LINux on MOBile - BrowsersLINMOB.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.Zola2020-10-30T22:39:00+00:00https://linmob.net/tags/browsers/feed.xmlLinBits 17: Weekly Linux Phone news / media roundup (week 44)2020-10-30T22:39:00+00:002020-10-30T22:39:00+00:00https://linmob.net/linbits17-weekly-linux-phone-news-week44/<p><em>It's <del>sunday</del> <strong>friday</strong>. Now what happened since last sunday?</em></p>
<p>Phosh 0.5.0, 60 Hz on the PinePhone, PineCone WiFi/BT LE Modules, QWERTY Linux awesomeness and more. <em>Commentary in italics.</em></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="software-releases-and-improvements">Software releases and improvements</h3>
<ul>
<li>Phosh 0.5.0 <a href="https://social.librem.one/@agx/105111676277464675">has been announced</a> by Guido Günther. It adds more keybindings and a very nice docked mode which makes convergence a lot more useful. And there is a lot more in the full <a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/phosh/-/releases/v0.5.0">release notes</a>.</li>
<li>60 Hz kernel: Megi's kernel has <a href="https://github.com/megous/linux/commit/e8be2e4affb906af7137437ac62fb3912609c11e">been</a> <a href="https://github.com/megous/linux/commit/29533cb13f24e26e7ddbc044597a3020437352e2">patched</a> to properly drive the display at 60Hz. It makes quite the difference, especially scrolling feels much more smooth now. <em>The patched kernel has already landed in Arch and Manjaro, and postmarketOS should have it soon. It's one of these changes that improve the situation so much that you wonder "How could I ever deal with this phone before that patch?" when you go back to a not yet updated OS.</em></li>
<li>The Nokia 8110 4G GPL source has been finally <a href="https://reddit.com/r/KaiOS/comments/jjonp9/nokia_8110_4g_gpl_source_code/">released</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="hardware-announcements">Hardware announcements</h3>
<ul>
<li>PineCone: PINE64: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2020/10/28/nutcracker-challenge-blob-free-wifi-ble/">Nutcracker Challenge: Blob-Free WiFi & BLE</a>. <em>This is an nice idea, I really hope that it is going to be successful and wonder whether PineCone could become the WiFi module of PineCom, which would be making that new handheld device a fully blob-free one.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>Gamey: <a href="https://lbry.tv/@gamey:c/Best-Pinephone-Web-Browsers:0">Pinephone: Best Web Browsers ArchLinux ARM Phosh</a>. <em>My favourite browser on the PinePhone is still Angelfish, although the new 60Hz patched kernel seems to have helped Epiphany performance quite a bit.</em></li>
<li>Purism / Kyle Rankin: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/the-general-purpose-computer-in-your-pocket/">The General Purpose Computer In Your Pocket</a>. <em>Another Rankin' rambling.</em></li>
<li>xnux.eu log/Megi: <a href="https://xnux.eu/log/#023">New p-boot features – reboot to FEL/eMMC, 60FPS fix</a>. <em>Megi's blog post on the kernel improvement mentioned above plus an announcement of a new p-boot feature I am actually interested in. I really hope that Megi's next multi-boot image includes Nemo Mobile, too.</em></li>
<li>Linux Smartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/fxtec-pro1-x-smartphone-runs-ubuntu-touch-or-lineageos-has-a-physical-keyboard-crowdfunding/">F(x)tec Pro1-X smartphone runs Ubuntu Touch or LineageOS, has a physical keyboard (crowdfunding)</a>. <em>Quite pricey for a Snapdragon 835 phone, but manufacturing small scale devices with QWERTY is more expensive than you would think. Also, this is one of the less risky crowdfunders, as the hardware basically exists and is proven to work. I managed to hold off as I have <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105108613796535501">more than enough QWERTY devices</a> already.</em></li>
<li>Linux Smartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/cosmo-communicators-linux-os-gains-new-cover-screen-features/">Cosmo Communicator’s Linux OS gains new cover screen features</a>. <em>As Brad reports, users of this device have not been happy with the Linux support previously. Stay tuned!</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>Planet Computer: <a href="https://vimeo.com/472188188">Cosmo Communicator New Update Oct ‘20 - Linux on Cosmo</a>. <em>Quite interesting: Looks like they are using the Ubuntu Touch Phone and Messages apps on a Plasma Desktop.</em></li>
<li>HomebrewXS: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw3FFz7o-MU">Arch Linux on the PinePhone</a>. <em>A short walkthrough through Arch Linux ARM/DanctNIX Mobile.</em></li>
<li>HomebrewXS: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahitAWmrqzU">Anbox on the PinePhone</a>. <em>Anbox works even better now than it did in my last video.</em></li>
<li>HomebrewXS: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz6oXIzpURI">Meet Mobian on the PinePhone</a>. <em>The same for Mobian.</em></li>
<li>Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming: <a href="https://lbry.tv/@dark1LTG:3/the-best-os-for-the-pinephone-is:0">The BEST OS for the PinePhone is....</a>. <em>I can't agree with his conclusion, there are just too many bugs. His favourite OS is pretty good on other devices (and I contribute money to its development), but it's just not there on the PinePhone. I agree that the Open Store is pretty great though.</em></li>
<li>FOSDEM: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuOeyrIcpJE">Extending the lifetime of smartphones with Replicant, a fully free Android distribution</a>. <em>This is quite old, but newly published and interesting.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stuff-i-did">Stuff I did</h3>
<h4 id="content">Content <sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></h4>
<ul>
<li>I finally <a href="https://devtube.dev-wiki.de/videos/watch/08b7d4e6-f736-47cc-a25e-c05be5c2165b">made a video</a> on <a href="http://nemomobile.net/">Nemo Mobile</a>. I am not too happy with it, but felt that I needed to get it done despite an empty battery. It's a great project, I like many of their design choices and it is fully open source. I hope they manage to transition over to Fedora soon, so that more fully baked PinePhone <sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup>images can help Nemo Mobile gather the positive attention they deserve.</li>
<li>I shared a few photos on social media, showing <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105119199285800351">convergence</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1321912149967556608#m">more convergence</a>, and my <a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1321184247089156096">QWERTY collection</a>. Also, a <a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1321469305964400641#m">QWERTY miscommunication</a> occured.</li>
<li>All my videos are now on PeerTube. Just click the link in the footer to get to my channel.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="linmobapps">LINMOBapps</h4>
<p>Not much happened here, <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/commits/master">just a few additions and some maintenance</a>. Last weeks <a href="https://devtube.dev-wiki.de/videos/watch/76e3029b-4f1f-4db5-a70e-7a1009062154">video asking for help</a> was not successful; apparently people who care about games are not into maintaining lists, who could have known? </p>
<h4 id="and-more">and more ...</h4>
<ul>
<li>I built <a href="https://github.com/DannyGB/KeePassTouch">KeePit</a> (a Ubuntu Touch KeePass app) for ARM64 today and that went flawlessly; only my database does not seem to be compatible, but that is a common problem among KeePass clients, I had a similar issue with <a href="https://github.com/jobe-m/ownkeepass">ownKeepass</a> on Sailfish OS (I really need to clean up my database and then save it in the most secure while compatible format). Building clicks is really, really easy; if you want to try it too, head over to <a href="https://clickable-ut.dev/en/latest/">clickable-ut.dev</a>. </li>
</ul>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>This weeks LinBits is published early for personal reasons.</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>