This is a follow-up to my earlier posts:

https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/12809764 https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/19600671

We’re Getting Closer.

It’s just small stuff left that needs a bit of piecing together, though I’ve now been daily driving my port for the past two weeks already.

This Works

  • booting
  • display
  • touch
  • modem <- You might have to switch to the other slot if it does not work: mmcli -m 0 --set-primary-sim-slot=1, options are 1 or 2. Note that the modem could also be a different number, maybe try -m 1 if it is not found as the command will reboot the modem and then it changes.
  • plymouth
  • battery/charging
  • mobile data
  • wifi
  • torch
  • suspend
  • call audio
  • vibration
  • Bluetooth™
  • full disk encryption
  • eSIM (I’m working on the packaging for the tool you need to provision it)
  • SMS
  • audio (ALSA config not packaged, but can be added manually)
  • camera (have taken a few photos, but the kernel driver is still work in progress and sometimes it just does not work)

This Has An Unknown Status

  • Fingerprint Sensor
  • NFC (should work, does so on pmOS)

This Does Not Work Yet (Soon™)

  • GPS
  • USB host mode (no Kernel support yet, but apparently this is being worked on)
  • Verified Boot (first need to do research whether this is actually feasible)

This Is Missing And Will Come Later

  • accelerometer
  • magnetometer
  • ambient light sensor
  • barometer

Project Status

To Do List

Done List

Misc Issues

  • ALSA config for the device has not been upstreamed yet
  • Issues with 5 GHz wifi
    • Can be worked around by forcing the phone to only use the 2.4 GHz band, for example using nmtui, the network settings of GNOME/Phosh are bit too simplistic for that
  • No idea how to get the call audio on Bluetooth, meaning you will have to hold the phone or use a cable, for now

(This is a non-exhaustive list)

Low Priority

Other than that… Everything should be there. It’s definitely usable already.

Just a few smaller quirks to iron out and two packages to get into the repo.

The Sources (Use The Source, Luke)

Thanks For All The Fish

Huge thanks to be sdm670-linux project and flamingradian who runs the project (just one person!) to make sure the Kernel works on those devices! :)

I don’t know how Kernel development works, so I would have never started porting without this project.

Find that here: https://gitlab.com/sdm670-mainline/linux

Questions Accepted / Ask Me Anything About The Project

I will gladly answer all questions, I hope that more people will start porting if it becomes clear that this is not arcane magic. It’s mostly just arcane. And a community of friendly people that try to be helpful.#

  • haui
    3•3 months ago

    If I‘m not completely mistaken, the chip is the same as on my oneplus6. I run postmarketOS/phosh but camera is dead for now. I dont have enough insight to grasp if its just a legal issue or more. I feel like the two projects are quite similar but the differences are hard to grasp really. Whats your background and do you have experience with postmarketos? How do you experience mobians installation and documentation?

    Have a good one.

    • @erebionOP
      4•3 months ago
      • That one uses an SDM845, while the Pixel 3a uses an SDM670. But there’s a Mobian port to that one anyway. Not sure in what state, anyway. You could flash it and find out.
      • Camera is probably dead because not all the code has been written yet.
      • My background is just playing with Linux since before I was a teen, but I did not know anything about porting to phones until early this year.
      • I have some experience with postmarketOS, but more with Mobian as I am more of a Mobian person. I have more exprience with their docs and community than with postmarketOS itself. Many mobile Linux projects depend on the postmarketOS wiki, as they have the best source of information.
      • Mobian installation is easy, just flash the images.
      • Mobian documentation is somewhat lacking, but I want to improve on that once I’m less busy porting. Can’t do everything at once, of course.
      • haui
        2•3 months ago

        Thank you very much for reaponding! Awesome to read about your efforts and mobian as an OS. How would you describe the daily driveability (on its own and compared to postmarketos)?

        • @erebionOP
          2•3 months ago

          It’s okay. I like that I can do whatever I want. There are some smaller issues still, but I’m fine with those, considering all the freedom I get.

          I mean, I have to set the right SIM card slot and run a command to make Bluetooth work, after every boot, until that is solved. It’s not too bad. Takes me ~25 seconds.

          Only annoying issue that is next on my to do list: Have the phone wake up when using an alarm clock. For now I just leave an Android phone next to my bed for that. Soon that will be solved as well. Apparently I just have to get some Systemd configuration right, but have not yet had a closer look.

          Overall I am pretty happy with it. Yet I would not give it to my parents and expect them to use it like any other phone.

          If you are a nerd who does need an alarm clock or a camera in their phone, or can at least work around that for now, it’s already a usable phone and messaging device.

          No idea how that compares to postmarketOS. I have not tried daily driving it, as instead I intend to find issues on Mobian and solve those.

          • haui
            1•3 months ago

            Awesome report! Thanks. For me on postmarketos its the following:

            • bluetooth, mobile data, wifi, usb ethernet all work
            • browsing, incl youtube and plex
            • music, podcasts
            • password manager

            What doesnt work at all:

            • cameras (is in the works but not functional rn)

            What needs work:

            • headset (mic works, headphones dont but that may be my phone) bluetooth headset works
            • @erebionOP
              1•3 months ago

              Headphones work for me and should as well on Mobian. Calls via Bluetooth do not work yet, not sure how to route the audio to the headsets. But I know there’s some stuff going on and people are working on improving the audio configs, should all be much better very soon.

              • haui
                1•3 months ago

                What I really ask myself sometimes is why libraries and such things are not shared between the mobile OS community since they work on similar platforms. PostmarketOS has now implemented systemd afaik so I think a LOT of things will be similar.