LINux on MOBile - TabletLINMOB.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/tablet/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>
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>
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>
The Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0: A Short Comment2011-10-19T11:28:00+00:002011-10-19T11:28:00+00:00https://linmob.net/the-galaxy-nexus-and-android-4-0-a-short-comment/<p>Early today, at 9:00 am Hongkong time, the postponed Launch of the Samsung made Google Galaxy Nexus superphone, which is a awesome flagship device for the Android platform, featuring a 4.65 inch curved touchscreen which offers you an amazing real 720p resolution (not much less than the resolution your cheap 15.6” notebook offers). Inside, there is a TI OMAP 4460 dual core chip running at 1.2 GHz powering the slab device to likely pretty amazing speeds—on the outside, there are no more capacitive buttons, strongly reminding of the Homeycomb tablets out there.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>The real innovation IMHO happened on the software side of things. Android 4.0 apparently solves at least some of the usability issues that have been annoying me for a while, to just mention one thing: multitasking seems to be hugely improved.</p>
<p>You may argue that Googles designers mostly just ripped of webOS and Nokia's Swipe UI, and in some certain ways, there are certain resemblances of what we've seen on the aforementioned platforms before, but all together, Google reiterated on that, and while they brought in gestures, they did it in a way that really fits into what Android has been like before in order not to scare away existing Android users.</p>
<p>Well, maybe it's not all that overwhelming as I think now, writing this article during my lunch break after having had a look at thisismynext.com's coverage of this event—so you better have a look at what these people wrote, photographed and filmed for us all, before I am going to extend this article in the evening (European time).</p>
<p><b>SOURCE:</b> <a href="http://thisismynext.com/tag/galaxy-nexus-2011/" target="_blank">thisismynext.com</a></p>
HP kills "Palm" brand, presents S, M, L sized webOS 2.0 devices2011-02-10T19:01:00+00:002011-02-10T19:01:00+00:00https://linmob.net/hp-kills-palm-brand-presents-s-m-l-sized-webos-2-0/<p>HP held a great announcement event yesterday, which was all about webOS, the mobile OS running atop a linux kernel, which I find quite likable, even though parts of it aren't open source. The UX is just great, webOS offers the user true multi tasking—it's not only the cpu which runs multiple processes or tasks, webOS offers a great way to switch tasks really simple and fast—Android really can't compete on that front, and iOS either.</p>
<p>Let's start with the smallest newcomer (and thus Pixi (Plus) successor), the HP Veer, which, while still featuring the same 2.6” 320x400 screen now looks like a down-sized Pre, making it form factor wise a 15mm thick credit card. Most importantly the internals have been bumped up—while storage is still the same as with the Pixi Plus before, HP cramped some more horsepower into the little thing, making it a real smartphone: The SoC bump (QC MSM 7230 vs. QC MSM 7225) doesn't sound like much, but it's a real 800MHz second generation Snapdragon with Adreno 205 graphics and thus a huge improvement, RAM is said to be similar to the Pre2—it should be around 512 MB which should be enough for serious multitasking—if only your hands are small enough to feel comfortable with this 5MP camera ;-).</p>
<p>Moving on to M size, aka Pre3, which will be available in an EVDO/CDMA flavour (Veer HS(D)PA/GSM only).<br />As the M indicates, this thing is bigger, and it is bigger than the earlier Pre devices, as the 3.6” sized WVGA (as opposed to 3.1” HVGA before) indicates. Looking at the internals, RAM is said to remain about the same—but it's now a Snapdragon inside (before TI OMAP 3 3430/3630)—the model number is 8655 (EVDO/CDMA) respectively 8255 (HSPA/GSM) here—and that means 2nd gen Snapdragon here, too—but this time clocked at 1.4GHz. The camera remains at 5MP, but gains autofocus and HD Video recording—and there will be a secondary, front facing camera for video telephony) While the Veer is said to be out in spring, the other webOS 2.2 running portrait slider, the Pre3, will be out in summer—which makes sense, as the first webOS 2.0 device, the Pre2, is available in the US on Verizon from today on. </p>
<p>The tablet device (aka L sized according to HP (I believe it's 9.7” screen makes this rather XL or even XXL) is much like the iPad—with better specs: about a gigabyte of Ram, a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU sounds like quite some horsepower, and it's got some more fascinating features like a camera—the screen is just plain XGA (if iPad2 will have the rumored 2048x1536 pixel “Retina” screen, this will .um.. suck—as both will be out in summer). The name is pretty generic, it's Touchpad, overall this is a tablet running webOS in its third mayor iteration (no gesture area, btw), which might turn out nice if HP manages to communicate the advantage of their solution—I will just mention the great synchronization with webOS phones here (I am typing this on my G1 and don' t feel like looking up buzzwords).</p>
<p>All devices feature the same design language which surfaced first with the Pixi and its flat surface and was since refined with the Pre2. And there is on point, that I do not like too much about all of them, and which is really bad on the Pre3 and the Touchpad, considering that these are HPs top notch products: Storage. 8 GB or 16GB on the Pre3, which most likely doesn't, just like its predecessors, feature a microSD slot really sounds like a bad joke—16GB / 32 GB would have been much more adequate. It's the same for the Touchpad, 32GB/64GB would have been appreciated. Please HP, if possible, fix this before you really ramp up production.</p>
<p>Having mentioned that HP plans to bring webOS to PCs, too (As a layer on top of Windows? As an Instant On System? They didn't say.), these are some nice new things, and HP really seems to be devoted to push webOS—which is great, if only they keep the platform as slick as it is and don't mess it up. </p>
<p>And guess what: They kinda mess it up: J. Rubinstein stated that the promised webOS 2.0 update for legacy webOS devices won't happen—the community seems to be upset. HP says that it the Hardware wasn't good enough to run webOS—while the webOS 2.0 might really stink on a Pixi, it most certainly wouldn't on a Pre Plus. Probably this is the time to port Android to the Pre(+)… it should run just fine.</p>