Today, my Shiftphone 8.1 finally arrived! It will replace my aging OnePlus 7T from 2019 which is already on the second battery (thanks to @iFixit for the excellent support, spare parts and tools), running @LineageOS .

I'm still undecided if I stick to the preinstalled ShiftOS from @shiftphones or switch to an alternative ROM. It seems like LineageOS isn't fully supported yet...

#diday #Shiftphone8 #android #smartphone #lineageos

Am kommenden Dienstag, 17.3. gibts bei @c3d2 einen Linux-Mobile Hacking Themenabend. #Linux aufs #smartphone portieren und Treiberentwickeln.
Ich werde wohl mein neues #shiftphone8.1 und ein #pinetab2 mitbringen.

https://c3d2.de/news/linux-phone-hacking-0326.html

I just got my shiny new #shiftphone8 today, and it's ... still definitely the phone I should have bought. But I'm also the type of person who can find something to complain about in any situation, so here goes the good and the not so great, mostly in comparison to its predecessor, the #SHIFTphone6mq (because I got the deal where I got a 6mq, some time ago, for buying the 8 before it was in production):

1.(+) In case you didn't know Shift phones: They're fully repairable, user-openable, replaceable batteries, fairly produced ... all the good things that make a phone actually worth buying. My last phone before switching to Shift was a Xiaomi F1 Pocophone, and it broke so fast it was crazy. While replacing the screen, the battery got damaged, and you can't replace the battery without (...)

#RabbitHole: @okias is doing a lot work to mainstream #sdm845 patches to the #linux kernel. During a meeting of Phosh.mobi e.V. members I learned that there seem to be not many testers for #Shift6mq #axolotl. I still had a broken Axolotl sitting on my desk…

• repaired the phone that originally had been bought as part of a #ShiftPhone8 deal
  • cleaning inside (residue from water contact)
  • new display (two lines of broken pixels)
  • new usb-c pcb (didn't charge, data broke during testing)
• learned about edl to recover if phone wouldn't boot to fastboot anymore (yes, really had that situation later 😉)
• learned about the difference of fastboot and fastbootd mode
• learned about u-boot and the boot chain on the phone
• learned about dynamic partitions used in Android and how to use them from #linux
• learned about pmbootstrap
  • to build my own device images (mixture of existing axolotl and sdm845 to be compatible to the phone and the usage with u-boot and dynamic partitions)
  • changed pmbootstrap to build small (92M) boot image for boot_a/b partition
• tried to get more space for out of the phone for boot & root than provided by boot_a/b and system_a/b
  • resized userdata of Android
  • created two additional partitions for postmarketOS
• learned how to recover from kernel not booting without re-flashing
  • u-boot usb mass storage mode exports the mass storage of the phone over usb-c
  • phone connected to an aarch64 system (#Librem5 running #Mobian)
  • mounting encrypted partition, boot and what-else is needed
  • installing kernel packages via apk while in chroot on Librem5
• learned how to compile a kernel using ./envkernel.sh and pmbootstrap

Now I'm quite sure I can recover from any failure I will encounter while testing sdm845 kernels and I have the following setup on my Shift6mq:

• ShiftOS-L with small userdata partition in slot_b
  • applications for demoing the phone installed
  • work profile to contain closed source applications
• postmarketOS edge installed on partitions behind userdata
  • u-boot on rescue_a
  • 1GB pmOS_boot
  • 60GB pmOS_root
  • applications for demoing
  • multi-user: my testing user, demo user
  • everything except cameras work
• dual-boot possible on-the-go: enter fastboot (by holding vol-up at start), change slot, reboot

I put my notes on the postmarketOS wiki.

I started two merge requests:

• support audio configuration when started through u-boot in alsa
• add support for booting using u-boot and dynamic partitions to axolotl

I'll carry the phone at #clt2026 - Chemnitzer Linux Tage 2026 - on saturday 28th this month. I'll mostly be around the "Linux on Mobile" booth.

Wer bessere Fotos unter ShiftOS L möchte, sollte mal folgenden #gcam port ausprobieren: https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-BigKaka/f/dl80/
Der klappt bei mir im Gegensatz zum BSG beispielsweise auf den ersten Blick problemlos und die Fotos sind mMn viel besser als die der Standardapp.

#Shiftphone8 #shifthappens