I tried a while ago and again recently, but I cannot create an account, for some reason it keeps rejecting my custom domain with Startmail. I gave up out of frustration.
Agreed, this is a serous limitation and something that would require a significant amount of work. Making applications adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes has taken years on other platforms (for example Adwaita and similar technologies), so it might perhaps be good to get started sooner rather than later…
But seriously, a fully integrated Linux desktop (or something comparable) would be fantastic, but even a few smaller steps would be helpful. I have tried to use the ‘partial’ (primitive) desktop mode that is present in /e/OS today, and came to the conclusion that it is ‘almost’ usable (for me) today. I have seriously considered getting a portable keyboard (I’d use the phone’s screen when no external HDMI monitor is available), but three or four things have kept me from doing it:
- Haven’t found an obvious way to close windows (apps) from keyboard/mouse. Having to use the touch screen makes it awkward.
- Haven’t been able to connect my USB drives (where I keep the stuff that I work on) and SD card reader to the phone (using a USB hub). I think this might be due to licensing problems and I don’t know whether it can be solved.
- It doesn’t seem to work every time. I usually have to connect/disconnect a few times to make the phone recognize the keyboard and mouse.
- Probably something else that escapes me right now.
If those issues could be solved it still wouldn’t make a smartphone an ideal device that could fully replace a laptop, but it would be enough to make me use it as a replacement on some occasions.
As a professional, I’ve always dreamed of one thing: Being able to connect a larger screen to my smartphone (tablet size for example). But I’ve never found this type of compatible screen for sale. So if Murena offers one (a standalone screen and not a standalone tablet) I’ll be your first customer!
my professional goal:
In the field, I’d like to turn my smartphone into a tablet for precision mapping. Having a separate tablet and smartphone is unnecessary and requires complicated connection sharing.
So yes, if you offer in the future a standalone widescreen to plug in (or connect remotely) to our FairPhone e/os, when we need it, I’m interested.
Be careful though, the screen should have its own battery, otherwise the Smartphone risks discharging too quickly and being touchable.
-----FR-----
En tant que professionnel, j’ai toujours rêvé d’une chose : Pouvoir connecter un écran de plus grande taille sur mon smartphone (de taille tablette par exemple). Mais je n’ai jamais trouvé ce type d’écran compatible en vente. Donc si Murena en propose un (un écran solitaire et non pas une tablette autonome) je serais votre premier client !
mon objectif professionnel :
Sur le terrain, je voudrais transformer mon smartphone en tablette afin de faire de la cartographie de précision. Avoir une tablette et un smartphone séparé est superflu et oblige un partage de connexion compliqué.
Donc oui, si vous proposez à l’avenir un écran large autonome à brancher (ou connecter à distance) à notre FairPhone e/os, quand on en a besoin, je suis preneur.
Attention toutefois, l’écran devrait avoir sa propre batterie, sinon le Smarthpone risque de se décharger trop rapidement et étre tactil.
I would like a Desktop Mode for /e/ OS. I would like to take my /e/ phone and plug it into a clam shell so it works like a laptop, and then unplug my phone, knowing all my data is safe when I leave.
I would also like to cast my phone screen to a TV on the network I am using, connect a keyboard and mouse, and use my TV as my computer.
I don’t see it using much resources if:
- only use linux compatible hardware
- only use standard drivers. (Casting to TV only has 2-3 protocol options, screen size doesn’t have to include the newest options.)
To go with this, I would like to see a Linux /e/ Distribution or an /e/ Desktop package for Linux. That way your desktop would work/look like your /e/ phone. (@gjorgio.pasqualini I would like to hear more.) And there should be very little extra work after getting Desktop mode working, to configuring a Desktop package for Linux. (A seperate Distro would help with advertising the features, but might not be worth the extra time.)
