Genode OS

[Kevin Kofler]

I'd have to look it up again, but there's a way to do this with a carrier less android and I'm assuming the same trick can be done with the PP.

Sure, you can do VoIP without a mobile carrier, if you have another network available, which realistically means WiFi. Anything other than mobile data or WiFi (or Bluetooth or USB, but neither is long-range enough to be reasonable on the go) is not supported by the PinePhone out of the box and also not likely to be widely deployed any time soon.

Calls made near hot spots only is less of an issue in suburban/urban areas.

Nonsense. Even in this capital city (Vienna, Austria), public WiFi coverage is lackluster at best, and you also need to click through a captive web portal after connecting to the city WiFi, so forget auto-connect. Being only reachable for calls when connected to a WiFi is just not workable here. I doubt it works that much better where you live.

While a PP would no longer be reliable as a daily driver, using VoIP in hotspots only for calls plus Reticulum's Sideband messaging service (similar to meshtastic, but not as far along in development) for SMS beyond hot spots because it can use wifi, bluetooth and ham radio signals to carry messages is a patch work replacement scenario I've been looking at.

There is no way this is going to be widely deployed. PinePhone users alone are way too few to build a mesh network. (And PinePhone users running Genode OS are even fewer. Almost all of us run GNU/Linux. So do I.)

Really, carrier support is indispensable, there is no workaround. If all carriers in your country desupport the PinePhone, your only option to continue using it is to move to another country. At least in Austria, I am not aware of any carrier that does not work with the PinePhone.

[PineFone]

There is no way this is going to be widely deployed. PinePhone users alone are way too few to build a mesh network. (And PinePhone users running Genode OS are even fewer. Almost all of us run GNU/Linux. So do I.)

All valid points, but I still plan on tinkering with things. The PinePhone has a built in LoRa backing that can be purchased which MIGHT(?) work the same as the LilyGo RNode's used by Meshtastic and Reticulum for sending messages. If not, then you just connect a RNode to the PP like is done for Droids, etc.

Meshtastic works on Droids and iPhones in addition to Windows, Mac, and Linux. Reticulum is operational on Linux and has a Droid APK so it's not a case of a PinePhone only Mesh Network, PP is still a very minor player.

I've seen a Manjaro Reticulum version posted on this forum, but can't get it to work so far, but I'm hoping one can be developed for Genode OS so if the carrier-less VoIP is a complete non starter as you've outlined, there's still SMS and a very limited LXMF/non-TCP internet available through Reticulum nodes.

[nfeske]

I am happy to announce Sculpt OS 23.10, which we released simultaneously for the PinePhone and PC platforms today:

  https://genode.org/news/sculpt-os-release-23.10

Should you already run Sculpt OS on the PinePhone, you can switch to the new version by installing the version 2023-10-25 offered by "genodelabs" in the software-update dialog.

For installing Sculpt OS on a new SD-card:

1. Download the SD-card image for version 2023-10-25 from https://depot.genode.org/genodelabs/image/.
   You can find the disk image in two forms, as compressed .img.xz file or contained in a .zip file.
   You may check the downloaded image's integrity with GnuPG using the accompanied .sig files and the public key of Genode Labs.
   
2. Copy the image to an SD-card.
   On Unix-like systems, uncompress the downloaded .img.xz file and copy the resulting .img file to an SD-card.
   $ xz -d sculpt-pinephone-<version>.img.xz
   $ sudo dd if=sculpt-pinephone-<version>.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M conv=fsync
   
   Replace /dev/sdX by the name of your SD-card device. You may check dmesg for obtaining the device name. 
   
3. Boot the PinePhone with the SD-card inserted. After around 5 seconds, the user interface should appear.
   
4. Extend the Genode partition to the full size of the SD card. The downloaded image contains a tiny partition merely capable to the hold the base system. We need to expand it to the SD-card's actual capacity to have room for applications and data.
   • Select the "Storage" section
     
   • Select the partition "1"
     
   • Select "Expand" and confirm the operation
     
   • After a up to 20 seconds, you should see the partition size changed to the SD-card's capacity
     
5. Make the expanded partition the default using the "Default" button. 
   

The concepts mirror the PC version of Sculpt OS. Please refer to the Sculpt OS documentation for more details.


You may also find the following quick-start instructions useful: http://genodians.org/nfeske/2023-02-01-m...uick_start

[PineFone]

I am happy to announce Sculpt OS 23.10, which we released simultaneously for the PinePhone and PC platforms today:

  https://genode.org/news/sculpt-os-release-23.10

Awesome, I'll install a copy and report back in a few days. Thanks again for the install reminder

[PineFone]

I am happy to announce Sculpt OS 23.10, which we released simultaneously for the PinePhone and PC platforms today:

  https://genode.org/news/sculpt-os-release-23.10

Thanks for posting the steps on how to install as a reminder. Here's what I have for feedback. Let me know if there's something specific I should be testing:

1) Might be a good idea to create a series of nag screens at start up providing the same steps you listed here on how to install the SD card and expand the drive space. They go away once the Storage has been setup properly.

