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a silhouette of a person's head and shoulders, used as a default avatar

Conferencia «El Software Libre, la Libertad y la Educación» por Richard M. Stallman

Voy a cambiar el nombre del blog de KDE Blog a Event Blog… y es que esta semana la estoy dedicando integramente a promocionar el evento de este fin de semana la 1ª Cumbre Software Libre y Educación… y no el el primer evento que estoy promocionando. He hablado de la Conferencia «La era de la digitalización en las aulas» de Javier Sepúlveda, de la mesa redonda «Software Libre y Educación en la Comunitat Valenciana» con Richard M. Stallman y hoy toca hablar del plato fuerte, la Conferencia «El Software Libre, la Libertad y la Educación» que realizará Richard M. Stallman el próximo domingo a las 17.00 horas.

Conferencia «El Software Libre, la Libertad y la Educación» por Richard M. Stallman

De nuevo hago un pequeño copia y pega de la información que nos ofrece la página oficial de GNU/Linux València y que explica qué nos vamos a encontrar el domingo 14 a las 17:00 horas CET (hora penínsular de España).

Tras los actos celebrados el viernes y el sábado, hoy domingo contaremos con la presencia de Richard M. Stallman, Fundador del Movimiento del Software Libre, del sistema operativo GNU y de la Free Software Foundation.

Una vez más, retransmitiremos desde https://streaming.gnulinuxvalencia.org/fsed-summit.webm utilizando Software Libre BigBlueButton, emitido a través de un servidor de difusión gracias al software libre IceCast.

Conferencia "El Software Libre, la Libertad y la Educación" por Richard M. Stallman

1ª Edición de la Cumbre Software Libre y Educación

Este viernes empieza la 1ª Edición de la Cumbre Software Libre y Educación organizando la Asociación de Software Libre GNU/Linux València y Las Naves es altamente recomendable para todos y todas ya que contará con

Además, cuenta con un invitado de máximo nivel: Richard M. Stallman, fundador del movimiento del software libre, del sistema operativo GNU, de la Free Software Foundation (Fundación para el Software Libre) y defensor acérrimo de la Cultura Libre.

Cumbre Software Libre y Educación, 1ª Edición

Más información: GNU/Linux València

the avatar of openSUSE News
the avatar of openSUSE News

openSUSE Project Selected for Google Summer of Code Mentoring

Let’s gehts los! The openSUSE Project is one of about 200 mentoring organizations selected for this year’s Google Summer of Code.

The openSUSE Project has participated in several GSoC events since 2006 and the project’s mentors have helped more than 60 students become familiar with open-source software development.

openSUSE website dedicated to GSoC offers several projects for GSoC students. Projects are available for software testing with openQA, Artificial Intelligence development with Phoeβe and configuration and infrastructure management through the Uyuni Project. Some of the projects listed with the openSUSE organization within the GSoC program work with Kubernetes like the carrier project and Rancher.

Projects listed on the mentoring website 101.opensuse.org include projects also related to Debian, Ubuntu, KDE, AWS and Windows.

Programming languages in the listed projects include Go, Ruby, Perl, Python, Rust and c/c++.

The list of 101.opensuse.org projects are:

As a mentoring organization, eligible students will have an opportunity between March 29 and April 13 to submit an application proposal to the GSoC program site. The program is open to university students aged 18 or over.

The annual international program focuses on bringing student developers into open source software development. Students work with open-source organizations on a 10-week programming project during the school break.

After the students submit their applications, there will be a review period from April 13 and May 17. Accepted projects will be announced on May 17 and the coding will begin on June 7 and continue throughout the summer.

If you are interested in participating in GSoC, please visit the 101.opensuse.org mentoring website and Google Summer of Code website for more information about the projects and the application process.

Accepted students with openSUSE are encouraged to blog about their experience during GSoC on news.opensuse.org through submitting a pull request here.

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a silhouette of a person's head and shoulders, used as a default avatar

11 takeaways from a year of online conferences

I love going to conferences. It's how I learn, meet people, get inspiration, share my work, and have fun. The last conference I went to physically was FOSS Backstage in March 2020. It was great. I talked about Inner Source, met great people, had great discussions.

