Originally posted by DMJC
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You could plug the phone into a monitor and keyboard, then ssh or VNC into that old dusty desktop tower in a corner (doesn't need working or reliable peripherals just connection to the network), run a web browser there.
Alternatively, use an existing desktop or laptop (possibly lacking in RAM itself) and ssh or VNC into the phone. Doesn't even need a special USB-C to HDMI cable and compatible monitor, nor a hub so this is a cheaper way to do "convergence".
In both cases, you can fill up the desktop/laptop's RAM with a browser, which is all to easy to do even just reading pages with ads blocked and javascript disabled.
You still have RAM and CPU free on the phone to run your things, projects, even another browser.
Originally posted by oiaohm
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Using a 2160x1080 panel with this CPU, and you'll make the phone slower and hotter. I tried Cinnamon 4.0 on Core 2 vintage Intel graphics and it ran heinously, locked at 30 fps, at 768p. Like, I thought this would powerful enough but no it simulates 30Hz even in minesweeper or shells/editors. So don't ask too much of the GPU of an "embedded, multimedia or automotive" SoC on real linux.
The more likely SoC vendor to be useful for a higher end phone would be Qualcomm (Snapdragon). They intend to support linux with a graphics driver but I have no idea how things are going. Also one of the only vendors that runs non-Android as they run Windows. Buying a Windows ARM laptop to run Linux would seem weird since there's worry of Microsoft completely locking them, and no shortage of x86 laptops.
In anyway, going with Qualcomm in a hope that maybe it'll be supported after it is too late doesn't make sense! and will never reach any Stallman-compatible goal.
It is possible that Pine and Purism and the dev community and the Purism devs would create the demand for mobile real linux, which would then motivate Qualcomm to support it as well. (who would bother launching a Snapdragon 845 or better phone or tablet with crashy, amateur, buggy, incomplete GNU/linux images and distros?)
Very few people ever ran real linux on an ARM (or MIPS) desktop or laptop, or real linux on any phone. There were probably more Firefox OS users. Perhaps Tegra K1 and X1 are an exception, with PC-based GPUs and the proprietary nvidia Xorg driver. Even then, no Tegra phone (with earlier GPUs) ever ran linux.
Of note, an I.MX51 series netbook existed in 2009! and with a 3G modem.
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