Ubuntu Touch OTA-23

The UBports community has put out a call for testing for the upcoming OTA-23 update of their Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system for Linux phones and tablets.

Scheduled for release next week on June 28th, 2022, the Ubuntu Touch OTA-23 software update will still be based on the Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) operating system series and promises FM Radio expansion on most BQ devices and the Poco X3 NFC smartphone, improved sound playback during device sleep, as well as wireless display support for Halium 9 and later devices.

Ubuntu Touch OTA-23 also promises to introduce hardware decoding on the Jingpad ARM-based Linux tablet, snappier backlight dimming when turning the device on and off, an updated Messaging app to no longer display icons for attachments and audio when MMS is disabled, a better Wi-Fi experience, and an improved Lomiri drawer.

The final release of Ubuntu Touch OTA-23 is slated for June 28th, 2022. Until then, if you want to help UBports Foundation fix the last remaining bugs and deliver a more stable and reliable Ubuntu Touch experience on supported devices, you are invited to take the OTA-23 update for a test drive.

Details on how you can test the upcoming Ubuntu Touch release are provided in the call for testing announcement. However, if you care about the stability of your device, DO NOT install this pre-release version!

Meanwhile, the UBports Foundation devs are working hard on porting their Ubuntu Touch mobile OS to the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) operating system series. You can also help them test Ubuntu 20.04-based Ubuntu Touch by visiting the GitLab Epic they created for the project where milestones and tasks that need to be completed are listed for those interested in testing.

EndeavourOS’s ARM endeavors just took a turn for the better as the team launched today a new ISO release of the Arch Linux-based distribution that integrates a new ARM installer to make it a lot easier to install EndeavourOS ARM on devices like the Raspberry Pi 4.

EndeavourOS Artemis is out now and it’s the first release of the Arch Linux-based distro to come with a built-in installer for the EndeavourOS ARM Edition. The new ARM installer is integrated into the Welcome screen you see when you enter the live session and it’s just one click away from trying EndeavourOS on an ARM device.

The EndeavourOS team started working on their ARM port for the distribution about two years ago. Until now, installing EndeavourOS on ARM devices required you to write the latest EndeavourOS ISO image on a microSD card, download the EndeavourOS ARM installation script, and then run the text-based installer that had several stages.

The previous ARM installer script, which is still available for unsupported devices, was for advanced users, but now anyone can try EndeavourOS on a supported ARM device (Odroid N2/N2+ and Raspberry Pi at the moment of writing this article) thanks to the new ARM installer, which requires just a few clicks.

Earlier this year, the EndeavourOS devs announced that their EndeavourOS ARM Edition now offers a 64-bit installation option for the Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer, which is what I’m using in this review.

Installation

The installation is quite easy. Once you click on the “EndeavourOS ARM Image Installer” button on the Welcome screen, you’ll see a new dialog where you just have to click on the “Start ARM Installer” button.

After that, the entire installation process will take place in a full-screen terminal window, in text mode. There, you will only have to select the ARM device you want to install EndeavourOS ARM to (e.g. Raspberry Pi 4 64-bit or Odroid N2/N2+), choose a file system type (e.g. EXT4 or Btrfs), and select the microSD card.

When selecting the microSD card, make sure that you write /dev/ in front of the device’s name (e.g. /dev/sdc). That’s it, the installer will automatically download the EndeavourOS ARM image for your device, extract it, sync it, and tell you that the default username and password is alarm and that the default root password is root (just in case you need them for the live system).

The best part is that you can do all this straight from the live ISO, without installing EndeavourOS on your PC!

Openbox live environment, Calamares installer

With this, you’ll get a basic live environment featuring the Openbox window manager with a few utilities pre-installed, but the installation of EndeavourOS ARM isn’t over as a new welcome screen gives me the choice to install the official or community editions of EndeavourOS. In addition, I can alter the mirrors to select a location that’s closer to me for a faster installation process.

Installing the official or community editions will fire up a modified Calamares graphical installer where you can choose your favorite desktop environment(s) and additional packages to install, configure the default user for the system, and select the default language and keyboard layout, just like with a normal EndeavourOS installation.

The installer will download the required packages and install them over the live session, which you won’t be able to use once the pseudo-installation is complete. That’s it, after a system reboot you will be able to enjoy your brand-new EndeavourOS ARM distribution on your ARM-powered device.

Conclusion

Thanks to the new ARM installer that’s integrated into the live ISO image of EndeavourOS, I believe the EndeavourOS ARM Edition will soon become very popular amongst Arch Linux/EndeavourOS/ARM fans.

Personally, I’ve only tried the Xfce desktop environment and, as you can see from the featured image, it looks and feels great. Everything appears to work properly on the Raspberry Pi 4 computer, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, YouTube Full HD playback, etc., just as expected from EndeavourOS.

The EndeavourOS team did an amazing job with the new ARM installer and the entire ecosystem around the EndeavourOS ARM Edition, and I bet that this is just the beginning as they will now have to start adding more and more devices to the ARM installer.

Last updated 3 days ago