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FP4 already has a desktop mode. You have to activate it in the developer options. It’s rather rudimentary and buggy, but it works. The biggest drawback is that, while using the monitor resolution pixel by pixel, it imposes the FP4 screen ratio on the apps. So, on a regular HD monitor, you have a bar on top and a bar below the running app. It looks like watching a widescreen movie on a normal TV.
A small USB-C dock with HDMI-out costs 10 euros at Jeff’s ugly oligarch bookshop, even less than 5 directly from Chinese shops. Same with BT-mouse and small keyboard.
My personal use case is easy. I have my company laptop at home, connect to my router from remote via Wireguard and use Remote Despktop Manager to connect to that stupid Windows 11. I also connect to my Linux desktop at home via VNC. Works perfectly. I can even use Teams in the Vivaldi browser for Android in desktop mode. We are not allowed to connect to teams with the native Android app due to security concerns, but browsers are allowed by IT, and the FP4 has enough power and memory. It would be nice to just need my phone when I’m in mobile home office in my camper. Working remote doesn’t need a laptop. Just a big screen, which I have there. But I don’t want to risk having my laptop stolen from my camper, so the phone would be great as a replacement.
I can also use, for instance, AnLinux or UserLand to run a full Linux desktop on the phone. Together with an attached monitor, this would make a great laptop replacement. Only thing not running nicely on those linux desktops is sound. But For video and so on, you would use the native Android apps anyway.
Unfortunately, in my experience, the implementation on the FP4 is buggy. On some monitors, it doesn’t recognize the full resolution and switches to VGA resolution. And sometimes, it hangs. That’s why I have given up on it. But if there was a version without these drawbacks, that would be great.
That is pretty much my experience too. I’ve tried to use the current rudimentary desktop mode on the FP4 and concluded that it almost usable. But not quite.
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Absolutely agree. Version 1.
A complete standard Linux desktop can already be run via apps like AnLinux or UserLand, with practically the same convenience as on a laptop, and with mostly the same software options like, for instance, office or even image editing. Only sound is not possible out of the box if at all. But for that, the phone has already all the apps needed.
The only thing missing is a fully supported and possibly configurable way to attach a standard monitor to actually WORK with the phone.
Yes I think there is a misunderstanding what desktop mode actually is about. It does not mean to use the phone remotely via VNC or any other screen mirroring tool. Those are two very different things. I don’t want to access my phone from a laptop that I have to carry around, much less from a computer that is not my own. The point is that the only thing I need is the phone itself and possibly a standard monitor like I will find it in any office where I still don’t want to or are not allowed to use the computer in place as a guest. And the last thing I want to do is to sit in front of a computer I don’t have full control over and connect it to my private phone. That is the whole point of /e/OS, isn’t it?
Simply attaching a monitor makes the phone a completely independent laptop replacement, even a workstation. And it would pose a much lower risk. A small dock, mouse and keyboard cost only peanuts and fit everywhere.
Another scenario is a camper where I have a monitor but don’t want to risk my laptop to be stolen. In a holiday flat or a hotel room, you also usually have flatscreen TVs nowadays, which could be used nicely with a phone. Linux desktops can already be installed and used in a chroot environment via apps like AnLinux or UserLand, and they work really well. So why do I need still another big toy to carry around? In my camper, I use an older mini PC as a remote desktop client for work. My phone can do the same. It just needs a working interface to a monitor.
No thanks…
Or your need a phone and you use your phone, or you need a PC and you use a PC…
All that energy already lost in many projects to make converging different kind of devices… have all failed…
It’s far better to invest this time and energy in improving the current OS, security updates, add new features, applications like App Lounge which is still far from Aurora, OS update (still waiting Android 14 on FP5 Murena edition…while the FP5 from Fairphone has it for nearly a year…), add support for Android Auto (or develop a compatible alternative), …
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hello @makoto2600, Welcome to this forum.
