LINux on MOBile - PineTabLINMOB.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.Zola2022-12-20T06:52:00+00:00https://linmob.net/tags/pinetab/feed.xmlWeekly GNU-like Mobile Linux Update (50/2022): postmarketOS 22.12 and the PineTab22022-12-19T22:32:13+00:002022-12-20T06:52:00+00:00https://linmob.net/weekly-update-50-2022/<p>Sailfish OS approaching daily-drivability on PinePhone, gtk-file-chooser memes coming to an end and more.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p><em>Commentary in italics.</em></p>
<h3 id="hardware">Hardware</h3>
<p>PINE64 pre-announced the PineTab 2, powered by the Rockchip RK3566 known from the Quartz64, PineNote and other devices. To get it from the horses mouth, read the Community Update</p>
<ul>
<li>PINE64: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2022/12/15/december-update-merry-christmas-and-happy-new-pinetab/">December Update: Merry Christmas and Happy New PineTab</a>
As always, this got some coverage:
<ul>
<li>Ars Technica: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/12/pinetab-2-is-a-rockchip-based-linux-powered-repairable-tablet/">PineTab 2 is another try at a Linux-based tablet, without the 2020 supply crunch</a></li>
<li>CNX Software: <a href="https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/12/16/pinetab2-linux-tablet-rockchip-rk3566-soc-up-to-8gb-ram-128gb-emmc-flash/">PineTab2 Linux tablet to feature Rockchip RK3566 SoC, up to 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash</a> </li>
<li>Liliputing: <a href="https://liliputing.com/pine64s-pinetab2-will-be-a-linux-friendly-tablet-with-an-rk3566-processor/">Pine64's PineTab2 will be a Linux-friendly tablet with an RK3566 processor</a>
Our friends at TuxPhones compare it to other offerings you may also consider:</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>TuxPhones.com: <a href="https://tuxphones.com/pinetab2-rk3586-linux-tablet-juno-tablet-fydetab-duo/">The PineTab2 is a new, faster Linux tablet - and it's not alone</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<p>Pricing and details (e.g., display resolution, the wireless chipset or whether it will have SPI for solid booting - on prototypes SPI is not populated) are not finalized yet, it will be out some time after Chinese New Year (January 21st to 27th, 2023) - so some time in February or March. <em>Personally, my enthusiasm is slightly tempered by the fact that PINE64 went with a custom mainboard for the device - I would loved to see them use the SoQuartz for this, in order to allow for future upgradability. Especially with all of PINE64's plans for RISC-V, it would have allowed for an easy road towards a RISC-y tablet.</em></p>
<p>If you're reading this and are not familiar with PINE64 or the RK3566, make sure to read Counter Pillow's excellent post now, and best before you pull the trigger in March, so that you know what you're getting into:</p>
<ul>
<li>CounterPillow: <a href="https://fratti.ch/articles/posts/rk3566-and-pine64-an-overview/">RK3566 And PINE64, An Overview | A Laptop For My Pillow</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="software-progress">Software progress</h3>
<h4 id="gnome-ecosystem">GNOME ecosystem</h4>
<ul>
<li>This Week in GNOME: <a href="https://thisweek.gnome.org/posts/2022/12/twig-74/">#74 Decades Later</a></li>
<li>Georges Stavracas: <a href="https://feaneron.com/2022/12/15/maintainership-of-gnome-settings/">Maintainership of GNOME Settings</a></li>
<li>GTK Development Blog: <a href="https://blog.gtk.org/2022/12/15/a-grid-for-the-file-chooser/">A grid for the file chooser</a>
<ul>
<li>Georges Stavracas: <a href="https://feaneron.com/2022/12/14/the-burial-of-the-filechooser-meme/">the burial of the filechooser meme</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="plasma-ecosystem">Plasma ecosystem </h4>
<ul>
<li>Nate Graham: <a href="https://pointieststick.com/2022/12/16/this-week-in-kde-wayland-fractional-scaling-oh-and-we-also-fixed-multi-screen/">This week in KDE: Wayland fractional scaling! Oh, and we also fixed multi-screen</a></li>
<li>Carl Schwan: <a href="https://carlschwan.eu/2022/12/18/tokodon-22.11.2-release/">Tokodon 22.11.2 release</a>. <em>I wonder why there's all of a sudden so much interest in Mastodon clients...</em></li>
<li>dot.kde.org: <a href="https://dot.kde.org/2022/12/14/join-season-kde-2023">Join Season of KDE 2023</a></li>
<li>dot.kde.org: <a href="https://dot.kde.org/2022/12/13/linux-app-summit-2023-will-be-held-brno">Linux App Summit 2023 will be held in Brno</a></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-Lands-Wayland-Frac-Scaling">KDE Lands Wayland Fractional Scaling Support</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="nemo-mobile">Nemo Mobile</h4>
<ul>
<li>neochapay <a href="https://twitter.com/neochapay/status/1602374487974072320#m">I think #nemomobile now ready to migrate to Qt6 https://github.com/nemomobile-ux/lipstick/pull/67</a></li>
<li>While things are generally winding down a bit towards the end of the year, Nemo Mobile are doing the #adventofcode thing. <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@jmlich">Make sure to follow Jozef Mlich on the Fediverse!</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="sailfish-os">Sailfish OS</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/sailfish-community-news-15th-december-seasons-greetings/13781">Sailfish Community News, 15th December, Season's Greetings</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/adampigg/status/1603132663220797440">Adam Pigg on Twitter: ".@thepine64 #pinephone waking from deep sleep (see CPUs are halted) on incoming call."</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-121-3871">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 121</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="distributions">Distributions</h4>
<ul>
<li>postmarketOS Blog: <a href="https://postmarketos.org/blog/2022/12/18/v22.12-release/">v22.12: The One With Napali Calling</a>
<em>Yes, stable may be boring, but less breakage is always nice - and postmarketOS do the best they can to make their stable releases actually stable. If you've been longing for performance, the improvements to call audio for Snapdragon 845 devices (SHIFT6mq, OnePlus 6(T), Xiaomi Poco F1) offer a whole new league of options for all those, that actually want to (or have to) do phone calls on their pocketable computers. Also: The Fairphone 4 is supported by 22.12, so it must be coming along!</em>
<ul>
