Is there any practical linux means to make cell phone calls?

[PJS]

Hi folks,

I've just been watching all the talk about linux on the
Gemini and Cosmo, I've been wondering...

Is anyone actually able to make/receive real, regular cell
phone calls using linux on the Gemini?  

If so, does it actually compare to a "normal" smartphone
calling user interface experience?

...and I am not talking about VOIP calls.

Thanks,

PJS

[vader]

Is anyone actually able to make/receive real, regular cell
phone calls using linux on the Gemini?  

If so, does it actually compare to a "normal" smartphone
calling user interface experience?

The answer is yes. But it doesn't out of the box with debian. Let me explain - sailfish can make/receive calls/sms etc. Sailfish is a vanilla linux distro with a fancy front end. In fact, it shares the kernel with debian - sailfish is a "stowaway" (check out the .stowaway directory in debian). So if sailfish can do it, so can debian. The problem is that in debian it isn't set up by default. You would use ofono I believe. In the real world, I don't know if anyone has got it working in debian.

As far as the "normal" smartphone experience, in as much as the gemini can do it, sailfish behaves as you would expect a smartphone to. I use it everyday, and have since it was released for the gemini. I answer calls with a swipe, finish by clicking end, ignore with a swipe etc. Phone calls interrupt what I am doing (ie display the incoming phone call screen). It has a phonebook, recent call history etc. You can use it hands free, connect to your car or use BT headphones. Basically no different to android.

The one difference is that you have to open the gemini to see who is calling. Yes, you can install apps which flash the LEDs, but I don't use these. You can pick calls up via the silver button (same as android) without looking at who is calling. With the cosmo, the second screen will let you behave more like a conventional phone - you won't have to decipher an LED pattern, or open it up to see who is calling. There is a rocker switch to accept/decline calls, so all in all, it will be a standard smartphone.

For today, if you want linux and phone functionality, use sailfish. If you want to use debian, you are probably out of luck.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

PS. as sailfish is a full linux distro, you can pretty much do anything you could on debian except run X11 apps (sailfish uses wayland). I have installed a full development environment which I use through the terminal. I can ssh/wget/ftp etc the same as any linux. I can install packages/libraries with pkgcon add/remove, the same (but different command) as any linux. It runs SDL/Qt/QML apps.....well, you get the picture.

[vader]

For fun (I was bored  ) I booted into debian and set up 4G according to the instructions in this forum. I could make and receive phone calls, and send/receive SMS. I didn't bother testing 4G data, however it connected according to connman. The only thing it didn't do was ring when a call came in. A notification popped up, which you could accept (pick up), but there was no sound (ie. ringtone), and I couldn't work out how to generate one from the notification in LXQt. It seems debian is a lot closer to being usable than I thought, which was pleasantly surprising. You can set the silver button to run a program, which could send a dbus message to ofono to pick up. The microphones/earphones need a bit of tweaking, however they worked - contrary to the instructions which said only speakerphone works. The one thing I didn't get working was a bluetooth headset. Now I only spent an hour or so, so I'm sure it is possible given a bit more time.

Just thought I'd report in, in case anyone else was curious about getting phone calls in debian. I must admit, I did like the true PC experience, and the browser was so much better (and faster) than mobile ones. I also installed Abiword, which is much MUCH faster than openoffice writer.

Hope this helps.

[Eric BF]

I could make and receive phone calls, and send/receive SMS. I didn't bother testing 4G data, however it connected according to connman.

Thanks for this. Sounds promising. I've not tried putting a SIM card in my Gemini but am now tempted.

[Adam Boardman]

Just to say that I'm actively working on this, so you can expect incremental improvements and possibly breakages as I work through various aspects, wiki will naturally lag behind the actuality as I only update that every so often, and forums are likely to lag even more. But yes silver button to answer/hangup is of course on the to do list.

[NCI]

Any updates on this?

[Adam Boardman]

Its been testable since early March, inc silver button, mic/spk separation on orientation stuff. I've not made too much noise about it as there is a problem with the orientation service that means that after each reboot you have to do a 'sudo pkill -f sensorservice' and 'pulseaudio -k' before the orientation stuff works. Nikita offered to look into it, I've no idea where to start as its part of the android side of things. What with other bugs causing random reboots about once a week this means that its not especially useful as a phone. The reboot could be fixed by configuring an auto-login as the desired user on reboot as the phone stuff is all designed to be user based rather than device based.

I dislike the prescribed 'phablet'/'nemo' user id's of ubports/sfos and so far I've got everything working in a username agnostic fashion even if we ship with a default user on initial install, though ultimately I'd like to drop into a debian installer style interface to avoid that.

