{"slug": "postmarketos", "name": "postmarketOS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Alpine Linux-based distribution that runs mainline Linux on phones and other mobile devices.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 16, "warners": 3, "score": 4.572, "rising": 0.69, "first": "2026-01-25", "latest": "2026-09-27", "why": "Liked for bringing mainline Linux to older devices such as the OnePlus 6, Poco F1, N900 and some Kobo e-readers, with development that commenters describe as rapid lately.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 7, "compare": 0, "warn": 3}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Old device revival", "Regular Linux apps"], "caveat": "Hardware support", "short_quote": "I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog.", "icon": true, "domain": "postmarketos.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://postmarketos.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["postmarketOS", "postMarketOS"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked for bringing mainline Linux to older devices such as the OnePlus 6, Poco F1, N900 and some Kobo e-readers,", "cites": [{"id": 777076081, "item_id": 48567255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567255", "by": "opan", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For anything older than that, I guess I'd recommend looking into postmarketOS.", "excerpt": "I would highly recommend LineageOS. Supports non-Pixel phones, some of them many years old (although now that I double check, the Galaxy S3 and OnePlus One aren't on the devices list anymore, I guess they do stop supporting old stuff eventually...). The OnePlus 5 is still supported and was released in 2017. For anything older than that, I guess I'd recommend looking into postmarketOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "very old phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon"}, {"id": 778025184, "item_id": 48626574, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48626574", "by": "tetris11", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Long live PmOS!", "excerpt": "N900 and Poco F1 out of testing and into community! I love seeing old devices become stable drivers Long live PmOS!", "context": "", "use_case": "old devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "PostmarketOS v26.06 (Alpen Avocado) released"}, {"id": 790276864, "item_id": 49392304, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49392304", "by": "yoavm", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some Kobos can run PostmarketOS", "excerpt": "FWIW, some Kobos can run PostmarketOS. I built this UI for my Clara - https://www.github.com/bjesus/air . It runs Firefox, Syncthing, KOReader, and basically anything else you can run on Linux.", "context": "Kobo Clara owner", "use_case": "Linux on Kobo", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kobo can run apps now"}, {"id": 787045952, "item_id": 49190372, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190372", "by": "droserasprout", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog.", "excerpt": "I can confirm this holding OP6 (enchilada) in my hands \u2014 it's a flagship postmarketOS device. It also has other nerd options available \u2014 Sailfish and Windows (Renegade Project) \u2014 but obviously with poor hardware support. I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog. [1] It's a fun reading, and development's been really rapid lately. What stopped me from full migration to pmOS the last time I tried it about ", "context": "holds a OnePlus 6", "use_case": "Linux on OnePlus 6 phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}]}, {"text": " with development that commenters describe as rapid lately.", "cites": [{"id": 787045952, "item_id": 49190372, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190372", "by": "droserasprout", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog.", "excerpt": "I can confirm this holding OP6 (enchilada) in my hands \u2014 it's a flagship postmarketOS device. It also has other nerd options available \u2014 Sailfish and Windows (Renegade Project) \u2014 but obviously with poor hardware support. I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog. [1] It's a fun reading, and development's been really rapid lately. What stopped me from full migration to pmOS the last time I tried it about ", "context": "holds a OnePlus 6", "use_case": "Linux on OnePlus 6 phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is incomplete hardware support,", "cites": [{"id": 753503408, "item_id": 47093963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47093963", "by": "beeflet", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love postmarketos", "excerpt": "I love postmarketos, but there is not even one \"Main\" phone with all of the hardware feature supported. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices Fairphone 4 looks close, hopefully fairphone 4 support will continue to improve at this rate. Pinephone is another close one, but underpowered hardware and camera support kills it. I am not even that intensive of a phone user. but there is no way I could daily drive pmOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 790862080, "item_id": 49428880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428880", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Take a look at the PostmarketOS Device Wiki[1], you'll see that even phones released 10+ years ago (like Xiaomi Redmi 4) still do not have 100% functionality.", "excerpt": "Lots of obstacles. The biggest obstacle is having access to the kernel sources. Even if you've got access to the kernel source, driver blobs are a big issue, because if you move to a newer kernel the old drivers may not work. Take a look at the PostmarketOS Device Wiki[1], you'll see that even phones released 10+ years ago (like Xiaomi Redmi 4) still do not have 100% functionality. In saying that, in this era of LLMs", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xiaomi: