LINux on MOBile - AppsLINMOB.net is a blog about LINux on MOBile devices. With the PinePhone (Pro) and Librem 5 shipping it is back to report on GNU+Linux on mobile devices.Zola2023-10-23T19:19:37+00:00https://linmob.net/tags/apps/feed.xmlWeekly GNU-like Mobile Linux Update (42/2023): A Sailfish Community Update and upstream Ubuntu Touch builds for PinePhone2023-10-23T19:19:37+00:002023-10-23T19:19:37+00:00https://linmob.net/weekly-update-42-2023/<p>Also: A Ubuntu Touch Q&A, new Manjaro builds for PinePhone (Pro), Lomiri running on Mir 2 on postmarketOS, a timeline for Plasma 6, rustup packagaed in Debian and more! </p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p><em>Commentary in italics.</em></p>
<h3 id="software">Software</h3>
<h4 id="gnome-ecosystem">Gnome Ecosystem</h4>
<ul>
<li>This Week in GNOME: <a href="https://thisweek.gnome.org/posts/2023/10/twig-118/">#118 Performant Terminals</a></li>
<li>Planet GNOME: <a href="https://eischmann.wordpress.com/2023/10/20/linux-desktop-migration-tool/">Linux Desktop Migration Tool</a> <em>This should also work on Phones, I'd guess.</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="phosh">Phosh</h4>
<ul>
<li>Guido Günther: <a href="https://social.librem.one/@agx/111272634103421525">After lots of cleanup over the past #phoc releases I'm inclined to switch #phoc's main branch to track #wlroots git rather than the latest stable version as I can then catch up with new wlroots features faster. Stable releases would then be cut from a wlroots-0.xy branch tracking the stable wlroots version. Good idea? #phosh #bananui[ ] yes, wlroots git it is[ ] no, wlroots stable pls</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="plasma-ecosystem">Plasma Ecosystem</h4>
<ul>
<li>KDE Announcements: <a href="https://kde.org/announcements/frameworks/5/5.111.0/">KDE Ships Frameworks 5.111.0</a></li>
<li>Nate Graham: <a href="https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/21/no-twik-this-week/">No TWiK this week</a></li>
<li>TSDGeos: <a href="https://tsdgeos.blogspot.com/2023/10/kde-february-mega-release-schedule.html">KDE February Mega Release schedule (the thing with Qt6 on it)</a></li>
<li>anditosan: <a href="https://anditosan.wordpress.com/2023/10/16/its-been-a-minute-%f0%9f%91%8b/">It’s Been a Minute… 👋</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="sailfish-os">Sailfish OS</h4>
<ul>
<li>Community News - Sailfish OS Forum: <a href="https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/sailfish-community-news-19th-october-community/17020">Sailfish Community News, 19th October, Community</a></li>
<li>flypig's Gecko log: <a href="https://www.flypig.co.uk/list?list_id=905&list=gecko">Day 66</a></li>
<li>flypig's Gecko log: <a href="https://www.flypig.co.uk/list?list_id=904&list=gecko">Day 65</a></li>
<li>flypig's Gecko log: <a href="https://www.flypig.co.uk/list?list_id=903&list=gecko">Day 64</a></li>
<li>flypig's Gecko log: <a href="https://www.flypig.co.uk/list?list_id=902&list=gecko">Day 63</a></li>
<li>flypig's Gecko log: <a href="https://www.flypig.co.uk/list?list_id=901&list=gecko">Day 62</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="ubuntu-touch">Ubuntu Touch</h4>
<ul>
<li>UBports News: <a href="http://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-q-a-124-3899">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 124</a>. <em>After a drought of Q%A's, there are now so many, that the people transcribing and publishing audio only can't keep up - check out No 126 below.</em></li>
<li>Unofficial Ubuntu Touch for PinePhone (Pro): <a href="https://gitlab.com/ook37/pinephone-pro-debos/-/releases/upstream">upstream</a>. <em>Now using the official infrastructure to build images, which is a great achievement!</em></li>
<li>Ubuntu Touch Forums News: <a href="https://forums.ubports.com/topic/9459/win-a-volla-phone-22">Win a Volla Phone 22</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="nemo-mobile">Nemo Mobile</h4>
<ul>
<li>neochapay: <a href="https://nitter.net/neochapay/status/1716138044183466338#m">"USSD and Incoming call indication now works in Qt6 #nemomobile #glacierUX</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="distributions">Distributions</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://mindly.social/@markgrieveson/111252078114263742">MarkG: "I remember when Pine64 announced that the default operating system would be Manjaro Plasma for the Pinephone Pro (see link).…"</a> <em>Fortunately, it looks like there's still some activity:</em></li>
<li>Manjaro PinePhone Plasma Mobile: <a href="https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/plasma-mobile/releases/tag/beta15-rc5">Beta 15 RC5</a></li>
<li>Manjaro PinePhone Phosh: <a href="https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/phosh/releases/tag/beta35">Beta 35</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="apps">Apps</h4>
<ul>
<li>LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/net.sf.metronomek/">Metronomek</a></li>
<li>LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/org.kde.kalm/">Kalm</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="kernel">Kernel</h4>
<ul>
<li>phone-devel: <a href="http://lore.kernel.org/phone-devel/20231021143025.77088-1-lukas.walter@aceart.de/">[PATCH 1/2] dt-bindings: arm: qcom: Add Huawei Honor 5X / GR5 (2016)</a></li>
<li>phone-devel: <a href="http://lore.kernel.org/phone-devel/20231021071619.187374-1-davidwronek@gmail.com/">[PATCH] dt-bindings: arm: cpus: Add Qualcomm Kryo 465</a></li>
<li>phone-devel: <a href="http://lore.kernel.org/phone-devel/20231020-ptn36502-v2-0-b37a337d463e@fairphone.com/">[PATCH v2 0/2] Add driver for NXP PTN36502 Type-C redriver</a></li>
<li>phone-devel: <a href="http://lore.kernel.org/phone-devel/20231020-fsa4480-swap-v2-0-9a7f9bb59873@fairphone.com/">[PATCH v2 0/3] Handle reversed SBU orientation for FSA4480</a></li>
<li>megi's PinePhone Development Log: <a href="https://xnux.eu/log/#096">New GIT mirror</a> <em>Yay!</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="stack">Stack</h4>
<ul>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Vulkan-1.3.269-Released">Vulkan 1.3.269 Released With New Extension For Launching CUDA Kernels</a></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-23.3-RadeonSI-GFX11.5">Mesa 23.3 Merges Initial Support For RDNA3 Refresh "GFX11.5" Graphics</a></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-DRM-GPUVM-Relicensed">Linux's DRM GPUVM Code Relicensed From GPLv2-Only To GPLv2 Or MIT</a></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/GCC-14-Feature-Ends-November">GCC 14 Feature Development Ends Next Month</a></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Multi-Grain-Timestamps-Redux">Multi-Grained Timestamps Revised Following Revert From Linux 6.6</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="matrix">Matrix</h4>