<li>Lemmy - postmarketOS: <a href="https://lemmy.ml/post/662401">v22.12: The One With Napali Calling</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Breaking updates in pmOS edge: <a href="https://postmarketos.org/edge/2022/12/16/libtiff/">libtiff related breakage in Alpine edge</a></li>
<li>Manjaro PinePhone Plasma Mobile: <a href="https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/plasma-mobile/releases/tag/beta14-rc2">Beta 14 RC 2</a></li>
<li>Manjaro PinePhone Plasma Mobile: <a href="https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/plasma-mobile/releases/tag/beta14-rc1">Beta 14 RC 1</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="stack">Stack</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://social.librem.one/@agx/109518822668515937">Guido Günther tagged version 0.0.2 of #feedbackd</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="linux">Linux</h4>
<ul>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.2-Input">Linux 6.2 Introduces Several More Touchscreen Drivers</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="matrix">Matrix</h4>
<ul>
<li>Matrix.org: <a href="https://matrix.org/blog/2022/12/16/this-week-in-matrix-2022-12-16">This Week in Matrix 2022-12-16</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-noting">Worth noting</h3>
<ul>
<li>Emergency Contact Information is an important feature. <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@kop316/109520726592801129">Chris (kop316) is working on bringing it to Phosh!</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/nsg650/status/1604036718742700032">NSG650 on Twitter: "This was painful but here it is. Ladybird running on postmarketOS aarch64! Touch support is ehh.</a> <em>If you're into alternative web browsers, this is great news!</em></li>
<li><a href="https://fosstodon.org/@pi_crew@chaos.social/109528469094424015">Project Insanity: "Nice, looks like maui-shell is already running on #NixOS 🚀 Hopefully it can be merged soon"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://social.librem.one/@agx/109513215258633453">Guido Günther just keeps improving phosh-osk-stub!</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>PINE64: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2022/12/15/december-update-merry-christmas-and-happy-new-pinetab/">December Update: Merry Christmas and Happy New PineTab</a>. <em>Great read, make sure to also read the look back ... and can't await FOSDEM!</em>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/zmpagc/december_update_merry_christmas_and_happy_new/">r/PINE64official comments</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Purism: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/libadwaita-in-the-wild/">Libadwaita in the Wild</a></li>
<li>CNX Software: <a href="https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/12/13/linux-6-1-lts-release-main-changes-arm-risc-v-and-mips-architectures/">Linux 6.1 LTS release - Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures - CNX Software</a> <em>PinePhone Pro, everybody!</em></li>
<li>immychan: <a href="https://immychan.neocities.org/articles/tech/PineBudsProReview/PineBudsProReview.html">PineBuds Pro Review</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>PINE64: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvG2jUS6n_s">December Update: Merry Christmas and Happy New PineTab</a> <em>Yet another excellent video summary by PizzaLovingNerd!</em></li>
<li>Linux Lounge: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJA41BAAV8g">Pine64 Announced the PineTab 2!</a></li>
<li>CodingBite: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVQkmw2eWyI">5 Best Linux SmartPhones to Watch Out in 2023</a></li>
<li>InFerNo_: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSx9B5nb_A0">Half Life on PinePhone</a></li>
<li>nixgoat: <a href="https://tube.nixgoat.me/w/b136878e-c4f0-4227-adde-32f4b4c33847">mi a3 boots postmarketOS by itself!</a></li>
<li>Ubuntu OnAir: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1sztciuuEw">Ubuntu Summit 2022 | Ubuntu in your hands: The Going Ons at UBports</a> <em>Great talk!</em></li>
<li>CodeInc: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boAqXdfFDug">What is UBUNTU TOUCH?</a></li>
<li>휴대전화 박물관 Phone Museum : <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duaJWWaEFEs">Ubuntu Touch Apps with Nexus 5</a></li>
<li>koshikawa.: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3-pOBtj5oE">Redmi 9C Ubuntu Touch install moment (UBports)</a></li>
<li>Continuum Gaming: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDqTCNXiGhI">Microsoft Continuum Gaming E343: Fun App to create beats for Sailfish OS</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="thanks">Thanks</h3>
<p>Huge thanks again to Plata for <a href="https://framagit.org/linmob/linmob.frama.io/-/merge_requests/5">a nifty set of Python scripts</a> that speeds 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">the hedgedoc pad</a> for the next one! <strong>If you just stumble on a thing, please put it in there too - all help is appreciated!</strong></p>
<p>PS: I'm looking for feedback - <a href="mailto:weekly-update@linmob.net?subject=Feedback%20on%20Weekly%20Update">what do you think?</a></p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>The article by TuxPhones.com was added after initial publication.</p>
</div>
GNU/Linux on Tablets: Hardware2021-06-26T14:30:18+00:002021-06-27T11:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/gnu-linux-on-tablets-hardware/<p>Since it's relaunch last year, this blog has been mostly focused on phones. Tablets, however, are a thing too, and of course GNU/Linux can be run on tablets (and I've been doing so myself in the past). This is the first post of a series that mainly tries to narrow down the criteria of potential hardware, which doesn’t go without touching software as the different distributions support different hardware. </p>
<p>With tablets, we face many of the same problems that we have been having with phones: You can't just install Linux on any tablet, and, what about the software? </p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="current-linux-first-tablets">Current "Linux first" tablets</h2>
<p>Aside from a variety of efforts that build tablets around <a href="https://raspad.com">the Raspberry Pi single board computer</a> or (in a saner approach) <a href="https://cutiepi.io/">compute module</a>, there have been two Linux first tablets that drew some attention lately:</p>
<ul>
