Phosh FAQ (original) (raw)

Phosh is part of all major phone-oriented Linux distributions, so pick your favorite. Device and feature support varies between distributions so check this first. Below are some links to image downloads and installation instructions:

In order to try current Phosh easily we provide OS images for virtual machines athttps://bengalos.phosh.mobi/. Instructions on how to run them in QEMU can be foundhere.

Anything missing? Let us know.

If you don’t want to repurpose an existing device but are looking for something new then there’s also devices that come with Phosh preinstalled:

Anything missing? Let us know.

Phosh targets “Linux first” devices. That is hardware that is meant to run Linux from the start. Examples are Purism’s Librem 5 or PINE64’s Pinephone. This group of devices has good hardware support like working sensors, camera, audio, modem, GPS positioning, etc.

It also works on some former Android devices that have mainline Linux support (like OnePlus 6/6T or Xiaomi Pocophone F1). Hardware support there varies depending on the actual model but some models have nowadays support equivalent to “Linux first” devices. If you want to use such a device, check the postmarketOS Wiki if the functionality you require is already supported.

We summarize the feature set of some prominent devices from an end-user perspective on oursupported features page.

Absolutely. While phones are the main development target people also use it on small tablets and convertibles. Debian, for example ships aphosh-tabletmetapackage to make this easy once you have a Debian-based installation.

If your device isn’t well enough supported by Linux yet, consider contributing to improving the situation. Alternatively have a look at Droidian which uses the Android kernel and some userspace bits underneath to run Phosh on top.

If in doubt get in touch via the Matrix room (see below). People there use Phosh based phones as their “daily driver” and can thus recommend what to do or buy.

After installation check Getting Started for some usage tips.

Yes, see our videos section.

Quite the opposite. The Phosh project aims to drive Mobile Linux forward by contributing to the relevant components, adding mobile specific bits where necessary. For that we have contributed / are contributing larger and smaller bits to e.g. iio-sensor-proxy, ModemManager, NetworkManager (and it’s mobile provider info database), glib, libhandy, feedbackd, cellbroadcastd, wlroots, wlr-protocols, Wayland, mesa, the Linux kernel, pipewire, wireplumber, varnam and presage, GNOME, libqmi and others. Seeabout for on overview of the technology stack and used components.

A good first step is to join the Matrix room. It then depends on what you’re interested in. If you want to code, tackling something you think needs improvement usually works well (as the motivation to finish it is intrinsic). You can also have a look at the open issues. We also welcome testing of merge requests and nightly builds.

We’re also in constant need of artwork like icons, documentation updates (both developer and end user) as well as videos for the Getting started section.

We also appreciate help in supporting our users and turning discussions in the various online channels into actionable feedback in bug reports.

If you want to contribute financially check out our nonprofit organization.

So there’s lots of opportunities to join us on our mission to make Mobile Linux fun to use.

Phosh is developed by a diverse group of people from different continents. Several of us are also GNOME contributors and foundation members and/or Debian contributors, maintainers or developers.

As Phosh is entirely Free Software we rely on donations to run the project.

You can make one-time or recurring donations via various means like bank transfer, credit card and PayPal here. If you want to show your continuous support consider becoming a supporting member.

You can also donate via GitHub sponsors using Phosh’s read-only GitHub mirror.

You can join the Phosh matrix room. This is the best place to start.

For a full room list you can join the Phosh.mobi space.

Yes. You can get these by appending index.xml to the pages, e.g.

You can join the phosh changes matrix room.

They’re announced on social media (see below) but there’s also aphosh announce mailing list.

We’re on the fediverse at https://social.phosh.mobi/@phosh and on peertube athttps://peertube.debian.social/c/phosh/.

Mirrors:

Every now and then we have meetups. Join us there.

The Phosh project itself doesn’t offer commercial services. If you don’t want to ask via the public channels you can mail consultancy at phosh.mobi and we can get you in touch. We won’t forward any details to 3rd parties without your prior consent.

We want the Phosh sources code to be easy to find. That’s why we provide a read-only mirror athttps://github.com/PhoshMobi. This also allows people to have their contributions visible on their GitHub profile. You can achieve this by starring or forking the repository and making sure your contribution email matches the one in your GitHub profile. We’re not requiring contributors to have a GitHub account to contribute to Phosh.

Yes, head over here. We don’t make any money from this. The full amount goes to SpreadShirt. We also usually have (cheaper) T-shirts for sale at conferences and events.

Yes, you can usually grab them at conferences like FOSDEM and Debconf. If you want to distribute some yourself at your event, write to merch at phosh.mobi.

Phosh Stickers at Froscon 2023

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