New CPU matches Apple cores single threaded, much faster multithreaded"}, {"id": 789777968, "item_id": 49361123, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49361123", "by": "StrLght", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "A few months ago, people were reporting a hard time placing a call, taking a photo, etc.", "excerpt": "AOSP is Linux. If by \"mainstream\" Linux you mean something like postmarketOS, I'd suggest you look up reviews or give it a try yourself. A few months ago, people were reporting a hard time placing a call, taking a photo, etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones"}]}, {"text": " so few commenters consider it ready to daily drive.", "cites": [{"id": 753503408, "item_id": 47093963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47093963", "by": "beeflet", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love postmarketos", "excerpt": "I love postmarketos, but there is not even one \"Main\" phone with all of the hardware feature supported. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices Fairphone 4 looks close, hopefully fairphone 4 support will continue to improve at this rate. Pinephone is another close one, but underpowered hardware and camera support kills it. I am not even that intensive of a phone user. but there is no way I could daily drive pmOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 795940848, "item_id": 49746303, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746303", "by": "Clap404", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried (and gave up) to do the same on my trogdor with postmarket", "excerpt": "I tried (and gave up) to do the same on my trogdor with postmarket because it was the only thing really missing for it to be a daily driver. Any chance you could publish what Claude did ? This article and thread tells me there are more people hacking on the duet than I thought. Maybe we'll be a handful to use your patch.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Lenovo Duet", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running Ubuntu on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet"}, {"id": 789548832, "item_id": 49346802, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346802", "by": "NoboruWataya", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Even on devices where it \"works\", it tends to be slow, buggy, very heavy on battery", "excerpt": "It's a bleak situation. I don't have a Fairphone (after much agonising, I went instead with a used Pixel when I finally decided to retire my previous phone). I love Fairphone's mission and hope they succeed but indeed it is very difficult to justify spending that much on a phone with those specs, particularly when the company is young and so its promises of replacement parts, extended updates, etc, are difficult to a", "context": "has tried it on Pinephone and tablet", "use_case": "Linux on phones/tablets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Old device revival", "summary": "Commenters recommend it for keeping older phones and devices running.", "quotes": [{"id": 777076081, "item_id": 48567255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567255", "by": "opan", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For anything older than that, I guess I'd recommend looking into postmarketOS.", "excerpt": "I would highly recommend LineageOS. Supports non-Pixel phones, some of them many years old (although now that I double check, the Galaxy S3 and OnePlus One aren't on the devices list anymore, I guess they do stop supporting old stuff eventually...). The OnePlus 5 is still supported and was released in 2017. For anything older than that, I guess I'd recommend looking into postmarketOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "very old phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon"}, {"id": 778025184, "item_id": 48626574, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48626574", "by": "tetris11", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Long live PmOS!", "excerpt": "N900 and Poco F1 out of testing and into community! I love seeing old devices become stable drivers Long live PmOS!", "context": "", "use_case": "old devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "PostmarketOS v26.06 (Alpen Avocado) released"}, {"id": 790276864, "item_id": 49392304, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49392304", "by": "yoavm", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some Kobos can run PostmarketOS", "excerpt": "FWIW, some Kobos can run PostmarketOS. I built this UI for my Clara - https://www.github.com/bjesus/air . It runs Firefox, Syncthing, KOReader, and basically anything else you can run on Linux.", "context": "Kobo Clara owner", "use_case": "Linux on Kobo", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kobo can run apps now"}]}, {"label": "Regular Linux apps", "summary": "Runs ordinary Linux software such as Firefox, Syncthing and KOReader.", "quotes": [{"id": 790276864, "item_id": 49392304, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49392304", "by": "yoavm", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some Kobos can run PostmarketOS", "excerpt": "FWIW, some Kobos can run PostmarketOS. I built this UI for my Clara - https://www.github.com/bjesus/air . It runs Firefox, Syncthing, KOReader, and basically anything else you can run on Linux.", "context": "Kobo Clara owner", "use_case": "Linux on Kobo", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kobo can run apps now"}, {"id": 748096610, "item_id": 46756038, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46756038", "by": "fsflover", "date": "2026-01-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are also Mobian, PureOS, postmarketOS and more.", "excerpt": "> alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ This is far from the only alternative. There are also Mobian, PureOS, postmarketOS and more. Unlike Ubuntu Touch, they allow you to run