That was one year ago. Conferences got cancelled or went virtual. I have been to a lot of virtual conferences since then. It's great, attending doesn't require travel, fees went down, with a few clicks you could join any conference on the planet. Sometimes it was attending one session and realizing that it wasn't for me, sometimes it meant spending days in a different time zone.

Of course it's not the same, it's different. So what have I taken away from a year of online conferences?

Ease of access makes a huge difference - I have been to huge conferences who would have been in the US such as KubeCon but also to small local ones I probably wouldn't even have noticed such as the OpenBike conference. If they would have been physical events I wouldn't have been there. They all gave me something of value.

Emulating a physical conference is meh - There are so many systems which try to stick close to the format of a physical conference, with virtual lobbies, virtual booths, virtual conference rooms. In the end they all felt hollow. You visit booths and get all the emails but none of the stickers and no real social interaction.

Live talks are ace - You might think it doesn't matter if a talk is recorded or live. You just watch a video, aren't you? But it's noticeable if somebody is speaking live, there is a different level of energy. For a speaker it might be nice to answer questions during their own talk but it is a distraction and these side talks would be impolite during a physical talk for a reason.

You need more time - It's tempting, back to back talks, only seconds to switch rooms. But there needs to be chatter, there needs to be space to relax. And without the energy you get from a physical group of people it's more exhausting to focus on a conference hours in a row. So while in theory you could do more in an online format, in practice you should aim for less.

Treat talks as broadcasts - Without the limits of physical spaces you can go bigger, you can broadcast. No need to impose artificial limits. And broadcasting videos of people speaking is a well understood art. It's what TV is doing all the time, it's what YouTubers and streamers are doing. Embrace it, tap into the tools and the experience of people who are doing this already. re:publica 2020 did that in a very interesting way.

Manage chat - You need a way for people to chat, but it can quickly get our of control. Big rooms with hundreds of participants amplify the signal of individuals too much. So the best conferences were those who managed that carefully, providing extra sessions for tracks or individual talks, providing breakout rooms, have moderators to guide people around, have a quick way to create your own channels for specific conversations in a natural way. Also give room to the introverts, who might not want to chat with many people at the same time.

Have fun going down the technology rabbit hole - Naturally you need some technology to participate in online conferences. It should not be required to go crazy on that, but some good equipment is really helpful, and it can be fun to go deep on some of that. So have fun exploring fancy microphones, green screens, OBS, light and camera arrangements, DIY teleprompters, etc. And learn from the streamers, they have figured out a lot of that.

Don't save on moderators - Online formats need more guidance. That can't come from the speakers alone. It's worth a lot to have good and present moderators. They keep conversations going, handle technical issues, create atmosphere and much more. You probably need more of that then you assume.

Continue experimenting with the social bits - The stuff which is going on besides the talks, that's what usually makes or breaks a conference. The social bits. These are harder to replicate in an online format than anything else, and they need most creativity as direct translation from offline formats doesn't work well. So keep experimenting. Do things such as a pub quiz, a virtual hallway track, a cocktail challenge, spreadsheet parties, speed dating, music tracks, walk & talk etc. A special shout-out to Work Adventure here. This has been one of the most effective tools I have seen to give some social feeling to a virtual conference.

Authenticity beats perfection -  Polished videos of speakers who rehearsed and cut their videos. That's marketing. It results in these videos which get you 23 clicks on YouTube. They look like you have seen them before. A speaker who has their roommate walking by, or who are struggling with the video situation etc, that's reality. People who have something to say will still bring across their point and engage the audience. Authenticity is a big part of this.

Support the organizers - It's tough. Business broke away for many conference organizers. It's fantastic that many took up the challenge to deal with the situation and become creative. But they need support. Organizing conferences is hard and if you are constrained in the way we have been during the last year it's particular hard. Support the organizers by participating, speaking, sponsoring, and what else you can do.

So a few weeks ago it was FOSS Backstage time again. This time as a virtual event. It was a great experience again. A fantastic lineup of speakers which probably wouldn't have come together at a physical event. Some creative ways to get people together and inspired such as the pirate themed track or the virtual lounge. And lots of insights, conversations, and things to learn.

