LINux on MOBile

postmarketOS is (still) Nura, with a new non-profit ASBL and a roadmap to daily-drivable mainline phones. Sailfish OS 5.2.0.18 ships for the Jolla Phone first, good news regarding Fairphone 5 call audio (at least on Catacomb), and more!

Collected on Sunday, October 4th 2026, 15:41 UTC and finished on the same day(ish). Commentary in italics.

Worth Reading

• Vivia's blog: Third day of using a Jolla phone
• Nura Blog: The road to daily-drivable mainline phones
• Nura Blog: The Nura Project ASBL
• Nura Blog: Project rebrand: Nura
• Purism: PureOS Development Report: August 2026

Worth Watching

Note: This video section is based on select feeds and fediverse accounts and thus very likely incomplete. See the "Personal Note" in 25/2026 for reasons - please help out and add relevant videos you enjoy to the pad.

• Continuum Gaming: Live SFOS Update 5.2.0.18 (Continuum Gaming E542)
• CodingBite: PostmarketOS is Now Nura! (What Changed?)
• UBports: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 200
• Snapp Technology: SailfishOS, LLMs, and general software engineering - Snapp Podcast
• Snapp Technology: Exploring Sailfish OS Architecture
• Tomás: One week with the Jolla 2026 phone as a cameraphone.
• austriancoder: Some things are worth the wait. 🐢Tonight at #XDC2026 I gave a 5-minute lightning talk: "etnaviv: good things take time" - a look back at a year in which the Vivante GPU driver in Mesa finally reached two milestones that once felt very far away.A short thread 🧵 1/6#etnaviv #mesa3d Video link (live stream)

Worth Noting

• Logical_Error: TIL of the #linuxmobile wikipedia pages. lots of stuff that i’ve never heard ofhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_for_mobile_deviceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phoneshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_operating_system
• r/MobileLinux: Linux on Galaxy A20s
• r/MobileLinux: That guy that was working on the Fairphone 6 stuff is apparently making a new distro
• Purism community: State of Librem 5 in 2026
• Purism community: Librem 5 benchmarks
• Purism community: Videocalls on Librem 5?
• Lemmy.ml - linuxphones: Pixel 3a

Hardware (enablement)

• webbeef: What is the #linuxmobile #mobilelinux community opinion about the https://braxtech.net/products/wink ? They claim support for "mainline linux" (go to extra features 16/16) which is interesting!
• UndeadLeech: Just updated my alsa-ucm-conf-qcom-sc7280 ArchLinux package for the #Fairphone 5; dropping the last remaining custom call audio patch. So happy to finally see this working so well without any custom patches.Really looking forward to more people getting to benefit from this once it lands in #nura.#linuxmobile
• austriancoder: "Milestone 1: OpenGL ES 3.0 🎉After years at ES 2.0, etnaviv now exposes GLES 3.0 - after filling in a long list of missing features: multisample textures, 128-bit render targets, 32-bit float depth, integer render targets and transform feedback emulation for GPUs without hardware support.The Khronos conformance suite passes, and results for i.MX8MQ (MNT Reform) and i.MX8MP (SolidRun CuBox-M) are submitted. 🤞"

More Software News

Distributions

• Nura Blog: The road to daily-drivable mainline phones
  • Lemmy - Nura: The road to daily-drivable mainline phones
  • Lemmy.ca - linuxphones: The road to daily-drivable mainline phones
  • Lemmy.ml - linuxphones: The road to daily-drivable mainline phones
• Nura Blog: The Nura Project ASBL
  • Lemmy.ca - linuxphones: The Nura Project ASBL
• Nura Blog: Project rebrand: Nura
  • Lemmy.ml - linuxphones: PostmarketOS renamed to Nura
  • Lemmy.ca - linuxphones: PostmarketOS renamed to Nura
• Breaking updates in Nura edge: System may not boot on kernels older than 7.2 with systemd 262
• Nura pmaports Merge Requests: gnome-shell-mobile: Add OSK paste button
• Nura Wiki New Pages: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3
  • Lemmy - Nura: Nura booting on Kindle Paperwhite 3
• Nura mobile-config-firefox tags: 5.5.0
  • @linmob@linuxmobile.social: mobile-config-firefox, Firefox 157
• Mobian Wiki: Mobian
• DanctNIX (Mastodon): Intro is now available on Demozoo:https://demozoo.org/productions/398135/Thanks @alpinelinux and @nura for a great conference!#postmarketOSandAlpineLinuxConference2026 #NuraAndAlpineLinuxConference2026
• DanctNIX (Mastodon): Well, that aged like milk. @nura
• FuriLabs: Ai Vision Conference Keynote Panel Oct 2026. Oof.
• agx: "Phosh's BengalOS booting on a SHIFT8. Thanks to the #Linux #sc7280 maintainers for their work! That's the first device booting on BengalOS that is still available for sale (and will be for some time). There's plenty of stuff missing on the kernel side to make that usable, but it's a start.#LinuxMobile #Linux #mobile #Phosh #BengalOS"

