LINux on MOBile - ReviewsLINMOB.net is a blog about LINux on MOBile devices. With the PinePhone (Pro) and Librem 5 shipping it is back to report on GNU+Linux on mobile devices.Zola2020-08-16T12:07:18+00:00https://linmob.net/tags/reviews/feed.xmlLinBits 6: Weekly PinePhone news / media roundup (week 33)2020-08-16T12:07:18+00:002020-08-16T12:07:18+00:00https://linmob.net/linbits6-weekly-pinephone-news-week33/<p><em>It's sunday. I need to stop tinkering and make it Linbits time!</em></p>
<p>This is some the best stuff that happened in the Linux on Mobile and PinePhone space this week. <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://twitter.com/meanmicio/status/1294666367816347650">GNUHealth, a social health softwre, is apparently shaping up nicely on the PinePhone.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/mobile-config-firefox">mobile-firefox-config</a>. <em>postmarketOS published a set of tweaks for the Firefox browser that make it more usable on the PinePhone. BTW: My favourite browser is Angelfish, unfortunately it is not available everywhere.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch/releases/tag/20200814">Arch Linux ARM/Huong Tram Linux saw a new release</a>, enabling the Firefox tweaks above, shipping with <code>phosh-renice</code>, a <a href="https://github.com/KeironO/phosh-renice">set of scripts</a> that prioritises certain processes originating from the <a href="https://www.mobian-project.org">Mobian</a> community, and other improvements. Danct12 also packaged <code>anbox</code>, too.</li>
<li>Manjaro released a new Plasma Mobile alpha after 4 months, which you can <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=Wn7bliZrHJ8">watch in action</a> or <a href="https://osdn.net/projects/manjaro-arm/storage/pinephone/plasma-mobile/alpha6/">download</a>. Also: <a href="https://twitter.com/fkardame/status/1293681887572107264">More Lomiri teasing</a>.</li>
<li>Maemo Leste <a href="https://twitter.com/maemoleste/status/1294721617227128832">have shared</a> that they have made progress porting Qt5 to their distribution.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="hardware-fun">Hardware fun</h3>
<ul>
<li>silver has built a <a href="https://fedimaker.space/@silver/104665479131040331">folding PinePhone case</a>. <em>I really like this!</em> </li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-reading">Worth reading</h3>
<ul>
<li>Pine64: <a href="https://www.pine64.org/2020/08/15/august-update-getting-into-a-rhythm-and-not-slowing-down/">August update: getting into a rhythm and not slowing down</a>. <em>Pine64's monthly update is always worth a read, especially when they include a video by yours truly. Kidding aside, it really is.</em></li>
<li>mcol.xyz: <a href="https://mcol.xyz/2020/08/a-full-day-test-driving-ubuntu-touch-on-the-pinephone.html">a full day test-driving ubuntu touch</a>. <em>This is a good write up about using the PinePhone with UBports in a real world scenario.</em></li>
<li>AndroidPolice: <a href="https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/08/15/this-smartphone-has-physical-kill-switches-for-its-cameras-microphone-data-bluetooth-and-wi-fi/">This smartphone has physical kill switches for its cameras, microphone, data, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi</a>. <em>While I get the kill switch excitement with the Librem 5, I haven't used the kill switches on the PinePhone yet, as removing the back plate and the tiny switches ... no. Just no.</em></li>
<li>AndroidPolice: <a href="https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/08/13/the-linux-based-pinephone-is-the-most-interesting-smartphone-ive-tried-in-years/">The Linux-based PinePhone is the most interesting smartphone I've tried in years</a>. <em>It's rare that mainstream phone news outlets pick up on products like the PinePhone, and it is even rarer that they do so in such a nice way.</em> </li>
<li>Dino: <a href="https://dino.im/blog/2020/08/setting-out-for-calls-and-conferences/">Setting out for calls and conferences</a>. <em>Dino, which is an XMPP client with excellent support for OMEMO-encryption, have announced that they will add support for calls and conferences. I put this into this segment as Dino is not libhandy-enabled yet and does not run particularily well on the PinePhone, but with support for internet native calls it becomes a lot more interesting — and a lot can happen in a year.</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="worth-watching">Worth watching</h3>
