Work on Debian for mobile devices continues

W. Martin Borgert
Thu, 17 Aug 2017 15:40:00 +0200
2017, debian, mobile, devices, debconf17, pocketchip, pyra, zerophone

Work on Debian for mobile devices, i.e. telephones, tablets, and handheld computers, continues. During the recent DebConf17 in Montréal, Canada, more than 50 people had a meeting to reconsider opportunities and challenges for Debian on mobile devices.

A number of devices were shown at DebConf:

PocketCHIP: A very small handheld computer with keyboard, Wi-Fi, USB, and Bluetooth, running Debian 8 (Jessie) or 9 (Stretch).

Pyra: A modular handheld computer with a touchscreen, gaming controls, Wi-Fi, keyboard, multiple USB ports and SD card slots, and an optional modem for either Europe or the USA. It will come preinstalled with Debian.

Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G: An Android smartphone featuring a physical keyboard, which can already run portions of Debian userspace on the Android kernel. Kernel upstreaming is on the way.

ZeroPhone: An open-source smartphone based on Raspberry Pi Zero, with a small screen, classic telephone keypad and hardware switches for telephony, Wi-Fi, and the microphone. It is running Debian-based Raspbian OS.

The photo (click to enlarge) shows all four devices, together with a Nokia N900, which was the first Linux-based smartphone by Nokia, running Debian-based Maemo and a completely unrelated Gnuk cryptographic token, which just sneaked into the setting.

If you like to participate, please

check the Debian Mobile wiki page,

subscribe to the Debian mobile mailing list,

or join the #debian-mobile IRC chatroom at irc.oftc.net.