<li>The PINE64 PineTab, basically a PinePhone without cellular connectivity featuring a 10", 1280*800px screen, which is currently out of stock (due to component shortage induced price hikes), and</li>
<li>the JingPad, a chinese tablet that's obviously inspired by the iPad Pro in software and hardware. Sadly, it's based on a SoC that features a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerVR">PowerVR GPU</a> and thus is highly unlikely to ever run a mainline kernel (and if it will, it will require a userspace blob for the GPU). Also, Jingling develop a (at least in its current beginnings) KDE technologies custom UI, which is open source, but follows a "let's throw that code over the wall when we have a release" known from Android.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> If you can live with these drawbacks and can afford to spend 599 USD, get one on <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jingpad-world-s-first-consumer-level-linux-tablet#/">Indiegogo</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Given that both of these Linux first tablets have their drawbacks, let's rather discuss post-market Linux installs on tablets.</p>
<h2 id="installing-gnu-linux-on-tablets-on-your-own">Installing (GNU/)Linux on Tablets on your own</h2>
<p>With tablets becoming popular and widely available following Apples iPad, Android Honeycomb and Windows 8, there's a lot of used but still "good enough" hardware out there that you can hack to run Linux. </p>
<p>But: This does not mean it's always easy to do so, as with ARM-based hardware you'll likely need a device specific kernel (and there's always hardware that might need specific patches).</p>
<p>So let's have a look at the hardware that's supported by established/larger Linux for touchscreens/mobile first distributions:</p>
<h3 id="ubuntu-touch">Ubuntu Touch</h3>
<p>Ubuntu Touch list six tablets as supported on <a href="https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io">their devices page</a>. These devices include the </p>
<ul>
<li>bq Aquaris M10 F(HD), a device sold with Ubuntu Touch back when it was still governed by Canonical, </li>
<li>the Nexus 7 2013 (LTE), </li>
<li>the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet (a Snapdragon powered 810 tablet, which seems to be still surprisingly expensive when bought used),</li>
<li>and, as the one device running a non-vendor mainline kernel, the (currently unavailable) PINE64 PineTab.
You could of course also try <a href="https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/porting/">to port Ubuntu Touch to your tablet device</a>, which is something people do:
E.g. there's a community port for the <a href="https://gitlab.com/ubports/community-ports/android9/lenovo-tab-m10-fhd-plus">Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>So if Ubuntu Touch is your jam, these are devices that you might want to get. And if you think it is not, watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Lfj51h_0M">this video</a> that shows Ubuntu Touch on the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus and tell me again that you don't think Ubuntu Touch is great on tablets. </p>
<h3 id="jingos">JingOS</h3>
<p>Even if you don’t buy a JingPad, <a href="https://en.jingos.com">JingOS</a> can be run on x86 tablets. While the selection of officially supported devices is quite short with</p>
<ul>
<li>Surface Pro 6,</li>
<li>Huawei MateBook 14 and</li>
<li>eve V,</li>
</ul>
<p>it’s definitely worth a try on your x86 based Tablet or convertible.</p>
<h3 id="sailfishos">SailfishOS</h3>
<p>Remember the <a href="https://jolla-devices.com/jolla-tablet/">Jolla Tablet</a>, which almost sunk the Jolla boat? While that was the opposite of a success story, SailfishOS has been <a href="https://gitlab.com/sailfishos-porters-ci">ported by the community</a> to a number of tablets. One of these porting efforts is <a href="https://sailfish-x86.yeheng.org/">SailfishOS x86</a>, which supports a limited number of devices, but should run on everything supported by Ubuntu 20.04.</p>
<h3 id="mobian">Mobian</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.mobian-project.org">Mobian</a> support two tablets officially:</p>
<ul>
<li>the aforementioned PINE64 PineTab and</li>
<li>the <a href="https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=install-x86">Microsoft Surface Pro 3</a>, a Intel Haswell-based tablet.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="postmarketos">postmarketOS</h3>
<p>postmarketOS aim to provide an operating system that's portable a wide variety of devices. While the main focus of postmarketOS is on phones, their <a href="https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices">Devices page</a> lists a few tablets. Two tablets are listed as "Community devices", meaning that they are reasonable well supported:</p>
<ul>
<li>the <a href="https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_PineTab_(pine64-pinetab)">PINE64 PineTab</a> (again!),</li>
<li>and the <a href="https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/ASUS_MeMO_Pad_7_(asus-me176c)">ASUS MeMO Pad 7 (asus-me176c)</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are many more tablets in the "Testing" list, which may be of interest if you have such a tablet in a drawer somewhere or know someone who has.</p>
<h2 id="um-i-have-hardware-but-it-s-not-listed-anywhere-what-can-i-do">"Um, I have hardware, but it's not listed anywhere. What can I do?"</h2>
<p>Given that this list only contained a very limited number of devices up until now, you may ask: I have a used tablet here, I want to put GNU/Linux on it, how can I do so?</p>
<h3 id="let-s-presume-you-have-a-device-with-an-intel-cpu">Let's presume you have a device with an Intel CPU</h3>
<p>I know that feeling, so let me start by telling you about my experiences with Intel Atom BayTrail powered devices. Let's start with BayTrail and Atom. The Intel Atom line of processors was introduced by Intel to power the then popular "Netbooks", tiny, low powered, affordable notebooks. Netbooks made quite the splash, as computing devices in their rough size class (UMPCs or sub-notebooks) had previously been aimed at business customeers only and thus been prohibitively expensive.</p>
<p>Eventually, Netbooks faded when Tablets took over. Intel also tried to get their Atom CPUs into smartphones, which wasn't the success they had hoped for. All that said, what really matters with regard to this story, is that you need to check which kind of Atom CPU your old device has, and which kind of GPU that device features: One that's been designed by Intel and thus likely has good support in Linux, or a "PowerVR" one that's been designed by Imagination Technologies. Unless you really like to suffer, if it's the latter, I recommend you to just give up.</p>