I'm looking forward to what still is to come in terms of virtual events. I'm sure we haven't seen all what is possible there. Keep on experimenting.
the avatar of Nathan Wolf
the avatar of Nathan Wolf

Noodlings 24 | Spring green like openSUSE

The 24th appetizer sized podcast I am doing my best to not fade out, but for more of my thought and opinions, subscribe to DLN Xtend, a podcast with the Destination Linux Network where I have a chat about Linuxy things with my co-hosts Matt and Wendy. openSUSE Smiles openSUSE Stickers to Enhance your TechopenSUSE Smiles […]
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a silhouette of a person's head and shoulders, used as a default avatar

Pesan untuk Komunitas openSUSE

Halo teman-teman komunitas,
openSUSE telah dikenal selama bertahun-tahun sebagai komunitas yang luar biasa, besar, dan ramai. Tetapi setelah banyak diskusi dengan banyak kelompok linguistik yang menyusun mozaik openSUSE, kami merasa masih banyak yang bisa dilakukan untuk memfasilitasi komunikasi dan pertukaran. Kami merasa inilah yang membuat komunitas menjadi spesial: komunitas ini tumbuh subur ketika semua kelompok, dari besar hingga kecil, bersatu dan berbagi kesenangan berbagi – baik itu pengetahuan, emosi, atau cerita.
Kata-kata yang baik tidak banyak membantu, (jadi) pertama-tama ada dua perubahan konkret yang ingin kami lakukan:
  1. news-o-o: Kami ingin semua “berita komunitas” diterjemahkan ke dalam empat bahasa yang paling banyak digunakan dalam komunitas (Indonesia, Spanyol, Portugis, Rusia – ini hanya permulaan, hubungi kami jika Anda ingin mengusulkan diri Anda sebagai penerjemah untuk bahasa lainnya)
  2. Sebuah nawala (newsletter) komunitas baru: Terinspirasi dari para pendahulu, kami ingin membuat buletin komunitas yang isinya:
    1.  Menampilkan individu-individu luar biasa dari seluruh komunitas, menyoroti apa yang mereka lakukan dan bagaimana mereka melakukannya, melalui wawancara atau liputan
    2.  Membagikan tutorial dan panduan yang berguna tentang cara menggunakan sistem openSUSE Anda dan bagaimana Anda dapat segera mulai berkontribusi
    3.  Menampilkan fitur dari paket menarik yang mungkin membutuhkan perhatian
    4.  Menunjukkan tempat-tempat dalam komunitas di mana minat dan keterampilan Anda paling baik digunakan
    5.  Mengumumkan acara & aktivitas komunitas, sehingga Anda memiliki kesempatan untuk bertemu geeko lainnya
    6.  …secara keseluruhan, kumpulan postingan blog, artikel, dan ulasan yang muncul dalam beberapa minggu terakhir atau lebih, untuk memastikan hal-hal tertentu menonjol dari aliran waktu yang tak terhindarkan.
Kami hampir siap untuk memulai, tapi kami masih mencari 1-2 penerjemah ke bahasa Rusia.
Hubungi ‘”kontributor veteran”: Jika Anda adalah pengelola paket atau relawan infrastruktur dan Anda merasa alur kerja Anda dapat ditingkatkan atau “diparalelkan” dengan bantuan dari relawan tambahan, silakan hubungi kami. Pembentukan dan pendelegasian adalah cara yang baik untuk memperkuat ikatan antar komunitas.
Sedangkan untuk bekerja sama, kami akan mengadopsi model organisasi yang datar dan terdesentralisasi, untuk menghindari membebani beberapa orang dengan peran yang akan dibiarkan menggantung jika mereka beralih ke hal lain. Jadi tidak ada alasan untuk khawatir bahwa bergabung dengan kami akan membuat Anda terikat pada upaya mingguan selama setahun. Jika Anda mendapatkan ide yang bagus, kami akan membantu Anda mewujudkannya, itu saja!
Jadi, jika Anda tertarik untuk membantu kami, atau ingin ditampilkan, atau terlibat dengan cara apa pun, silakan hubungi kami dan ceritakan kisah Anda!
Berita & teman komunitas Anda
—
the avatar of Network Users Institute
the avatar of Network Users Institute