ordinary Linux desktop apps. Also there is hardware not tied to an ancient Android kernel, designed to run desktop GNU/Linux: Pinephone and Librem 5. The latter is my daily driver.", "context": "Librem 5 daily driver", "use_case": "mobile Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android"}]}, {"label": "Active development", "summary": "Commenters note rapid recent progress and devices moving from testing to community support.", "quotes": [{"id": 787045952, "item_id": 49190372, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190372", "by": "droserasprout", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog.", "excerpt": "I can confirm this holding OP6 (enchilada) in my hands \u2014 it's a flagship postmarketOS device. It also has other nerd options available \u2014 Sailfish and Windows (Renegade Project) \u2014 but obviously with poor hardware support. I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog. [1] It's a fun reading, and development's been really rapid lately. What stopped me from full migration to pmOS the last time I tried it about ", "context": "holds a OnePlus 6", "use_case": "Linux on OnePlus 6 phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 778025184, "item_id": 48626574, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48626574", "by": "tetris11", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Long live PmOS!", "excerpt": "N900 and Poco F1 out of testing and into community! I love seeing old devices become stable drivers Long live PmOS!", "context": "", "use_case": "old devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "PostmarketOS v26.06 (Alpen Avocado) released"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Hardware support", "summary": "No device has every hardware feature working, even on phones over ten years old.", "quotes": [{"id": 753503408, "item_id": 47093963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47093963", "by": "beeflet", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love postmarketos", "excerpt": "I love postmarketos, but there is not even one \"Main\" phone with all of the hardware feature supported. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices Fairphone 4 looks close, hopefully fairphone 4 support will continue to improve at this rate. Pinephone is another close one, but underpowered hardware and camera support kills it. I am not even that intensive of a phone user. but there is no way I could daily drive pmOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 790862080, "item_id": 49428880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428880", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Take a look at the PostmarketOS Device Wiki[1], you'll see that even phones released 10+ years ago (like Xiaomi Redmi 4) still do not have 100% functionality.", "excerpt": "Lots of obstacles. The biggest obstacle is having access to the kernel sources. Even if you've got access to the kernel source, driver blobs are a big issue, because if you move to a newer kernel the old drivers may not work. Take a look at the PostmarketOS Device Wiki[1], you'll see that even phones released 10+ years ago (like Xiaomi Redmi 4) still do not have 100% functionality. In saying that, in this era of LLMs", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xiaomi: New CPU matches Apple cores single threaded, much faster multithreaded"}, {"id": 789777968, "item_id": 49361123, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49361123", "by": "StrLght", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "A few months ago, people were reporting a hard time placing a call, taking a photo, etc.", "excerpt": "AOSP is Linux. If by \"mainstream\" Linux you mean something like postmarketOS, I'd suggest you look up reviews or give it a try yourself. A few months ago, people were reporting a hard time placing a call, taking a photo, etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones"}]}, {"label": "Daily driving", "summary": "Several commenters say it is not yet usable as a main phone OS.", "quotes": [{"id": 753503408, "item_id": 47093963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47093963", "by": "beeflet", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love postmarketos", "excerpt": "I love postmarketos, but there is not even one \"Main\" phone with all of the hardware feature supported. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices Fairphone 4 looks close, hopefully fairphone 4 support will continue to improve at this rate. Pinephone is another close one, but underpowered hardware and camera support kills it. I am not even that intensive of a phone user. but there is no way I could daily drive pmOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 795940848, "item_id": 49746303, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746303", "by": "Clap404", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried (and gave up) to do the same on my trogdor with postmarket", "excerpt": "I tried (and gave up) to do the same on my trogdor with postmarket because it was the only thing really missing for it to be a daily driver. Any chance you could publish what Claude did ? This article and thread tells me there are more people hacking on the duet than I thought. Maybe we'll be a handful to use your patch.