LINux on MOBile - KDELINMOB.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.Zola2023-08-09T15:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/tags/kde/feed.xmlUniversal Blue (Fedora Kinoite mobile) on the Microsoft Surface Go 22023-05-07T19:00:00+00:002023-05-07T19:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/ublue-surface/<p>How OCI images simplify the setup of my Linux tablet.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>If you read my post <a href="https://linmob.net/manjaro-plasma-on-the-surface-go2/">Manjaro Plasma on the Microsoft Surface Go 2</a>,
you will notice that quite some configuration is required to turn a desktop Linux distribution into something that's fun on mobile.
While none of it is rocket science, it's still work and might not be for the average user who just wants to get their device going with Linux.</p>
<p>So: Is there a way to simplify this?</p>
<h1 id="oci-defined-os">OCI defined OS</h1>
<p>Of course, one option would be to create a specific distribution/Fedora Spin/Ubuntu flavor..., but that's not too easy either.
Moreover, it just doesn't scale well. After all, there are so many devices out there and a lot of them require a slightly different setup.</p>
<p>Luckily, there's immutable operating systems and <a href="https://opencontainers.org/">OCI images</a>: <a href="https://ublue.it/">Universal Blue</a> has created a toolbox which allows to
extend <a href="https://silverblue.fedoraproject.org/">Fedora Silverblue</a> (or <a href="https://kinoite.fedoraproject.org/">Kinoite</a> etc.) through a
<code>Containerfile</code>. This is then built in GitHub actions and uploaded to the <a href="https://docs.github.com/en/packages/working-with-a-github-packages-registry/working-with-the-container-registry">GitHub Container registry</a> for the world to use.</p>
<p>You can find my take on Fedora 38 Kinoite with <a href="https://plasma-mobile.org/">Plasma Mobile</a> on <a href="https://github.com/plata/ublue-surface">https://github.com/plata/ublue-surface</a>.</p>
<h1 id="features">Features</h1>
<ul>
<li>Plasma Mobile with Maliit enabled</li>
<li>Uncluttered homescreen</li>
<li><a href="https://store.kde.org/p/1985909">Convergent Windows</a></li>
<li>SDDM scaling</li>
<li>First run wizard with a selection of (KDE) flatpaks to choose from</li>
<li>Waydroid</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="installation">Installation</h1>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> The whole concept is rather new and will require more testing before it can really go to production.
So use at your own risk, as always.</p>
</blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Install Fedora Kinoite, see https://kinoite.fedoraproject.org/download/.</li>
<li>Rebase via <code>rpm-ostree rebase ostree-unverified-registry:ghcr.io/plata/ublue-surface:latest</code>.</li>
<li>Reboot.</li>
</ol>
<h1 id="limitations">Limitations</h1>
<p>I didn't manage to include some things (yet). If you have any hints, please get in touch on <a href="https://github.com/plata/ublue-surface">GitHub</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>The Plasma scaling must be changed manually to 200% in System Settings > Display and Monitor > Display Configuration.</li>
<li>Maliit keyboards for languages other than English must be configured via:</li>
</ul>
<pre><code>gsettings set org.maliit.keyboard.maliit enabled-languages "['en', 'de', 'emoji']"
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface">linux-surface</a> kernel for camera support can be installed via:</li>
</ul>
<pre><code>wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/linux-surface.repo https://pkg.surfacelinux.com/fedora/linux-surface.repo
wget https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/releases/download/silverblue-20201215-1/kernel-20201215-1.x86_64.rpm
rpm-ostree override replace ./*.rpm
rpm-ostree install surface-secureboot
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li>Firefox doesn't use Wayland. This can be fixed by setting <code>MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1</code> via <a href="https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.tchx84.Flatseal">Flatseal</a>.</li>
<li>Waydroid doesn't open.</li>
</ul>
Convergent Windows for KDE Plasma2023-02-11T15:00:00+00:002023-02-11T15:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/convergent-windows-for-kde-plasma/<p>KDE Plasma windows work well on large screens and can also be tailored for mobile devices.
But what if an external screen is connected to a mobile device?</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>When used on the desktop, Plasma windows have window decorations with titlebar buttons and can be resized and moved around.
With <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-phone-settings">Plasma Phone Settings</a>, the windows do not have window
decorations and are always maximized. This makes perfect sense on small mobile screens and is exactly what you would expect in
Plasma Mobile.</p>
<p>However, if an external screen is connected to the mobile device, you will want to use it in desktop mode (i.e. convergence).