La Bêta openSUSE Leap 15.3 est d’ores et déjà disponible

Le 3 Mars dernier, un jalon très important a été réalisé. En effet, SUSE et openSUSE sont arrivés au même niveau en sorties de openSUSE Factory. Se documenter plus sur « Backports » qui en gros est un partage de sources, packages etc. entre SUSE et openSUSE. Ce qui veut dire que la communauté openSUSE profitera des […]

The post La Bêta openSUSE Leap 15.3 est d’ores et déjà disponible appeared first on Cybersécurité, Linux et Open Source à leur plus haut niveau | Network Users Institute | Rouen - Normandie.

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a silhouette of a person's head and shoulders, used as a default avatar

Mesa redonda «Software Libre y Educación en la Comunitat Valenciana» en la 1ª Cumbre Software Libre y Educación

Lo dije ayer y me reafirmo hoy, esta semana va a estar dedicada a promocionar el evento de este fin de semana la 1ª Cumbre Software Libre y Educación. Si ayer hablé de la Conferencia «La era de la digitalización en las aulas» de Javier Sepúlveda, hoy toca hablar de la mesa redonda «Software Libre y Educación en la Comunitat Valenciana» en la que además de Richard M. Stallman estarán presentes destacados educadores y desarrolladores ligados al Software Libre. Y yo.

Mesa redonda «Software Libre y Educación en la Comunitat Valenciana» en la 1ª Cumbre Software Libre y Educación

Me repito pero es que hacer otra cosa sería en realidad traicionar la filosofía de la compartir el conocimiento. Y es que la explicación del anuncio oficial está más que bien.

En el segundo día de la cumbre, 13 de marzo a las 17 horas CET, celebraremos una mesa redonda que contará con la presencia de:

  • Richard M. Stallman: Fundador del Movimiento del Software Libre, del sistema operativo GNU y de la Free Software Foundation. Más info aquí.
  • Baltasar Ortega (un servidor): Docente de secundaria apasionado por el Software Libre, miembro de KDE España y de Gnu/Linux València.
  • David Montalva: Profesor de sistemas y aplicaciones informáticas, actualmente trabajando en la digitalización de la formación profesional, y durante diez años, gestionando la distribución educativa Lliurex.
  • Raul Rodrigo: Desarrollador oficial de la distribución de Lliurex desarrollada por la Generalitat Valenciana desde 2009. Participó en los congresos de Software libre organizados por la Generalitat Valenciana en 2010 y 2015. Actualmente trabaja en la empresa Alfatec Sistemas, S.L.
  • Ricardo Nutz: Profesor de enseñanza secundaria por la especialidad de informática desde 1998. Actualmente es asesor técnico docente como formador del profesorado en la provincia de Alicante.
  • Tàfol Nebot: Profesor de enseñanza secundaria por la especialidad de tecnología desde 2004, defensor del Software Libre.  Actualmente ejerce de asesor técnico docente en la provincia de Castellón.
Mesa redonda "Software Libre y Educación en la Comunitat Valenciana" en la 1ª Cumbre Software Libre y Educación

Como todos los actos de la «1ª Cumbre Software Libre y Educación» el evento es exclusivamente en línea y retransmitiremos desde https://streaming.gnulinuxvalencia.org/fsed-summit.webm

Más información: GNU/Linux València

1ª Edición de la Cumbre Software Libre y Educación

Este viernes empieza la 1ª Edición de la Cumbre Software Libre y Educación organizando la Asociación de Software Libre GNU/Linux València y Las Naves es altamente recomendable para todos y todas ya que contará con

Además, cuenta con un invitado de máximo nivel: Richard M. Stallman, fundador del movimiento del software libre, del sistema operativo GNU, de la Free Software Foundation (Fundación para el Software Libre) y defensor acérrimo de la Cultura Libre.