Or you need a car and you use a car, or you need a pocket-computer and you use a pocket-computer…
Lol
I agree, I mean use your PC when you need a PC and use your phone when you need a phone, but people most concerned about the feature are looking to eliminate the need for a PC.
I can understand the desire, but you still need a phone dock and that’s an expense as well, not that far off from a complete PC system. I mean entry level PC systems don’t cost a huge amount more than a dock would.
Also Desktop Mode is an AOSP thing. It’s still somewhat clumsy and immature. It will be for a while yet since they have no big priority to develop it. The e foundation has no control over that nor should they attempt to re-invent the wheel.
@piero Thx
I think you have understood what I mean… Plans and attempts to mix different device/equipment within a single one, in history, has resulted most of the time in big fails…
Why? Because every piece of device/equipment, to be the top notch in terms of user experience, is designed/refined in every little details (hardware/software). And mixing device/equipment imply to make compromises, which lead to average user experience in some or all parts.
Is, at least, a target group of user has been clearly defined for such a feature ? (similarly to a business plan)
I’m a dev/it (not on Android, thanks gods to save me from that) guy as well as a FOSS/Linux advocate/user (since end of 90s), BUT I don’t care to have a Frankenstein desktop on my phone sucking its resources… (and will delay even more the releases of updates for it).
So what ? For Madam Michu ? 
Madam Michu will not use that as well…
And overall, it will require additional hardware for that like a dock…
As mentioned before, gods save me from Android dev, so maybe I’m wrong as I don’t know Android development… But what about the peripherals compatibility ? With old Linux Kernel also… ^^ (5.4 on my FP5… well, 5.4 is 5 years old… ). Probably with a bunch of backports and manual inclusions, but well… Good luck maintaining that… It will be a never ending task to troubleshoot, fix and support new hardware/peripherals/etc… on a FrankenDesktop…
Just imagine an example use case, a twitch streamer… with a StreamDeck, an external soundcard with more than 1 microphone, wireless keyboard/mouse with their own dongles and a bunch of customizable keys, all of that with the RGBs flashy stuff… and so on… Good luck on FrankenOS.
Is that example a bit too much ? Maybe, but as soon as something is advertised as a Desktop solution, the expectations will follow from users… and limiting that to basic usb mouse/keyboard will frustrate most users.
And what about Apps ? Mobile app in desktop mode ? Maybe, at least in tablet mode, but what ?
Sounds like a Windows Vista tablet/laptop mix failure reboot ?
So, is Murena and/or e.Foundation have such resources to spend on that ?
Also, if you look into the trends in FOSS alternatives, this more and more, to develop appliances and ultra focused software or derivated OS (LibreElec for the TVBox, OpenMediaVault/FreeNAS for the NAS, OpenWrt/OPNsense for the routeur/firewall, Bazzite/ChimeraOS/SteamOS for the gaming console, Yunohost for a private Cloud, RetroPie/Emulstation/… for retro gaming console, … etc etc …), to do ONE thing at a time but do it VERY WELL (in the same spirit as the KISS principle). And not a pack of average garbage that will land in the bin sooner or later because nothing perform well enough at the end for the end-user in a real day to day usage.
Nowadays, you can find very cheap mini-pc or laptop, some are even available with a Linux Desktop, which will be millions times better than a FrankenDeskop.
About my suggestion on Android Auto… I think it’s something that will target far far more users than a FrankenDesktop… And the goal is to avoid GAFAM with e/os/, right ? So, developing a FOSS alternative to Android Auto or at least something limiting as much as possible (like MicroG for its own purpose) the link to the GAFAM is not a madness but should be in the top priorities …
So before to re-invent the wheel, I think the best is just keep focus on the main/most important things : the PHONE, AVOID GAFAM as much as possible or at all if possible, and try to provide a FOSS equivalent of all features available on Google bloated phone.
