After 6 months of development, a new version of postmarketOS 24.06 has been released. This Linux distribution for smartphones is based on the ALPINE Linux package base, the standard MUSL SIT, and the BUSYBOX recruitment. The project aims to provide a Linux display for smartphones that is not dependent on the life cycle of supporting official firmware and is not tied to standard solutions of major industry players that dictate the development direction. The assemblies are prepared for devices such as Pine64 Pinephone, Purism Librem 5, and 50 other devices supported by the community, including OnePlus 6, Google Nexus 10, Nokia N900, Lenovo A6000, ASUS MEMO PAD 7, various models of Samsung Galaxy, and Xiaomi. Limited experimental support is also available for more than 500 devices.
The postmarketOS environment is highly unified and separates all components specific to devices into separate packages, while all other packages are identical for all devices and based on Alpine Linux. Whenever possible, the distribution uses the Linux vanilla kernel, and if not possible, kernels from the firmware provided by device manufacturers are utilized. User shell options include kde plasma mobile, Phosh, gnome mobile, and sxmo, with the flexibility to install others like Mate and xfce.
In this new release:
- The number of devices officially supported by both developers and the community, for which finished assemblies are available, has increased from 45 to 50. Compared to the previous version, postmarketOS 23.12, support now includes the general platform “Generic X86_64,” suitable for installing the distribution on many standard PCs and laptops. The NVIDIA TEGRA ARMV7 platform has also been added, which can be used on devices with SOC NVIDIA TEGRA 2/3/4, including ASUS Transformer, Google Nexus 7 (2012), LG Optimus Vu, Microsoft Surface RT, and Wexler Tab 7T. Separate assemblies have also been added for Google Nexus 10 devices, Lenovo ThinkPad X13S, and Microsoft Surface RT.
- The release now includes 211 devices categorized as “Testing,” with varying levels of support ranging from basic booting capability to nearly full functionality. Users can build for these devices using PMBOOTSTRAP tools and packages from the project repository.
- The package base has been synchronized with Alpine Linux 3.20.