There is an idea to add a specific setting in Plasma Mobile to <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-mobile/-/issues/231">toggle convergence mode</a>.</p>
<p>I thought to myself "there must be a way to achieve this automatically" and here it is:</p>
<p>**drumroll**</p>
<p><a href="https://store.kde.org/p/1985909/">Convergent Windows</a> is a KWin script which</p>
<ul>
<li>removes window decorations and maximizes windows on the first screen (i.e. mobile device)</li>
<li>shows window decorations and generally uses the default behavior on all other screens (i.e. external screens)</li>
</ul>
<video width="960" height="360" controls>
<source src="convergent-windows.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>
<p>Currently, there's a known limitation with GTK apps: Some GTK apps draw the titlebar buttons inside the window. Those are still visible even if the window decorations are removed.</p>
<p>Convergent Windows can be used with both Plasma Desktop and Plasma Mobile. Note, however, that distributions which provide
Plasma Mobile images install also Plasma Phone Settings. This might overrule the desired behavior.</p>
Manjaro Plasma on the Microsoft Surface Go 22022-08-14T06:00:00+00:002023-08-09T15:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/manjaro-plasma-on-the-surface-go2/<p>After years of using tablets with Android based operating systems such as LineageOS, I got tired of not receiving updates after some time. Why should I throw away working hardware just because there is no software support anymore? So I went looking and finally got me a Microsoft Surface Go 2 to install Manjaro Linux with KDE Plasma on.<br>A Microsoft device for Linux? It's a better match than you might expect.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>So here's what I've found.</p>
<h1 id="installation">Installation</h1>
<p>As the Surface Go 2 runs on "regular" x86 hardware and is supported in the upstream Linux kernel, you can basically install any Linux distribution as you would on a laptop or desktop computer.</p>
<p>For the installation you will need a USB drive and a keyboard. The Surface Go 2 comes with only one USB-C port but USB-C docks should do (I've used the PinePhone docking bar). Without keyboard, you will not be able to complete the installation (see <a href="https://github.com/calamares/calamares/issues/2024">this Calamares issue on GitHub</a>).</p>
<p>The <a href="https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Surface-Go-2">linux-surface wiki on GitHub</a> suggests to set up a dual boot configuration with Windows for easier firmware updates. However, this is only feasible with the version with a 128GB SDD. It is not possible to shrink Windows enough with the version with a 64GB eMMC. As I own the 64GB version, this article does not cover the dual boot setup.</p>
<p>Before you can start with the Linux installation on the Surface, some UEFI settings must be changed. Hold volume up and power to open UEFI. Then, open <code>Security</code> and set <code>Secure Boot</code> to <code>Disabled</code> and in <code>Boot configuration</code> move <code>USB Storage</code> to the top.</p>
<p>There's nothing special about the installation itself – just download the ISO from https://manjaro.org/download/ and flash a USB drive (e.g. with <a href="https://www.balena.io/etcher/">balenaEtcher</a>). Then, plug it into the Surface and hold volume down and power to boot from USB. If you own the version with 4GB RAM, make sure to enable swap.</p>
<h1 id="first-impressions">First Impressions</h1>
<p>The out-of-box experience when booting Manjaro Plasma will, quite honestly, not knock your socks off.</p>
<p>The first thing you'll see is an SDDM login screen which is not scaled well and always shows a mouse pointer – even if no mouse is plugged in. There's no virtual keyboard, so you cannot even login without a physical keyboard attached.</p>
<p>After logging in to Plasma, the scaling is set to 100% only which makes everything rather small and not well suited for touch input. X11 as the standard window system simply isn't made for touch screens. Also here, no virtual keyboard is available. Moreover, automatic screen rotation doesn't work.</p>
<p>Fortunately, all of this can be fixed easily.</p>
<h1 id="setup">Setup</h1>
<h2 id="general">General</h2>
<p>To enable automatic screen rotation, install <code>iio-sensor-proxy</code>.</p>
<h2 id="plasma">Plasma</h2>
<p>The first thing you want to do is install <code>plasma-wayland-session</code> and select <code>Plasma (Wayland)</code> on the login screen (SDDM) to use it. Next, set the scale to 200% in System Settings > Display and Monitor > Display Configuration.</p>
<p>If a few apps are open, it can happen that the panel contains too many things and the app icons become very tiny (especially in portrait mode). To avoid this, move unnecessary panel icons (such as virtual keyboard, workspaces etc.) into the overflow menu of the system tray. This is done by setting the entry to <code>Hidden</code> in the <code>Entries</code> page of the system tray settings.</p>
<p>To achieve a consistent look of GTK apps, apply the KDE theme in System Settings > Appearance > Application Style > Configure GNOME/GTK Application Style.</p>
<p>Apart from those general settings, which are more or less necessary to use Plasma with touch input, I decided to tweak it a bit more towards an experience which feels more natural on a tablet. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>As this is mainly personal preference, it might not be for you (especially if you plan to use a mouse sometimes).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don't think that it's too useful to have floating windows or multiple, tiled windows on a small screen. So if I would maximize my windows all the time anyways, why not have this done automatically. Therefore, I added a rule in System Settings > Window Management > Window Rules which maximizes all normal windows (you don't want this for dialogs etc.).</p>
<center>
<img style="margin: 10px;" src="window-rules.png" alt="Plasma Window Rules" />
</center>
<p>In my opinion, the most important feature is touch gestures. This can be enabled in System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Touch Screen: I configured it such that swiping down from the top opens the application launcher and swiping up from the bottom opens the overview. This works with the regular application launcher, but also with custom widgets. I use <a href="https://store.kde.org/p/1584342">Stupid Simple Launcher</a>, and it's just great on a touch screen.<br>
<em>NOTE:</em> The application launcher gesture requires that you're using an application launcher widget and it has a keyboard shortcut set (see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=419188">KDE bug 419188</a>).<br>
For more information on gestures, check out the <a href="https://community.kde.org/KDE_Visual_Design_Group/Gestures">KDE Community Wiki</a>.</p>
<p>As I could then switch to a different application or close an application using the overview gesture, the window list in the panel was not required anymore and I removed it. Also, I chose to hide the window title bar by adding a window-specific override for all windows (regular expression <code>.*</code>) in System Settings > Appearance > Window Decorations. This frees up some precious vertical space.<br>