Cumbre Software Libre y Educación, 1ª Edición

Más información: GNU/Linux València

the avatar of openSUSE News
the avatar of openSUSE News

A Message to the openSUSE Community

Español Português Bahasa Indonesia فارسى Русский язык

Dear community,

openSUSE has been known for years as an amazing, vast and buzzing community. But after many discussions with the many linguistic groups that compose the openSUSE mosaic, we feel that more could be done to facilitate communication and exchanges. We feel this is what makes a community of communities special: it thrives when all groups, from big to small, stick together and share the pleasure of sharing – be it knowledge, emotions or stories.

Nice words don’t do much alone, so the first two concrete changes we want to make:

  1. news-o-o: We want to have all “community news” translated to the four most spoken languages within the community (Indonesian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian – this is only a beginning, get in touch with us if you want to propose yourself as a translator for more languages)
  2. a new community newsletter: Getting inspiration from our ancestor, we want to create a community-wide newsletter that will, among other things:
    • feature amazing individuals from all over the community, putting the spotlight on what they do and how they do it, via interviews or self-coverage
    • share useful tutorials and guides on how to use your openSUSE system and how you can quickly get started with contributing
    • feature interesting packages that may use some love
    • expose places in the community where your interests and skills would be best put to use
    • announce community events & activities, so that you have a chance to meet up geekos of different shades of green
    • … overall, a finely curated collection of blog posts, articles and reviews that appeared in the last weeks or so, to make certain things stick out from the inescapable flow of time.

We are almost ready to get started, but we are still looking for 1-2 translator(s) to Russian.

Call to ‘“veteran contributors”: If you are a package maintainer or an infrastructure volunteer and you feel like your workflow could be improved or “parallelized” with help from additional volunteers, please do get in touch. Formation and delegation are a good way of strengthening bonds between communities.

As for working together, we will be adopting a flat, decentralized organization model, to avoid burdening a few people with a role that would be left hanging should they move on to other things. So there is no reason to worry that joining us will commit you to a year of weekly efforts. If you come up with a good idea, we’ll help you realize it, and that is all! No one will pressure you.

So if you are interested in helping us, or in being featured, or in getting involved in any way, please do ring us and tell us your story!

Your news & community friends

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a silhouette of a person's head and shoulders, used as a default avatar

La era de la digitalización en las aulas en la Cumbre de Software Libre y Educación Comunidad Valenciana

Esta semana casi va a ser monográfica, ya que quiero promocionar al máximo la Cumbre de Software Libre y Educación Comunidad Valenciana en su primera edición, así que espero que los lectores habituales del blog no se me enfaden mucho. De esta forma os invito a asistir a la conferencia que ofrecerá Javier Sepúlveda (director técnico de Valencia Tech y viejo conocido en estos lares) y que lleva por título «La era de la digitalización en las aulas» y que transmitirá el próximo viernes 12 de marzo a las 17 horas.

La era de la digitalización en las aulas en la Cumbre de Software Libre y Educación Comunidad Valenciana

Podría escribir una entrada pero es que en la página web de GNU/Linux Valencia lo han explicado a la perfección, así que solo me queda hacer el típico corta-pega para hacerlo:

Como consecuencia de la pandemia mundial de la Covid-19 y la consecuente cancelación de conferencias y eventos físicos alrededor de todo el mundo, conferenciantes, activistas y voluntarios de software libre, decidieron el pasado mes de agosto de 2020, poner en marcha una cumbre anual internacional sobre Software Libre y Educación.

La era de la digitalización en las aulas en la Cumbre de Software Libre y Educación Comunidad Valenciana

Enmarcado en esta primera cumbre, nuestra Asociación, con el patrocinio de Las Naves, organiza el próximo viernes 12 de marzo a las 17:00 CET una conferencia que lleva por título «La era de la digitalización en las aulas».

Las restricciones nos obligan a que sea un evento exclusivamente en línea que retransmitiremos desde la url: https://streaming.gnulinuxvalencia.org/fsed-summit.webm

Javier Sepúlveda es miembro de GNU Education, director de VALENCIATECH y uno de los primeros socios de GNU/Linux València.