<p>BayTrail CPUs, fortunately, feature an Intel-designed GPU. Sadly, this did not mean that running Linux on a BayTrail tablet is straight-forward and easy. At first, Intel <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Linux-Bay-Trail-Fail">did not really bother to get decent BayTrail support</a> into Linux, which thankfully has since changed.</p>
<p>While that sounds easy, it does not mean it's straight forward. There are more issues to work around. And, surprisingly, as the postmarketOS wiki page for the <a href="https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/ASUS_MeMO_Pad_7_(asus-me176c)">ASUS MeMO Pad 7</a> with its work-around to flash a new, custom, unlocked bootloader exemplifies, it's often easier to get proper Linux running on devices shipped with Windows instead of Linux orginally, altough you may run into <a href="https://rk.edu.pl/en/how-cool-lenovo-flex-10-netbook-and-how-install-linux-32-bit-uefi-system/#8">that 32bit UEFI problem</a>.</p>
<p>I personally have had two Baytrail-powered devices, </p>
<ul>
<li>an ASUS VivoTab 8 Note (M80TA), which originally shipped with Windows 8, but I since managed to get Ubuntu 18.04 installed on, before I handed it down to my brother,</li>
<li>and a Tolino Tab 8, which is still stuck on Android 4.4 due to a locked bootloader.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<p>What I am trying to say: Many Intel-(or AMD-)powered tablets can run Linux, but it's not as easy as installing Linux on your typical notebook or desktop. With x86 Android devices, locked bootloaders are an obstactle to be aware of.</p>
<h3 id="arm-powered-tablets-and-convertibles">ARM-powered tablets and convertibles</h3>
<p>With ARM, the situation is somewhat similar: Locked bootloaders are a mayor obstacle here, too. But that aside, the same problems that prevent us from installing GNU/Linux without fancy layers like Halium on smartphones: Very few ARM SoCs have decent enough mainline support. </p>
<p>But, depending on what you expect from a tablet, and a tablet being a more casual device, it may be more acceptable to live with a few shortcomings: So if you mainly want to browse the web and read PDFs, unsupported speakers may be acceptable. </p>
<p>So, if your ARM tablet has an unlockable bootloader, look out for small projects or blog posts where some has managed to get Linux running on it.</p>
<p>I really don't know how many tablets fall into this or the previous category. Hardware <a href="https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices">shipped with Chrome OS</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup> is definitely a likely candidate, as the coreboot-based Chrome OS bootloaders are easily unlocked, leading to a 'scare screen' at each boot, which often can be 'solved' by replacing default bootloader by another Coreboot based bootloader.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>While potentially every device can be coerced to run Linux, the reality of Linux on Tablets requires choosing hardware wisely, and often at least intermediate "Linux skills" to get going. So choose wisely, and don't expect things to be great out of the box. </p>
<p>The software landscape, which was questionable years ago, has definitely improved thanks to mature projects like Ubuntu Touch (which sadly only supports a handful devices), community efforts using Phosh or Plasma Mobile and commercially-backed newcomers like JingOS — and let's not forget that both KDE and GNOME are perfectly viable (with a few tweaks maybe) on > 9" devices. <em>But more on that in a later blog post.</em></p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>This is problematic, as large commits without individual commit messages make code changes poorly documented, which make it hard for the upstream KDE projects to participate and upstream potential improvements added by the JingOS developers.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>By now I am so desperate that I am considering to just try the bootloader developed for the ASUS me176c. What can possibly go wrong? (A lot, but then the screen is already cracked!) Also, locked bootloaders (at least beyond the manufacturers willingness to supply updates) should be illegal.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="3"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">3</sup>
<p>Look for "Chromeblet" and "Convertible". I have one of each with the Lenovo Duet and the ASUS Chromebook C101PA, which I will write about in detail in future posts.</p>
</div>
LinBits 32: Weekly Linux Phone news / media roundup (week 6)2021-02-14T22:00:00+00:002021-02-14T22:00:00+00:00https://linmob.net/linbits32-weekly-linux-phone-news-week6/<p><em>It's sunday. Now what happened since last sunday?</em></p>
<p>Phosh 0.8.1, Calls 0.3.0, Sxmo 1.3.0 and more! <em>Commentary in italics.</em></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h3 id="software-development-and-releases">Software development and releases</h3>
<h4 id="apps">Apps</h4>
<ul>
<li>Phosh 0.8.1 <a href="https://social.librem.one/@agx/105719264028836408">is out</a>, as the number indicates it's mostly a bug fix release. Head over to the <a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/phosh/-/releases/v0.8.1">full release notes</a> for the details. </li>
<li>Calls 0.3.0 has been released, adding a few features, translations and bug fixes. Go read the <a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/calls/-/commit/82275c7feab9f283d5c08c267a336898eb761ef4">full changelog</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/tchx84/Portfolio/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md">Portfolio 0.9.9 has been released</a>, adding support for the org.freedesktop.FileManager1 interface among other things.</li>
<li>A new version of Authenticator, powered by Rust and GTK4 <a href="https://twitter.com/bil_moussaoui/status/1356063423549874178">is out</a>. <em>Sadly it did not work for me when I tried the Flatpak on postmarketOS.</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="distributions">Distributions</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/releases">Arch Linux ARM/DanctNIX mobile has seen a new release</a>, incorporating almost all the new releases mentioned above and more.</li>