But give it a go 'sudo apt install dialer-app' etc, as per DebuggingMobile. I also find that I have to restart ofono on my upgraded from TP1 install, but a fresh install doesn't need that, have yet to track down the problem there either, full filesystem compares having not shown up anything obvious.

[cam1965]

Its been testable since early March, inc silver button, mic/spk separation on orientation stuff. I've not made too much noise about it as there is a problem with the orientation service that means that after each reboot you have to do a 'sudo pkill -f sensorservice' and 'pulseaudio -k' before the orientation stuff works. Nikita offered to look into it, I've no idea where to start as its part of the android side of things. What with other bugs causing random reboots about once a week this means that its not especially useful as a phone. The reboot could be fixed by configuring an auto-login as the desired user on reboot as the phone stuff is all designed to be user based rather than device based.

I dislike the prescribed 'phablet'/'nemo' user id's of ubports/sfos and so far I've got everything working in a username agnostic fashion even if we ship with a default user on initial install, though ultimately I'd like to drop into a debian installer style interface to avoid that.

But give it a go 'sudo apt install dialer-app' etc, as per DebuggingMobile. I also find that I have to restart ofono on my upgraded from TP1 install, but a fresh install doesn't need that, have yet to track down the problem there either, full filesystem compares having not shown up anything obvious.

Hi, I am  having a problem with latest firmware: ( latest  OREO and debian images ).

Phone is not working inside linux.
Messaging and cellular data are fine.

In previous version, Phone are working. ( mic and sound ).
I've also changed input and also profile ( settings ) in pulseaudio volume control without success.
Also I can receive a call with gemini closed ( it rings ) and answer and hang up with the silver side button. ( gemini closed ) But no sound in gemini and also in the other people's phone.
Thank you all.

[psionlover]

I just did a reflash with the latest gemian. I put a sim card in the device. I see new tab 'Mobile' in Conman. If I click 'Powered' I get

Code: [Select]

We received a DBUS reply message indicating an error.
Error Name: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownObject
Error Message: Method "SetProperty"with signature "sv"on interface "net.conman.Technology" doesn't existI followed this but did not find any clue
https://github.com/gemian/gemini-keyboard-a...DebuggingMobile
If I do 'sudo systemctl restart ofono;sudo systemctl status ofono' I get:

Code: [Select]

? ofono.service - oFono Mobile telephony stack
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ofono.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Tue 2019-07-16 17:41:16 UTC; 25min ago
     Docs: man:ofonod(8)
 Main PID: 2642 (ofonod)
      CPU: 51ms
   CGroup: /system.slice/ofono.service
           ??2642 /usr/sbin/ofonod -n --nobacktrace --noplugin=he910,dun_gw_bluez5,hfp_b
luez5,hfp_ag_bluez5,cdma_provision,bluez5,isimodem,n900,u8500,qmimodem,gobi,cdma
odem,
isiusb,nwmodem,ztemodem,iceramodem,uaweimodem,calypsomodem,swmodem,mbmmodem,hsom
dem,i
fxmodem,stemodem,dunmodem,hfpmodem,speedupmodem,phonesim,telitmodem,udev,udevng

Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: Excluding Dial-up Networking Profile Plugins
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: Excluding BlueZ 5 Utils Plugin
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: Excluding Hands-Free Audio Gateway Profile Plu
gins
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: Excluding CDMA provisioning Plugin
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: parse_devices_reply: found 1st battery device:
 /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_battery
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: RIL version 14
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: ofonod[2642]: SIM card OK
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: SIM card OK
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: ofonod[2642]: Requested file structure differs
 from SIM: 6fb7
Jul 16 17:41:16 localhost ofonod[2642]: Requested file structure differs from
SIM: 6fb7If anyone can give me hints, I like to hear them. I am not interested in phone calls, but would love to be able to use 4G.

[FrankS]

maybe this PDF can help you. I printed it from the authors website (it is down).

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

[geminifrench]

I just did a reflash with the latest gemian. I put a sim card in the device. I see new tab 'Mobile' in Conman. If I click 'Powered' I get

Code: [Select]

We received a DBUS reply message indicating an error.
Error Name: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownObject
Error Message: Method "SetProperty"with signature "sv"on interface "net.conman.Technology" doesn't existIf anyone can give me hints, I like to hear them. I am not interested in phone calls, but would love to be able to use 4G.

Hello.
I had exactly encounter the same message.
The problem has been solved and the 4G working.  I have just tested for 4G data (i am not interest in phone calls as you). I have made some script to make 4G ON and OFF whith just one click.
You can see here : TUTORIAL - complete DEBIAN INSTALL with 4G working