<ul>
<li>Matrix.org: <a href="https://matrix.org/blog/2023/10/20/this-week-in-matrix-2023-10-20/">This Week in Matrix 2023-10-20</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-noting">Worth Noting</h3>
<ul>
<li>Thorsten Leemhuis (1/4): <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@kernellogger/111272862530601078">"As #Linux #kernel community, process, and quality problems are discussed due to critical toots from @marcan a quick reminder:…"</a></li>
<li>Josh Triplett: <a href="https://social.joshtriplett.org/notice/Ab1O0DZ3rX6690cvj6">Some wonderful news: as of today, rustup is packaged in Debian, which makes it much easier to install. Rather than using curl and running a script that wants to ask interactive questions (or passing several command-line options), you can <code>apt install rustup</code> and <code>rustup install stable</code> and you're done.</a></li>
<li>Amy 🇹🇭🏳️⚧️: <a href="https://sauropods.win/@AmyIsCoolz/111277341303780171">"Fun fact: The XDG desktop portal for GNOME mobile is not adaptive, despite Nautilus being Adaptive (Nautilus is still not yet perfect on mobile but it's getting there)…"</a></li>
<li>caleb: <a href="https://social.treehouse.systems/@cas/111274124793026533">"just a random shoutout for https://flash.pmos.org which is still so damn cool... unless you hate webUSB, in which case dont click the link…"</a></li>
<li>libcamera: <a href="https://floss.social/@libcamera/111264074121003776">"The camera team at @Raspberry_Pi talk about the internals of how image sensors work on their platform, and what's new in #Pi5. …"</a></li>
<li>Марко Пејовић: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@peja/111263655636609670">"GNOME 45 Mobile. This menu shines on a smartphone.…"</a></li>
<li>kelbot ◖⎚∠⎚◗: <a href="https://retro.social/@kelbot/111257453973020054">"I just want a more modern one of these that runs linux. Is that so much to ask? …"</a> <em>+1</em></li>
<li>justsoup: <a href="https://mstdn.social/@justsoup/111253553831320767">"Lomiri on Mir2 runs on postmarketOS now! This is a milestone because it is the updating of the entire desktop to the newest version and also to use Wayland!…"</a></li>
<li>redstrate: <a href="https://mastodon.art/@redstrate/111253624680245525">"I kind of went nuts with PlasmaTube (KDE's Invidious client) this afternoon!…"</a></li>
<li>Luigi311: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Luigi311/111251921752284385">"Ive taken some pictures on all 3 native #linuxmobile devices in case anyone wants to see how they do in automatic point and shoot scenarios.…"</a></li>
<li>Clayton: <a href="https://freeradical.zone/@craftyguy/111251913445967007">"It's 2023 and there's still no caldav/carddav provider support in #gnome online-accounts. 😭️…"</a>. <em>While this does not affect me as a Nextcloud user, I really hope this makes it. So tired of seeing this come up again and again!</em></li>
<li>Sonny: <a href="https://floss.social/@sonny/111250441680329039">"We are hiring contractors to work on #GNOME and the #Linux Desktop …"</a></li>
<li>joey castillo: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@joeycastillo/111210904645205113">"holy shit it's done. The Open Book submitted for the 2023 Hackaday Prize, with 45 minutes to spare. …"</a></li>
<li>Jozef Mlich: <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@jmlich/111245923393031164">"I've discovered how to handle phone calls 📞 via telepathy in #Amazfish! …"</a></li>
<li>PinePhoneOfficial (Reddit): <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/PinePhoneOfficial/comments/178rwbt/suggestion_reverse_order_of_instructions_for/">Suggestion reverse order of instructions for Ubuntu Touch on Pine with tow-boot</a> <em>Very good points, but editing the wiki ("fixing it upstream") is more impactful.</em></li>
<li>PINE64official (Reddit): <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/17c1ly3/so_how_should_i_go_around_dual_booting_glodroid/">So, how should I go around dual booting Glodroid (SD) and Postmarketos (eMMC) on a PinePhone Beta edition?</a> <em>I think tow-boot might help here, but I've not played much with it on the OG PinePhone - if you know it would help, please help that person out!</em>_ </li>
<li>Purism community: <a href="https://forums.puri.sm/t/cross-compiling-for-the-librem5/21645">[Cross-]Compiling for the Librem5?</a></li>
<li>Purism community: <a href="https://forums.puri.sm/t/l5-items-that-still-need-to-be-polished-mentioned-in-various-other-blogs-oct-2023/21641">L5 Items that still need to be polished mentioned in various other blogs Oct 2023</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth Reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>Volker Krause: <a href="https://www.volkerkrause.eu/2023/10/21/osm-hack-weekend-berlin-october-2023.html">OSM Hack Weekend September 2023</a></li>
<li>Purism: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/doj-antitrust-lawsuit-apple-sells-access-to-ios-end-users-to-google/">DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit: Apple Sells Access to iOS End Users to Google!</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth Watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>Continuum Gaming: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2LXz35zaTM">Continuum Gaming E387: SpritRadar</a></li>
<li>Ubuntu Touch: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcEN1ME_WUU">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 126</a> <em>Florian and Alfred, together again! 20.04 OTA 3 is approaching, and many questions answered!</em></li>
<li>cemaxecuter: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Wb8aO4480">WarDragon Sending SMS over LTE Test (b205mini, PinePhone, OnePlus 3)</a></li>
<li>yomboprime: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EkPFnty-K0">Pinephone Pro thermal fingerprint filmed with a Topdon TC-001</a></li>
<li>Mark: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo6JnYqyq2Y">building droidian for cactus</a></li>
<li>Michael Tretter at XDC 2023: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK2Emqp9t0g&t=14240s">Wayland Shells for Embedded Systems</a>, via <a href="https://social.librem.one/@agx/111273601116902706">Guido Günther</a></li>
<li>RTP Tech Tips: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oCCetntVCM">Chatcontrol Lobbied Flawed Polls & Why Dino XMPP Messenger</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="thanks">Thanks</h3>
<p>Huge thanks to Plata for <a href="https://framagit.org/linmob/linmob.frama.io/-/merge_requests/5">the nifty set of Python scripts</a> that speed up collecting links from feeds by a lot.</p>
<h3 id="something-missing-want-to-contribute">Something missing? Want to contribute?</h3>
