[MyL5] Librem 5 Evergreen: first impressions

for this in a 5 inch screen, you would likely have to use syncevolution to do that. Or plug it to a monitor and Keyboard and mouse and use Evolution proper, to import them

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Already tried the Surface USB-C to ethernet and USB 3.0 adapter which works fine.

Today also tested Cable Matters USB-C Multiport Adapter with 8K DisplayPort and PD. Everything seems to work: DisplayPort with external screen, fast ethernet, USB connected to an USB memory stick, USB connected to Startech USB Switch which is connected to my Microsoft Lifecam Cinema webcam and also is connected to my USB-hub on my external screen. On this USB hub on my external screen my wireless adapters for mouse and Logitech MX Keys keyboard are connected. Everything is working! Rather fun and also very easy to work this way.

Only thing not working is PD (power delivery): when connecting the power adapter to the Cable Matters Adapter the external screen seems to disconnect. This is too bad, because when connected to this set-up battery is going empty very fast.

Anybody knows why Power Delivery is not working?

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Is your camera working?
In your screen shot attached, in the lower left corner it looks like camera is working. That is why I am asking.

He said his webcam is connected.

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Yes, it is not the camera of the phone, it’s an external webcam. Clarified this in my post.

Also attached a Wacom Intuos S tablet by USB on Cable Matters. Tablet seems to work fine, but only on the screen of the Librem 5, not on the external screen.

I will update the Wiki Tested Accessories page with my findings another day.

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Because it’s not yet correctly handled in the kernel - should get enabled soonish with kernel updates.

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That sounds good! Looking forward to these kernel improvements. There are also some other nice USB-C hubs on the market, such as DIGITUS 11-Port USB-C™ Docking Station with SSD Enclosure. This one does come with is own Power Supply AC adapter (12 V / 3 A), but can also be attached to an USB-C Power Delivery with up to 100W (max).

Do you know if the Librem 5 be protected for “too” much power delivery (or will it automatically adjust)?
In other words: would it be safe to connect the Librem 5 to an USB-C hub with its own Power Adapter which is able to deliver much more than Power Adapter included with the Librem 5?

Also tested a much simpler setup, with only an older Rapoo E6700 Bluetooth Touch Keyboard. It really works fine, both keyboard and touch-pad, but when not using it for some minutes it losses connection and it is not really easy to reconnect. Using the hardware kill-switch for WiFi and Bluetooth seems the most effective way to reconnect.
EDIT: rebooting the phone after first connection also seems to make it much more stable now.

Would also love to see that pressing the Super Key (or Windows Key) gives immediately focus to search apps box (just like on regular Gnome).

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As ppl say
“The best camera is the one you have on you/in your pocket.” :slight_smile:
Phones are the cameras we carry all the time. Standalone cameras, not so much.

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Wonder whether this works…

Very sleek design. Lots of connections.

In my understanding, power is drawn, not pushed, so using a charger rated at higher wattage than what a device’s draw is just means that that charger will provide the required power, not fry the device by pushing too much electricity.

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Correct, it’s the load that draws the power, not the source. Otherwise your house would literally burst into flames when you turned everything on in your house…lol.

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I received my Evergreen today. My first impressions:

  • Shipping: Unlike the OP I never got a direct communication from DHL, only the tracking link from Purism’s shipping notification email. So I never had any information about the taxes I had to pay until the DHL person arrived and demanded 130 EUR in cash. This was not optimal.

  • BUG: My home wifi doesn’t work (the L5 disconnects after a few tens of seconds and doesn’t manage to reconnect), possibly due to the same 40MHz vs. 20 MHz problem discussed at [MyL5] Received my Librem 5, WiFi doesn't work :-(. A different wifi network works flawlessly, so it’s not a hardware issue but something related to that specific network. There’s nothing special about its configuration, and we have lots of other devices using it without problems though, so I would rather not change its configuration to please the misbehaving L5. I haven’t tried https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux-next/-/merge_requests/258 yet, if that’s the fix I hope it lands in the standard repository soon.