To remove the minimize, maximize and close button also for GTK apps, drag and drop them out of the titlebar in System Settings > Appearance > Window Decorations > Titlebar Buttons.</p>
<p>Finally, I moved the panel to the top and made it small which looks a bit like an Android-ish status bar.</p>
<p>The video below showcases this setup. You will need some imagination for the swipe gestures as it's only a recording of the screen.</p>
<video width="480" height="320" controls>
<source src="stupid-simple-launcher.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>
<h3 id="plasma-mobile-phone-homescreen">Plasma Mobile Phone Homescreen</h3>
<p>Alternatively to the application launcher widget, it is also possible to use the Plasma Mobile Phone Homescreen. After installing <code>plasma-mobile</code> from the <a href="https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository">AUR</a>, it can be activated in the desktop settings > Configure Desktop and Wallpaper > Layout "Phone Homescreen".<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></p>
<p>As the application launcher widget is not needed anymore with this setup, you might want to remove it from the panel and map the swipe down gesture in System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Touch Screen to "Show Desktop" instead to easily reach the Phone Homescreen.</p>
<p>Here's some footage:</p>
<video width="480" height="320" controls>
<source src="phone-homescreen.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>
<p>I find the Phone Homescreen to be a bit cluttered – especially with the default applications from Waydroid (see <a href="https://github.com/waydroid/waydroid/issues/46">this GitHub issue</a>). To improve this, unused applications can be hidden by adding <code>NoDisplay=true</code> to the <code>.desktop</code> file.</p>
<h2 id="virtual-keyboard-maliit">Virtual Keyboard (Maliit)</h2>
<p>The reference virtual keyboard for Plasma, which is also used for Plasma Mobile, is <a href="https://maliit.github.io/">Maliit</a>. It can be installed as <code>maliit-keyboard</code>. Activate it in System Settings > Input Devices > Virtual Keyboard.</p>
<p>There's no GUI to configure Maliit for Plasma desktop yet (see <a href="https://github.com/maliit/keyboard/issues/128">this GitHub issue</a>). Therefore, <code>gsettings</code> must be used instead.<br>
To add/remove languages run e.g. for German keyboard layout:</p>
<pre><code>gsettings set org.maliit.keyboard.maliit enabled-languages "['en', 'de', 'emoji']"
</code></pre>
<p>Auto-completion can be very annoying at times. Especially, if it replaces your commands in Konsole with some entry from the dictionary. I turned it off with:</p>
<pre><code>gsettings set org.maliit.keyboard.maliit auto-completion false
</code></pre>
<p>For an overview of all available settings, see the <a href="https://github.com/maliit/keyboard/blob/master/data/schemas/org.maliit.keyboard.maliit.gschema.xml">schema on GitHub</a> or <code>gsettings list-keys org.maliit.keyboard.maliit</code>.</p>
<h2 id="sddm">SDDM</h2>
<p>The login screen settings can be ìmproved to achieve a more touch friendly user interface. Edit <code>/etc/sddm.conf</code> to do so.</p>
<p>Enable the virtual keyboard by removing <code>InputMethod=</code>. There is a <code>/etc/sddm.conf.d/virtualkbd.conf</code> which should enable the virtual keyboard by default as described in <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/SDDM">ArchWiki/SDDM</a> but the empty setting in <code>/etc/sddm.conf</code> overwrites it. It seems that the intention is to have the virtual keyboard by default and a bug in the packaging avoids it.</p>
<p>To scale the interface, add <code> -dpi 144</code> to <code>ServerArguments</code>. The correct value for the 10.5" screen with a resolution of 1920x1280px would be 220dpi but then the complete layout is messed up and you get overlapping texts.<br>
<em>NOTE</em>: There's a setting <code>EnableHiDPI=true</code> but that didn't work for me.</p>
<p>Finally, hide the mouse cursor with <code> -nocursor</code> appended to <code>ServerArguments</code>. I would expect that this happens automatically (see <a href="https://github.com/sddm/sddm/issues/1571">this GitHub issue</a>).</p>
<h1 id="applications">Applications</h1>
<p>I will not deep dive into an evaluation of applications here as this would exceed the scope of this article. In general, <a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/">LinuxPhoneApps</a> contains a list of touch friendly apps which work on small screens. Those should be good choices for tablets as well. Additionally, several desktop apps which can't really be used on phones might still be okay to use on a tablet.</p>
<h2 id="firefox">Firefox</h2>
<p>If you run Firefox with X11/XWayland, touch input (especially scrolling) just isn't fun. However, it works very decently with Wayland. To enable this, add <code>MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1</code> to <code>/etc/environment</code>.</p>
<h2 id="e-mail">E-Mail</h2>
<h3 id="geary">Geary</h3>
<p>The most touch friendly e-mail client I could find would be <a href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Geary">Geary</a>. Unfortunately, there's currently a <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=465919">bug</a> which makes it almost useless: The virtual keyboard disappears when trying to write an e-mail. I really hope that this will get fixed soon because it works very nicely out of the box otherwise.</p>
<h3 id="kmail">KMail</h3>
<p>If you're looking for a KDE app, consider <a href="https://apps.kde.org/kmail2/">KMail</a>. It gets the job done, but you will definitely feel that it's not made for touch and screens of this size. For example, the reading pane is rather small. Also, it is not possible to scroll long menu lists, which makes some entries unreachable (at least in landscape mode).</p>
<h3 id="thunderbird">Thunderbird</h3>
<p>Of course, <a href="https://www.thunderbird.net/">Thunderbird</a> must be mentioned here as well. With View > Density > Touch for a touch friendly spacing, the Menu and Status Bar disabled and some columns removed (e.g. keep only Read, From, Subject, Date), it is fine in landscape mode. Portrait mode is ok if you hide the folder pane and/or remove more columns from the message list.</p>
<p>By default, the message pane shows a huge header section with sender, receiver and subject, which leaves only very little space for the actual e-mail content. To solve this, either disable the message pane completely via View > Layout > Message Pane (off) and double-click to open e-mails in a new tab, or install the <a href="https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/gmail-conversation-view/">Thunderbird Conversations</a> add-on which replaces the header with a small bar.</p>
<p>Additionally, I'm using the <a href="https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/hide-local-folders-for-tb78/">Hide Local Folders for TB78++</a> add-on to clean up the folder pane a bit.</p>
<p>The upcoming <a href="https://twitter.com/mozthunderbird/status/1542121814180220928">GUI redesign</a> will probably further improve the user experience.</p>