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Lenovo Duet", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running Ubuntu on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet"}, {"id": 789521520, "item_id": 49345095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345095", "by": "1dom", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My main hope is that as PMOS become daily-driverable", "excerpt": "Thanks for this. My main hope is that as PMOS become daily-driverable, the nature and number of irritated Fairphone users will quickly make PMOS a better alternative to any of the Androids available on FP6. If that happens, the resultant hardware/software/freedom combo could be well worth the cost. I hope Fairphone make some big donations to PMOS if this happens - it would not be very fair for the people responsible ", "context": "", "use_case": "alternative OS for Fairphone 6", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera"}]}, {"label": "Speed and battery", "summary": "One commenter found it slow, buggy and heavy on battery even where it works.", "quotes": [{"id": 789548832, "item_id": 49346802, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346802", "by": "NoboruWataya", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Even on devices where it \"works\", it tends to be slow, buggy, very heavy on battery", "excerpt": "It's a bleak situation. I don't have a Fairphone (after much agonising, I went instead with a used Pixel when I finally decided to retire my previous phone). I love Fairphone's mission and hope they succeed but indeed it is very difficult to justify spending that much on a phone with those specs, particularly when the company is young and so its promises of replacement parts, extended updates, etc, are difficult to a", "context": "has tried it on Pinephone and tablet", "use_case": "Linux on phones/tablets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera"}]}, {"label": "Android apps", "summary": "Poor Magisk and Xposed support in Waydroid stopped one user from fully switching.", "quotes": [{"id": 787045952, "item_id": 49190372, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190372", "by": "droserasprout", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog.", "excerpt": "I can confirm this holding OP6 (enchilada) in my hands \u2014 it's a flagship postmarketOS device. It also has other nerd options available \u2014 Sailfish and Windows (Renegade Project) \u2014 but obviously with poor hardware support. I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog. [1] It's a fun reading, and development's been really rapid lately. What stopped me from full migration to pmOS the last time I tried it about ", "context": "holds a OnePlus 6", "use_case": "Linux on OnePlus 6 phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}]}, {"label": "Bootloader unlock", "summary": "Installing it requires a phone with an unlocked bootloader.", "quotes": [{"id": 787638209, "item_id": 49227388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49227388", "by": "alightsoul", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "You also need an unlocked bootloader to install postmarket os.", "excerpt": "FYI you can't do this on phones with locked bootloaders as well as the author did. you could use termux but if termux runs on anything lower than android 8 termux will be significantly limited and you will need postmarketos and maybe fix support for it. with termux, at best things will be slow without root, as the author mentioned rooting resulted in a speed increase. without root, you also can't bind to ports on any", "context": "", "use_case": "running containers on phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "My server is a phone now"}]}, {"label": "Volunteer support", "summary": "Device support relies on volunteer reverse engineering without official OEM backing.", "quotes": [{"id": 787057537, "item_id": 49191096, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49191096", "by": "zb3", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "this level of \"support\" is based on hacks = volunteer work", "excerpt": "You misunderstood my comment.. this level of \"support\" is based on hacks = volunteer work, where the community working together (for free) is able to support one device \"almost\" completely after only 8 years, relying on hacks/reverse engineering etc.. But it's not like OnePlus or Qualcomm officially supports that, right? They didn't have any deal with any OEM where there would be someone employed to support the OS.. ", "context": "", "use_case": "phone OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}]}], "who": [{"by": "neilv", "context": "previous user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870727", "date": "2026-09-27"}, {"by": "yoavm", "context": "Kobo Clara owner", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49392304", "date": "2026-08-21"}, {"by": "NoboruWataya", "context": "has tried it on Pinephone and tablet", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346802", "date": "2026-08-18"}, {"by": "droserasprout", "context": "holds a OnePlus 6", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190372", "date": "2026-08-05"}, {"by": "fsflover", "context": "Librem 5 daily driver", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46756038", "date": "2026-01-25"}], "tags": ["for old phones", "for e-readers", "for tinkerers", "for Linux users"], "use_cases": ["mobile linux", "mobile os", "linux on lenovo duet", "mainline linux on devices", "linux on phones", "linux on kobo"], "compared": [{"slug": "grapheneos", "name": "GrapheneOS", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ubuntu-touch", "name": "Ubuntu Touch", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "lineageos", "name": "LineageOS", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nixos", "name": "NixOS", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "mobian", "name": "Mobian", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "pureos", "name": "PureOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49704503", "title": "Running Ubuntu on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49338285", "title": "Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188022", "title": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49867553", "title": "PostmarketOS is rebranding as Nura", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49420873", "title": "Xiaomi: New CPU matches Apple cores single threaded, much faster multithreaded", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49390427", "title": "Kobo can run apps now", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 2, "neutral": 5}, "2026-09": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 2}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 797931632, "item_id": 49870727, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870727", "by": "neilv", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "As someone who used PostmarketOS previously, and would be interested in returning...", "excerpt": "As someone who used PostmarketOS previously, and would be interested in returning... 