As I found it difficult to find reliable information on this elsewhere, I’d like to find answers here:
I am thinking about switching to a fairphone 4. One important argument for me is, that this generation now supports displayport over usb-c.
What exactly is supported currently?
Is there a kind of desktop mode /e/ will switch to?
If not, are there other launchers that support it?
Does it adapt the screen resolution?
Has anyone tried using a Linux e.g. via Userland?
I hope I chose the right spot for this question and thank you all for your help!
I tried it this morning, but I just connected it to the TV. It shows what is on the phone (mirroring it). I didn’t play with other launchers nor any other Linux testing.
If I’ll have time, I’ll dig into a bit. Can you share some links, to learn some more?
@lapor Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m thinking of an implementation like maruOS or like they did in this experiment.
I wish this was built into murena and, when connected to an external monitor, would open on a desktop just like a pc by default.
On my samsung lineage tablet there is a developer option to enforce desktop mode for external displays. That could also be available in the /e/ settings.
Problem on my tab is, that I am unable to choose on which screen apps will open and I can not move between the screens using a mouse or move apps between screens.
For an advanced desktop mode there exists the taskbar app:
I found the stock experience underwhelming. We have USB-C Displayport screens at the office, so I plugged in my FP4. It worked out of the box, with mouse and keyboard support (connected through the display). However, everything on the display was very large (as in: the URL bar, the buttons, etc). This left very little useable space on screen for browsing, typing, etc. For reference: when I tried to read a news article, I could only display about 5 lines. You can work around this issue by setting your zoom level to the smallest option possible (in the settings), but then you have to manually revert it every time.
There is an app that gets recommended a lot called SecondScreen. People are happy with it, but it requires a rooted phone to use it. This brings its own security risks, as well as the possibility of apps refusing to open. If you’re unfamiliar, this article does a decent job explaning the pros and cons of rooting.
What do you want to do over DP-alt? Are you thinking of turning your phone into a work machine?
Thanks a lot for sharing. I for myself am thinking of the enviremental impact of having to buy two devices with processor, memory and storage inside to do office work and to stay connected. That’s why I was so happy to learn, that FP4 comes with the DP-alt. I had a solution in mind like the one from NexDock: NexDock | Turn your Smartphone into a Computer
Okay I received my /e/ FP4 a few days ago:
When I activate the Desktop mode in the developer options, I get a correctly scaled output on my external monitor via usb-c dp-alt. I can also use resizable windows. The scaling of content in firefox e.g. was adjusted according to the window width: to have not totally oversized content I had to resize the window to fill half of the screen. All in all the experience was rather buggy: E.g. a resizable MS Word window always showed a white blank box after opening a document. I had to use the home button and then reopen the app again from the starter, then the document showed up.
When clicking a link in a document firefox opened, but on the phone screen. So yes it is usable somehow but not really for productivity, and several apps do not support resizable windows, but this on the other hand is necessary for web content.
@schniewmatz Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. I’d like a lot for this feature to improve over time, so that working of a phone with external peripherals like monitors, keyboards and mice gets a viable alternative way to do webbased work without needing an other device with a processor, memory and storage plus less data, that needs to be shared across multiple devices.