Peace
@CraigHB +1
I see no high priority for a Desktop mode. As other users already mentioned, there are some more important tasks in the row:
- A simple, reliable solution to do full backups of all data (not only to cloud, but local)
- More frequent updates of pre-installed apps (especially security relevant ones: Browser…)
- My personal wish: Re-Lock the bootloader after installation (I know this is not possible for all devices)
I’ll be brief. I’m very much a unix person, that is everything should do one thing and do that very well.
For /e/ on my phone I think that thing is to communicate with selected people (primarily in private) without being analized or classified for other purposes.
In particular not to exploit common human weaknesses to influence me for commercial or political ends, and that in particular by GAFAM …
And I would not use a desktop mode …
I didn’t reed all the answers, so maybe, someone said already that but it could be great like Ubuntu Touch or postmarketOS.
Imagine, for some basic stuff, just connect your phone to an external screen. It could be very nice.
Thanks for mentioning those. I wasn’t aware of them but I have now tried UserLAnd and I’m at least somewhat impressed. Setting it up wasn’t trivial but it is amazing to see how well Debian runs on my FP4. It is probably snappier than on my ageing laptop and I can run things like a browser, LibreOffice, GIMP and vi. That’s basically all I want/need from a device that fits in my pocket (together with a foldable keyboard if happens to be a large coat pocket).
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to rely on this solution in the near future. The reasons are:
- The mouse pointer is often not recognized when connecting to an external monitor. In many cases it is not visible at all and in some cases it shows up on the phone’s display rather than on the external monitor. This can often be fixed by rebooting the phone and connect-disconnect-reconnect the USB hub a few times.
- There were quite a few error messages displayed when I installed new software using apt. Makes me wonder how stable it is. I’d hesitate to use it for work I do not want to lose, although I haven’t lost anything yet.
- Some settings are not available despite being visible in the menues.
- Firefox seems to crash every time, although Chromium runs (if sandboxing is disabled).
- I’ve had the system disconnect a couple of times.
- It is slightly awkward, but possible, to access files on the phone. And to transfer back and forth.
- I haven’t found a way to access an external USB-drive, even when I’ve been able to mount it on /e/OS (which in itself can be a little problematic).
- I read that updating the UserLAnd app is not recommended as it might break the installed OS.
This setup is pretty close to what I would like to see in a more official desktop mode. Just a little more polish and I’d be a happy user… I’m not saying that it would be easy to make this kind of integration seamless nor that it wouldn’t require a significant amount of work to maintain it, but as a proof of concept it demonstrates that something very useful could certainly be accomplished given adequate resources. I’m also not saying that a desktop mode should be a top priority, but it seems that many of the required pieces are (or will soon be) available.
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CarPlay (or however it is called) is also a kind of desktop mode. I would like to use it without additional google-apps.
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New devices have foldable screens or multiple screens, so support for multiscreen setups is needed anyway. So I would like to see usable external screen support.
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To reduce development load I would like to see less apps bundled wit the os. Camera, gallery, mail, etc., are examples where good alternatives exist.
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Probably it is also a question to the developers. If someone has fun to implement a more advanced desktop project, why should we stop the person.
So, my personal opinion is to add missing basic features to give persons options to use the device. (A backup all option and OTA updates are such features like external screen support). Allow other apps and projects to adapt the device to the user.
You are aware that people expect having such apps on the Smartphone when they buy it?
Sure alot of user don’t buy a Muren smartphone and use as is and don’t wanna use stock apps of /e/OS but users don’t wanna fiddle around with installing too much apps.
To automatically install the fdroid version of an app and enable to uninstall it is much less effort than to provide a parallel development and an e/os integration. I would like allowing users to make there choice. The location provider is another example, Android offers a mechanism to change the location providers, but not e/os. Different well working location providers are available via fdroid. But e/os develops something less flexible 
Sorry, in my opinion the development of os integrated solutions is a drawback. Such projects should be separated from the os. But is just my opinion … to pack stuff together like a Linux distribution is another story.
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