<li>Sxmo 1.3.0 has been released, delivering improvements to dmenu, which now reacts on release of touch and more. Read the full <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~mil/sxmo-announce/%3C20210208124655.jzvioyzsbi5huh7d%40worker.anaproy.lxd%3E">release notes</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-noting">Worth noting</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/DylanVanAssche/status/1360306388648431616">Dylan Van Assche announces great news coming to the postmarketOS</a> on the PinePhone: Ringing immideately, even when in suspend. <em>This should be the relevant <a href="https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/merge_requests/1931">merge request</a>.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/ManjaroLinux/status/1360994902025392130">Manjaro are preparing something that looks interesting!</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>Mobian Blog: <a href="https://blog.mobian-project.org/posts/2021/02/09/pam_issue/">Issues and hurdles when performing the initial upgrade</a>. <em>If you ordered a Mobian CE, make sure to read this post! (I was going to make a video about this, but I did not keep the screen alive. Turns out, even if the phone locks up; when you just wait a long time, rebooting the hard way can be safe too.)</em></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Sailfish-OS-4.0.1-Released">Sailfish OS 4.0.1 No Longer Support The Jolla Phone But Has Many Other Improvements</a>. <em>Nice new features coming to Sailfish OS.</em></li>
<li>Linux Smartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/sxmo-1-3-0-brings-usability-performance-improvements-to-this-simple-geeky-linux-phone-ui/">Sxmo 1.3.0 brings usability, performance improvements to this simple, geeky Linux phone UI</a>. <em>Nice write-up by Brad on the the new Sxmo release. Make sure to watch his video, which is linked below, too.</em></li>
<li>Purism: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/openpgp-in-your-pocket/">OpenPGP in Your Pocket</a>. <em>Guess I need to get this firmware on to my Librem 5.</em></li>
<li>Lup Yuen Lee: <a href="https://lupyuen.github.io/articles/spi">PineCone BL602 talks SPI too!</a>. <em>Turns out: You can connect a display to that Risc-V WiFi-thingy!</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-listening">Worth listening</h3>
<ul>
<li>PineTalk 002: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2021/02/12/002-new-accessories-and-ubports-with-dalton-durst/">New Accessories and UBports with Dalton Durst</a>. <em>Creating this episode was a lot of fun, I hope you like it!</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>Glitchy Soup: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7nQdsG4SjI">Pinephone (Mobian community edition) GUI and camera test</a>. <em>Nice video.</em></li>
<li>AntonMadness: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3blKJGKQ1k">Soldering with the PinePhone</a>. <em>Yes, this is the PinePhone serving as a power source for a USB-C powered soldering iron. I don't think that this is something you should too, but apparently this works at least once.</em></li>
<li>paralin: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeGvdLaZCNg">KDE and GentooLTO on Pinephone</a>. <em>This is the KDE Plasma Desktop, running on a PinePhone. Interesting!</em></li>
<li>The Linux Experiment: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T8SfGNpBfA">Is GNOME ready to tackle the SMARTPHONE ? A tour of Phosh on the PinePhone</a>. <em>Interesting user interface critique.</em></li>
<li>Liliputing: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W91B5ugRbQ4">PinePhone running Sxmo 1.3.0 (Simple X Mobile)</a>. <em>I am so happy that Brad did this video so I don't.</em></li>
<li>Linux Lounge: <a href="https://odysee.com/@LinuxLounge:b/a-look-at-luneos-on-the-pinephone:d">A Look At LuneOS On The PinePhone</a>. <em>Nice video on LuneOS, although I sadly did not see much progress to way back when I tried it.</em></li>
<li>Privacy & Tech Tips: <a href="https://odysee.com/@RTP:9/howto-put-blackarch-pentesting-linux-on:3">Howto: Put BlackArch Pentesting Linux On Pinephone!</a>. <em>Great video!</em></li>
<li>Privacy & Tech Tips: <a href="https://odysee.com/@RTP:9/pine64-pinetab-linux-tablet-first:7">Pine64 Pinetab (Linux Tablet) First Impressions- Nice!</a>. <em>If you're curious about the PineTab...</em></li>
<li>Privacy & Tech Tips: <a href="https://odysee.com/@RTP:9/is-pinephone-ready-to-be-your-daily:a">Dear Newbz: Are You Ready For A Pinephone? Depends.</a>. <em>This is an important video for everybody who is not really sure, whether PinePhone is for them.</em></li>
<li>Leszek Lesner: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQToX-vM1K0">SailfishOS 4.0 EA - What's new?</a>. <em>Informative video!</em></li>
<li>Linux Lounge: <a href="https://odysee.com/@LinuxLounge:b/how-to-install-replicant-a-fully-foss:d">How To Install Replicant (A Fully FOSS Android Distribution)</a>. <em>If you want to try the variant of Android that is the most FLOSS, this video is a good starting point.</em></li>
<li>UBports: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JpVH3CIwcA">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 94</a>. <em>Highlights include: OTA 16 upcoming, Debian packaging progress (slow!).</em></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="unboxing-corner">Unboxing corner</h4>
<ul>
<li>TalkNTech: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlP4_bZqZQ&t=3s">Pine64 Pinephone Manjaro KDE CE (linuxphone) unboxing + overview</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSRH_ZGWCvs">part 2</a>.</li>
<li>Nephitejnf: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdY52r5B9u8">Pinephone Unboxing and First Impressions</a></li>
<li>Jolla-Devices: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smDJRCa_DLc">Pinephone unboxing and magnets // J-D inbox February</a>. <em>Another late Manjaro CE unboxing.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stuff-i-did">Stuff I did</h3>
<h4 id="content">Content</h4>
<p>I made no video. I published one <a href="https://linmob.net/2021/02/13/pinephone-setup-scaling-in-phosh.html">blog post about scaling in Phosh</a>, and <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105729625011845838">it's not really ready yet</a>.</p>
<h4 id="random">Random</h4>