<h2 id="terminal">Terminal</h2>
<p>The default <a href="https://konsole.kde.org/">Konsole</a> works, but using it is rather uncomfortable. In a terminal, you need at least a "tab" key for autocomplete and an "up" key to recall the last commands. However, those are not available. It is possible to swipe up and down to navigate the history after a long press on space in Maliit, but that's not really intuitive.</p>
<p>Fortunately, <a href="https://apps.kde.org/qmlkonsole/">QMLKonsole</a>, which is developed especially for mobile devices, solves these issues.<br>
If the key toolbar is missing (this is the case e.g. when using the Flatpak, see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=466252">KDE bug 466252</a>), add <code>KDE_KIRIGAMI_TABLET_MODE=1</code> to <code>/etc/environment</code>.</p>
<h2 id="2fa">2FA</h2>
<p>The KDE two-factor authentication app <a href="https://apps.kde.org/keysmith/">Keysmith</a> works. If you're just looking for something to provide your TOTP/HOTP, it has you covered.</p>
<p>However, it does not provide any "advanced" functionality like QR code scanning or import/export. For these features, check out <a href="https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.belmoussaoui.Authenticator">Authenticator</a>.</p>
<h2 id="waydroid">Waydroid</h2>
<p><a href="https://waydro.id/">Waydroid</a> can be used to run Android apps on Linux with Wayland.</p>
<p>Install <code>waydroid</code> from the <a href="https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository">AUR</a> and run <code>sudo waydroid init</code>. After <code>sudo systemctl start waydroid-container</code>, start Waydroid with <code>waydroid show-full-ui</code>. It is also possible to install apps directly, e.g. F-Droid via <code>waydroid app install F-Droid.apk</code>.</p>
<p>If closing the Waydroid window does not work, stop it with <code>waydroid session stop</code>.</p>
<p>The biggest issue with Waydroid is that screen rotation does not work properly yet: Waydroid keeps the original width/height of the window before rotating it (see <a href="https://github.com/waydroid/waydroid/issues/248">this GitHub issue</a>).</p>
<center>
<img style="margin: 10px;" src="waydroid.png" alt="Waydroid Rotation" />
</center>
<h2 id="feed-reader">Feed Reader</h2>
<p>Currently, the best KDE feed reader for a tablet is <a href="https://github.com/cscarney/syndic">Syndic</a>. Apart from a bug which can lead to an unintended selection of multiple articles (see <a href="https://github.com/cscarney/syndic/issues/75">this GitHub issue</a>), which will hopefully get fixed soon, it works very nicely.</p>
<p>Maybe <a href="https://apps.kde.org/alligator/">Alligator</a> might become a viable alternative in the future. Right now, it cannot show the complete content of an article (see <a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/alligator/-/merge_requests/32">this open merge request</a>). This means that for many feeds only a teaser text is displayed, which makes it rather useless (at least for me).</p>
<p>A GNOME alternative is <a href="https://gfeeds.gabmus.org/">Feeds</a>.<br>
<em>NOTE:</em> Use the Flatpak (the version in the <code>community</code> repository is outdated). Install <code>xdg-desktop-portal-gnome</code> to avoid font aliasing and missing icons.</p>
<h2 id="plasma-mobile-gear">Plasma Mobile Gear</h2>
<p>KDE provides a bunch of applications developed for <a href="https://plasma-mobile.org/">Plasma Mobile</a> (and thus optimized for touch and small screens) which are packaged as <a href="https://plasma-mobile.org/info/">Plasma Mobile Gear</a>.</p>
<h1 id="issues">Issues</h1>
<h2 id="plasma-1">Plasma</h2>
<p>The main issue in Plasma is that not all controls fit on the screen properly with 200% scaling. Most often, this happens in portrait mode. Examples are <a href="https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Pamac">Pamac</a> but also the Plasma Settings (e.g. SDDM page). Similarly, there is text which overlaps buttons when editing the panel (see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=450892">KDE bug 450892</a>).</p>
<center>
<img style="margin: 10px;" src="settings-sddm.png" alt="SDDM Settings Page" />
</center>
<p>Right after login, a mouse cursor is shown. It disappears when touching the screen for the first time (see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=330006">KDE bug 330006</a>).</p>
<p>The search field in the overview effect, which I open with the swipe up gesture, does not open the virtual keyboard (see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=457583">KDE bug 457583</a>).</p>
<h2 id="sddm-1">SDDM</h2>
<p>With the setup described above, the SDDM login screen is very usable on a touch screen. The only small improvements I would wish for are related to the virtual keyboard: It would be nice if it would open automatically when selecting the password field (see <a href="https://github.com/sddm/sddm/issues/1572">this GitHub issue</a>). Moreover, I would like to use Maliit (instead of qtvirtualkeyboard) to have the same virtual keyboard as in Plasma.</p>
<h2 id="lock-screen">Lock Screen</h2>
<p>When an external screen is connected, it can happen that the virtual keyboard becomes very tiny (see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=456826">KDE bug 456826</a>) or opens on the wrong screen (see <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=456825">KDE bug 456825</a>).</p>
<h2 id="cameras">Cameras</h2>
<p>The cameras do not work out of the box. According to <a href="https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Camera-Support">GitHub/surface-linux</a>, the cameras should work with their kernel patches but I didn't bother digging into it because I don't need them.</p>
<h1 id="accessories">Accessories</h1>
<p>The <a href="https://pine64.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PinePhone-DockingBar-1.jpg">PinePhone docking bar</a> works. I've used it to connect a USB stick, mouse, keyboard and an external screen.</p>
<p>I do not own the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-go-type-cover-english/8vszf6wtwf29">Type Cover</a> or a <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-pen/8zl5c82qmg6b">pen</a> so I couldn't test those.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></p>
<h1 id="summary">Summary</h1>
<p>Can you turn a Microsoft Surface Go 2 into a Linux tablet with Manjaro Plasma?</p>
<p>I'll say: Yes, you can. If you can use it as a daily driver, will, of course, depend heavily on the applications you need.</p>
<p>Do not expect a touch experience which is on par with Android or iOS, though (well, at least yet). With the right settings, it feels like a tablet (if that sentence makes any sense) but there are still several places where you will notice that you're running an operating system/desktop environment which was made for larger screens. However, none of those had a big impact on usability in my testing – it mainly meant I had to turn to landscape to reach some buttons. Also, I'm quite confident that those remaining issues will get sorted out rather sooner than later. Generally, tablets will certainly profit from the developments around Linux on phones (like the PinePhone) as well.</p>
