Hello again!
I have returned with more patches, this time i bring you. All the sensors!
This entire collum can be made green.
We are nearing 100% completion, but im afraid true 100% might never happen.
I was working on the fingerprint sensor aswell, but its gated behind the TEE, and can’t be read from the kernel. This is going to be an issue.
So the end state might not be 100% sadly, but i hope people don’t miss the fingerprint sensor too much? (ill see if i can get it working but this is one thing i cannot promise)
But we are nearing the end, With the sensors done the only thing left is the cameras.
I contacted the person who’s blog was posted here: https://ani.social/post/34679544
and cool guy, we agreed to coordinate our efforts with the camera, so expect that one coming soon.
My hot take on the current discusion
This might earn me some hate but i am against Jolla, many people argue “don’t let perfection stand in the way of good” but we have perfection right here, its the FP6.
For several reasons:
This is blatant false advertising.
The Jolla phone is not based on Big Tech technology
Yet it uses a Big Tech kernel. There is a huge difference between a mainline linux phone and a linux phone using an android kernel.
Combined with the fact that has much debated that there are closed source components and it can’t run wayland apps.
There should be no excuse for closed source components period, no matter if they are small or easily to remove, if there is close source anywhere that means that open source is not an required but a marketing strategy.
And that is the issue i have with Jolla, it gives me the wrong vibe, big tech wearing foss clothing.
Jolla is a Finnish company specializing in privacy-first OS and Edge AI solutions. Founded in 2011, we continue the legacy of Nokia and MeeGo, driving mobile innovation into the human-centric AI era.
We develop Sailfish OS, the only European mobile OS, trusted globally for over a decade, and now enhanced for AI-driven applications. Our AppSupport technology enables Android™ apps to run on Linux platforms. Our privacy-focused Jolla Mind2 AI computer delivers secure AI capabilities across industries.
With over 60 successful software release deliveries and a proven track record across multiple hardware platforms, we collaborate with partners in the automotive and telecommunications sectors to drive innovation with our OS and Edge AI technologies.
This really makes my alarm bells whistle, are they a private phone company or an AI company??? Why this marketing language?
Let me give you an example:
These are the FP6 wire diagrams, free to download at https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/37795041144082
This is commitment to open source, this single document has allowed me to do this bringup.
Does Jolla publish one? not that i can find. If they do i retract this point but i haven’t been able to find it.
So why don’t they? If they truly believe in openness why not publish these documents? My hypothesis: they don’t care. Its all just marketing.
Soon the FP6 will be fully ready, a true daily drivable modern mainline linux phone.
I believe in maximum openess, so lets define mainline:
its the https://github.com/milos-mainline/linux staging kernel, combined with my patches.
All my patches have already been submitted on the list, but these will take time to be reviewed, it will be a very long time before they will be integrated in the kernel itself.
But they have been submitted, and im activily working on the maintainer feedback, these will make it eventually.
Once cameras are done, i will make an easy to install script and post it here. Simultaneously i will begin selling preflashed units on my shop: https://catcrafts.net/shop/fp6-pmos
These will be identical if you flash it yourself, these are for people that can’t otherwise buy one, don’t want to flash it themselves, or want to support me.
I also want not only the code to be open but also the business to be open and honest, i take whatever price i can source the phones at and add a €50 euro markup, none of this ending the price in 99 nonsense.
I do this to cover the administrative costs and labor costs.
This is cheaper then the Murena /e/OS version:
https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-6/ Which is currently priced at €599 as of time of writing.
And this might cost me alot of money but im willing to stand by it:
When a product does have to travel (a hardware fault, or a product so far gone it no longer responds to recovery tools at all), the shipping is paid by Catcrafts, both directions
This applies worlwide.
I also looked at the privacy policy of the Jolla website:
We may also permit third parties and services providers to use Cookies on our Site to better tailor the services, products and advertising on our Site and other websites.
THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING COOKIES ON A COMPANY THAT MARKETS ITSELF AS PRIVACY FOCUSED???
What a joke. This is a privacy focused policy: https://catcrafts.net/legal/privacy
The only thing i collect that i don’t need is request logging, but i hope you understand why i do that.
No cookies, no advertising, nothing.
No i don’t want to make this sound as advertising myself, i want this to sound like what the example of a open, honest, and privacy focused company should look like.
If you made it this far thank you for reading my rant, if anything is wrong or i have made a mistake please let me know in the comments and i will correct it.
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Hey. How did you get to this? I mean, how did you learn to do this?
What knowledge and skills are necessary and how could one obtain them?Mobile Linux development (low level) interests me (mostly because I just want a pocket-sized Linux computer), but I don’t have any idea where one can even start with that.
Yes, I know it will take time, but no skills and knowledge just spawn in the brain (yet*).
*perhaps brain impalnts will fix this in the futureI’ve found couple of people having similar questions on Reddit, but they often get hit with something along the lines of “If you have to ask, don’t bother.”
I just need pointers.Thanks (even if you don’t reply).
It really depends if you mean:
- You want to learn mobile linux development
- You want to learn linux kernel development
- You want to learn software development in general
i will try my best to awnser each of these:
-
This is fairly straightforward, but it really depends on your device, ideally you want a device that already boots but has some features missing, and then start the easiest of those, the sensors on the FP6 were fairly easy since they were all on the I2C bus and the manual showed the exact pins. To obtain this knowledge the easiest way is to just look at android, if an open source version exists for your device, you can download that and look how they do it, aswell as using a rooted device to view it live. it could just be as easy as copying android.
-
Don’t go straight to the phone, get started on kernel development on your pc first, make a simple module for example. don’t dive straight into the deep of phones.
-
Don’t go into the kernel at all, if you start hard you will get frustrated and quit. Pick something you would have fun with developing, something very easy. and then get started with that. this really depends on the person however so its hard to give concrete advice here. but make a simple C or C++ game or app or console utility that you would enjoy.
https://www.w3schools.com/ is a very easy introduction, alternatively you could use AI aswell. but make sure to tell it to never do the work for you. make it give you hints or explanations.
Fingerprint sensors are intentionally always gated behind hardware which uses a cryptographic key to prove validation. The reason is malware, something needs to be done to prove the fingerprint input wasn’t faked.
But this TEE/TPM API should be available to 3rd party operating system (although using a different key than the OEM OS kernel)
none of this ending the price in 99 nonsense
yay someone else who despises normalized subtle manipulation
This is especially funny with cents, at least in Slovakia. We ditched 1 and 2 cent coins, so prices get rounded to nearest 5 cents (if paid in cash).
Therefore if an item costs EUR 1.99, you end up paying 2.00 anyway,
This is incredible work! Thank you so much for your contribution to open source!
When you are finished with your work, may I point you to Maemo Leste? They are working on bringing mainline Linux to old keyboard phones (and others) e.g. the Nokia N900 and the Motorola Droid 4. They have gotten quite far for the small team they are and upstreamed many patches, but are struggling with some remaining hardware components in the phones.
For the N900 - Bluetooth and the camera as well as the lowest power state do not work. Several parts can be improved. For the Droid 4 - GPS, Cameras and there is still a close source 3D acceleration in use.
If you have time to share even a bit of your experience and skills I am sure the people there would greatly appreciate it. You can contact them via the Mailing List or better via IRC #maemo-leste @ libera.chat.
Of course this is not as prestigious and does not help as many people as your efforts with the Fairphone so I fully understand and am happy that you placed your efforts there. But to some people unlocking the last few steps to support these old phones fully would mean the world, because nothing modern is comparable to the hardware (size and HW-Keyboard wise). Also of course because of nostalgia, as the N900 was the first fully usable Linux based phone.
I would be happy to send a donation your way for any major contribution. Just ping me here in case I miss it.