<p>I installed postmarketOS Edge with Phosh on my Librem 5 Evergreen last week, and reported on the battery life I experienced during the past week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105696348333072976">Day 1</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105703359787356807">Day 2</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105711781935156666">Day 3</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105713512304727231">Day 4</a>,</li>
<li><a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105719415459140758">Day 5</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>I have nuked that install today and tried PureOS Byzantium tonight (it's really not ready yet), and might go Mobian next. Stay tuned!</p>
<p>Meanwhile, my <a href="https://odysee.com/@linmob:3/fedora-on-the-pinephone-pipewire-calling:1">Fedora on PinePhone video (the Odysee upload)</a> went sort of viral on <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26080207">"Hacker News"</a>.</p>
<p>I also <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105723460572409668">published my first APKBUILD</a>.</p>
<h4 id="linmobapps">LINMOBapps</h4>
<p>This week I added <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105703922646357593">just one app</a> to LINMOBapps, <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/commits/master">and some maintenance happened</a>. I also added some more <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/tree/master/PKGBUILDs">PKGBUILDs</a>. Please <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/blob/master/tasks.md">do contribute</a>! </p>
LinBits 15: Weekly Linux Phone news / media roundup (week 42)2020-10-18T10:43:00+00:002020-10-18T10:43:00+00:00https://linmob.net/linbits15-weekly-linux-phone-news-week42/<p><em>It's sunday. Now what happened since last sunday?</em></p>
<p>Distribution updates, #bleedingtooth, new PINE64 accessories, a new Sailfish release 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://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/releases/tag/20201015">DanctNIX Mobile/Huong Tram Linux/Arch Linux ARM by danct12 has seen a new release</a>. <em>The biggest feature here is the new kernel, which even brings better phone call quality and might improve battery life because of Megi's modem driver. Please <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@danct12/105040705058664430">run an upgrade after installing</a> to make sure you are save and the "#bleedingtooth" vulnerability can't be used against you.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-beta1-with-phosh-pinephone/32307">Manjaro have released their first beta release for the PinePhone</a>, which is featuring Phosh. <em>This indicates that their Community Edition is not shipping with Lomiri, as originally planned, but with Phosh, which arguably is more mature on the PinePhone. Even though this "beta release" may sound more mature than Arch Linux ARM above, a look at their <a href="https://gitlab.manjaro.org/manjaro-arm/issues/pinephone/phosh/-/issues">bug tracker</a> indicates that this is likely not the case.</em> </li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/hadrianweb/status/1316413354861359107">OpenSUSE has seen a new release, too</a>. <em>I really need to try OpenSUSE.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth Reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.9.1-Released">Linux 5.9.1 + 6 Other Stable Kernels Out For Addressing "Bleeding Tooth" Vulnerability</a>. <em>This vulnerability affects PinePhone distributions, and so far only Arch Linux ARM (see above) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanctNIX/status/1316817237215383552#m">have announced they fixed it</a>. If unsure, do bother your distribution maintainers about this, so that it gets fixed on your favourite PinePhone distribution, too.</em></li>
<li>xnux.eu log: <a href="https://xnux.eu/log/#022">Backlight changes when switching between USB-C power mode</a>. <em>Apparently, the Manjaro Community Edition is going to feature a small hardware change, which is going to fix a small bug again. And this might be another one of these that can be done at home.</em></li>
<li>Adrian Plazas: <a href="https://aplazas.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/blog/blog/2020/10/15/specify-form-factors-in-your-librem-5-apps.html">Specify Form-Factors in Your Librem 5 Apps</a>. <em>While this is not the official FreeDesktop.org standard one would like to have, it is a good temporary fix for now.</em><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></li>
<li>PINE64 Blog: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2020/10/15/update-new-hacktober-gear/">Update: new hacktober gear</a>. <em>This update is very long and contains a lot, which is why I decided to link to derivative posts that break out parts of this massive announcement.</em>
<ul>
<li>LinuxSmartphones.com: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/swappable-pinephone-back-covers-will-bring-wireless-charging-nfc-and-a-keyboard/">Swappable PinePhone back covers will bring wireless charging, NFC, and a keyboard</a> and TuxPhones.com: <a href="https://tuxphones.com/pinephone-cover-qwerty-external-keyboard-wireless-qi-charging-nfc-5000mah-battery/">⚡ Official PinePhone back cover will add hardware keyboard, wireless charging, NFC and more</a>. <em>This is cool. I have seen quite a few people in my time watching the keyword "PinePhone" on the birdsite that missed NFC, wireless charging or a hardware keyboard on the PinePhone. Unfortunately, there is no ETA yet. I would have preferred a slide out keyboard.</em></li>
<li>LinuxSmartphones.com: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/upgrade-your-pinephone-3gb-32gb-mainboards-coming-in-november/">Upgrade your PinePhone: 3GB/32GB mainboards coming in November</a>. <em>This is great for everybody with buyers remorse who bought into the Braveheart or the UBports Community Edition.</em> </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Jolla Blog: <a href="https://blog.jolla.com/sailfish-os-pallas-yllastunturi-is-now-available/">Sailfish OS Pallas-Yllästunturi is now available</a>. <em>Make sure to read <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/sailfish-os-3-4-brings-multi-user-support-browser-improvements-and-more/">Brad's post on this</a>, too. There are no 3.4.0.24 images released for the PinePhone yet, but I managed to upgrade thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/adampigg/status/1317511321840193537#m">Adam Pigg's instructions</a>. That aside, this is a great release and I am glad that they are beginning to tackle ARM64 support — also I am amazed that the Jolla Phone, released in 2013, is still supported after seven years.</em></li>
