Weekly GNU-like Mobile Linux Update (48/2024): Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA 7 and Sxmo 1.17.0
Table of Contents
This week: A Ubuntu Touch 20.04 Security OTA numbered 7 (and potentially new hardware for UT), a new release of Sxmo, changes to doas-aliasing as sudo, many videos, and more!
Commentary in italics.
Worth Reading
- Jan Wagemakers: Update : Reading my emails with Mutt on a postmarketOS/Sxmo smartphone
- flypig's Gecko log: A Brief Embedded Browser Expo
- agx: Colors of Noise: Free Software Activities November 2024
- Bobbie Beach's Space: Flashing PinePhone Images to SD Cards on Chromebook. Using a tool for a different purpose ... that's hacking, right?
Worth Watching
- UBports: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 154
- Jozef Mlich: Amazfish pairing on Ubuntu Touch
- MeloriTensei: So phones HAD Linux after all
- Ubuntu OnAir: Ubuntu Summit 2024 | What's going on with Snaps on Ubuntu Touch?
- COSCUP 開源人年會: Ubuntu Touch: freedom of choices in mobile OS space
- 9to5Linux: Ubuntu Touch OTA-7: Security Fixes & More!
- David Bombal: Hack WiFi with a phone? (Kali Linux Nethunter Pro)
- Symbiiote: The 3D Printed "Crystal" uConsole Cyberdeck Mod
- asgardius: Midori in the Magic School R0.3.0-beta on Pinephone
Worth Noting
- tbernard: "Doing some software archaeology with @jimmac today, looking at webOS on the Touchpad and Palm Pre.It's very cool to see how far ahead of its time this was, and also how many elements from it survived in GNOME in some form! And of course, the multitasking is still unmatched by any more recent mobile platform :)#webOS #palmPre #gnome"
- fredldotme: https://ubports.com/en/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-ota-7-focal-release-3943#Focal OTA-7 is the one you want for Fairphone 4 and 5 to reconnect external screens again.Also printers pop up in system-settings via the CUPS Snap.
- okias: "#oneplus6 IMX519 progress, rebased @cas 6.9 patches a top of 6.12, dropped old custom IMX519 driver.Did some small adjustment to account for C-PHY in csid_configure_rx.Adjusted CCS sequence for IMX519 provided by @sailus to sequence from OP6 downstream kernel, but that currently leads to the crash when parsing https://paste.sr.ht/~okias/5644311ad55a8d7214239eb55d9533e42d5d4acb .Kernel tree: https://gitlab.com/dhxx/linux/-/commits/sdm845/6.12-cameraFirmware for IMX519 on OP6: http://download.ixit.cz/sensor-sony,imx519.fwWIP, Sailus promised to look into the CCS parser crash."
- xethos: "So the #PinephonePro, with Sleepwalk, has pretty damn good standby battery lifeActive battery life is another story, howeverSo I've picked up several spare batteries (thank god #Pine64 thought to make them compatible with Samsung ones) and an external chargerBut shutting down takes longer than I want to, so I typically just pop off the back and drop the battery, pop in a new one, and off we goThat finally bit me to-day, and I had to fsck the disk manually from a seperate install So I guess I should be responsible now and shut down properly when possible. Even with the journaling file system"
- LWN: Firefox version 133.0 is now available https://lwn.net/Articles/999767/ #LWN
- fdlamotte: Just got a (dis-)connected #gshock GBM-2100 model)Could validate connection to my #linuxmobile phone with https://github.com/izivkov/GShockTimeServerGoing to start writing scripts to integrate it with #sxmo I already have some ideas on how to use the reminders function to show notifications and calendar events
- tbernard: We have a schedule for the @p2panda event next week 🥳 On Saturday December 7th and Sunday 8th we'll have a hackfest at Weise7 to start working on a new native GTK local-first collaborative text editor!On Saturday night we'll also have a release party for the new version of p2panda at @offline with some topical talks by special guests Sarah Grant and @bumbleblue.#berlin #p2p #p2panda #localfirst #gnome
- rmader: "The #mesa 24.3 release is, as usual, pretty neat. Some random personal highlights:1. #Rusticl for freedreno. While not enabled by default yet, this finally brings OpenCL support to QC devices. How useful that is remains to be seen, given that Vulkan also slowly evolves as compute platform - it could come in pretty handy for image related tasks, though, especially on #linuxmobile devices.1/3"
- hughsie: "I've just tagged a new #fwupd 2.0.2 release, with lots of new hardware support and new features. Enjoy! https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/releases/tag/2.0.2"
- cas: "Finally, you can run U-Boot on #Qualcomm WoA laptops!Sent an RFC for EFISTUB support, so we can kill the buggy EFI and run our own :Dhttps://lore.kernel.org/u-boot/20241124-b4-efistub-arm64-v1-0-3e33f0340071@linaro.org/"
- cas: ufetch is finally merged into U-Boot master!anyone care to share some cute screenshots on other platforms?#uboot #FOSS #neofetch
- PINE64official (Reddit): How far along is the OS/software for the PINETAB-V?
