[Magisk] ethical_haquer:
As far as I know, most (perhaps all) Linux distros for phones are pure Linux. I don't believe they include anything from Android.

Oh, except for Wi-fi/Bluetooth and also the modem, those would be proprietary. If you have hardware kill switches, you can turn those parts off if you're not using them, and for the PP and PPP, there is mostly open-source firmware for the modem. Also, the PP, PPP, and L5 (Librem 5) try to isolate those parts from the main system. (using a USB bus to communicate, for my understanding)

Which one is "best" really just depends on what your needs are. (let me know if you have specific questions)

Here are some of the most common mobile Linux distros:

postmarketOS - Based on Alpine Linux.

Mobian - Based on Debian.

Arch - I need to try this.

Manjaro - ?

Ubuntu Touch - IMO, don't touch this.

I've tried PMOS (Post Market OS) and Mobian so far. I've only had my PPP (Pine Phone Pro) for a few weeks though, and I'm really just experimenting with it. If anybody wants me to try something, just let me know!

Actually, there is no Play Integrity on mobile Linux, that BS is for Android.

Mobile Linux is literally just Linux running on a phone. For example, desktop Linux apps, if they support smaller screen sizes, would run on a Linux phone.

Now, if you wanted to run Android apps on your Linux phone, you would use Waydroid. Here's PMOS's page on it.

Yes, it is possible. Here's the carrier support page for the PP, for example. Also, PMOS's device page has tables that show which devices support Mobile data, SMS, and calls. Keep in mind that it also depends on the distro. For example, calling might work for one device on Mobian, but not on PMOS, and vise-versa.

The truth is, the battery life on a Linux-first phone will be significantly less than on an Android phone.

Linux-first meaning a device that was designed to run Linux, such as the PP, PPP, and L5. (FYI, I have 2 L5 USAs as well, so you can also ask me about those)

Linux-first devices aren't the only phones you can run Linux on though, if you look at the "Community" section of the PMOS device support page, you will see that many Android devices also have decent Linux support.

So, it's not really running Linux that makes Linux-first devices drain their battery faster (although mobile Linux isn't as optimized as Android), it's more the hardware.

Still, in general I think people can get at least half a day with those three devices above. But I'll have to test the PPP's battery-life in the coming days. I also have the L5 USAs, but I am not using them, I'm actually selling them. (ask me why if you want)

Also, Linux phones do suspend, and in that state they use much less battery, but like I said, I'll test my PPP and get back to you with the results.

You can use standard Linux tools for that. I don't think there are special ways to do it on mobile Linux, but I haven't looked into it yet, since I'm still testing out stuff on my PPP, I haven't backed it up yet. Also, kind of off-topic, but being able to boot from eitheir the internal eMMC or microSD is pretty cool. You can easily test out other setups without wiping your main install.

If you're on Mobian, yes. If you're on PMOS, they use apk. On Arch, it's pacman. Most distros have a graphical software app, but they're just a GUI for the package manager, you know what I'm talking about. So yeah, updates are pretty much the same as on normal Linux. As far as mobile Linux apps, and I mention this on my mobile Linux thread, linuxphoneapps.org is extremely helpful for finding apps.

Alright, It's nice to see some people on XDA are interested in mobile Linux, as we see Android become more and more restricting. Like I said, I will be doing battery-life tests on my PPP, so I'll report on that. But I enjoy answering these questions, so ask me any questions you might have! ("you" as in anyone reading this :))