<li>Phoronix: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.10-F2FS">F2FS With Linux 5.10 Brings Many Improvements And A Few More Features</a>. <em>If you have A/B-tested <a href="https://www.mobian-project.org/">Mobian's</a> F2FS image vs. the standard ext4 image, you will know which difference in speed and usability this filesystem can make. Great to see further improvements to this filesystem.</em></li>
<li>Gamey: <a href="https://lbry.tv/@gamey:c/Feed-reader-for-the-Pinephone:7">Feed readers on the PinePhone</a>. <em>If you look at the post, you will surely realize why I just had to put this in.</em> </li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth Watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>The Linux Experiment: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7tAGOjwx0M">Software Ecosystems are bad, but Linux needs one</a>. <em>I do agree – sort of. I would rather see a web page that has good self-hosting tutorials and shows a nice collection of local companies offering services based on open source software for those that don't feel up to self-hosting infrastructure.</em></li>
<li>PizzaLovingNerd: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2tw7BGdzsg">PineTab Unboxing and First Impressions</a>. <em>Nice first PineTab impressions by Pizza here.</em></li>
<li>PizzaLovingNerd: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyfHHZkIx8">FOSS Spot: Plasma 5.20, Plasma Mobile, Fund Your App, Kernel 5.9, Enso OS, Pitivi</a>. <em>Not PinePhone centric, but it is a nice collection of news and I share the opinions on PlasmaMobile and "Fund Your App".</em></li>
<li>Дмитрий Власенко: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLm0nczjyPvEjqC1xVIg3RQ">Возвращение PinePhone или ложка меда в бочке кода</a>. <em>This is a russian video. I did not understand a thing, but if you do, it should be interesting.</em></li>
<li>Sakari Castrén: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRtHcdWWowc">Pinephone; cellular, wifi etc working</a>. <em>A video showing postmarketOS onboarding.</em></li>
<li>Avisando: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQgqfGtWrDU">PinePhone - SD Card - USB C - Jack</a>. <em>This is a short video that may help new PinePhone users with onboarding.</em></li>
<li>Alex_Davis: <a href="https://lbry.tv/@Alex_Davis:8/(RaaA)-Rockbox-as-an-application-on-Pinephone:b">(RaaA) Rockbox as an application on Pinephone</a>. <em>You may remember Rockbox as an alternative software for MP3 players, but you can run it on the PinePhone as an application, too. Unfortunately, the video seems to have no sound, so we can only guess whether audio playback works.</em></li>
<li>DanctNIX: <a href="https://twitter.com/DanctNIX/status/1317614986651267072#m">Arch Linux ARM booting on Redmi Note with Phosh UI</a>. <em>This is using Halium and not a mainline kernel, but it is still impressive and nice to see.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stuff-i-did">Stuff I did</h3>
<p>Not much:</p>
<ul>
<li>Most notably, <a href="https://framagit.org/linmobapps/linmobapps.frama.io/-/commit/f7a8a72baeb644be1ae5127c6350d02d3caed223">I was able to merge the first addition to LINMOBapps</a> that reached me via E-Mail. If there is any app you tried on your PinePhone which somewhat worked and is not on the list yet, <em>please mail in and help me get this list up to the 200 apps mark!</em></li>
<li>I played around with SailfishOS: I upgraded my PinePhone to 3.4.0.24, <a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1317482767811301376#m">installed Sailfish X on a SONY Xperia X</a> to have a point of comparison and will finish my Sailfish video right after publishing this.</li>
<li>I installed UBports on a new device using the excellent UBports installer. I might mention it as a point of comparisonm excited to see those projects progress in the mobile space and hope you enjoyed todays post. As a end note check out LinMob he runs a amazing feed in case you want to stay in the loop on the Pinephone and mobile Linux in general. I also made extensive use of his mobile Linux App list which you can find here to make this blog post in in a future video on UBports' progress on the PinePhone (which is not going to happen before November). </li>
<li>I <a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1316403709249818625#m">updated</a> the <a href="https://leste.maemo.org">MaemoLeste install</a> on my Motorola Droid 4, and while they still lack apps for communication (<a href="https://twitter.com/linmobblog/status/1316779362067329024#m">it is going to happen though</a>), screen rotation and a calendar app have been added, and the OS is running a lot smoother overall.</li>
</ul>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>I forgot this to include this story initially. It has been added at 21:30 CEST on October 18th, 2020.</p>
</div>
LinBits 14: Weekly Linux Phone news / media roundup (week 41)2020-10-11T00:25:00+00:002020-10-11T00:25:00+00:00https://linmob.net/linbits14-weekly-linux-phone-news-week41/<p><em>It's sunday. Now what happened since last sunday?</em></p>
<p>Phoc and Plasma Mobile updates, Fedora Mobility, "Fund Your App" 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/phoc/-/releases/v0.4.3">phoc 0.4.3</a>. <em>A new release of the compositor with lots of xwayland improvements, which is likely going to help with convergence (as apps like GIMP or Krita still require xwayland) and other software (e.g. Anbox).</em></li>
<li><a href="https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/phosh/-/releases/v0.4.5">phosh 0.4.5</a>. <em>This release adds a torch/flashlight quick setting, improves support for external screens and many fixes.</em><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://git.sr.ht/~martijnbraam/megapixels/refs/0.11.1">megapixels 0.11.1</a> brings further improvements, see blog post and commentary below.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth Reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>BrixIT Blog: <a href="https://blog.brixit.nl/pinephone-camera-pt4/">PinePhone Camera pt4</a> <em>The progress with PinePhone camera support in the past week has been amazing. What's still missing is camera support in other apps, e.g. <a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/Authenticator">Authenticator</a> or in the browser for video conferencing and other purposes.</em></li>