<p>With desktop environments like KDE Plasma running nicely on x86 tablets, it would be great to see distributions supporting this more. This means mainly a virtual keyboard included by default and touch friendly SDDM settings but it starts with the installation already. From what I've seen so far, only <a href="https://kaosx.us/">KaOS</a> have added a virtual keyboard to their <a href="https://calamares.io">Calamares</a> based installer.</p>
<p>I'm looking forward to what the future will hold.</p>
<h1 id="contribute">Contribute</h1>
<p>The main purpose of this article is to provide some insight on the current state of (Manjaro) Linux with KDE Plasma on the Microsoft Surface Go 2 when used as a tablet. Moreover, it shall describe the required or useful settings for those who'd like to try it out themselves.</p>
<p>Therefore, I hope that it's not written once and then set in stone forever but rather evolves over time.</p>
<p>So, please, if you have any suggestions or questions, head over to <a href="https://framagit.org/linmob/linmob.frama.io">Framagit/LINMOB.net</a> and open a merge request or issue.</p>
<h1 id="links">Links</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-go-2/8pt3s2vjmdr6">Microsoft Surface Go 2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Surface-Go-2">GitHub linux-surface</a></li>
<li><a href="https://manjaro.org/">Manjaro</a></li>
<li><a href="https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/">KDE Plasma</a></li>
<li><a href="https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.25.0/">KDE Plasma 5.25</a></li>
<li><a href="https://plasma-mobile.org/">Plasma Mobile</a></li>
<li><a href="https://plasma-mobile.org/info/">Plasma Mobile Gear</a></li>
<li><a href="https://maliit.github.io/">Maliit</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linuxphoneapps.org/apps/">LinuxPhoneApps</a></li>
<li><a href="https://waydro.id/">Waydroid</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Tablet_PC">ArchWiki/Tablet PC</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Thanks <a href="https://mastodon.social/@ivanrancic">@ivanrancic</a> for the <a href="https://mastodon.social/@ivanrancic/108823338579744664">hint</a>.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>: <strong>Editors note:</strong> Owning both accessories and having used them both successfully on two other distributions (KDE Neon and Fedora Workstation), I can't think of any reason why Type Cover or Pen would not work with Manjaro, too. ~linmob</p>
</div>
Getting started with the KDE CE PinePhone2021-01-23T17:00:00+00:002021-01-23T17:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/getting-started-with-the-kde-ce-pinephone/<p><em>This is an accompanying blog post to yesterdays video.</em></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><p style="padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFE0; border: 2px solid #FFFF00;">If your install is visually broken after the upgrade (bottom and top bar missing), run <code>rm ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.phoneshell-appletsrc</code> after checking <a href="https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=12862&pid=88363#pid88363">this thread on the PINE64 Forums</a>. Reboot after this, and the issue should be gone.</p>
<p>A week ago, I started to prepare what was just supposed to be another video on the current state of Manjaro Plasma Mobile<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup>, and figured I would use the factory image for that. I used an image on Manjaro's <a href="https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/storage/pinephone/plasma-mobile/factory/Manjaro-ARM-plasma-mobile-pinephone-20.12-factory-20201207.img.xz">OSDN</a>, put it on SD and tried to upgrade it. I ran into problems, discover crashed, the pacman db remained locked after reboot, so I tried to resolve them with pacman and would end up with a broken install. I was shocked, and talked to <a href="https://blog.bshah.in/">Bhushan Shah</a> about it, who provided me with the actual factory image.</p>
<p>So I figured, ok, let’s take that actual factory image and demo that whole process, so this does not happen to the new PinePhone owners that are receiving their KDE Community Edition PinePhones. </p>
<p>Having witnessed multiple reports of "the battery says it's charged, but when I unplug it the phone dies" after shipment of the previous CE's, I decided to include a section on this basic thing into the video. Then: Updating. It took a long time, I had dinner while the phone downloaded and applied the update after the second restart — the phone has to be restarted twice, as Discover first has to update the distributions keyring with the first restart, which is necessary to determine that the downloaded packages are authentic. After that, the package updates can now be applied, for which the phone is restarted again. It took almost 15 minutes, so be patient and make sure that the PinePhone is plugged into power during this process.</p>
<p>After that, you can start using the PinePhone. In my video, I did not do the best job to describe that, which is why I linked to a previous video for further explanation.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup> So let's have a short list, to explain what the pre-installed apps do:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/angelfish">Angelfish</a> is Plasma Mobiles Qt WebEngine based web browser. </li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/maui/buho">Buho</a> is a note taking app, that is fairly advanced and supports organizing the notes in books, has a way to sync etc,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/kalk">Calculator</a> is just what its name suggests,</li>
<li><a href="https://apps.kde.org/en/calindori">Calindori</a> is a touch friendly calendar application. It does not support sync yet, but <a href="https://dimitris.cc/kde/2020/12/30/Online_Calendars.html">this blog post</a> has instructions on how you "hack" around that,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/kclock">Clock</a> is (again) just what its name suggests,</li>
<li><a href="https://apps.kde.org/en/discover">Discover</a> is the place where you can find and install apps and keep your OS up to date,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/maui/index-fm">Index</a> is a nice convergent file manager,</li>
<li><a href="https://kdeconnect.kde.org/">KDE Connect</a> is a tool to connect your PinePhone to your desktop (which can run Linux, Windows or macOS) or your other Phone, if that runs Android or Sailfish OS. You can share files and notifications, control media playback and more.</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/maui/nota">Nota</a> is a multi-platfrom text editor,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/utilities/keysmith">Keysmith</a> is a client for time- and hash-based-OTP, so that you can use you PinePhone as a second factor,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/sdk/kirigami-gallery">Kirigami Gallery</a> unless you want to build applications for Plasma Mobile, you won't need this app,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/graphics/koko">KoKo</a> is an image viewer, it defaults to ~/Pictures.</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/utilities/kongress">Kongress</a> is a companion application for conferences, you can currently use it to plan your <a href="https://fosdem.org/2021/">FOSDEM 2021</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/utilities/ktrip">KTrip</a> is a public transport assistant which allows to query journeys for a wide range of countries/public transport providers,</li>