<p>If your project's cool story (or your awesome video or nifty blog post or ...) is missing and you don't want that to happen again, please just put it into <a href="https://pad.hacc.space/7yCLy5a9QyOLWusIFiTt9A?edit">the hedgedoc pad</a> for the next one! Since I am collecting many things there, this get's you early access if you will ;-) <strong>If you just stumble on a thing, please put it in there too - all help is appreciated!</strong></p>
LINMOBapps: Additions in March and April 2021 and future plans2021-05-08T10:37:18+00:002021-05-08T10:37:18+00:00https://linmob.net/linmobapps-additions-changes-march-april-2021/<p><em>Two months ago, I decided to first post a review of what was added in the past two months. I also want to share my further plans that aim to replace the list in its current form.</em></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="apps-that-have-been-added">Apps that have been added</h2>
<p>Let's start with the apps that have been added to <a href="https://linmobapps.frama.io/">LINMOBapps</a> in the past two months. <em>Sadly, no screenshots again, but I promise to take some of all the apps that are being added going forward!</em></p>
<h3 id="march">March</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/The3DmaN/idokremote">Idok Remote</a>, a simple Kodi remote that supports multiple Kodi instances.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/fushinari/Wordbook">Wordbook</a> is a dictionary application made for Linux using Python and GTK 3.</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/jbbgameich/audiotube">AudioTube</a> can search YouTube Music, list albums and artists, play automatically generated playlists, albums and allows to put your own playlist together.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/multimedia/elisa">Elisa</a>, a beautiful no-nonsense music player with online radio support.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-sound-recorder/">Sound Recorder</a>, a simple and modern sound recorder.</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/kailueke/wake-mobile">wake-mobile</a>, a proof-of-concept alarm app that uses systemd timers to wake up the system. <em>See also Birdie below.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://git.sr.ht/~martijnbraam/numberstation">Numberstation</a>, a Gnome Authenticator clone. It generates 2fa tokens based on secrets installed. It also registers as URI-handler for otpauth:// UTLs so they can be added from Megapixels. </li>
<li><a href="https://git.sr.ht/~martijnbraam/thumbdrives">Thumbdrives</a>, a thumbdrive and ISO emulator for phones. _Another super helpful app by Martijn Braam.</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/leesonwai/sums">Sums</a>, a simple GTK postfix calculator that adheres to GNOME's human-interface guidelines. It is designed to be keyboard-driven and aims to feel natural to interact with by recognising English-language input as mathematical constants and operations.</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-characters">Characters</a> is a simple utility application to find and insert unusual characters. <em>Looking for Emoji? This apps helps.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/SeaDve/Mousai">Mousai</a>, a simple application for identifying songs. <em>The household name for this task is Shazam.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="april">April</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/postmarketos-tweaks">postmarketOS tweaks</a>, an Application for exposing extra settings easily on mobile platforms. <em>Yet another great application by Martijn!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/terence97/publictransport">Public Transport</a> brings real time information for public transportation (currently in Germany) to Linux phones/the Linux desktop.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/johan-bjareholt/simple-diary-gtk">Simple Diary </a>, a simple and lightweight diary app.</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.manjaro.org/applications/pamac">Pamac</a> a graphical Package Manager for Manjaro Linux with Alpm, AUR, Appstream, Flatpak and Snap support.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/melix99/telegrand">Telegrand</a> is a GTK4 Telegram client built to be well integrated with the GNOME desktop environment. <em>OpenSUSE packaged it recently!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/LithApp/Lith">Lith</a> is a multiplatform WeeChat Relay client, allowing you to connect to your running WeeChat instance from anywhere, be it your phone or your desktop computer.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/lainsce/khronos/">Khronos</a>, an inobtrusive time tracker for your tasks. <em>Sadly deep sleep interferes with time tracking on the PinePhone, but other than that: Nice app!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/JasonG-FR/PineBattery">PineBattery</a>, a GTK app for monitoring the PinePhone and PineTab battery.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Dejvino/birdie">Birdie</a>, a wakeup Alarm App for a Linux Phone. <em><a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1386560286983864321">It works!</a></em></li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/daykountdown">DayKountdown</a> is a simple date countdown app written for KDE Plasma, using Kirigami.</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/carlschwan/optiimage">OptiImage</a>, an image optimizer based on optipng.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/birros/web-archives">Web Archives</a> is a web archives reader offering the ability to browse offline millions of articles from large community projects such as Wikipedia or Wikisource. <em>Only supports ZIM files, but works pretty great for reading e.g. Wikipedia offline!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Rafostar/clapper">Clapper</a> is a GNOME media player built using GJS with GTK4 toolkit and powered by GStreamer with OpenGL rendering.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="the-game-list-has-been-taken-on-and-has-a-future-now">The Game list has been taken on and has a future now!</h2>
<p><em>Moxvallix</em> took over the <a href="https://linmobapps.frama.io/games.html">game list</a> and has done a great job at adding games to it!</p>
<h2 id="more-changes">More Changes</h2>
<p>Little happened, in part because I was busy working on this blog. I've created a <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">Matrix group</a>, and since yesterday the appstream:// links <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/106195688191823800">finally work</a>—but these changes are to be discussed in a later update.</p>
<h2 id="the-future-linuxphoneapps-org">The Future: LinuxPhoneApps.org</h2>
<p>The app list, as is, has its deficiencies: It's tough to maintain, and the "it's just one .csv file" nature seems to be intimidating.