2) The "1" button is still a small target to press (it took a few tries). It would be great to make the button larger half way between the current size and the size of one of the numbers on the phone dial pad. It's still better than it was before when it was right up on the left edge of the screen which triggered the morph browser, etc. when touched.

3) In the phone section, the # is still disabled on the dial pad making checking Voice Mail undoable. The "Clear" button works more like a back space requiring hitting it for each number you need erased. Maybe change "Clear" to "backspace" or add a button that will actually clear all the numbers at once so you have "Backspace" button next to "Clear" button.

4) The history & clear sections appear to be inactive placeholders for future use.

5) Not sure if it was there before, but I like how when it's charging it gives you the battery charge current mA.

6) I enjoy using the morph browser, but at some point the tiny size of each website is going to become an issue. One of the things to work on down the road once the primary parts are in place I assume.

7) It would be great to have some kind of meter for signal strength and let you know what your current network connection is (2G, 4G, etc.). See the Arch OS for an example.

8) This is more a Sculpt PC version question, but given the micro kernel size, what are the smallest devices Sculpt can fit on? Meshtastic and Reticulum rely on LilyGo radio nodes that have up to 8MB of storage space (I believe) and require being connected to phones or laptops for their OS.

Sculpt is so small maybe there's some of these radio nodes or other IoT devices that could install Sculpt to greatly expand their capability without needing a phone or laptop. This may be one of the primary purposes of Sculpt to begin with already, it just occurred to me and seemed worth mentioning.

[nfeske]

Thanks for posting the steps on how to install as a reminder. Here's what I have for feedback.

I very much appreciate your feedback. Your remark about the hard-to-hit buttons inspired me to write up a guide for modding Sculpt OS: Crafting a modded Sculpt OS image in a few moderate steps

Previous images that I provided as 'nfeske' had a few patches on top of the upstream version. One of those patches actually tweaked the button sizes. Now, after having written the article, I published a new image under nfeske (version 2023-11-10) with those tweaks applied.

> Might be a good idea to create a series of nag screens at start up
 
Very good point. Since the PC version of Sculpt has the same culprit, we should really implement this for both versions to ease the on-boarding.

> the # is still disabled on the dial pad

Do you mean that it cannot be included in the called number (this should work), or it has no effect during the call (expected)?

> The "Clear" button works more like a back space

This is more of an interim solution until we add symbols for various functions. Then we'll replace the label with the typical backspace symbol. A long press could clear the while number. I also plan to use proper symbols on the touch keyboard (cursor keys, escape, enter etc.).

> The history & clear sections appear to be inactive placeholders for future use.

That's true.

> morph browser, but at some point the tiny size of each website

The default scaling factor can actually be configured (albeit in a awkward way): If you are eager to try and are well-versed in using Vim, you can use the system-shell preset to tweak the value. In the system shell, edit /config/presets/morph_browser, search for "zoom" (using the / command), finding the zoomFactor setting, and change the value from 1.0 to 1.5. When then switching to the morph-browser preset, everything will be displayed larger. You may try different values. Once you are satisfied, you can make the configuration persistent, using the system shell, by copying the tweaked preset to /rw/config/23.10/presets/. You'll need to create this directory using 'mkdir' first. Should you find a value that works generally good for you, we can make it the default.

> It would be great to have some kind of meter for signal strength

I agree, and remember that this was suggested before. We just need to get to implement it.

> what are the smallest devices Sculpt can fit on?

The CPU must support an MMU at minimum. So really small devices (speaking of micro controllers) are out of question. For addressing a device with very little memory (yet featuring an MMU), I'd first try to use a custom-tailored Genode system (not the complete Sculpt). In an experimental setting, we managed to boot a Genode-based system on a 32-bit ARM platform with as little as 4 MiB. But that was just a one-off experiment.

[tllim]

> what are the smallest devices Sculpt can fit on?

The CPU must support an MMU at minimum. So really small devices (speaking of micro controllers) are out of question. For addressing a device with very little memory (yet featuring an MMU), I'd first try to use a custom-tailored Genode system (not the complete Sculpt). In an experimental setting, we managed to boot a Genode-based system on a 32-bit ARM platform with as little as 4 MiB. But that was just a one-off experiment.

Looks like possible to run Sculpt on Ox64?

[nfeske]

Looks like possible to run Sculpt on Ox64?

That would fit. BTW, Genode already supports the RISC-V ISA.

[tllim]

Looks like possible to run Sculpt on Ox64?

That would fit. BTW, Genode already supports the RISC-V ISA.

Thumbs up. When Genode developers interest innOx64 development, just PM me.

[Josef Söntgen]

I want to share that we ported a SIP client (linphonec) to Sculpt on the PinePhone.

It is limited in scope and somewhat rough around the edges but extends the available options for mobile communication and I think it is a nice show-case nonetheless.