<li><a href="https://git.sr.ht/~martijnbraam/megapixels">Megapixels</a> is currently the best camera application for the PinePhone and is GTK based,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/network/neochat">NeoChat</a> is a native chat client for matrix, the decentralized communication protocol,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/graphics/okular">Okular</a> is a document viewer, support PDF and other document formats,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-dialer">Phone</a> is the app you use to place calls,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-phonebook">Phone Book</a> is the phone book app, where you manage your contacts,</li>
<li><em>Psensor</em> is a GTK-based temperature manager, tracking the temperatures of the PinePhone — you're most likely not going to need it,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/krecorder">Recorder</a> is a simple audio recorder,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/plasma-settings">Settings</a> is the app where you can change your lockscreen PIN, set your local language and adjust time and date, set up synchronisation with your OwnCloud, Nextcloud or Google account, and hopefully set up your APN for a mobile internet connection too,</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/spacebar">Spacebar</a> is the SMS application for Plasma Mobile,</li>
<li><a href="https://desktop.telegram.org/">Telegram</a> is the Telegram Desktop, which you may know from your desktop. It works surprisingly well on mobile!</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/qmlkonsole">Terminal</a> is your terminal app — this is a Linux Phone after all —</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/maui/vvave/">vvave</a> is a music player and</li>
<li><a href="https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/kweather">Weather</a> is the very nice Plasma Mobile weather app.</li>
</ul>
<p>Further apps that you might want to install:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://kube-project.com/">Kube</a> is a "communication and collaboration" app, alternatively go for <em>Geary</em> (make sure to search for Geary Mobile, as the other variant that I installed in my video does not work properly on the PinePhone).</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/PasswordSafe">Password Safe</a>, a KeePass compatible password manager which while native on GNOME, works fine on Plasma Mobile too – the file picker is a bit hard to use, but you can double tap to load your password database.</li>
<li>Firefox with mobile-config-firefox, to have another browser. Search <code>mobile-config-firefox</code> in Discover (you need to scroll all the way down on the results page, just like with geary-mobile).</li>
<li><a href="https://rinigus.github.io/pure-maps/">Pure Maps</a> is a great maps and navigation app. Install is going to take a little longer, as it is only available via Flathub currently.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you need more apps, please check out <a href="https://linmob.net/2021/01/09/my-setup-with-danctnix-archlinuxarm.html">my recent blog post about my setup</a> and make sure to search <a href="https://linmobapps.frama.io">LINMOBapps</a>, and remember: <em>Kirigami</em> apps are preferred, as they are native to Plasma Mobile. Some of them may just be available on the <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org">Arch User Repository</a>, see this <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/09/05/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur.html">blog post</a> for more information on how to use it. Also note that you can add widgets to the home screen by pressing long on it.</p>
<p>If you haven't done that yet, make sure to watch my video on </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uUMiNS5rlw">PeerTube</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://lbry.tv/@linmob:3/getting-started-with-the-kde-community:1">LBRY</a></li>
<li>or <a href="https://devtube.dev-wiki.de/videos/watch/e32832c3-55e5-4483-b906-5164be4c7839">YouTube</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Feel free to get in touch via Twitter, Mastodon or email if you have further questions!</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>I am focussing on Manjaro as it's close to the development while still working for the average user. postmarketOS Edge is tracking released software (5.20, 5.21 etc.) and just don't try KDE Neon for the PinePhone – it breaks.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>: "PinePhone: Manjaro Plasma Mobile (soon on the KDE Community Edition)", <a href="https://devtube.dev-wiki.de/videos/watch/5c73aab1-cb41-4354-81fe-a56a36324806">PeerTube</a>, <a href="https://lbry.tv/@linmob:3/pinephone-manjaro-plasma-mobile-soon-on:d">LBRY</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ8V0lRxKgM">YouTube</a>.</p>
</div>
LinBits 20: Weekly Linux Phone news / media roundup (week 47)2020-11-22T20:28:00+00:002020-11-22T20:28:00+00:00https://linmob.net/linbits20-weekly-linux-phone-news-week47/<p><em>It's sunday. Now what happened since last sunday?</em></p>
<p>Phosh updates, Librem 5 Shipping, PinePhone KDE Community Edition 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><a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/phosh/-/releases/v0.6.0">Phosh 0.6.0</a> was released last sunday, delivering what I think is a massive improvement to multitasking.</li>
<li><a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/phoc/-/releases">Phoc has seen two releases</a>, bumping up the version to 0.5.1, delivering numerous improvements.</li>
<li><a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/squeekboard/-/commit/5aa73347877d1a716d9e668533ae96123d50bf56">Squeekboard 1.11.0</a> is a relatively minor release.</li>
<li><a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/chatty/-/blob/master/debian/changelog">Chatty 0.2.0</a> improves the SMS and chat app quite a bit.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>PINE64: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2020/11/15/november-update-kde-pinephone-ce-and-a-peek-into-the-future/">November Update: KDE PinePhone CE And A Peek Into The Future</a>. <em>I published LinBits way to early last sunday and missed a lot, including this announcement. I already wrote down my thoughts on this in a <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/11/16/pinephone-kde-community-announcement.html">previous blog post</a>.</em>
<ul>
<li>ZDnet: <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/pinephone-kde-linux-phone-is-getting-ready-for-pre-orders/">PinePhone KDE Linux phone is getting ready for pre-orders</a>. <em>Nice to see more reporting on the PinePhone by outlets focused on general tech.</em></li>