Más información: GNU/Linux València

1ª Edición de la Cumbre Software Libre y Educación

Este viernes empieza la 1ª Edición de la Cumbre Software Libre y Educación organizando la Asociación de Software Libre GNU/Linux València y Las Naves es altamente recomendable para todos y todas ya que contará con

Además, cuenta con un invitado de máximo nivel: Richard M. Stallman, fundador del movimiento del software libre, del sistema operativo GNU, de la Free Software Foundation (Fundación para el Software Libre) y defensor acérrimo de la Cultura Libre.

Cumbre Software Libre y Educación, 1ª Edición

Más información: GNU/Linux València

the avatar of Martin de Boer
the avatar of Martin de Boer
green silhouette of the head of openSUSE's Geeko chameleon

Real Linux on a Smartphone: PinePhone and openSUSE Tumbleweed

Why is that phone so special? My wife asked me. I was exited like a child with my shiny new toy: the PinePhone KDE Community Edition.

So how do you explain the history of failing efforts to get ‘real’ Linux on a smartphone in 5 minutes? How do you explain the difficulties of developing an operating system for the always changing ARM ecosystem?

I tried: It’s not normal that you can install an Operating System on a phone. Normally you have 2 choices: you buy an Android phone or you buy an Apple iOS phone. In both cases, the phone hardware (read: boot loader) is locked down. So you can’t change the Operating System. At least not easily (because you can root some Android phones).

Over the last 10 years, there have been many companies that tried (and failed) to develop their own Operating System that can compete with Android and/or Apple iOS. In historical order:

  • Nokia Meamo/MeeGo in 2009/2010
  • Palm/HP WebOS in 2009/2010
  • Microsoft Windows Phone 8 / 8.1 / 10 in 2012/2014/2015
  • BlackBerry 10 in 2013
  • Mozilla Firefox OS in 2014
  • Canonical Ubuntu Touch from 2014-2017
  • Jolla Sailfish OS / X (on Sony Experia) from 2013 – present
  • Samsung Tizen from 2017 – present

These companies failed to gain any traction in the market. That list makes it abundantly clear that it’s hard to develop a successful smartphone hardware and software combination.

But the open source community doesn’t take No for an answer. The great thing about the free and open source movement is that commercial success is not a requirement for continued development. Which means that 3 open source communities are still hacking to develop a ‘real’ open source Mobile Operating System:

  • Ubuntu Touch, was continued by the UBPorts project in April 2017
  • KDE Plasma Mobile, started development in July 2015
  • Phosh, a GNOME shell for Purism Pure OS, started development in 2017

This development effort would be in vain if there was no smartphone that could run this software. But 2 hardware initiatives started roughly around the same time, and offered to build a true open source friendly smartphone:

  • Purism Librem 5, announced in August 2017
  • Pine64 PinePhone, announced in October 2018

This resulted in a perfect storm, because the Librem 5 started shipping in November 2019 and the PinePhone started shipping in January 2020. Both devices released in a rough state, but both software and hardware have improved over the months in 2020.

I played around with KDE Plasma Mobile during the FOSDEM conferences of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I couldn’t attend in 2020 and 2021. So that is my excuse to purchase a PinePhone KDE Community Edition, which was announced in December 2020. At the end of January 2021, I received my PinePhone with Manjaro Linux and KDE Plasma Mobile.

Unboxing the PinePhone

For me this was a very exiting event. I was very curious how the PinePhone would feel in real life. I expected it to be very plastic feeling. It did feel that way, but it didn’t feel cheap. It was well constructed.

I particularly like the inside of the phone. I like the physical dip (kill) switches, that are tucked neatly into the back of the phone. Personally, I will never use these, because I just don’t care. The same thing goes for the Pogo pins. Cool that they are there, but I will never use them. What I will use is the SD card slot. But I still need to figure out how to mount that persistently.

The screen is also fine. With 6 inches, the screen is sufficiently large. It has a resolution of 720×1440 pixels, which means that there is enough detail. And the colors are fine; for 150-200 dollars you can’t expect an AMOLED quality experience. The phone is also relatively thin.

Finally it has an USB-C connector on the bottom, which is a future proof solution. The front camera is 2 Megapixels and the back camera is 5 Megapixels. I don’t know how good they are, because the firmware and camera software are still in heavy development. In short: they don’t work except for showing a black and white image.