<ul>
<li>UBports: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=e-NIgbHgSRc">Ubuntu Touch Q&A 82</a>. <em>This is an interesting one for people interested in the PinePhone and PineTab. If you lack the time to watch all of it: Around Minute 0:15 VoLTE, after that QtWebEngine; 8:35: PineTab; 13:00: Initial Camera support for the PinePhone (<a href="https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/104698819001147326">toot</a>); 14:15 also the Bluetooth toggle has been fixed; 20:15: Lomiri on Manjaro.</em></li>
<li>matrixdotorg: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=tJ8tthkVAOQ">Open Tech Will Save Us Meetup #5</a>. <em>Starting around minute <a href="https://youtu.be/tJ8tthkVAOQ?t=1930">32:10</a>, Matthew Petry, a Pine64 volunteer, talks a bit about the running Synapse (Matrix-server) on a RockPro-Cluster, but also about Pine64 in general and thus about the PinePhone, too.</em> </li>
<li>Дмитрий Куртуков: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=MMTlu3De-Eg">Look on the PINEPHONE keyboard</a>. <em>We've seen previous iterations of this particular "attach a Nokia N950 keyboard to the PinePhone"-keyboard before. This new video focuses just on the keyboard. Well done!</em></li>
<li>PizzaLovingNerd: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=4bjXxeu8oqk">PinePhone OSes: PureOS</a>. <em>The PureOS port is definitely interesting, and PizzaLovingNerd did a good job with this video.</em></li>
<li>Martijn Braam: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=Co6qnlw4hgE">mobile-config-firefox on the PinePhone</a>. <em>As mentioned above, the postmarketOS community has worked hard to improve desktop Firefox on the PinePhone. Here is Martijn Braam, postmarketOS developer, giving you an idea of these improvements — you'll need to watch carefully to see them, but in real life they do make quite the difference.</em></li>
<li>Сергей Чуплыгин: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=9NGp5VRbWLc">Volume button work on pinephone</a>. <em>Three seconds of Sailfish OS with working volume buttons. Great to see progress on Sailfish OS!</em></li>
<li>Leszek Lesner: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=EKvcNuHYulg">AirDrop Alternative KDEConnect - Android, Linux, Windows, SailfishOS, Plasma Mobile</a>. <em>This is not about the PinePhone, but with KDE Connect being a really helpful piece of software, I figured to include it.</em></li>
<li>Nick Elsmore: <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=Ki7ucNhWk_w">Simple Retroarch Test (daveshah port)</a>. <em>This is a special treat, as it shows the long-coming DragonBox Pyra handheld running Retroarch.</em> </li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stuff-i-did">Stuff I did</h3>
<ul>
<li>I replaced my old Mobian install with their f2fs-image. While others apparently have run into issues with this image, it has been working fine for me for the past four days. Only difference is that it feels a lot faster. <em>BTW: Make sure to get decent, name brand microSDHC/microSDXC cards. It makes a difference.</em> Also I contributed <a href="https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=fractal">instructions on using Pantalaimon to the Mobian Wiki</a>, though I went back to using it with out the CPU limiter, as that would not work for me.</li>
<li>I asked for a topic to make a video on on Fosstodon and Twitter, and just like in the comments to my <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=Wn7bliZrHJ8">Qt Apps on Phosh-video</a>, Anbox was hugely popular. Therefore I had to finally wrap my head around it, and <a href="https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=v06KUrfs69k">published a video</a> and <a href="https://linmob.net/2020/08/15/anbox-on-the-pinephone.html">wrote an article</a>.</li>
<li>I tried Manjaros new Plasma Mobile image on video. It's nice, but certainly not ready for daily use yet. I will have another look at the KDE Neon images next week, to see how well these do work.</li>
<li>I decided that I will start adding an Application List to this blog, starting from the <a href="https://mglapps.frama.io/">MGLApps</a> list, adding more information and hopefully even tiny screenshots to the list on an app by app basis. <em>Pull requests welcome!</em> </li>
</ul>