LINux on MOBile

More numbers: 3.0.0 matches pmbootstrap, 0.4 matches a lockscreen for Sxmo, 4.4.0 is a new release of mobile-config-firefox, 24.12 will be the next KDE Gear, and 153 is the new Ubuntu Touch Q&A. In non-numbery news: libobscura (a new approach for camera support) has been properly announced, a repository and will have a 38C3 talk, debphoshfund poll results, a Crimson progress report by Purism, and more fun stuff. Enjoy!

Commentary in italics.

Worth Reading

• Purism: PureOS Crimson Development Report: October 2024
• fossphones.com: Linux Phone News - November 13, 2024
• Anjan Momi Homepage: SeaGL 2024 Talk: Introduction to postmarketOS
• Anjan Momi Homepage: FOSSY 2023 Talk: Thoughts after daily driving postmarketOS for 3 years
• Der Standard: Der Traum von Linux am Smartphone. German, sorry.

Worth Watching

• Continuum Gaming: Continuum Gaming E442: SFOS – Camera Comparison between C2, Xperia 10 II / III & Lumia 950XL
• UBports: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 153. Includes cat.
• Arbitrary Tech: Sailfish OS Linux Phone Update Q4 2024
• Ivon Huang: Running postmarketOS + Phosh on any Android phone with Termux proot. No root.
• Arnaud Ferraris at MiniDebConf Toulouse: Trixie on mobile: are we there yet?, low quality video, Conference Schedule

Worth Noting

• Luigi311: I have added in the #plasmamobile manual importing section to the migration guide for #MobileLinux. It now has information on migrating from Android and iOS Contacts/Calendar/Emails to #Phosh and #plasmamobile . What other DE should i add? #SXMO ?https://blog.luigi311.com/migrate-mobile-linux/
• mntmn: first system controller update via fwupd+gnome-firmware successfully completed! so good! thanks @ch2500 and @hughsie for making this possible
• cassidy: "Linux-on-mobile folks: I hope you’re paying attention to the new Linux VM stuff in Android 15.I genuinely think one of the most important approaches to building the Linux mobile ecosystem is to enable people to get (and fall in love with!) our app ecosystem on the phone and OS they already use.It’s critical to build the whole experience (like we see with GNOME and PostmarketOS), but we need to meet people where they are, first.#Linux #Android #LinuxMobile #OpenSource #GNOME #postmarketOS"
• z3ntu: Just learned of this website for European alternatives to well-known services such as Gmail. Really awesome to see that! https://european-alternatives.eu/
• praveen: Top 5 high priority issues identified by https://codema.in/debphoshfund/ poll for daily driving GNU/Linux phones.Only 2/5 affects #flx1 since it does not use suspend as a power saving strategy (it scales down the processor to single core to save battery).#mobian #librem5 #flx1 #pinephone #debian #FreeSoftware
• agx: "While looking at some details of my prepaid card I got reminded that phosh-osk-stub lacks special layouts for numbers, digits, PINs and phone numbers but not for much longer. If all goes well this will land for 0.44. While at that I looked at making calls's USSD dialog a bit easier to use:#phosh #LinuxMobile #gtk"
• Lemmy - linuxphones: Using OSM for navigation w/external GPS (GPS→NMEA over bluetooth→FOSS phone)-- Can any FOSS platforms do this?
• cassidy: Going forward, it looks like we might be able to get actual Linux apps running on modern Android through a built-in VM, similar to what you can do on ChromeOS today.If you think that’s too nerdy for most people, you’re probably right—but it’s much simpler and lower-barrier than flashing an entirely new OS and abandoning the entire ecosystem they’ve been using for the last decade or more all at once for an ecosystem that frankly isn’t ready.#Linux #Android #LinuxMobile #OpenSource #GNOME
• Jaffa: "@danct12 #Nokia did a (soft) launch party for the #N900 at the BFI on the South Bank in London in September 2009.lcuk had had a prototype, so we were able to do a cool demo: https://youtu.be/yk27PenpAz0#RetroComputing #Maemo #MeeGo_EDIT:_ I note wryly that Nokia's blog post about this is now on the #Microsoft website: https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2009/09/04/n900-to-appear-in-london-next-week/"
• liliputing: "GenBook RK3588 is modular Linux laptop with an upgradeable design (crowdfunding)"
• cas: #Qualcomm #Snapdragon X elite go brrrrrgot the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 booting. it's vvvv nice !just needs some extra modules added to the initramfs and (bluergh) firmware you have to yoink from Windows if you want battery % and GPU.#postmarketOS #LinuxMobile #Linux #Mainline