While it is searchable, the search function is apparently not discoverable enough. Also, if you want to share one application from it on social media, you just can't do it in a good way. More importantly, it's really slow at loading on the devices it targets, due the use of lots of client side JavaScript, and worse yet, it gets a tiny bit slower to load with every app that gets added. </p>
<h3 id="scope">Scope</h3>
<p>Replacing it, on the other hand, is not an easy task, for the number of apps alone. It needs thought, and external input, as there are three audiences this list should cater to:</p>
<ul>
<li>developers,
<ul>
<li>to find out if instead of just scratching ones own itch, there's a project with a similar goal, that might appreciate help,</li>
<li>to publicize the app one worked on,</li>
<li>to find people that can help with e.g. new features or design,</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>distribution maintainers,
<ul>
<li>that want to package software for their users to provide a good experience,</li>
<li>find what competing distributions package,</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>(prospective) users
<ul>
<li>that want to get a good idea of available apps, </li>
<li>what these apps look like,</li>
<li>which features they already offer and which features are planned.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>I, personally, am only in the third group. <em>Therefore, get in touch, if I've missed something, or just <a href="https://pad.hacc.space/6KZJFltXSHSMCa-4NaBYag?edit">contribute to the above list anonymously here</a>.</em></p>
<h3 id="technical-implementation">Technical implementation</h3>
<p>A long time ago, cahfofpai (who created <a href="https://mglapps.frama.io">MGLapps</a>) and I came up with a draft of getting the list moved over to <a href="https://gohugo.io">Hugo</a>. This draft is what I've been spending some time on since, although I will likely rather use <a href="https://www.getzola.org/">Zola</a>, which may be less suitable than Hugo, but has the benefit that I somewhat understand how it works. I hope to get a basic implementation of this done in the next weeks.</p>
<p>One key challenge is that both Hugo and Zola, being static site generators, are less dynamic, which require workarounds, so that the new solution is actually better. One way to do this would be to somehow keep the current list around and maintained, but unless this can be seriously automized, it's not a realisitic goal. Ideas welcome!</p>
<h4 id="automatization">Automatization</h4>
<p>Speaking of automization: With more and more apps listed, manually monitoring changes and progress gets more and more of a serious burden. Thankfully, this can be automized for some apps, but sadly it's one of the tasks that I don't feel up to as it's beyond my current abilities: </p>
<p>This tasks is the creation of a tool that downloads structured project information that you may know as metainfo.xml or appdata.xml files that follow the <a href="https://freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Quickstart.html">FreeDesktop.org AppStream Metadata specification</a> and then alerts for changes or, even better, updates the specific fields in the apps markdown file TOML or YAML frontmatter automatically.</p>
<p>Another task that's more and more of a burden and the LINMOBapps doesn't do a good job at is checking for packages. Thankfully, <a href="https://repology.org/">Repology</a> exists, and will be used for each app individually.</p>
<h4 id="hosting">Hosting</h4>
<p>I have been considering hosting the code behind this new project (in order to get more contributions and increase visibility) on platforms that are popular, and have a working search for hosted projects. Obvious candidates would be <a href="https://sourcehut.org/">Sourcehut</a> and <a href="https://github.com">GitHub</a>, because both have quite different audiences, and we would get a mailing list for free.</p>
<h3 id="how-can-you-help">How can you help?</h3>
<p>Please join the <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#linuxphoneapps:matrix.org">discussion on Matrix</a> and contribute your input regarding <a href="https://pad.hacc.space/6KZJFltXSHSMCa-4NaBYag?edit">audiences</a> and <a href="https://pad.hacc.space/xKq47oRxQqSuhz21z8lnEg?view">implementation</a>. <em>I will post more on the topic once I have a rough prototype of my Zola implementation ready!</em></p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Thanks to The3DmaN for adding this apps!</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>Thanks to cahfofpai for adding these! You may remember him from his work on <a href="https://mglapps.frama.io">MGLapps</a>.</p>
</div>
LINMOBapps: Additions (and changes) in January and February 2021 (and future plans)2021-03-07T00:57:18+00:002021-03-07T00:57:18+00:00https://linmob.net/linmobapps-additions-changes-january-february-2021-and-plans/<p><em>Lately, I did not manage to properly promote every app that I added to LINMOBapps, the app list you can now find under <a href="http://appl.ist">appl.ist</a>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> In this post I will list the apps that have been added to the list. I also want to share my further plans for this list.</em></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="apps-that-have-been-added">Apps that have been added</h3>
<h4 id="january">January</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/rmnvgr/metadata-cleaner">Metadata Cleaner</a>, <em>a GTK GUI to view and clean metadata in files</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/LukaJankovic/Ambience">Ambience</a>, <em>a GTK/libhandy GUI to control LIFX lights</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/IBBoard/cawbird">Cawbird</a>, <em>a GTK twitter client that works great on PinePhone</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/bilelmoussaoui/decoder/">Decoder</a>, <em>a GTK4/libadwaita app to scan and generate QR codes</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/Cogitri/Health">Health</a>, <em>a GTK4/libadwaita health tracking app</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/Miridyan/terminal">Mt</a>, <em>a terminal app written in GTK and Rust</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/dino/dino/tree/feature/handy">Dino</a>, <em>the libhandy branch of a great XMPP client</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.shinice.net/artectrex/Cuttlefish">Cuttlefish</a>, <em>a GTK4/libhandy PeerTube app</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/The3DmaN/lord-almightys-modern-bible">Lord Almighty’s Modern Bible (LAMB)</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>, <em>a QtQuick bible app</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/The3DmaN/media-server-connect">Media Server Connect (MSC)</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>, <em>a simple QtWebEngine web app to connect to Emby servers</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/The3DmaN/ha-connect">Home Assistant Connect (HAC)</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>, <em>a simple QtWebEngine web app to connect to Home Assistant servers</em>, and</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/The3DmaN/abv-calc">ABV Calculator</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>, <em>something with alcohol</em>.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="february">February</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/graphics/pikasso">Pikasso</a>, <em>a Kirigami drawing app</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/utilities/kairo">Kairo</a>, <em>a programmable timer</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/azymohliad/qwertone">Qwertone</a>, <em>a fun little GTK musical instrument that's rusty</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://git.sr.ht/~julienxx/castor">Castor</a>, <em>a Gemini, Gopher, Finger browser</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/guillermop/master-key/">Master Key</a>, <em>a password generator (GTK and libhandy)</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/tpikonen/gpodder#branch=hdy">GPodder Adaptive</a>, <em>a fork of the GTK gpodder app that uses libhandy to fit phone screens</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/mickenordin/passui">PassUi</a>, <em>a GTK gui for pass</em>, </li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/chrisu281080/pass-manager-compact">pass-manager-compact</a>, _another GTK gui for pass,</li>