<li>LinuxSmartphones: <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/fedora-mobility-wants-to-bring-the-linux-distro-to-smartphones/">Fedora Mobility wants to bring the Linux distro to smartphones</a>. <em>It's nice that this happens, let's hope it leads to more activity and a better mobile Fedora. Make sure to also read the <a href="https://www.mail-archive.com/devel-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/msg02379.html">original Mailing List announcement</a> and their <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mobility">Wiki page</a>, as it mentions the Librem 5 and to my surprise the <a href="https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/OnePlus_5_(oneplus-cheeseburger)">OnePlus 5(T)</a> as further target devices.</em></li>
<li>Purism: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/fund-your-app-to-vote-for-the-future/">Fund Your App to Vote for the Future</a>. <em>Purism have made a new website](https://puri.sm/fund-your-app/) to get a better idea of which apps are needed by their customers and to gain the funding to develop these. At first I mistook this for a project to distribute money to developers and wondered about the developer story, but given <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Purism/comments/j687kb/purism_hires_gnome_developer_alexander/">recent</a> and <a href="https://puri.sm/job/pureos-gtk-application-development/">future hirings</a> by Purism this looks more like a 'give us money, and we will develop them' approach than something like a 'Bountysource for mobile Linux'. BTW: I decided to vote and do so with a small donation. Let's see how this develops!</em></li>
<li>Plasma Mobile: <a href="https://www.plasma-mobile.org/2020/10/09/plasma-mobile-update-september.html">Plasma Mobile update: September 2020</a>. <em>Great read! The most notable change in my book is the switch to the maliit2 keyboard, which supports GTK 3 apps. This means that (as long as there are no show stopping issues in other components, e.g. KWin) Plasma Mobile can now be used with a much larger app selection than before, which is great, as also Plasma Mobiles own apps are being improved bit by bit.</em></li>
<li>TuxPhones: <a href="https://tuxphones.com/pine64-pinecom-launch-cheaper-linux-pda/">PINE64 to launch PineCom, a cheaper, modem-free PinePhone-like PDA</a>. <em>One more product by PINE64. I am not really sure, what to make of this yet – but if you are looking for a truly private device, this might be pretty interesting. <a href="https://linuxsmartphones.com/pine64s-pinecom-will-be-like-a-smaller-cheaper-pinephone-but-not-a-phone/">Brad's article</a> is worth a read, too, and you should not miss the <a href="https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11772">forum thread</a>.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-listening">Worth Listening</h3>
<ul>
<li>The Linux Cast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/thelinuxcast/episodes/Why-Linux-on-Mobile-Might-be-Doomed-ekg17s">Why Linux on Mobile Might be Doomed</a>. <em>This episode is 9 days old (and thus technically to old for inclusion), but I listened to it in the past week and it made me so angry, that I had to include it. Many facts are wrong, Anbox seems to be an unknown, and, and, and... It's worth a listen, because he makes some valid points. My position is: Who cares about market share, as long as Linux on Mobile can be a solution that works for you individually?</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth Watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>Liliputing: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNOWJOuaesg">PinePhone: How to install apps in postmarketOS (using a terminal)</a>. <em>I bet I demoed that too, months ago, but videos like this are truly helpful for new users.</em></li>
<li>Avisando: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK1LfZf5FtI">PinePhone "p-boot"</a>. <em>Unfortunately, this video does not show more of the 13 distributions than <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqyuKysK6ag">Megi's original video</a>.</em></li>
<li>Avisando: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxYwUNeglPk">PinePhone - Samsung battery [DIY]</a>. <em>Don't try this at home. I mean it.</em></li>
<li>Switched to Linux: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zisqhlUrXI">PineTab Unboxing</a>. <em>In case you care about the PineTab, here is a video!</em></li>
<li>Privacy & Security Tips: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1t4njImIXI">Installing SailfishOS On Sdcard On Pinephone + Call/SMS Demo + Cam Attempt</a>. <em>If you want to try Sailfish OS on your PinePhone or are just curious on its current state, this video is for you.</em></li>
<li>UBports: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ef2HWVmQs">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 86</a>. <em>Installer news, Halium 9 support, and more.</em><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stuff-i-did">Stuff I did</h3>
<ul>
<li>I wanted to make a video on SailfishOS, but lacked the time and energy (I mispoke even more often and lost my train of thought than usual) – also the video linked above had curbed my enthusiasm. </li>
<li>Instead, I invested quite some time in <a href="https://linmobapps.frama.io">LINMOBapps</a>: I searched hard for AppStreamIDs, a search I <a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/105012771765704577">managed to finish</a> earlier today. Also, the list keeps growing – for now. My next task (after making a merge request to get my changes into MGLapps) is to remove apps that don't work or can't be build – e.g. the source for <code>choqok-kirigami</code> is unavailable as the developer deleted their GitHub account – and to put all the games on a different list. If you have an idea on how to improve the list, know an app that is missing, please get in touch.</li>
<li>Also, I wrote a blog post on <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/10/06/reddit-clients-for-mobile-linux.html">Reddit clients</a> and updated/amended <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/09/05/pinephone-building-plasma-mobile-apps-from-the-aur.html">two</a> <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/08/15/anbox-on-the-pinephone.html">older</a> posts.</li>
</ul>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>This item was added after initial publication on October 11th, 2020.</p>
</div>