Apps

• oleksii: I'm struggle to pass code review to publish my first Alpine package https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/merge_requests/108244Mean while running CI/CD and build flatpak from my repo looks ok solution to prototype and distribute. https://github.com/oleksiidn/keysmith/actions#mobileLinux #linuxMobile
• krille: "FluffyChat 2.10.0 has been released 🎉, including finally support for MatrixRTC calls via LiveKit (compatible with Element calls) and a lot of bugfixes and improvements. You can see all changes here: https://github.com/krille-chan/fluffychat/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md#v2100With this release comes the first official build for Windows: https://github.com/krille-chan/fluffychat/releases Please be aware that these builds are mostly untested and very experimental. We are happy for any feedback. Native macOS builds are also coming soon.". Nice, calls!
• hugoposnic: If you haven't check the "Jogger" app, available in #Flathub, from a while I think you should!Many improvements have landed since this summer around UX, reliability of metrics plus many fixes. A "Flyover" feature is even there now. And I think there are still new things to come 🙂 Kudos to @baarkerlounger for this awesome app.https://flathub.org/en/apps/xyz.slothlife.Jogger#linuxmobile
• chfkch: In a fever today i had an epiphany about #Relm4 and some of its functions and now i have to rewrite alot of misused code in #BitRitter. Luckily it makes it more robust and better to read/maintain. Gosh i really was overwhelmed by both the framework and learning #RustLang at the same time.Time to pay off some of this debt soon and present v1 of the Edit Mode.But not so soon, gotta get well first.#LinuxMobile #BitWarden #VaultWarden

Gnome Ecosystem

• This Week in GNOME: #268 Improved Agenda
• Arun Raghavan: On LLMs and free software
• Hans de Goede: Snapdragon X1 laptops improvements in Fedora 45
• Hans de Goede: Snapdragon X1 laptop kernel COPR for Fedora 45
• Michael Catanzaro: The Era of Software Quality, or the Era of Ostriches?

Phosh

• Phosh.mobi Blog: Development News September 2026
• Phosh.mobi e.V. News: Phosh.mobi @ the postmarketOS and Alpine Linux conference
• Phosh (gotosocial): Great to see things move further towards end user adoption: https://social.treehouse.systems/@nura/117355954826297725 (and ...
• okennedy: A modest proposal for compositors and UI frameworks: Supporting SVG and/or PDF screenshots could help address one of the most fundamental UI challenges to grow out of mobile phones: Sharing information.Buckle in, this is a long one...

Plasma Ecosystem

• Nate Graham: This Week in Plasma: 6.8 Beta 2; Keep Testing!
• Volker Krause: KDE Akademy 2026
• Carl Schwan: Akademy 2026 in Graz
• Carl Schwan: Kirigami Addons 1.15.0
• Qt blog: Qt Creator 21 Beta released
• Troy Dawson: Fossy 2026
• Nate Graham: Interview with Michael Tunnell about KDE’s 30th birthday
• Filip Fila: Oxygen at Akademy 2026
• Phoronix: KDE Plasma 6.8 Now Makes Tiled Windows Fit Together More Nicely
• Phoronix: KDE Nearing Decision Point On BuildStream-Based KDE Linux

Sxmo

• #sxmo: #postmarketos #librem5 #sxmo To boot into #pmos installed on your SD card1, connect phone to charger(One end of the charger is a USBC and the other side should be a power plug). No other types of chargers are working. ie, the USB in the charger should only have power delivery2. Press and hold the power button and release post the first vibration3. Release the power button4. Immediately press and hold the volume down button for a few seconds until color of led changes5. You will see penguins appear on your screen6. Wait for pmos to boot. It will take a couple of minutes.7. Phone will boot to pmos on the SD card