1. Congrats to them on a name change. 2. Bummer about not getting the .org domain name, but if the current registrant hasn't been using the name, there is some ICANN trademark pressure that can help the registrant be reasonable with the price. 3. Is the effort into branding a sign that there's also imminent big news on viability for ", "context": "previous user", "use_case": "mobile OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "PostmarketOS is rebranding as Nura"}, {"id": 795940848, "item_id": 49746303, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746303", "by": "Clap404", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried (and gave up) to do the same on my trogdor with postmarket", "excerpt": "I tried (and gave up) to do the same on my trogdor with postmarket because it was the only thing really missing for it to be a daily driver. Any chance you could publish what Claude did ? This article and thread tells me there are more people hacking on the duet than I thought. Maybe we'll be a handful to use your patch.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Lenovo Duet", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running Ubuntu on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet"}, {"id": 795924944, "item_id": 49745309, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49745309", "by": "denysvitali", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Unfortunately it looks like pmOS is against AI [4], so I'll likely switch away from pmOS and never contribute a single line in the future.", "excerpt": "I just did something similar to bring mainline Linux to my Daylight DC-1 [1] [2], although possibly more difficult since I had to start from scratch. I can guarantee the same amount of work, without AI, takes probably 10x or more time (I did it in the past w/ the Google Pixel C [3]). Unfortunately it looks like pmOS is against AI [4], so I'll likely switch away from pmOS and never contribute a single line in the futu", "context": "Ports mainline Linux to devices", "use_case": "mainline Linux on devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running Ubuntu on the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet"}, {"id": 790862080, "item_id": 49428880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428880", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Take a look at the PostmarketOS Device Wiki[1], you'll see that even phones released 10+ years ago (like Xiaomi Redmi 4) still do not have 100% functionality.", "excerpt": "Lots of obstacles. The biggest obstacle is having access to the kernel sources. Even if you've got access to the kernel source, driver blobs are a big issue, because if you move to a newer kernel the old drivers may not work. Take a look at the PostmarketOS Device Wiki[1], you'll see that even phones released 10+ years ago (like Xiaomi Redmi 4) still do not have 100% functionality. In saying that, in this era of LLMs", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xiaomi: New CPU matches Apple cores single threaded, much faster multithreaded"}, {"id": 790276864, "item_id": 49392304, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49392304", "by": "yoavm", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some Kobos can run PostmarketOS", "excerpt": "FWIW, some Kobos can run PostmarketOS. I built this UI for my Clara - https://www.github.com/bjesus/air . It runs Firefox, Syncthing, KOReader, and basically anything else you can run on Linux.", "context": "Kobo Clara owner", "use_case": "Linux on Kobo", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kobo can run apps now"}, {"id": 789777968, "item_id": 49361123, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49361123", "by": "StrLght", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "A few months ago, people were reporting a hard time placing a call, taking a photo, etc.", "excerpt": "AOSP is Linux. If by \"mainstream\" Linux you mean something like postmarketOS, I'd suggest you look up reviews or give it a try yourself. A few months ago, people were reporting a hard time placing a call, taking a photo, etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones"}, {"id": 789548832, "item_id": 49346802, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346802", "by": "NoboruWataya", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Even on devices where it \"works\", it tends to be slow, buggy, very heavy on battery", "excerpt": "It's a bleak situation. I don't have a Fairphone (after much agonising, I went instead with a used Pixel when I finally decided to retire my previous phone). I love Fairphone's mission and hope they succeed but indeed it is very difficult to justify spending that much on a phone with those specs, particularly when the company is young and so its promises of replacement parts, extended updates, etc, are difficult to a", "context": "has tried it on Pinephone and tablet", "use_case": "Linux on phones/tablets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera"}, {"id": 789521520, "item_id": 49345095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345095", "by": "1dom", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My main hope is that as PMOS become daily-driverable", "excerpt": "Thanks for this. My main hope is that as PMOS become daily-driverable, the nature and number of irritated Fairphone users will quickly make PMOS a better alternative to any of the Androids available on FP6. If that happens, the resultant hardware/software/freedom combo could be well worth the cost. I hope Fairphone make some