<li>LinuxSmartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/pinephone-kde-community-edition-up-for-preorder-in-december/">PinePhone KDE Community Edition up for preorder in December</a>. <em>Brad's take, nice as always.</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>LinuxSmartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/hacker-adds-a-working-fingerprint-sensor-to-the-pinephone/">Hacker adds a working fingerprint sensor to the PinePhone</a></li>
<li>Purism: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-mass-production-phone-has-begun-shipping/">Librem 5 Mass Production Phone Has Begun Shipping</a>. <em>This reddit thread cleared up some <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Purism/comments/jy9axf/when_will_you_ship_librem_5_to_europe/">questions for me</a>. And if you need evidence that they are really shipping phones out now, see this <a href="https://forums.puri.sm/t/received-my-librem-5-evergreen/10877">thread in the Purism forums</a>.</em>
<ul>
<li>LinuxSmartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/purisms-librem-5-linux-smartphone-is-now-shipping/">Purism’s Librem 5 Linux smartphone is now shipping</a>. </li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>PINE64: <a href="https://lbry.tv/$/download/november-community-update-kde-pinephone/75535c5fc0b9b38e01a1d7d0fa82348758ac7b8f">November Community Update: KDE PinePhone Community Edition & a peek into the future</a>. <em>Great work by PizzaLovingNerd.</em></li>
<li>r/pinephone: <a href="https://reddit.com/r/pinephone/comments/jxbds1/ill_just_leave_this_here/">I'll just leave this here</a> <em>Diablo on the PinePhone.</em></li>
<li>Purism: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUNrY_qPCg">Librem 5 Visual Walkthrough</a>. <em>Watch this before starting to use your Librem 5. BTW: It looks really smooth. Also: That phone is a beast, in a good way!</em></li>
<li>Geotech Land: [KDE Plasma Mobile On Pinephone](https://peertube.social/videos/watch/514887ba-568f-446b-ba96-ea29 6977db39). <em>Nice video.</em></li>
<li>IzaicNix: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdOqEg44Go">Pinephone Lomiri with 60hz refresh</a>. <em>I hope Manjaro (or another distribution) picks up Lomiri. It has so much potential.</em></li>
<li>Jaquen hgar: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ3Gv3W7Dro">PinePhone Hands On - Arch Linux</a>. <em>German language, but maybe still interesting.</em></li>
<li>Camden Bruce: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUspXeRa6bQ">Evolution of Ubuntu Touch for the Pinephone (school project)</a>. <em>I think I would give this a B+, given that UBports definitely still work on improving PinePhone support. It just takes a long time because doing it properly is hard.</em></li>
<li>UBports: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQQOdOisPtw">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 89</a> <em>Highlights: OTA 15 planning changes: Volla Phone support leads to no Qt 5.12 migration in OTA 15, it will be delayed to OTA 16. Around minute 19, they talk about the PinePhone.</em></li>
<li>BitBooger: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et9IQt6uxkg">How to install (flash) Mobian on (to) your PinePhone!</a> <em>Nice! See also my video below.</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="manjaro-pinephone-unboxings">Manjaro PinePhone Unboxings</h4>
<ul>
<li>Manjaro Linux: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdI2s133KMo">Developer does an unboxing of the PinePhone Manjaro Community Edition</a>. </li>
</ul>
<h4 id="non-linux-phone-content">Non-Linux Phone content</h4>
<ul>
<li>Louis Rossmann: <a href="https://lbry.tv/@rossmanngroup:a/an-important-message-from-louis-2:6">An important message from Louis Rossmann</a>. <em>Right of ownership and right to repair matter. Not just for users, for independent repair – but also for the planet as a whole.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stuff-i-did">Stuff I did</h3>
<h4 id="content">Content</h4>
<ul>
<li>I wrote a blog post on <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/11/16/pinephone-kde-community-announcement.html">Pine64's announcement</a>.</li>
<li>I streamed for the first time on YouTube. It was fun, and I am going to repeat this once I have worked on my setup. If you want to watch a part of this first stream, <a href="https://youtu.be/4TghCp4UE8w">you can do so on YouTube</a>. Maybe it can help you out with understanding Jumpdrive — it's unlisted because I had audio issues in the beginning. If you have ideas for topics to discuss on LINMOB live, please get in touch!</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="linmobapps">LINMOBapps</h4>
<p>Not much happened here, <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/commits/master">just some maintenance</a>. I have another commit almost ready, and I hope to be able to do the game-split next week, so stay tuned. </p>
Thoughts on the PinePhone KDE Community Edition announcement2020-11-16T16:00:00+00:002020-11-16T16:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/pinephone-kde-community-announcement/<p><em>I know, this is yesterdays news. But I didn't want to just parrot the Press Release, and that takes time.</em></p>
<!--/-->
<h2 id="the-kde-announcement">The KDE Announcement</h2>
<p><img src="https://linmob.net/pinephone-kde-community-announcement/pmOS-edge-plasma-lockscreen.jpg" alt="Plasma Mobile lockscreen on postmarketOS edge" /></p>
<p>Yesterday, on November 15th, 2020, PINE64 published another one of their long monthly <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2020/11/15/november-update-kde-pinephone-ce-and-a-peek-into-the-future/">update blog posts</a> (for the first time with a corresponding video (<a href="https://lbry.tv/@PINE64:a/november-community-update-kde-pinephone:7">LBRY</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4su-YdjTYtY">YouTube</a>) by the awesome PizzaLovingNerd), and at the same time, <a href="https://kde.org/announcements/pinephone-plasma-mobile-edition/">KDE e.V. announced that the next PinePhone community edition</a> is going to ship with KDE software. </p>
<p>It’s going to be the same PinePhone you know at the same price points, but with that nice KDE logo on the back.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> This is great news, another Community Edition shipping Phosh would have been quite boring. Also, I stand by my <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/09/05/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur.html">earlier statement</a> that I like many of the mobile KDE apps, including, but not limited to Angelfish, KTrip and KWeather. Now, given the state of Plasma Mobile on the PinePhone, this may seem surprising to everybody that watched my 3 weeks old video<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup> on the very topic.</p>
<p>First, let me assure you, that my video happened to have bad timing. The situation has improved since.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup> And given that these new PinePhones go on pre-order December 1st and are likely going to ship next year<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#4">4</a></sup>, there is still time to iron out more bugs, develop further features, and so on.</p>