<li><a href="https://git.sr.ht/~craftyguy/caerbannog">caerbannog</a>, <em>yet another GTK gui for pass, and my favourite of the ones listed</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Tiggilyboo/weather-mobile">Weather Mobile</a>, <em>a GTK4/libadwaita weather app written in Rust</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/lainsce/notejot/">Notejot</a>, <em>a note taking app</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/xou816/spot">Spot</a>, <em>a Spotify Premium spotify music player that by now has a flawless mobile UI and is written in Rust</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/jkotra/eOVPN">eOVPN</a>, <em>a GTK Open VPN setup GUI that also works ok on phones</em>,</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/crow-translate/crow-translate">Crow Translate</a>, <em>a Kirigami translation frontend for use with Google, Bing or Yandex translate</em> and</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/alexr4535/siglo">siglo</a>, <em>a WIP GUI for <a href="https://github.com/JF002/InfiniTime">InfiniTime</a> sync.</em>,</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="changes">Changes</h3>
<p>I did a few adjustments to ratings, added a few package names, and more. You can look them up by going through the commit history. That aside, I tried to add appstream:// links to allow easier install via Discover or GNOME Software, but ... see below.</p>
<h3 id="what-s-coming">What's coming?</h3>
<p>Aside from a lot of apps listed in <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/blob/master/tasks.md">tasks.md</a> that are waiting to be added, there are quite a lot of things I want to do.</p>
<h4 id="content-tasks">Content tasks</h4>
<p>I think that it's necessary to go through all the listed apps again, to check for broken links (and maybe add some), review the descriptions and check whether they have been packaged meanwhile.</p>
<p>Also, I want to add freedesktop.org <a href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/apa.html">categories</a> and <a href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/apas02.html">Additional categories</a>. Transitioning the "License" field over to <a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/">SPDX identifiers</a> is also planned.
Adding URLs for appstream yaml files (per project) is another task, but I am not sure whether I will take this on with this revision.</p>
<h4 id="development-tasks">Development tasks</h4>
<p>As mentioned above, I tried to add appstream:// links. Even after reading the <a href="https://soapbox.github.io/linkifyjs/docs/">documentation of the linkify JavaScript library</a> that generates links on LINMOBapps, I have no clue how to accomplish this. <em>Help is highly appreciated!</em></p>
<p>That aside, it's time to transition over to something different. There's been a plan for a long time, if you're interested in helping <em>cahfofpai</em><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup> and me, <a href="https://framagit.org/app-directory/app-directory.frama.io">check the WIP project</a> out. As with all things LINMOBapps, help is highly appreciated! </p>
<p>In fact, I might be able to even "pay" major contributors for this – I'll use the LBRY fantasy money and potential BTC donations (yes, LINMOBapps has a Bitcoin address now) for this.</p>
<h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h3>
<p>A lot has been added, and there's a lot to do. I hope to make this a tradition and share progress and plans again in two months.</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>I initially planned to add screenshots for everyone of these apps, but I sadly did not have the time to do so.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>: Thanks to The3DmaN for adding these apps!
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup>: You may remember cahfofpai from <a href="https://mglapps.frama.io">MGLapps</a>.</p>
</div>
Building Software from the AUR, Part 2: Reddit clients for the PinePhone2020-10-06T17:32:00+00:002020-10-06T17:32:00+00:00https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/<p>Reddit may not be the social network that has the friendliest reputation, but at least since Google sunset Google+, Reddit's many technical subreddits have become one of the best places to talk about new software, hardware and other nerdy things. So let's have a short overview about software that may or may not work great on a phone.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="general-instructions">General instructions</h2>
<p>You will need to have an AUR helper installed or know how to install packages from the AUR without such a software. For that, you can follow the instructions of my <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/09/05/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur.html#preparations">previous post</a>, although I would now recommend to now clone <code>git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git </code> instead, because it is just faster to not build the <code>yay</code> binary on device.</p>
<h2 id="gtk-based">GTK based</h2>
<h3 id="giara">Giara</h3>
<p><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GabMus/giara">Giara</a> is a relatively new client developed by <a href="https://gabmus.org/">Gabriele Musco</a>, who has <a href="https://gitlab.com/gabmus">already developed</a> a number of phone-compatible GTK+ apps. Giara will eventually be available on Flathub and thus be easily installable on pretty much every other distribution, but for now, you will have to follow one of the ways to install it below:</p>
<h4 id="installing-from-the-aur">Installing from the AUR</h4>
<p>Install is easy enough on Arch Linux (ARM) and Manjaro, as you will just have to install <code>giara-git</code> from the AUR. </p>
<h4 id="installing-from-flathub">Installing from Flathub <sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></h4>
<p>Giara is now also <a href="https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.gabmus.giara">available from Flathub</a>. Flathub has instructions on how to enable it, and if these aren't enough, I wrote a <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/07/27/pinephone-daily-driver-challenge-part2-flatpak-and-scaling-in-phosh.html">blog post</a> a while back. </p>
<h4 id="screenshots">Screenshots</h4>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/giara_overview.jpg" alt="Giara: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/giara_overview_post.jpg" alt="Giara: Overview with Post menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/giara_thread_view.jpg" alt="Giara: Thread View" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/giara_new_post.jpg" alt="Giara: New Post" /></p>
<h3 id="something-for-reddit">Something for Reddit</h3>
<p><a href="https://github.com/samdroid-apps/something-for-reddit">Something for Reddit</a> is an older client and does not work too well on mobile, but it still is worth a mention, as it is pretty nice on the desktop. </p>
<p>It is available on the AUR (<code>something-for-reddit</code>) and can be installed on OpenSUSE, Fedora and as a Flatpak. As the screenshots show, it works after a <code>scale-to-fit reddit-is-gtk on</code>, but everything is quite small.</p>
<h4 id="screenshots-1">Screenshots</h4>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-is-gtk_overview.jpg" alt="Something for Reddit: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-is-gtk_landscape.jpg" alt="Something for Reddit: Overview with Thread (landscape)" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-is-gtk_post.jpg" alt="Something for Reddit: New Post" /></p>
<h3 id="work-in-progress-reddit-client-gtk">Work-in-Progress: reddit-client-gtk</h3>
<p>This is another project, written in Rust, which is not feature complete yet. You can't login yet and thus not do anything which would require logging in. You can find instructions to build it <a href="https://github.com/johan-bjareholt/reddit-client-gtk">on the projects GitHub repository</a>.