- Lemmy - linuxphones: What Apps Are Missing on Mobile Linux?
- #MobileLinux: On the plus side I tweaked a few settings and can now emit writing in தமிழ் 😁️#Tamil #MobileLinux #Varnam
- r/linux: I installed Ubuntu In my Smartwatch
Events
- Mobian Meetup in Zurich (CH). Either register on meetup.com or reply to the mastodon post.
Hardware
- lupyuen: OpenWrt One: "First Router designed specifically for OpenWrt" (Banana Pi / MediaTek)https://sfconservancy.org/news/2024/nov/29/openwrt-one-wireless-router-now-ships-black-friday/
- Rob Braxman Tech: BraX3: The most privacy friendly smartphone. Mentioned here, as Ubuntu Touch support is on the official roadmap.
- indiegogo: Meet BraX3. The most privacy-friendly smartphone. Open-sourced, easy to use, and fairly priced.
- finance.yahoo.com: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Eyes Smartphone Market with AI-Ready Ryzen Processors
- wccftech.com: AMD Rumored To Enter The “Smartphone Markets”, Likely Introducing APU-Like “Ryzen AI’ SoCs. Anonymous Contributor comments: I understand that it is of interest, if this is true the possibility of having a more open mobile phone is even greater, given the open nature of AMD with Linux. Let's cross our fingers. Subcomment, Peter: Indeed, there's hope! AMD know how to contribute to the Linux kernel; and the Steam Deck (and competitors) show that they can do handheld. x86_64 aside, AMD has an ARM license, and there've been reports that AMD would release a ARM CPU in 2025 in 2023.
More Software News
Gnome Ecosystem
- This Week in GNOME: #176 Command History
- Planet GNOME: Outreachy Internship Series: Files Usability Test Report
- Planet GNOME: Cambalache 0.94 Released!
- Phoronix: Resources System Monitoring App For GNOME Now Displays NPU Usage
Phosh
Plasma Ecosystem
- Nate Graham: This Week in Plasma: Disable-able KWin Rules
- Carl Schwan et al.: This Week in KDE Apps: OptiImage first release, Itinerary redesign and more
- Carl Schwan et al.: This Week in KDE Apps: Bugfixing Week
- KDE Announcements: KDE Plasma 6.2.4, Bugfix Release for November
- Volker Krause: October/November in KDE Itinerary
- Carl Schwan: Kirigami Addons 1.6.0
- Carl Schwan: OptiImage 1.0.0 is out!
Sxmo
Sailfish OS
- adampigg: Pretty chuffed that I was just gifted a Creative Labs Soundblaster 16 AND a 3dfx Voodoo 2 !! #retrogaming
- adampigg: With the help of @jmlich and some other new contributors this cycle, im happy to release Amazfish 2.5.0, the linux watch companion app. Available for @jolla SailfishOS, @kde Plasma Mobile, #UBPorts and your regular #linux desktop as a #flatpak https://github.com/piggz/harbour-amazfish/releases/tag/2.5.0
- flypig's Gecko log: A Brief Embedded Browser Expo
Ubuntu Touch
- socials@ubports.com: Newsletter 2024-11-29
- UBports News: Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Focal Release
- UBports News: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 151
- UBports News: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 152
- UBports News: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 153
- Ubuntu Touch Forums News: Focal OTA-7 Available Today
- Ubuntu Touch Forums News: Ubuntu Touch Q&A 153 Saturday 30th Nov 19:00 UTC
- #UbuntuTouch: Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Focal is an unscheduled security release for this mobile Linux distribution with fixes for privacy and security the Pulseaudio server. https://buff.ly/49bI9OU #UBPorts #UbuntuTouch #MobileLinux
- Rockt: @iode that’s great news for iodéOS! And don’t forget that it is also possible to install Ubuntu Touch on this phone! That’s perfect such a privacy friendly #Linux phone in your pocket 🚀 #ubuntutouch #UBPorts #Brax3 #iodéOS @ubports
Distributions
- Mobian Meetup in Zurich (CH). Either register on meetup.com or reply to the mastodon post.