The software experience

After I put in the SIM card, I booted up the phone. The login screen is very nice, with the clock on the center of the screen. However, entering the PIN code (this always needs to be numbers) is a bit awkward because the ‘0’ is located on the right instead of located at the bottom, where you would expect it to be.

When you have unlocked the phone, it looks like a standard Android experience. You have a app drawer that you open by swiping up. Hold on to an icon and you can place it on the home screen. Touch the icon and it will open that app. Long press the home screen and you can add widgets or change the wallpaper. I haven’t found a way to setup multiple virtual desktop screens, so you can’t swipe left or right. You can add an Activities widget or a Pager widget, but it doesn’t do much at the moment.

If you swipe down, you will reveal the control center. Not everything is fleshed out. So sometimes touching an icon will result in you being redirected to the settings app. The flashlight works however! And the night color option works as well.

How to kill your PinePhone on Day 1

The first thing that I wanted to do was to update the software. I knew that the phone was running Manjaro linux. I didn’t have any experience with Manjaro, so I searched the internet how to update the system and found this handy instruction on the PinePhone wiki. This worked like a charm; via the Terminal app I was able to update my system. It was very cool to see all updates on the command line interface.

Next I wanted to install some software. And I wanted to use a GUI Software Manager. So I installed Pamac. That went fine. And although it didn’t fit my screen fully, I could search and install software. So I started by installing:

  • Firefox
  • Signal-desktop

The install didn’t go as planned. After restarting the phone, it didn’t boot anymore. Which meant I had turned my new toy into a brick. At first I was a bit disheartened. But then I read that the PinePhone always prefers the SD card over the internal memory. Which means that I could easily replace the operating system with something new. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to install openSUSE on my PinePhone.

Installing openSUSE Tumbleweed on the PinePhone

I followed these installation instructions. The first thing I did was download the Jumpdrive image. I put in a small MicroSD card into my laptop and when I doubleclicked the image in Dolphin, this opened automatically in Gnome Disks and offered me to write it to the SD card. Then I put the SD card in the PinePhone and plugged in the USB-C connector. And I started up the phone.

The next step was to write the openSUSE image to the internal memory (eMMC) of the PinePhone. Again, I started downloading the openSUSE image, which you can find here. I have chosen to go with the KDE Plasma Mobile version, because I am used to KDE as my regular Desktop Environment as well. The next step is to Unzip the file, by opening the file with Ark.

And then click twice on the Extract button.

The next step is to open Disks and to select the dots and then click on Restore Disk Image.

The next step is to select the raw (Unzipped) image. You can simply ignore the error that your SD card (which is the internal eMMC memory) is bigger than the image that you are about the write. That is logical, because you are writing a 4GB image to a 16GB disk. And you will use (read: format) the full disk for that. So click Restore to continue.

Gnome Disks will show you the progress. When everything is done, you will see that the internal memory of the PinePhone is now divided into 3 partitions and some empty space.

The next step is to enlarge the ROOT partition. But you need a program named f2fs-tools to be installed for that to work. Use YaST to install these packages. After that use Gnome Disks to extend the partition. In the end you should have a ROOT partition of about 15 GB.

The next step is to remove the Jumpdrive MicroSD card from your PinePhone and boot the device. You should see the glorious openSUSE logo appearing.

Swipe up and put in the default Pin-code of 1234. Then put in the default Pin-code of your SIM card.

You will now see the Home screen with a recognizable openSUSE green wallpaper. A few tips to do first:

  • Use Discover to update your phone to the latest version
  • Use Discover to install all kinds of apps
  • Change your password via the terminal (sudo passwd)

When changing your password, make sure that you use only numbers!!! Because your root password is also the Pin-code for unlocking the phone. Of course openSUSE will complain; just ignore that and enter the 4 number password again.

Conclusion

I am really happy with my PinePhone. Its a great toy for experiencing the state of Plasma Mobile and Phosh. For me it is also a delight that I can use openSUSE Tumbleweed, as I am familiar with Zipper for the command line. In the future, I will try out Phosh to see how far that has progressed. But that is a topic for another blog post.

Published on: 8th March 2021