I actually build it by running <code>cargo build</code> which led to a binary called <code>reddit-client-gtk-rs</code> in the target/debug/ subfolder. </p>
<h4 id="screenshots-2">Screenshots</h4>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-client-gtk_overview.jpg" alt="reddit-client-gtk: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-client-gtk_going_to_subreddit.jpg" alt="reddit-client-gtk: Going to Subreddit" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-client-gtk_thread_view.jpg" alt="reddit-client-gtk: Thread View" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/reddit-client-gtk_not_implemented.jpg" alt="reddit-client-gtk: Not implemented" /></p>
<h2 id="qt-based">Qt based</h2>
<h3 id="quickddit">Quickddit</h3>
<p><em>Please note: Quickddit is now available on the <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/quickddit/">AUR</a>. If you are running Arch Linux ARM, you won't need to follow the following instructions and can just install it with</em> <code>yay -S quickddit</code><em>. I also made <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105424788379486065">newer screenshots</a>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></em></p>
<p>Finally, we will try to build <a href="https://github.com/accumulator/Quickddit">Quickddit</a> (<a href="https://open-store.io/app/quickddit">OpenStore</a>) for Ubuntu Touch on ArchLinuxARM. There's also a more advanced version of <a href="https://openrepos.net/content/accumulator/quickddit-0">this client for Sailfish OS</a>, but we would need to use the proprietary UI components of Sailfish, which as far as I know don't even exist for ARM64/aarchv8 systems. </p>
<p>First, dependencies: All of the packages I installed for <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/09/05/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur.html#installing-software-from-the-aur">my last building tutorial</a> were still installed. Not all of them may be needed, but unless your SD card is tiny: Just install them.</p>
<p>Next, were going to need <code>qqc2-suru-style</code>. This is how you get installed: </p>
<pre><code>git clone https://github.com/ubports/qqc2-suru-style
cd qqc2-suru-style
qmake
make -j4
sudo make install
</code></pre>
<p>Now that we have all the dependencies, we can get started with building Quickddit. We are building the Ubuntu Touch variant, reasons explained above.</p>
<pre><code>git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/accumulator/Quickddit
vim [or nano] Quickddit/src/quickdditmanager.cpp #add API keys here, the project readme describes how to get them
</code></pre>
<p>After adding the API keys (which unfortunately did not lead to a working result for me), we can now build the app:</p>
<pre><code>cd Quickddit/ubuntu-touch
qmake
make -j4
</code></pre>
<p>Normally we would run <code>sudo make install</code> now. But this install script is made for UBports Ubuntu Touch, which packages apps as <em>click</em> packages (a precursor to snaps), and I did not even look into fixing it for "normal" distributions. Just run <code>./quickddit</code> to start the app and try signing into Reddit. To install it permanently, you would have to create a desktop file and you might want to move it to <code>/opt/quickddit</code> or something.</p>
<h4 id="screenshots-3">Screenshots</h4>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/quickddit_overview.jpg" alt="Quickddit: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/quickddit_menu.jpg" alt="Quickddit: Subreddit Menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/quickddit_info.jpg" alt="Quickddit: Thread View" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux/quickddit_sadface.jpg" alt="Quickddit: Sad face" /></p>
<h2 id="conclusions">Conclusions</h2>
<p>While there aren't too many reddit clients for mobile linux OS, the situation is not too bad. Giara is shaping up to be really good, and Quickddit is pretty great too (assuming logging-in would be possible like on Ubuntu Touch). "Something for Reddit" is rather a client for the desktop power-redditor than a good mobile alternative, and reddit-client-gtk, (being Rust based) is super fast and hopefully sees more development in the future. </p>
<p>What do you think? Did I miss a client? If so, please get in touch on Reddit, via Twitter or Mastodon or just send me an email.</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>This section was added on October 15th, 2020.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>: This section was added on December 25th, 2020.</p>
</div>
GNOME 3.38 and what it brings Linux Smartphones2020-09-25T00:30:00+00:002020-09-25T00:30:00+00:00https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/<p><em>There is one more item I forgot to add while writing LinBits 11:</em> <a href="https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.38/">The release notes of GNOME 3.38 "Orbis"</a>. I tried to have a look at it on <a href="https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/releases">Arch Linux ARM/Huong Tram Linux by danct12</a>, and I am going to share the progress here, hopefully allowing you to follow along.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="preparations">Preparations</h2>
<p>Please follow the <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/09/05/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur.html#preparations">preparations section of my recent post on building software from the AUR</a>.</p>
<h2 id="installing-software-from-the-aur">Installing software from the AUR</h2>
<h3 id="gnome-web-epiphany">GNOME Web/Epiphany</h3>
<p>I thought about building the full browser here, my attempt at building <code>epiphany-git</code> eventually failed miserably, and building <code>webkit2gtk</code> before is a necessity — which takes forever. If you want to, you can try the new release of Epiphany via flatpak. Most of it scales properly, but the Settings screen is not phone friendly yet (it can made somewhat usable with <code>scale-to-fit epiphany on</code>).</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h25m03s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Web: Web page with menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h25m13s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Web: Tab menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h29m34s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Web: Settings after scale-to-fit" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h30m03s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Web: Shortcuts after scale-to-fit" /></p>
<h3 id="gnome-games">GNOME Games</h3>
<p>Let's try out GNOME Games. First, we will have to install <code>retro-gtk-git</code>, which is an unnamed dependency of <code>gnome-games-git</code>. If you are brave, you may do both installs at once: <code>yay -S retro-gtk-git gnome-games-git</code>.</p>
<p>It fits the screen quite nicely, but I did not want to download ROMs from dodgy sites so I could not really try it.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h39m24s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Games: Start screen with menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h49m47s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Games: Preferences: Video" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h49m54s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Games: Preferences: Platforms" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h50m02s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Games: Event Overview" /></p>
<h3 id="gnome-maps">GNOME Maps</h3>
<p>GNOME Maps is said to have "received initial work making the app adaptive for phone use." Let's install it by running <code>yay -S gnome-maps-git</code>. </p>
