Linux Phones

The Movuan project was started by community member lxb and announced in a forum post as an alternative to mobile distributions using the systemd init system. Thanks to being forked from Mobian, the project makes use of modified Mobian debos to build it’s images.

Movuan offers an image based on Devuan 5.0 (Debian 12) with Phosh.

Devuan for users who are unaware is a fork of Debian which provides alterative init systems to Systemd such as:

• sysvinit (default)
• openrc
• runit
• sinit
• s6
• shepherd

Another week, another update: Another FuriOS update, help postmarketOS test Phrog, a Ubuntu Touch Q&A, a round-up of Sailfish OS Community news, and a lot more! Enjoy!

PINE64 have discontinued the PinePhone Pro, postmarketOS share details about a project to replace callaudiod with a wireplumber plugin (call audio issues be gone!), Phosh 0.49.0 (actually, Stevia 0.49.0) relieves me of hand pain, KDE Gear 25.08 bringing fresh new features to Plasma apps during summer heat, more progress on the NewPipe app for SailfishOS, some link to FrOSCon slides + a talk recording and more. Enjoy!

Debian 13 released, Librem 5 camera improvements (coming soon, I guess), Ubuntu Touch Q&A and Sailfish OS Community News, FrOSCon coming up and a lot more stuff! Enjoy!

As noted in the previous community meeting, we’d like to define the next gen Jolla Phone together with the community.

Jolla runs a poll for what their next Phone should have, two calls for pre-release-testing from UBports, new DanctNIX images (Arch Linux ARM for PINE64 devices), postmarketOS makes progress on /usr merge (among other things) and looks for help with German tax law, LinuxPhoneApps.org Q2 progress, and way more! Enjoy!

Better late than never - here's what happened from the last one until 2025-07-22, 06:25 UTC: Ubuntu Touch 24.04 and Debian 13 "Trixie" now have release dates, another progress report for PureOS Crimson, progress on immutable postmarketOS, initial Shift8 support coming to Mobian, and more! Enjoy!

How to get started in postmarketOS?

The main website suggests "getting a second-hand SDM845 or MSM8916 device".

While I am fine with getting a second hand phone for this (as long as it doesn't cost as much as a new one) I see many devices with those chipsets that only partially work.

I am fully expecting this, but due to having been in the Android modding community in the past I know it is extremely common to abandon devices completely at random times. Since for this project I am willing to spend money on a dedicated device, I don't want to make a purchase I'll regret because they decided to move on to a newer device (or disappear from the internet completely).

I am not looking for a device with "perfect" support, as I feel like that would be useless. I want a device that works already well enough but that I can actually contribute with.

My own Poco X3 NFC seems good for this, but I don't think I want to commit my main smartphone yet. My older smartphone, the ASUS Zenfone 3 Laser, is completely unmentioned (but the base model is). Maybe I should simply use the latter and contribute by adding this extra device, or is it better to get something like a Google Pixel 3 or Motorola Moto G4 first?

Libcamera auto-focus progress, Plasma Camera switching to a libcamera backend, a Ubuntu Touch Q&A and a Lomiri bounty program by OS SCi, a video on (mobile) NixOS and more!

Still only on dev channel, but hardware support looks great.

Another week, another update: The failed crowdfunder is not the end for Liberux, two usage reports, Jolla unveils plans for open-sourcing SailfishOS apps, Phosh 0.48.0, and more! Enjoy!

Another fine qol improvement laid down that makes the setup experience simpler.

Github