big donations to PMOS if this happens - it would not be very fair for the people responsible ", "context": "", "use_case": "alternative OS for Fairphone 6", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera"}, {"id": 789454547, "item_id": 49340909, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49340909", "by": "dredmorbius", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "postMarketOS (based on Alpine Linux)", "excerpt": "If you want pure-play Linux, there's Purism (PureOS), Pine (PineOS), SailfishOS, Ubuntu Touch (33 supported devices, including Fairphone, Xiaomi, Google Pixel, and Lenovo, amongst others), Tizen, Mobian (based on Debian), and postMarketOS (based on Alpine Linux). If you want an alternative to the iOS / Android duopoly, and will accept AOSP (Android Open Source Project) or de-Googled Android, there are AOSP devices (i", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux phone OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI"}, {"id": 787638209, "item_id": 49227388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49227388", "by": "alightsoul", "date": "2026-08-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "You also need an unlocked bootloader to install postmarket os.", "excerpt": "FYI you can't do this on phones with locked bootloaders as well as the author did. you could use termux but if termux runs on anything lower than android 8 termux will be significantly limited and you will need postmarketos and maybe fix support for it. with termux, at best things will be slow without root, as the author mentioned rooting resulted in a speed increase. without root, you also can't bind to ports on any", "context": "", "use_case": "running containers on phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "My server is a phone now"}, {"id": 787057537, "item_id": 49191096, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49191096", "by": "zb3", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "this level of \"support\" is based on hacks = volunteer work", "excerpt": "You misunderstood my comment.. this level of \"support\" is based on hacks = volunteer work, where the community working together (for free) is able to support one device \"almost\" completely after only 8 years, relying on hacks/reverse engineering etc.. But it's not like OnePlus or Qualcomm officially supports that, right? They didn't have any deal with any OEM where there would be someone employed to support the OS.. ", "context": "", "use_case": "phone OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 787045952, "item_id": 49190372, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190372", "by": "droserasprout", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog.", "excerpt": "I can confirm this holding OP6 (enchilada) in my hands \u2014 it's a flagship postmarketOS device. It also has other nerd options available \u2014 Sailfish and Windows (Renegade Project) \u2014 but obviously with poor hardware support. I highly recommend keeping an eye on postmarketOS blog. [1] It's a fun reading, and development's been really rapid lately. What stopped me from full migration to pmOS the last time I tried it about ", "context": "holds a OnePlus 6", "use_case": "Linux on OnePlus 6 phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux"}, {"id": 778025184, "item_id": 48626574, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48626574", "by": "tetris11", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Long live PmOS!", "excerpt": "N900 and Poco F1 out of testing and into community! I love seeing old devices become stable drivers Long live PmOS!", "context": "", "use_case": "old devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "PostmarketOS v26.06 (Alpen Avocado) released"}, {"id": 777076081, "item_id": 48567255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567255", "by": "opan", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For anything older than that, I guess I'd recommend looking into postmarketOS.", "excerpt": "I would highly recommend LineageOS. Supports non-Pixel phones, some of them many years old (although now that I double check, the Galaxy S3 and OnePlus One aren't on the devices list anymore, I guess they do stop supporting old stuff eventually...). The OnePlus 5 is still supported and was released in 2017. For anything older than that, I guess I'd recommend looking into postmarketOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "very old phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon"}, {"id": 753503408, "item_id": 47093963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47093963", "by": "beeflet", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love postmarketos", "excerpt": "I love postmarketos, but there is not even one \"Main\" phone with all of the hardware feature supported. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices Fairphone 4 looks close, hopefully fairphone 4 support will continue to improve at this rate. Pinephone is another close one, but underpowered hardware and camera support kills it. I am not even that intensive of a phone user. but there is no way I could daily drive pmOS.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile Linux OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 748096610, "item_id": 46756038, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46756038", "by": "fsflover", "date": "2026-01-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are also Mobian, PureOS, postmarketOS and more.", "excerpt": "> alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ This is far from the only alternative. There are also Mobian, PureOS, postmarketOS and more. Unlike Ubuntu Touch, they allow you to run ordinary Linux desktop apps. Also there is hardware not tied to an ancient Android kernel, designed to run desktop GNU/Linux: Pinephone and Librem 5. The latter is my daily driver.", "context": "Librem 5 daily driver", "use_case": "mobile Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android"}]}