<p>The main screen is a lot better now, but the Routing menu still needs further adjustment, which, if I understand the <a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-maps/-/commits/master">commit history</a> correctly, might have had at some point during the development of the release.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h17m58s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Maps: Map View" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h14m28s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Maps: Dark Mode satellite view" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h16m54s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Maps: Shortcuts" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h18m37s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Maps: Routing view" /></p>
<h3 id="gnome-calculator">GNOME Calculator</h3>
<p>It's <code>yay -S gnome-calculator-git</code>, and there does not seem to be much difference except for a new icon, that well, is different. <code>scale-to-fit gnome-calculator on</code> helps with the advanced modes.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h10m26s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Calculator: Icon" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h10m37s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Calculator: Basic Mode" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h11m21s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Calculator: Programming Mode" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200925_00h25m44s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Calculator: Programming Mode with scale-to-fit" /></p>
<h3 id="gnome-clocks">GNOME Clocks</h3>
<p>Clocks has received an overhaul. It's a quick build away with <code>yay -S gnome-clocks-git</code>. I did not really notice a difference in features, but the redesign certainly improves it.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h33m32s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Clocks: Start screen" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h33m46s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Clocks: Adding a world clock" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h34m05s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Clocks: Add an Alarm" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/gnome-3-38-and-linux-smartphones/20200924_22h37m09s_grim.jpg" alt="GNOME Clocks: Timer" /></p>
<h2 id="caveats-and-conclusion">Caveats and Conclusion</h2>
<p>GNOME 3.38 brings a few improvements. Maps, while it does not scale properly in every part of the application, is a lot better now. I did not really try games, because I did not feel like pirating games and installing emulators. </p>
<p>For GNOME Maps, Clocks and Image Viewer (eog), you can also have a look at my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VefFyTF3c-I">recent Manjaro video on YouTube</a>.</p>
Building Software from the AUR on Arch Linux ARM, Part 1: Qt /Plasma Mobile apps2020-09-05T16:33:18+00:002020-09-05T16:33:18+00:00https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/<p><em>Building software on the PinePhone?</em> Sounds crazy? It sure may, but unless you have to deal with apps written in <em>Rust</em>, compilation does not take that long — the PinePhone has a quad-core CPU after all. To me, Arch Linux ARM (<a href="https://archlinuxarm.org">project</a>/<a href="https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/releases">PinePhone images</a>) is the obvious choice to build some programs that are listed on the <a href="https://mglapps.frama.io/">MGLapps</a> list (or <a href="https://linmobapps.frama.io/">similar lists</a> that just are not available otherwise. In part, that is because the Arch Linux community embraces building apps from source with the Arch User Repository (AUR), and also because of Arch's packaging approach, that does not require you to install a ton of extra <code>-dev</code> packages to build software unlike Debian, Ubuntu or Fedora do.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="preparations">Preparations</h2>
<p>On the current build of Arch Linux ARM by danct12 upgrading can be the opposite of fun unless you reign in those locales in <code>/etc/locale.gen</code>, either by deleting or commenting out every line you don't need. </p>
<p>Then, at least if you are on a 2 GB PinePhone, consider adding a swap. You can do that by adding a swap partition, using zram or both. I like adding the swap partition with Gnome Disks, this time I chose a size of 3 GB on my microSDXC card. After that, just add it to <code>/etc/fstab</code>. If you don't know how to do that, do read the articles on <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Swap">Swap</a> and <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fstab">fstab</a> on the Arch Wiki. Also, there is <code>zramswap</code>, which can be installed via <code>sudo pacman -S zramswap</code>. After that, I adjusted my <code>/etc/zramswap.conf</code> to look like this: </p>
<pre><code>ZRAM_SIZE_PERCENT=50
ZRAM_COMPRESSION_ALGO=lz4
</code></pre>
<p>To install/build software from the AUR, we need an AUR-helper. I like <code>yay</code>.
Before installing <code>yay</code> let's first upgrade the system and install necessary packages: <code>sudo pacman -S fakeroot git make gcc go binutils</code>.</p>
<p>Please be careful and do try to read the <code>pkgbuild</code> before building software, as you might otherwise end up with malware on your system. This may seem hard at first, but eventually you'll get the hang of it and gain the benefit of adjusting or making your own pkgbuild's.</p>
<p>Create a folder for building software and change to that folder (I usually build stuff in <code>~/build</code>, which you would create and change to by running <code>mkdir -p ~/build && cd ~/build</code>). Now get <code>yay-bin</code> by running <code>git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git</code> and build and install it by running <code>cd yay</code> to change to the directory and then running <code>makepkg -si</code>. (This also works with every other <em>package</em>, so if you are feeling uneasy about using <code>yay</code> or need to adjust a little more to build a <em>package</em>, you can clone the pkgbuild of any AUR package by running <code>git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/_package_.git</code>).</p>
<h2 id="installing-software-from-the-aur">Installing software from the AUR</h2>
<p>Let's start with some Plasma Mobile apps. Let's install a couple of common build dependencies first:
<code>sudo pacman -S qt5-svg knotifications kdbusaddons kservice kcmutils purpose cmake breeze breeze-icons plasma-framework</code>.</p>
<p>To make Qt applications use the <code>breeze</code> theme which matters if you don't want to end up with invisible buttons because of missing icons), you need to set it. One way to do so is to add the line <code>QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=breeze</code> to <code>/etc/environments/</code>. Also, for certain Plasma Mobile apps, like <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/kclock">KClock</a> (a clock app) adding <code>QT_QUICK_CONTROLS_MOBILE=true</code> and <code>QT_QUICK_CONTROLS_STYLE=Plasma</code> is recommended.</p>
<p><code>cmake</code> adds an item in your launcher you will likely never need. Just add a new line <code>NoDisplay=true</code> to <code>/usr/share/applications/cmake-gui.desktop</code></p>
<h3 id="calindori">Calindori</h3>
<p>As of writing this article, the <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/calindori">Calindori</a> pkgbuild lacks dependencies (I guess they assume to have all of Plasma Desktop installed), but we've taken care of them above, so the following is enough: <code>yay -S calindori-git </code>.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h04m33s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h00m59s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h01m10s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Add Task" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h01m36s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Add Task 2" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h02m21s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Task Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h02m33s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Calendar menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h03m19s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Add Event" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h04m43s_grim.jpg" alt="Calindori: Event Overview" /></p>
