PostmarketOS: Linux for phones and more
In 2016, Oliver Smith reached a point of frustration with the short lifespan of updates for his Android phone. Taking matters into his own hands, he began developing postmarketOS, a Linux distribution for mobile phones. Eight years later, the core team and trusted contributors have grown to twenty individuals, while the latest release, v24.06, now shows support for over 250 devices. Although postmarketOS isn't usable as a day-to-day phone operating system on all of them, it can also enable repurposing devices into compact servers or kiosk machines.
On its web site, postmarketOS is described as a ""real Linux distribution for phones and other mobile devices"". Unlike mainstream mobile operating systems, this means that users have full control over postmarketOS. It gives them the freedom to tinker, back up and restore their complete home directory, turn their phone into a second display or other USB gadget, and to be able to choose from multiple interfaces (what would be called "desktop environments" on non-mobile systems).
PostmarketOS is based on Alpine Linux, a lightweight Linux distribution that also serves as a popular base for Linux containers. The recently announced v24.06 release is built on Alpine Linux 3.20. All of the interfaces have received an upgrade since the v23.12 release from December 2023. In particular, KDE Plasma Mobile 6 provides a lot of new functionality, including the introduction of a new home screen that allows users to customize pages with apps, folders, and widgets.