- Breaking updates in pmOS edge: Conflict between sudo and doas-sudo-shim (UPDATE: keeping doas-sudo-shim requires manual intervention)
- nico: Heads up for @alpinelinux users: mkinitfs in edge is currently broken and results (at least) for encrypted rootfs to segfault on boot. Using mkinitfs from Alpine 3.20 works. Working version of mkinitfs is: 3.10.1; broken version is: 3.11.0.
Apps
- Lofenyy: What Apps Are Missing on Mobile Linux? https://sh.itjust.works/post/28677404
- postmarketOS Wiki New Pages: Android Translation Layer/known working open source applications
- postmarketOS Wiki New Pages: Android Translation Layer
- tpikonen: I released a new version of my GPS app Satellite (and its sister app Geobug). The release features a renewed UI with the latest gizmos from GTK4 and libadwaita. Get it from flathub or direct from git.Happy tracking!https://codeberg.org/tpikonen/satellite/releases/tag/0.9.0#mobileLinux #GPS #Flathub
- carl: The first release of OptiImage is out! This is a simple #Kirigami front-end to various image size optimizers like oxipng.https://carlschwan.eu/2024/11/24/optiimage-1.0.0-is-out/#linuxApps #kde
- vixalientoots: "I have made the sad decision to stop working on Muzika (https://github.com/vixalien/muzika) and the related muse (https://github.com/vixalien/muse) projects.Firstly, Muzika is a YouTube Music client and I don't like the decision the service has been making these days like incessant price hikes¹ and YouTube removing OAuth² support, effectively burying 3rd party clients like these. I also need to commit more time to myself and school, which Muzika has been stealing from me."
- okias: "Started experimenting with the #OpenRW engine, which works with #GTA3 data. It’s written from scratch using clean GPL 3 licensed code, eliminating the risk of lawsuits (since it’s a clean implementation with no decompiled code).Completed:- Improved asset loading for greater robustness.Work in Progress: - Adding support for ffmpeg 7.1+.Goals:1. Get it running on #postmarketOS.2. Implement touchscreen controls.3. Enable support for codename miami ‒ #GTAViceCity https://github.com/rwengine/openrw"
- rnd: hot take: the fact that #GNOME apps are adopting responsive design and adding mobile UI features when running in a small window is goodeven if you're never gonna use GNOME on a mobile deviceit's nice when i can use the same app in a small window or maximized without having to manually change settings
Kernel
- collabora: Real-time preemption support has landed in #Linux kernel 6.12 along with an extensible scheduler class. Learn more about where Collabora's kernel team contributed to this release: https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/kernel-612-small-but-mighty.html#MediaTek #RK3588 #Rockchip
- phone-devel: Re: [PATCH v2 09/13] media: i2c: imx214: Extract format and crop settings
- phone-devel: Re: [PATCH v2 02/13] media: i2c: imx214: Use subdev active state
- Phoronix: Linux Kernel Performance Bottlenecks Spotted By Mold Developer
- Phoronix: Linux 6.13 Hits A "Tipping Point" With More Rust Drivers Expected Soon
- Phoronix: Linux 6.13 Staging Clears Out 107k Lines Of Code From Old & Unmaintained Drivers
- Phoronix: FFmpeg Git Continues Landing A Number Of Vulkan Video Enhancements
- Phoronix: NFS Server Scalability Improvement & Other NFS Enhancements For Linux 6.13
- Phoronix: exFAT Driver With Linux 6.13 Reduces FAT Chain Traversal For Better Performance
Stack
- Phoronix: Wayland Color Management Protocol Might Finally Be Close To Merging
- Phoronix: UBports' Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Atop Ubuntu 20.04 Released
- Phoronix: Updated Ubuntu 24.10 Install Image Released For Snapdragon X1 Elite Laptops
- Phoronix: Feature-Packed systemd 257 Nears Release With RC3 Availability
- praveen: I'm proposing we start using #XMS (eXtensible Messaging System) as a shorter version of #XMPP. This would be easier to remember as similar to SMS/MMS. What do you think about it?https://codeberg.org/prav/IssueTracker/issues/27
Matrix
- Matrix.org: This Week in Matrix 2024-11-29
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!