sum up with two words that would be : "solid, efficient". Before-hand I was worried the Sculpt OS widgets would not be a good "fit" for that device, I'm a bit maniacal about ergonomics <g>. But that's very much dispelled. In fact (and I know this might sound strange) they kind of feel more natural on a phone, where it would not be very appropriate to use traditional checkboxes/tabs/menus and the such. At any rate, the look'n'feel of that admin screen (leitzentrale) is what I would like to have, if I started being a mobile user. At least at this stage of the roadmap, with the current feature set.
Can only think of a few minor suggestions, most of them are 'nit picking' not worth mentionning today, better focus on the strengths. Well the one thing worth mentionning right away : as described in the Genodians article, tapping the left edge switches from "admin" screen to the blank "user/apps" screen indeed. I would display a simple text on the latter, like "this is empty for now as you have not installed any apps/software yet, tap the left edge to return to leitzentrale and install stuff". For those who don't read instructions before trying out the SculptOS image and panic at the blank screen and would only thing of rebooting it ;-)  Me, I tried to tap the yellow "1" in the Storage pane, which is located to the very left of the screen, which switched screens... But I realized what had happened as I had read the article and knew about the "left edge tap" motion <g>

Anyway the fact that everything (all panes) is visible on the same screen, with each pane having a one-liner status (visible even when "collapsed") so that the phone's state is visible at a glance, and every pane multitasks (you can collapse one while it's working and work somewhere else, then return back to see if it made some progress, e.g. downloading stuff), all that works great, nothing gets in the way of my 'workflow'. It's responsive, fast, seamless.

Seems to me you've built a solid foundation, on which one can add "skinning" if they so desire later on. Just as I would expect from Genode Labs.

To be honest, as hinted at by the Genodians article, there are several challenges left ahead and probably some "unknown unknowns" left, even in terms of GUI design, as the feature set becomes more sophisticated and complexity rises with it. But I like the direction it's headed.

**

Mobile/modem stuff:
Can't test very much unfrotunately. There's been a change of status since I first mentionned my PP interest : a few days after I reported that this PP was "under the christmas tree" we received a new sim card for it and actually tested it, and realized mobile phone coverage is terrible here (my  neighbors warned me, should have listened!) ; and so my "gift" was "gifted back" to me by my wife (!). That was back when testing with LuneOS. Fast forward to february :I didn't have much hope of having good cell coverage when testing, and indeed the situation is unchanged with Sculpt OS. Nothing anyone can do about it (except if I moved... which I definitely don't want to, I'm happy living where I am :-)
In order to test _at least a little_ I had to find a spot with better connectivity on a hill nearby ; and even then, could only test tx/rx phone calls (came in loud and clear; they seem to work with less fuss than with LuneOS BTW), but data traffic didn't work (probably not enough bandwidth ?). The "status" tab keeps going on and off, says "camera test: fetch", hides, re-appears, and so on. The error reporting there is a little tight lipped, contrarily to the rest of the GUI which ranges between "good" and "close to perfect" in reporting the internal state. Anyway I suppose it means the download gets restarted over and over.

Anyway, my one-liner would be,
"What it does, it does well" (i.e. it's typical Genode :-)
And I'm sorry I won't be useful in testing further.
I'm keeping this PinePhone anyway, might find other uses for it.

I hope Sculpt-mobile will get adoption over time. I guess many people will reserve an opinion until it goes further along the roadmap (SMS, power management, apps...) but if this early start is any indication, it has great potential.

Cedric


---- Message d'origine ----
> De : Norman Feske <norman.feske at genode-labs.com>
> À : users at lists.genode.org
> Sujet : First system image of Sculpt OS for the PinePhone
> Date : 02/02/2023 08:45:22 Europe/Paris
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm happy to announce the first system image of Sculpt OS for the PinePhone:
> 
>    https://genodians.org/nfeske/2023-02-01-mobile-sculpt