Sailfish OS

• Announcements - Sailfish OS Forum: Community meeting on October 15, 2026
• Announcements - Sailfish OS Forum: [Release notes] Finlayson 5.2.0.18 - Jolla Phone first
• Announcements - Sailfish OS Forum: Roadshow: potential community meeting @Stockholm Oct 21
• #sailfishOS: The Other Half arrived !! 👏🔥#sailfishos #sailfishcommunity @jolla
• #sailfishOS: Obtainium/ObtainX is the best way to distribute apps for testing in team and outside.#SailfishOS didn't seem to have the same mechanism.So I built it.Putting it out as OSS next week.(if there already was one and I just didn't find it, let me know. I don't want to step on anyone's toes)OK, UI needs work.
• #sailfishOS: Massive improvement for the camera in the Jolla 2026 linux phone #jolla #sailfishos #Linux #maemo #linuxphonehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_VS1rhACVUYay!
• #sailfishOS: #VertMatch Companion for #UNAWatch on #SailfishOS is now feature complete.Here's a short video:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/krOsAcZwlOQ

Ubuntu Touch

• UBports Forums OS: Background GPS
• Ubuntu Touch Forums News: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 200 call for questions
• UBports - Development - Merge Requests: Fingerprint setup: support under-display fingerprint sensors
• powerampache: UBUNTU TOUCH and LINUX DESKTOP release Version 1.0.74Download links:Ubuntu Touch OpenStore (https://open-store.io/app/powerampache.icefields/)#Linux Desktop AppImage (https://github.com/icefields/Power-Ampache-Qt/releases)— Fixed the Nextcloud like/favourite— Pull-to-refresh— Fixed cache on multiple account logins— added hint at login for #Nextcloud MusicComing soon:— Star ratings — Playlist creation and editing— Song context menu— downloads#ubuntuTouch #ubuntu #music#OpenSource #FOSS #ampache #Spotify #FDroid #powerAmpache #matrix
• mmmikhael: This week in Seabass3 for #ubuntutouch: * Language server integration for Python* Dynamic switching between light/dark themes* And a cute cow who likes what she sees 😃

Maemo Leste

• #MaemoLeste: I took my Nokia #N900 from the drawer and put latest #Maemo #Leste on sdcard. It has some quirks to overcome at start, but it works quite fine. I've bought a new replacement battery, so it now keeps running for a long time.I installed wireguard on it and can use SSH to log in to my devices. The dillo browser is not able to render websites correctly, but also it's amazing when it shows only relevant parts and cuts all the crap. Email is timeless, so it just works. Syncevolution is unfortunately currently broken (can't install; broken dependencies).A real pocket computer. It has aged like a fine wine #maemoleste. The N900 was introduced in 2009, about 17 years ago.

Kernel

• phone-devel: [PATCH 0/4] power: supply: qcom_smbx: report charger state changes
• phone-devel: [PATCH] power: supply: qcom_smbx: set the charge enable after software control
• phone-devel: [PATCH 0/2] Tighten compatible matching for himax,hx83112{a,b}
• phone-devel: [PATCH v3 0/4] Add Novatek NT37705 panel driver for Fairphone (Gen. 6)
• Phoronix: Linux Patches Show Promising Results For Lower Latency Of Short Slice Tasks
• Phoronix: Linux 7.4 To Support The Raspberry Pi 10-Inch Touch Display 2
• Phoronix: Linux 7.3 To Better Support The High-End Turtle Beach VelocityOne Race
• Phoronix: Linux 7.4 To Introduce Initial Device Trees For Apple M4, A18 Pro For MacBook Neo

Stack

• Phoronix: KosmicKrisp Now Conformant To Vulkan 1.4, Improving Performance Against Apple's Metal
• Phoronix: systemd-appd Out For Review To Centralize Tracking Of User's Apps
• Phoronix: Apex Compute Developing Open-Source Mesa Vulkan Driver For Their Hardware
• Phoronix: Mesa Drops Its Poorly Maintained & Rarely Used Direct3D 10 User-Mode Driver
• Phoronix: Coreboot 26.09 Released With Framework Laptop 12 Support, AI Review Comment Policy
• Phoronix: Imagination Talks Up Their Open-Source Vulkan Driver, Volcanic Architecture Plans

Matrix

• Matrix.org: This Week in Matrix 2026-10-02

Thanks

Huge thanks to Plata for the nifty set of Python scripts that speed up collecting links from feeds by a lot.

Something missing? Want to contribute?

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 this pad for the next one! Since I am collecting many things there, this get's you early access if you will ;-) If you just stumble on a thing, please put it in there too - all help is appreciated!