Does anyone currently use a Librum 5 in or around the Tallahassee FL area? I am interested in purchasing a Librum 5 but have no exerience Linux and wanted to ask a few questions to an actual user vs discussing through the forum. Thank you in advance.
1 Like
Out of curiosity, why do you only want to hear from Tallahassee area Librem 5 users?
2 Likes
Please please DO NOT try Librem 5 because it is too much addictive.
2 Likes
What is your use case? What applications/services do you utilize on your phone?
1 Like
I know it maybe a silly inquiry but I wanted someone local that might be willing to help with a deeper understanding of the phone besides basic useage. I wanted a human contact vs a virtual one. That’s all.
2 Likes
I’m just want a functional phone for calls, texts and a couple of apps (maps, my bank, etc). But I also want to undersand the depth of the phone and OS system as well.
1 Like
I’m sensing sarcasm? Why do you think it’s addictive?
2 Likes
No sarcasm.
Librem 5 it is unique.
There is no other device on par with the Librem 5.
Before to start touching a Librem 5, i strong recommend about six hours of guidance/orientation from a Librem 5 professional. Do not use a Librem 5 without guidance/orientation first, so to me you are absolute righ for looking human tangent help.
I strong recommend to anybody not to saying: Linux, when someone says Linux it is a fingerprint for unknowledge,unmorality or evil or slave ready.
I may do a librem 5 video guidance/orientation.
1 Like
Thank you for this insight. I totally understand it’s uniquue and that is why I am intersted, however, as you confirmed, I need more individual (human) tutorial support hence looking for someone local to assist. Thank you for the validation.
2 Likes
It is worth noting your bank probably does not have an app for the Librem 5.
However, you may be able to utilize the web browser.
GNOME Maps uses OpenStreetMap.
If you have an Android phone, you can test if OpenStreetMap is well supported in your area by using an application like Organic Maps.
As a side note, please help contribute to OpenStreetMaps if your area is missing certain details. More than happy to answer any questions virtually you may have.
Best of luck finding someone in your area as well!
I visited someone on the other side of the state of Florida from Tallahassee after changing to only use Librem 5 as my only phone.
When I travel internationally with the Librem 5 and do not take Android or iOS with me, I have to be really conscious of differences. Often I order a different modem per the destination country, remove the modem from my device using the disassembly tutorial, install the modem with the correct bands for the international destination, and then depending on the region change SIM cards to a locally supported provider.
When I went to Florida, I had none of those problems. The SIM carriers seems to be reasonably consistent within the continental US. That being said, I had an in-person friend who helped greatly with me transitioning to use Librem 5 instead of the Android that I had used previously so I think you might be right that an in-person helper is a good idea.
Other tips about making this step in your life:
sudo mmcli -m any --messaging-list-statuson the Librem 5 will sometimes show(receiving)mode stuck on texts and then I delete all the things with--messaging-delete-smsand it magically recovers and I start getting texts again. The upcoming Crimson and Dawn software updates for the Librem 5 might fix this.- Outside of the aforementioned issue, calls and texts generally work but if you can get calling and texting from a laptop computer as a backup, the software on a Librem 5 and on a laptop overlap greatly and so teaching yourself to be OK with using a Librem 5 is not far off from using a laptop-only lifestyle
- Librem 5 battery does not last as long as other phones today, but you can buy multiple batteries on Purism store and swap them out when it runs out of power, which for me is a fun way to ignore the issue. I can go on 4 day adventures in the woods an never be out of battery by just switching through a handful of phone batteries if I charge them all in advance
- I stopped using GPS when I moved to my Librem 5. This has been okay for me, I’m a computer nerd who stays inside a lot.
I received a 4 year degree from a well-accredited computers science university program in the United States, wherein I received a near-perfect GPA. We had seminars about how we should learn to use Linux-style command line in our lives, and then I went to work for half a dozen years at a company that developed software expressly on Linux computers, which helped me retrain myself after growing up with Windows and Mac. For years my work depended upon frequent use of the command line and remotely logging into servers to maintain, execute, and debug important software after constructing it.
Because of these experiences, I spend a substantial portion of time on my Librem 5 using the Terminal application. It provides a common interface between my mobile and desktop computers, and I am extremely handy with 1 line commands to transfer files and folders from my phone to PC or back, or to reflash the OS using the same commands on the Librem 5 that we would use on an x86_64 desktop hardware. The overlap is beautiful to me and I enjoy it, but I don’t know what educational framework could offer someone else that experience. The most likely thing when you get your Librem 5 is that you would talk yourself into believing it is a phone that does not work. I have had conversations with people who don’t get it where I end up resorting to just telling them that actually… one of the reasons I like my phone is that it doesn’t work.
And yet I carry it with me in my pocket almost everywhere I go, it dings when someone from work needs me even when I’m out and about, it can surf the web, when I visit family who have a raspberry pi set up at their house for some hobby stuff I can remotely administer the pi from my handset while other folks less familiar with that stuff seem to struggle with logins and access, and I often take pictures of the delicious local food some of the people here like to cook which I store in my encrypted phone hard drive that does not upload to any cloud backup, and I know my pictures are just for me. And when I’m not using the internet, I toggle off my hardware switches so that the radio waves will not be irradiating my physical human body.
1 Like
One thing you can do, absolutely free of charge, is to write PureOS (or Debian, or Linux Mint, etc.) to a USB drive, and then boot into the USB on your computer, just to get a feel for Linux in general. This “OS on a removable drive” won’t make any changes to your computer unless you choose to install it to the hard drive. The Librem 5 runs PureOS, but with a different, mobile-friendly interface.
That’s your opinion, but not a helpful thing to say to someone who wants to learn about Linux… in my opinion.
Dear amarok you are first user wanted to my Gnu Team for sure, next @janvlug next one @FranklyFlawless. 
I want amarok and janvlug to be truly free without evil-Linux.
So Linux most for low-level user. Also human brain it is made for Big Endian like data order and context.
If i dare to make the video guidance for Librem 5 i will include the dark side of Linux.
I agree with amarok here, you can test linux from a thumb drive. I was going to suggest get an old used laptop for 99 bucks and install linux on it. ANY linux. I previously used distrowatch.com to find the most popular, it even has filters to choose you parameters (like how much disc you need or what cpu it will run on. You can also find smaller distros for older computers.