Casual Conversation

Yeah LineageOS tends to be hit or miss, the project is maintained by volunteers so dont have high expectations.

I had a Xiaomi phone for where phone calls were very laggy on LineageOS. I'm currently on OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5g using LineageOS and works wonderfully. To avoid ending up in situation where LineageOS doesn't work, next time look up info about a particular phone: XDA forums are good.

If you ever can, I'd recommend GrapheneOS as it has best functionality.

Edit: a word

Idk wtf I’m doing

That may be an issue. But you're also right, there is a lot of learning and trial and error involved. There is also a lot of... outdated info available online, which doesn't help either. Not just for phones.

Every little problem requires copy-pasting stuff from a random stranger on a forum.

Too noob to do this nerd stuff

I'm old-ish (nearing 60), not much of a geek (I've been using computers since the early 80s but have been an Apple user all my life only switching 5 or so years ago... and I've been using Linux daily without any issue. Like, none.

I do use the Terminal on my computer, that's true, but that's also because I want to use it, not because I have to.

It's an impressively efficient tool, even for a timid user like myself with basic needs. Once I started using it, after a few... epic failures, there was no turning back and I was hooked to its efficiency.

Heck, I even use it to read RSS, to listen to music, podcast and movies (thx to mpv), to watch YT video too. As well as to publish stuff on my blog and, since very recently, on Mastodon too. I've never learned to code, I just asked questions, read documentations and become ok with things not working as I wanted them to at the first attempt ;)

But I have a trick to make my life simpler and stress-free: I only deal with what I know I can handle. And there is a lot I know I can't.

For example, I would love to be able to run a de-googled android on my phone but I also know I need access to a few selected apps that won't work as easily without Google's crap. They may work but it may involves a lot of hunting and trials. Which is not what I want to do on a phone. As a matter of fact, the only reason I own a smartphone is because I need to access those few apps, there is nothing else installed on it, not even games, music. Nothing. So, until the day I know for sure there is an easy way to run those (few) apps without using Google official crappy spyware-riddled Android, I don't try.

Meanwhile, I can enjoy a great experience using Libre Software everywhere else I can, which is everywhere else ;)

Edit: typos.

You got this!

Everyone is a noob at first. Stick with it! and good on you for giving it a go!

You're braver than me. I desperately want to degoogle, but my phone is everything. If it doesn't work, my life doesn't function. As a result I haven't pulled the trigger yet. Too scared.

I'm taking it one step at a time. I've cut Windows out. That's enough for now. My plan next is to do away with Gmail and drive, but honestly that's gonna be harder. I have an annoyingly complicated email and cloud set up and I don't know where to start.

Oh, and I'm a professional software developer, so give yourself a break

There is a learning curve, and different people have different approaches. Yours is to dive in, which means you will learn a lot quickly. I always go too slow and do a lot of smaller experiments along the way. I make fewer major mistakes, but am slow to adopt new software.

You will make it through this frustration and be actually helping others figure things out before you know it.

Don't worry about the copying and pasting. Strangers on the internet care more about your success and well being than corporations anyway. I've been involved with the open source community for decades in one way or another and I have never - not once - encountered malicious code in a support forum.

My first time using Linux was a trainwreck. I was 17; I couldn't make tails from heads from what I was dealing with.

I eventually said "screw it", reinstalled Windows XP, and forgot about it for two? three? years. Then I tried it again, with a different distro, and now I struggle to use Windows because I kind of forgot how to do it.

My point is, it gets easier with time. And often your first choice is a really good distro, but not really good for newcomers, you know? I know, you're talking about phones instead of desktops, but it's the same principle. It's fine to try another system like GrapheneOS, or to stick with LineageOS and see how it goes.

It will still require you some learning. Including sometimes copypasting what random people on the internet say. But it gets easier over time.

which device? is it officially supported by lineageos?

it is indeed quite harder than using stock rom, if the stock rom isn't garbage (unlike samsung) you could just root and debloat stock too.