<h3 id="angelfish-browser">Angelfish (browser)</h3>
<p>QtWebEngine may be based on Chromium, but it makes for good browser, and <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-angelfish">Angelfish</a>, while marked experimental, is a good enough browser. A simple <code>yay -S plasma-angelfish</code> should get it up and running.</p>
<p>If you want to set it your default browser, just run <code>xdg-settings set default-web-browser org.kde.mobile.angelfish.desktop</code>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h05m58s_grim.jpg" alt="Angelfish: Browsing" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h05m52s_grim.jpg" alt="Angelfish: Tab View" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h06m31s_grim.jpg" alt="Angelfish: Options" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h06m42s_grim.jpg" alt="Angelfish: Options 2" /></p>
<h3 id="kweather">KWeather</h3>
<p>Gnome Weather is fine after a <code>scale-to-fit</code>, but <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/kweather">KWeather</a> is just a bit better. It just is a <code>yay -S kweather-git</code> away.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h08m29s_grim.jpg" alt="KWeather: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h09m15s_grim.jpg" alt="KWeather: Adding another location" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h09m26s_grim.jpg" alt="KWeather: Wheather information" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h09m40s_grim.jpg" alt="KWeather: About screen" /></p>
<h3 id="index-file-manager">Index (file manager)</h3>
<p>Imho, this is the best file manager for the PinePhone:
<code>yay -S index-fm-git</code>
Because <code>mauikit-git</code> also needs to be built from source this build takes a while.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h07m23s_grim.jpg" alt="Index: Start screen" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h07m41s_grim.jpg" alt="Index: About screen" /></p>
<h3 id="alligator-rss-client">Alligator (rss client)</h3>
<p>If you need a simple RSS client, <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/alligator">Alligator</a> may be for you:
<code>yay -S alligator-git</code></p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h13m17s_grim.jpg" alt="Alligator: Start" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h13m31s_grim.jpg" alt="Alligator: Feed overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h13m55s_grim.jpg" alt="Alligator: Article view" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h14m19s_grim.jpg" alt="Alligator: About" /></p>
<h2 id="fresh-from-the-git">Fresh from the git</h2>
<h3 id="kongress">Kongress</h3>
<p>Let's say you want to see the schedule of <a href="https://akademy.kde.org/2020">Akademy 2020</a>, which of this writing is already going on. There is an app named <a href="https://invent.kde.org/utilities/kongress">Kongress</a> for that, but it is not in the AUR, nor in the repos: </p>
<p>You can install it manually:</p>
<pre><code>git clone https://invent.kde.org/utilities/kongress.git
cd kongress
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
</code></pre>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h12m52s_grim.jpg" alt="Kongress: Conference View" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h12m30s_grim.jpg" alt="Kongress: Schedule Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h12m24s_grim.jpg" alt="Kongress: Menu" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h12m40s_grim.jpg" alt="Kongress: Talk view" /></p>
<h3 id="plasma-samegame">Plasma Samegame</h3>
<p>This is a simple <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-samegame">Samegame</a>, and installing works just like this: </p>
<pre><code>git clone https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-samegame.git
cd plasma-samegame
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
</code></pre>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h15m44s_grim.jpg" alt="Samegame: Start screen" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h15m48s_grim.jpg" alt="Samegame: Game" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h17m08s_grim.jpg" alt="Samegame: Add Highscore" /></p>
<h3 id="plasma-settings">Plasma Settings</h3>
<p>In order to use Calindori with online accounts, this settings application appears to be necessary. It requires some more dependencies to build, I installed <code>kdelibs4support</code>, <code>kdoctools</code>, <code>kinit</code>, <code>kdesignerplugin</code>. After that, is was a similar procedure, only starting with a <code>git clone https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-settings.git</code>.</p>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h18m02s_grim.jpg" alt="Settings: Overview" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h18m09s_grim.jpg" alt="Settings: Add account" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h18m12s_grim.jpg" alt="Settings: Add account" />
<img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur/20200906_22h18m22s_grim.jpg" alt="Settings: Date and Time" /></p>
<p>Unfortunately, even with this app, I still can't add an online account to Calindori (and I could not find reliable information on whether online accounts are implemented in Calindori yet), so you should only try this if you want to have a third app called <em>Settings</em> next to the Android settings app (which comes with Anbox) and the Gnome Settings app.</p>
<h2 id="caveats-and-conclusion">Caveats and Conclusion</h2>
<p>As you can hopefully see on the screenshots, the apps are using icons from at least two icon sets currently: Adwaita and Breeze. I guess that there is an environment variable that could be set to mitigate this. Also, <code>Index</code> looks a bit broken and seems to suffer from a "white text on white" issue. In a <a href="http://linmob.net/2020/08/01/pinephone-daily-driver-challenge-part4-crossing-desktop-environment-boudaries.html">previous post on using Qt apps on Phosh</a> I had taken a different approach to theming with <code>qt5ct</code> which makes some of these issues probably easier to fix. Aside from that, while they don't totally fit in, these Plasma Mobile programs just work very well on Phosh. Being build with a "mobile first" approach, they are quickly compiled from source (this is not true for every GTK app, specifically for those built with Rust). Have fun trying them!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>The section on how to make Angelfish your default browser was added on October 10th, 2020.</p>
</div>
Palm Pre Plus + HP webOS 2.1.0: Very First Impressions2011-03-17T01:31:00+00:002011-03-17T01:31:00+00:00https://linmob.net/palm-pre-plus-hp-webos-2-1-0-very-first-impressions/<p>Today I received the first one of the devices I had ordered earlier, a Palm Pre Plus. While I can't compare that thing to Palm Pre (it's being repaired) I can confirm that the Pre Plus feels better than the original Pre—build quality is better: The slider is snappier and feels more solid, the keyboard is nicer, too.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<center><a href="IMG_20110317_021532.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 10px"><img border="0" height="320" src="IMG_20110317_021532.jpg" width="240" /></a></center>
<p>webOS 2.1.0 is better, too. While booting the device isn't exactly blazing fast, it seems that start up time improved a little bit. Besides that, I have to say that I like the new launcher—and I am pleased by the number of patches that are already available on Preware. While the Browser is better at HTML5 support now, Apps are still not too many, but a stroll throughout the AppCatalog, which is quite comfortable to walk through makes feel that the applications that are there are quite promising—and I am talking about the free ones here.</p>
<p><em>More soon.</em></p>