Events

• flypig: "Really happy that the #LinuxOnMobile stand has been accepted for #FOSDEM25. We'll be showcasing #PureOS, #MNT Research, #NemoMobile #Mobian., #SailfishOS and #AsteroidOS. Hope to see you in Brussels, 1-2 February!Linux on Mobile: https://linuxonmobile.net/All the accepted stands: https://fosdem.org/2025/news/2024-11-16-stands-announced/"
• fosdem: Accepted stands Aside from the one above, there'll also be a separate postmarketOS stand, and a Furi Labs stand. Surpisingly, there won't be a PINE64 stand. IIRC, Ubuntu Touch is also not there as they've been banned by FOSDEM orga for something.
• tbernard: "🎅🐼 Save the date 🐼🎅We're having a release event for the new @p2panda stack, and a hackfest to start working on a new native GTK local-first collaborative text editor!Join us December 7-8 in Berlin (location and details TBA) #p2panda #p2p #localfirst #gnome #gtk #berlin"
• @linmob@fosstodon.org: Who's into #LinuxMobile and plans to attend #38c3? Want to form an assembly? https://events.ccc.de/en/2024/11/03/38c3-call-for-assemblies/ - Nov 24 is the deadline.I (Peter) think it would be nice to have one, but after my failing to make it happen last year (https://linmob.net/37c3) I don't want to try again - the failure was in part due to a stressful end of year at $dayjob and it's going to be similar this year.This does not have to be a stand, and could just be a home base to connect and hack on things!. Thanks to erebion for registering an assembly since!

Camera

• dcz: @libcamera The actual #code is on #codeberg (error: toot too long).https://codeberg.org/libobscura/libobscura
• dcz: "#libobscura grand opening!Libobscura is a friendly library to use cameras on Linux.At least that's the goal.The objectives are:- hard to use it wrong- get a RGB buffer in ten lines of code- easy to add support for new devices- no mailing list :PI want #linuxmobile and other #photo and #video workflows to become easy, and manufacturers to spend less time adding support (hi me 2 years ago).More info on my #blog: https://dorotac.eu/posts/libobscura/#freesoftware #rustlang"
• #LinuxMobile: Hey #linuxmobile people.Maybe you heard about my little #libobscura project.Which phone should #libobscura support after #Librem5 ?I'm looking for one which has the kernel drivers but cameras still don't work great.#camera #PostmarketOS #mobian

More Software News

Gnome Ecosystem

• This Week in GNOME: #174 Choosing Formats
• hughsie: Firmware SBOMs for open source projects
• Phoronix: GNOME Mutter Switches To High Priority KMS Thread To Avoid Crashes

Phosh

• Phosh.mobi: Phosh 0.43.0
• phosh: "Days are short on the northern hemisphere and news aren't good either. Maybe this can spark some light ✨ :phosh 0.43.0 is out 🚀📱:🙏 to everyone who contributed to this release.There's 🐛 fixes and improvements, check out the full release notes at https://phosh.mobi/releases/rel-0.43.0/ for details or see 👇 for a short 🧵#phosh #librem5 #pinephone #gtk #wlroots #gnome #linux #mobile #LinuxMobile"

Plasma Ecosystem

• KDE Blogs: This Week in Plasma: Discover and System Monitor with a side of WINE
• KDE Blogs: This Week in KDE Apps: Adopt an App
• KDE Mentorship: Conclusion of KDE and Google Summer of Code 2024
• Volker Krause: Testing application first use experience
• Planet KDE: KDE Gear 24.12 Beta Testing
• Planet KDE: Presenting privact at KDE Akademy

Sxmo

• anjan: Peanutbutter 0.4 is out. The lock screen now has a clock and icons!It should be available on alpine edge soon.#linuxmobile #sxmo #postmarketos
• #sxmo: #pmos #pocof1 so cool that we have a working camera with linux 6.11 and phosh!but why the heck am i not able to get i working in #sxmo ?
• #sxmo: #pyradio on #sxmo @postmarketOS No algorithm. No profiling. No #enshittification. Just listening to #music.
• #sxmo: @sohrab fixing this might give you a few hours more: https://gitlab.postmarketos.org/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/issues/2455#note_453587and always close firefox when not using it. if you read a lot online (like me), use mobilized-dillo browser.and of corse, using #sxmo helps too 🤓
• #LinuxMobile: @anjan cool 🥳btw. if you ever feel like adding a special new feature: https://github.com/nuvious/pam-duress?tab=readme-ov-file for example on some border crossings you have to hand out your phone... triggering a screenrecorder to see how they navigate through sxmo.... or hiding chats and pw managers.. there are plenty of usecases😉#linuxmobile

Ubuntu Touch

• Ubuntu Touch Forums News: Upcoming UBports Events in the Netherlands
• Ubuntu Touch Forums News: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 153 Call for Questions
• UBports - Development - Issues: Shorten Calendar Notification Sound
• fredldotme: Goofy faces as posters
• #UbuntuTouch: #Google #Pixel 3a mit dem #OpenSource #Betriebssystem #UbuntuTouch zu verkaufen #black #New https://www.ebay.de/itm/116390488130#ebay #ubuntu_phone #ubuntu #pixel3a #ubuntu_mobile #linux @fredldotme @ubports
• #UbuntuTouch: Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-6 veröffentlicht https://fosstopia.de/ubuntu-touch-20-04-ota-6-veroeffentlicht/ #UBPorts #UbuntuTouch