  • The keyboard settings are confusing. The “German (Austria)” keyboard has no umlaut keys at all. The “German” keyboard does, but in a way that is different from iOS, Android, Sailfish OS, and actual physical German keyboards: On German keyboards the Ö key is on the home row just to the right of L (in place of the US keyboard’s semicolon). All other software keyboards have it in the same place, on the “normal” keyboard screen. The L5’s German keyboard requires one to first enter the umlaut menu to get this key.
    I’m puzzled by the whole approach of the software keyboard. My understanding is that it requires some modifications to the source code to set up new keyboard variants. But clearly it seems to import some information from the XKB symbols database, since I can select an “English (intl, with AltGr dead keys)” keyboard, which comes from there. Needless to say, it has neither an AltGr key nor any dead keys, nor any “international” keys. If the keyboard actually imported the XKB keyboard definitions, not just some names, all the many keyboard variants would be set up correctly automatically.

  • I’m confused by the UI concept. I thought the idea was to make desktop applications adapt to the L5 screen size and orientation, but not even the default applications work nicely in portrait mode. The most egregious offender might be the the email client, which in portrait mode only shows a list of mail folders without any indication that mail bodies are hidden to the right of the folder list but only visible in portrait mode.

  • On the topic of email, it took me a while to figure out that “Geary” was the email client. The icon doesn’t evoke email to me. I would appreciate a more explicit name.

  • I would prefer it if the L5 didn’t vibrate on keyboard key presses and certain (but far from all!) other taps on UI elements. I didn’t find any setting to turn this off.

  • This is minor, but I would like to change my lock code to a 5-digit one, but at least 6 digits are required. I’ll just note that the keychain password has no problem being 5 digits.

  • Small UI things, for example: The lock screen requires that I swipe the upwards arrow, tapping doesn’t work. The bottom-of-the-screen menu requires that I tap the upwards arrow, swiping doesn’t work. The notification screen only goes away by tapping into it, not outside it.

That’s a lot of complaints, I know! I hope they are understood as the constructive criticism that I am trying to give. Thanks to the Purism team for their hard work so far, and thanks for all the improvements that are sure to come!

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Just a suggestion, but it might be a good idea to copy your post to a new thread, for discussion without blending into this thread, especially if you think you might be adding to it, asking questions, etc. Your call, though.

Congratulations!

Edit: We’ve also started prefacing each new L5 recipient post with the tag [MyL5] so we can collect them together when needed.

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Please reply to @l5newbie here:
[MyL5] Librem 5 Evergreen arrived in Austria

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Short evaluation after 8 months:
Being almost 8 months after receiving my Librem 5, I wanted to post a little update. But I concluded that from an end-user perspective and my wishes as stated in initial post (see also below), there has not changed much. Every month I unpack the device and update it to latest OS version, only to conclude every-time it is still not usable as a reliable daily driver (which I really is my ultimate wish for Librem 5), mainly because of battery-life and missing essential applications without fiddling (like Calendar and Signal, but also nowadays Covid apps) and other (little) frustrations (such as bluetooth headsets not being easy connected or reliable: only sound, no mic).

Statements of Purism and request for timelines:
Maybe we can receive an update and timelines on previous statements (see below) from Purism employees?

When will this be implemented out-of-the-box? Or when are current users offered an automatically upgrade via OS updates?

I have also read a blog on this some months ago that it will be available very soon. When?

Just tried again. Still Power Delivery is not working.

Overview of my initial wishes and current status:

Overview of my initial wishes and status (cross-mark from end-user perspective, without any fiddling needed).

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Power Delivery has been working for months now. What makes you think it does not work?

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Signal desktop is not optimized and not optimal (requires pairing with an Android/iOS device and all the usual electron shortcomings) but it is now build-able and use-able which seems like big progress from a few weeks ago.

There’s also Axolotl client as another option.

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The provided PD charger works great, for me. I also got a PD car charger which works fine.

@dos : I am using Cable Matters USB-C Multiport Adapter with 8K DisplayPort and PD. The moment I am connecting the official provided power adapter for Librem 5 to my Cable Matters the LED begins flashing, no charging and screen is no longer available on external screen. When disconnecting the power adapter everything (external screen, keyboard, mouse) is working fine again (but of course still not charging). I concluded this must still be an issue with the Power Delivery updates which have not been enabled in the kernel, but maybe my conclusion is based upon wrong assumptions?

@db579: Can you please provide link how to do this? Last time I tried, there was no build or instructions available to use Signal on ARM devices.

I do not think this is quite ready. Calling and video still do not work last time I checked.

@Kyle_Rankin : very curious when this will be available (besides all my other wishes [see above] which will make the Librem 5 a (more) secure device and reliable device to use as daily driver.

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