This is awesome, thanks for posting the info. The droid 4 is probably my favorite phone of all time. I still have my dead one in my drawer because I’d be too sad to get rid of it. It was a rough transition to no keyboard, and I’d 1000% switch to a modern version of the droid 4, but it this works reasonably, it may be a real option (at least to toy around with)
By the way, PostmarketOS works on N900 as well: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_N900_(nokia-n900)
Can it run phyphox? That’s an awesome FOSS sensor data acquisition app (available via F-Droid) but only for Android/iOS right now so maybe via Waydroid?
Big kudos to you for taking your time and effort to make pmOS a working alternative to Android on the Fairphone 6. Is there any ETA until your store opens?
I only want to open the store when the phone fully works, I don’t want to sell a half baked product.
I hope sometime next week, but it really depends.
Thanks for the info, good luck to you!
I get where you stand hating on Jolla, and looking into it it really is a “say this, do that” company, but as a backer, I see value in it’s position. Marketing material aside if you take it as a middleground between Android with it’s problems and linux phone with it’s it gives a solid proposition. It is more mature in UI department that Ubuntu Touch or Phosh (imho) with lots of native apps that look like a part of the OS. It is also made in EU, that much is clear and well company does listen and interact with comunity (official forun/ irc chat/ matrix) and contributions are open. Right now they are slowly open sourcing the window manager, which leaves their Android app translation layer. As you said you should not market foss if it is not 100% foss, but man to be honest my linux pc is not 100℅ foss either (drivers/programs) but I’m using linux to be able to watch what even yhe closed source programs do in full as I’m in controll. Jolla Phones can do all the same, as can any linux phone that wants to position itself like that. Lastly when I was in a market for a linux phone (end of 2025) there was Pine which sells underpowered toy of a phone, Volla which sells either 2017 design phone at todays price or our of my price range options and FairPhone 6 was still unsuported well by any linux phone distro (which you have changed, god bless you). I wanted a new in look and feel phone that felt like it was made in 2025 without braking my bank and having good linux support to continue my degoogle journey. Jolla was the best option at the time and I have no regrets backing it.
Hope you understand why Jolla Phone* is so big and some reasons why people follow them. It is a stepping stone for people who want to go linux but at a pace that will not leave them in the dust. If you still can’t change your opinion let’s just agree to disagree.
The world needs more people like you! Huge thanks for all the work you’re doing!
I agree with your assessment. Jolla is a for-profit company and the time will come when they sacrifice privacy and openness and sell their customers to the highest bidder.
We cannot rely on android forever. PostmarketOS looks very exciting. Looking forward to seeing it grow. Keep up the good work!
Amazing! Once my current phone dies im gonna get a FP6, now with the confidence that linux can work on it too.
Can I support you directly without buying the phone?
I want to give you more than 50€, because I believe in everything you say here. And I kinda feel like you open yourself to potential financial hardships, and would hate to something bad to happen to a legend like yourself.
I thought the title said ‘fairhorn’ as in, “well, get them on the horn!” (Old-timey voice) “Operator, connect us to Klondike 1604 please!”
Honestly… I have no idea what I’m even talking about anymore. Didn’t have it in me to even finish the joke on this one. Sorry folks.
Cool project
Do calls work on the Fairphone 6 with pmOS ? What else works as I was looking at a fp5 but maybe I should get a fp6?
WOW ! Fully working calls is the only thing stopping me from jumping. Does the FP6 have working HDMI out like the FP5 ?
No, and sadly that is nothing something i can fix, it doesn’t support it on the hardware level.
Yup, unfortunately it’s a hardware issue. Honestly, I kind of prefer the FP5 for that very reason
Not really an issue. An intentional design choice to make the phone cheaper (as vast majority do not use sub 3.0 functionality, just power users)
Very grateful for this work.
You truly are a river to the people!
Legend…
Wait for it…
…
…
DARY!!!
