• 7 Posts
  • 57 Comments
Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: February 3rd, 2024

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  • 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.



    • 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.

  • It is to Android apps what WINE is to Windows programs, while Waydroid is to Android apps what something between Docker and a VM would be to server software.

    Actually, Waydroid is not too dissimilar from running, for example, an Ubuntu Desktop system in a Docker container on a Debian desktop system, just so you can use snap packages… Instead of installing snapd on Debian. (Not that I want snapd.)

    Waydroid is more like an Android container appliance that runs a full Android system, while ATL, as the name Android Translation Layer suggests, translates functions and API calls, used by Android apps, into the appropriate methods of doing things on a regular GNU/Linux system (in contrast to an Android Runtime/Linux system), thereby being much more efficient, more comfortable to use and having the potential of integrating into the system really well.



  • Yup. It definitely is now ready for everyday use, though there are still a few smaller issues I’ve got to fix. But nothing that stops me from using it now.

    The only thing special about the Pixel 3a is that I had it already. Maybe it is special in that it is now the smallest Linux phone that is supported by a mainline kernel AND which is actually usable as a phone (for some other phones audio does not work, for example). Some might call a headphone jack something special… or an eSIM, as there are not many Linux phones with an eSIM.

    To get involved, I recommend joining the Moban Development Matrix room: #mobian-dev:matrix.debian.social

    Pretty sure we can find something where skills in C would be helpful.