This thread is primarily a first impression of 2 OS's and possibly more later..
After purging the "muttering while puttering" posts with the intent of being more concise .
Being purely a maemo child and tolerating (only the last bit) android out of need for simply a fully functioning device.
I have never bothered to concern myself with other OS's, their methods of install, their workings, nothing.
Waiting for a proper alternative to maemo.

Now, with the rapid (as in the last few years) progress of alternate OS's , looking at the state of their devel. currently, I thought it time to seriously look at them.
The initial period of upstarts coming and going seem to be done, firefox os, web os, etc. , with a stable group remaining, determined to stay the course of progress, UT (Ubuntu Touch), PM (Plasma Mobile), SF (Sailfish), Maru, and the recently new addition of Leste (maemo). (I am sure there are others that I have omitted but for the present these are the dominant players)

My reasoning for my investigation ( I suppose I shall call it..) wasn't only curiosity or necessity (due in great part to the world moving on and the n900 and out community trying to keep up with the changing and advancing methods of access to the greater world.)
But as well...I liken my necessity for greater understanding to the view that if one does not educate oneself (at least in the basics) in new methods and technologies that appear to become the norm, then one ends up steam-rolled over by it, such as the "ATM's" when they came out, or the advent of internet banking, or any of countless innovations that change the fabric of living.
As well...
I believe it is a good exercise to examine and explore even the os's that are now defunct ...to get a feel for what they attempted to bring as an experience to the handheld nexus 5...
since the future has all the players converging into being able to run each others software ...I believe it will then become a race afterward as to who can then bring the best elements of their competitors to the public...and who can provide the most options in available desktop environments and window managers...

In the now expunged post, there was conversation about "convergence" and "convergent devices", devices with the ability once plugged in to a monitor, turn the smartphone into a desktop computing experience with peripherals such as mice and keyboard to be used for further convenience.
All for the purpose of using one device instead of many for essentially the same task.
There are good philo and technical arguments against it at this time, but the concept is sound.
Simplify ...in an already complex world.

One thing which I have noted that we do not really speak of , is the greater "convergence" which is occurring.
When I saw that the progress and movement (on the previously mentioned OS's) and that all of them had common ties in their advancements, ie: Halium, Wayland, etc..
I saw that other than a few alterations, they were all the same beast.
Just different skins stretched over the same bones.
Essentially said OS's are all "converging" .
especially with the work being done to bring the other disparate OS's programs to their own devices..
Soon Sailfish will be able to run ubuntu touch apps, plasma apps, android apps, maemo apps, along with x11 apps..
And all the other mentioned OS's will shortly be able to do the same as well.

The stakes are serious.
Those that don't show progress, consistently and timely, lose people, momentum and their edge in this race.
Those that do, gain.
The ones that first figure out common issues with each other gain the lead, with the rest playing catch-up.


Bluntly, the ones that figure out:

-how to bring their platform to as many models of phone as possible
-a user interface that works
- multiple options for de(s) and / or wm(s) that are low resource without being non existent, along with low consumption background processes.
-that can provide speed of delivery in response times to input as well as manage heavier programs without slowing the system down

Win.

Cute or cool, or over the top bling at the cost of resources and delivery on device, or singular (or a handful) of novel functions...will not.

Such is the emerging reality, at this time, of handheld alternatives for the world.


Seriously affecting change is coming, so I wished to be aware and understanding of the players, their development, and their OS's and how they worked at this time.
couple that with the fact there is precious little in serious write-ups on the web, past those who have installed a crippled up iso that was never meant for running in a sandbox on a PC ...and their comments. And a very small number of instructions, some outdated,
and so on.

So now you see my reasoning for doing this thread.
seeing the need to understand the new dynamic that is unfolding around us, personal curiosity, and the inevitability that the Alternate OS of the near future I and many others will be forced to choose from, necessitate my new learning curve.

This post is long since it is explanatory.
Subsequent posts will be as brief and specific as possible.

and the way things are summing up..
my final findings will be a surprise, I think.



Of course installation and reflashing necessitate that you have your official droid firmware...(you don't need the ENTIRE android debugging library) just adb and fastboot...um...git...um...opengapps...and the latest TWRP...
and then whatever else that specific OS's require as well.

HERE IS THE EASY BULLETPROOF METHOD ANYONE CAN USE (TO GET THEIR NEXUS 5) BACK TO YOUR FACTORY ANDROID

First get back into TWRP recovery ...wipe ...advanced wipe...wipe everything but your storage.
then go back to the main ...and enter recovery ...
Once entering recovery ..all you need is that ...(For PM ...adb and fastboot recognize your device once it is in twrp recovery..and the process is fluid after that...)
..plugging into your PC....
and making sure you follow these step by step instructions ...(just make sure you have downloaded to your pc your factory droid firmware and then you can pretty much skip the beginning of the instruction set and head straight to "adb devices" in term...and go from there)
You will be able to reflash your nexus 5 (most certainly) back from whatever PM trauma you have put it through...
JUST MAKE SURE that once you notice behaviour looking like something serious.... like it starting to loop ...that you are prompt in reflashing and don't screw with it further...
I can't guarantee success from deviating from such behaviour.

https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/dev...alling-android

Also ..do not be alarmed at the time PM can take for the backlight to finally shut off...processes still running ...(not sure which ones just yet.

Ooooh
one more thing
if you wish to shut down PM by term now as in "right now"
I suggest simply " shutdown -h now"

I'm sure I will think of other things...
but let you have fun...
and remember when start the wifi ...be patient. There are A LOT of processes running chugging away....during start up...

oooh...and go grab a proper slimport for your nexus 5 if you want to plug into a monitor.

As a nexus 5 owner, thanks for the small review. Have you also tried convergence with Ubuntu?

Sounds like you are trying to squeeze product A (PC) on product B (phone)

While most of the time your writing style is a bit incompatible with my brain (which is my problem, not really yours!), I managed to read through the first post.
It was rather informative and fuelled my interest in both projects. Thanks!

Second that!

Before I go through the motions of seeking another old Nexus 5 (why do NONE of these projects ever use MODERN DAY ****!?) - does it work as a telecommunication device (phone calls, email, web) or does this work like a proof of concept (somethings may work, but not all)?

Curious.

Hi endsormeans. Fantastic write ups! Could you please provide some screen shots of some interesting features. Even mundane of dialer or gallery. Are you able to open a terminal on both OSes. Can you compile code on them? What kind of repositories are available? Thanks!

That much I had surmised. I guess my statement about the old hardware is more of a situation of why is this site so fixated on older hardware. It should be treated as rhetorical.

Yeah, I didn't see "calls sounded great" or "were hard to configure" or anything of the sort. Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks for sharing. It is appreciated.

Endsormeans, I appreciate you checking this out. Perhaps you are helping give us a glimpse of what to expect on Purism phone as it will be compatible with certain versions of ubuntu and plasma. From what it sounds like to me, maybe the plasma version you are using is more suitable for tablet device. Perhaps could be a good substitute for those that never got the jolla tablet they ordered.

Last time i looked at nexus 4/5 there were problems with battery-life and camera.

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/123...than-nexus-4/2

Nexus 4 was/is very nice but a little bit fragil.

(i was surprised endsormeans could settle on one sd port, but now we are literally at zero )

keep posting!

edit: i found "nominal", is this more than 1 day, does plasma and UB touch differ?