Sunday, 1 April 2018

An initial look at Plasma Mobile


Plasma Mobile is the mobile version of the desktop Plasma user interface and is focused on mobile devices like phones. Users of Kubuntu and KDE neon will already be familiar with Plasma as they are well established as distros for PCs and laptops. However the simplicity of Plasma Mobile may make it ideal for Mini PCs especially as an alternative to Android as it not only bears a passing resemblance but has the significant advantage that standard desktop applications can be installed:


It is currently in very early development however an amd64-compatible ISO for Intel-based devices based on KDE Neon has already been released. Although it is 'Ubuntu-based' it runs a stripped down 'rootfs' that meant the ISO couldn't be respun for Intel Atom devices. I've modified the scripts behind the '--atom' option to now support the ISO and it can now be respun using my 'isorespin.sh' script using the command:

isorespin.sh -i neon-pm-devedition-gitunstable-20180305-1543-amd64.iso --atom

Update: Since I tested respinning the ISO one of the repositories included in the ISO ('pm.list') points to an unresponsive URL ('http://neon.plasma-mobile.org') which causes 'apt update' to hang. A workaround is available by cloning and modifying a local version of the respin script using the following command:

sudo sed '
2954s@$@ \&\& sudo mv iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list.linuxium@;
2970s@^@# @;
2973s@\([[:space:]]\+\)@\1apt-get install -y /usr/src/\\\${PACKAGE} > .package.log 2>\&1 # @;
3010s@$@ \&\& sudo mv iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list.linuxium iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list@
' /usr/local/bin/isorespin.sh > isorespin.sh && chmod 755 isorespin.sh

and then respin with the command:

./isorespin.sh -i neon-pm-devedition-gitunstable-20180305-1543-amd64.iso --atom

Further Update: As the ISO now respins without issue because the previous problem URL has been resolved I've respun the ISO using my 'isorespin.sh' script and created an ISO suitable for Intel Atom devices:

  • Atom (-i neon-pm-devedition-gitunstable-20180305-1543-amd64.iso --atom)

It is worth having a look at and keeping an eye on as it could become something special.

Final Update: ISO has been removed due to lack of space on hosting service.

Please donate if you find my work and ISO helpful using the following link http://goo.gl/nXWSGf.



16 comments:

Ben Straton said...

Beautiful! Thank you!

Ben Straton said...

Test run number 1 w/ ISO "neon-pm-devedition-gitunstable-20180305-1543-amd64.iso" resulted in error:

Installing local packages ...
/bin/bash: line 12: gdebi: command not found
./isorespin.sh: Local package 'rtl8723bs_4.12.0_amd64.deb' failed to install correctly.

gdebi is installed. And i downloaded the newest isorespin from the link in this post (from your gmail).

Unknown said...

Hello. Can somebody share a working respined iso? Maybe for atom

Linuxium said...

Since I tested this one of the repositories included on the ISO (pm.list) points to an unresponsive URL (http://neon.plasma-mobile.org/) which causes 'apt update' to hang.

Interestingly the approach I use to install the local package 'rtl8723bs_4.12.0_amd64.deb' to provide the wifi userspace files uses 'gdebi' which because the 'rootfs' is so cut down requires installing quite a few additional packages.

As a work around you can run commands I have added to the post above which assumes you have installed the latest 'isorespin' script under '/usr/local/bin'. If not you need to amend the command accordingly. This should get you a bootable ISO you can 'dd' to an USB.

Ben Straton said...

I'll try and post one this evening

Ben Straton said...

Awesome, thank you!

Ben Straton said...

Worked like a charm! Is it ok if I include your donation link when I credit you? On my posts about the ISOs I respin? I couldn't think of any reason you would object, but asking still seemed like the right thing to do.

Ben Straton said...

I've got one to upload, I just need to test it first.

Ben Straton said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Linuxium said...

@Ben: Unfortunately I have a policy:

"I've not verified the link or the external software so the comment has been removed as editing is not possible."

where I remove comments that include links to binaries even though your contribution is appreciated.

So I've uploaded a respun ISO suitable for Intel Atom devices which can be downloaded from:

http://bit.ly/neon-pm-devedition-gitunstable-20180305-1543


Linuxium said...

Yes of course (assuming you are still prepared to after my action below).

Interestingly the official ISO now respins without issue as the previous problem URL has been resolved.

Ben Straton said...

Absolutely. Thanks again!

Ben Straton said...

No prob, I'll keep that in mind

Unknown said...

Thanks both anyway

Unknown said...

Hi,
I have the same problem with:
Installing local packages ...
/bin/bash: line 12: gdebi: command not found
./isorespin.sh: Local package 'rtl8723bs_4.12.0_amd64.deb' failed to install correctly.

I would like to respin the elementary OS (loki) dowloaded actualy from official web site.

Will these commands usefull also for me?
sudo sed '
2954s@$@ \&\& sudo mv iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list.linuxium@;
2970s@^@# @;
2973s@\([[:space:]]\+\)@\1apt-get install -y /usr/src/\\\${PACKAGE} > .package.log 2>\&1 # @;
3010s@$@ \&\& sudo mv iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list.linuxium iso-chroot/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pm.list@
' /usr/local/bin/isorespin.sh > isorespin.sh && chmod 755 isorespin.sh


Thank you for response.

Linuxium said...

You can try the 'sed' commands but if the issue is with a unresponsive URL (as has happened before) then YMMV.

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