<p>When I got contacted with the press release, I immediately asked: Which distribution is this going to ship with?</p>
<p>Remember: Currently, we have 3 or 4 (depending on how you count), distributions that ship Plasma Mobile:</p>
<ul>
<li>KDE Neon, which is developer focused and gets rebuilt daily and thus often breaks,</li>
<li>postmarketOS <em>stable (20.05)</em> and <em>edge</em> can be built via <code>pmbootstrap</code> or downloaded with Plasma Mobile,</li>
<li>and Manjaro, who have been focussing on Phosh lately, because that's what they shipped on their Community Edition.</li>
</ul>
<p>The answer I got was that the "distribution of choice is not decided" at the moment and that they are going to make their decision public as soon as we can. Now, of the above, only postmarketOS edge is really compelling — the Plasma Mobile release (5.19) in <em>stable</em> is just too old at this point. But postmarketOS <em>edge</em> also breaks from time to time while new releases are being merged, which might not make it the perfect choice.</p>
<p>If I had to bet any money on what they are going to do, I would bet in on a new "User Edition" of KDE Neon, based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS that basically works just like the KDE Neon people know from their Linux desktops and notebooks. The current branch could continue as a "Developer Edition" (it just lacks that label currently, leading to user confusion and dissatisfaction), just as things are on "regular computers". They would basically solve three problems at once:</p>
<ol>
<li>There is no current, stable and user focused Plasma Mobile distribution currently,</li>
<li>most users trying KDE Neon on their PinePhones expect a different, user-focused experience,</li>
<li>the project could control the experience and would not be relying on a 3rd party that might have different goals or priorities.</li>
</ol>
<p>This would then only leave one problem: Someone (a person or, better yet, a team) has to create and maintain this distribution, and it should not slow down the overall progress of the whole Plasma Mobile effort. Also, hardware infrastructure requirements may lead to additional costs. I hope that they are going to able to solve this problem, maybe the 10 USD per device sold that KDE e.V. is going to receive can actually help here. </p>
<h2 id="further-pine64-announcements">Further PINE64 announcements</h2>
<p>That aside, PINE64 announced future Qi Wireless charging back covers for the PinePhone and pre-announced products around a new chipset, the Rockchip RK3566, that is going to be at the heart of future Single Board Computers in 2021 and other "non-Pro" PINE64 devices (which can be read as PinePhone) later on. <em>PineCone</em>, which is going to be a blob-free<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#5">5</a></sup> option for WiFi and Bluetooth on future PINE64 products, is certainly one to watch. </p>
<p>And if you are an early adopter and have a Braveheart or UBports Community Edition PinePhone, don't miss that you can upgrade your PinePhone by purchasing a 3GB RAM/32GB eMMC PinePhone mainboard at a discount.</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Unless another hardware bug surfaces, this is going to be the same 1.2b hardware revision that’s currently available as Manjaro Community edition.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>: "The current state of Plasma Mobile on the PinePhone", October 23rd, 2020, <a href="https://devtube.dev-wiki.de/videos/watch/a4f1e6ef-41f5-41ab-a8bf-0e80e3c3d513">PeerTube</a>, <a href="https://lbry.tv/@linmob:3/the-current-state-of-plasma-mobile-on:3">LBRY</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz9DgFRmOMQ">YouTube</a>.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup>: See my video on convergence with Manjaro Plasma Mobile, which shows Plasma Mobile running a lot smoother: <a href="https://devtube.dev-wiki.de/videos/watch/1d7249d4-e577-4c8c-9f64-74855792f019">PeerTube</a>, <a href="https://lbry.tv/@linmob:3/manjaro-plasma-mobile-on-the-pinephone:e">LBRY</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgEnSd5w4cQ">Youtube</a>. My upcoming postmarketOS edge Plasma Mobile convergence video is going to confirm this.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#4">4</a></sup>: There is no shipment date announced yet, so I am just guessing here based on previous Community Editions.
<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#5">5</a></sup>: This means that — different from the proprietary firmware required to operate the PinePhone's Realtek RTL8723CS WiFi+BT solution — you are going to operate the PineCone with only open-source software and firmware.</p>
</div>
One more phone for GNU/Linux2018-11-29T18:27:00+00:002018-11-29T18:27:00+00:00https://linmob.net/one-more-phone-for-gnulinux/<p><a href="https://dot.kde.org/2018/11/29/necuno-mobile-open-phone-plasma-mobile">KDE</a> and <a href="https://necunos.com/mobile/">Necuno Solutions</a> today announced a new open source GNU/Linux smartphone that is supposed to be running a Plasma Mobile based interface. Based on the FreeScale/NXP i.MX6 SoC, which is quite dated, this thing certainly reminds me (in terms of the hardware) of what Purism initially intended to deliver. All in all, while I am interested, I will just patiently wait if this project will ever deliver anything: The software isn't there, the hardware does not seem to be totally defined yet. <em>Smells like vapourware to me.</em></p>
<p>(Actually, I find the <a href="https://itsfoss.com/pinebook-kde-smartphone/">PinePhone</a> more interesting, although the same concerns plus additional ones due to the SoC apply there, too.)</p>
<p><strong>VIA:</strong> <a href="https://liliputing.com/2018/11/necuno-mobile-an-open-source-smartphone-with-kde-plasma-mobile.html">liliputing</a></p>
Qt for Android2011-02-22T09:18:00+00:002011-02-22T09:18:00+00:00https://linmob.net/qt-for-android/<p>With Nokia dropping its great sounding, not too well delivered platform strategy which was heavily Qt (a software that was called a toolkit years ago and now is more than this) based in favour of Windows Phone 7, there were lots of people asking what would be the future of Qt now. With Intel continuing to support MeeGo and the fact that Qt is a great platform to create software that works natively on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux—and we shouldn't forget about the K Desktop Environment here—there is one more indicator that makes a survival of Qt within or without Nokia more likely, no matter what happens to the Qt unit within Microsoft's new puppet: An enthusiast, Bogdan Vatra, announced a Qt port to todays dominating mobile platform, Android. It's called Necessitas Suite.
<p><a href="http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/">Necessitas at sourceforge</a></p>
<p><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-qt/browse_thread/thread/209edef7c5ceec8a?pli=1">Annoucement in the Android-Qt google group</a><br /></p>
<p><strong>Via:</strong> <a href="http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/02/22/0119247/First-Alpha-of-Qt-For-Android-Released">Slashdot: First alpha of Qt for Android released</a></p>