Distributions

• Droidian (Mastodon): Droidian 💯 released!Get it while it's hot: https://github.com/droidian-images/droidian/releases/tag/droidian%2F100OTA update pushed to everyone tracking the current update channel.Have fun! #MobileLinux #Droidian #phosh #gtk
• postmarketOS pmbootstrap tags: 3.0.0
• ollieparanoid: "After ~ half a year of massive refactorings and improvements to make pmbootstrap easier to maintain and to bring more performance and better usability, we are happy to announce the 3.0.0 release of pmbootstrap!Personally my favorite new feature is that packages to build are now calculated and shown ahead of time, but it features so many more improvements.Coming soon to a distro near you - if you want to use it now, grab it from the git repo!https://gitlab.postmarketos.org/postmarketOS/pmbootstrap/-/tags/3.0.0"
• postmarketOS: "We are excited to announce that @anjan is now a trusted contributor in postmarketOS!He is a maintainer of our favorite tiling WM based Linux Mobile interface Sxmo, maintains quite a few Alpine Linux packages, contributed some cool pmbootstrap patches and recently made a talk "Introduction to postmarketOS" at SeaGL! 🥳 📜 TC page:https://postmarketos.org/trusted-contributors/#anjan-momi-anjandev📽️ SeaGL talk:https://www.youtube.com/live/wJfbS8f2Zio?feature=shared&t=3084#sxmo #seagl2024"

Apps

• piggz: "Implemented [un]star on Supersonik, my @kde #kirigami #subsonic client"
• alice: "And an obligatory recording(and no, I don't suck at ninja gaiden and smw this badly :3 It's just hard to play it while looking at another phone's screen with camera on it)"
• CalcProgrammer1: https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/TouchpadEmulator It turns your device's touchscreen into a mouse. Toggles between mouse and touchscreen mode using volume keys or slider (on OnePlus 6T) and also toggles onscreen keyboard enabled/disabled.
• LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: Notify
• LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: MPRIS Timer
• LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: PinApp
• LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: Counters
• LinuxPhoneApps.org: Apps: Nimlem
• GerryT: "Share of programming languages used by #GTK2 / #GTK4 applications : 30% #Python23% #Vala21% #Rust16% #C 06% #gjs #Javascript06% #C++ #Cplusplus 02% Other (including #Csharp, #Go, #Haskell, #Lua, #Crystal, #Swift, #d )62% use GTK4, while still 38% use GTK3.Method: Source [1] lists 453 awesome #gtk (3/4) #opensource applications and their #programminglanguage. Date: 2024-11-11.[1] https://github.com/valpackett/awesome-gtk"

mobile-config-firefox

• postmarketOS: "mobile-config-firefox 4.4.0 is out! :firefoxnew:* More space in the urlbar (no ➡️, trimHttps, etc.)* More space for tabs* Touch screen fixes* Tab counter!* xdg-desktop-portal file-picker* Moving the navigation to the bottom / showing multiple tabs / tab counter is now optional via about:config options* PPA is disabledBig thanks to @linmob, @user0 from #FriendlyFox (counter is based on her amazing work!), @gnumdk from @droidian, @DrRac27, @sethi !https://gitlab.postmarketos.org/postmarketOS/mobile-config-firefox/-/tags/4.4.0#linuxmobile"
• postmarketOS mobile-config-firefox tags: 4.4.0

Kernel

• phone-devel: [PATCH] arm64: dts: qcom: msm8916-samsung-serranove: Add display panel
• Phoronix: Basic Support For Many Pre-M1 Apple Devices Coming To Linux 6.13 - Phoronix
• kernellogger: "🥳 '"TL;DR:* #Google has upgraded the #kernel version of all Tensor-powered #Pixels in the Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1 release.* The Google Pixel 6 series, Pixel 7 series, Pixel 8 series, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel Fold all join the Pixel 9 series in running #Linux 6.1.* Previously, Tensor G1 and G2-powered Pixels were running #LinuxKernel 5.10 while Tensor G3-powered Pixels were running on Linux 5.15.'"https://www.androidauthority.com/pixel-linux-6-1-android-15-qpr2-3498932/". Not directly on-topic, but seeing Kernel release updates for Android devices is still so rare it's worth celebrating.

Stack

• Phoronix: systemd 257-rc2 Released With New systemd-keyutil Tool
• Phoronix: Linux 6.12 Preps For Release With Real-Time, Sched_Ext, Stable Xe2 & Raspberry Pi 5
• Phoronix: OpenMP 6.0 Released With An Emphasis On Easier Parallel Programming
• ircv3.net: 2024 Spec round-up

Matrix

• Matrix.org: This Week in Matrix 2024-11-15
• Matrix.org: Sunsetting the Sliding Sync Proxy: Moving to Native Support

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 the hedgedoc 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!