The fourth ALPHA release for PinePhone, which is an open-source Linux smartphone, has been announced by Manjaro ARM project, as well as the upcoming ‘PineTab’ tablet.
Manjaro ARM project team made significant progress with a new development build for their Arch Linux-based distro, which serves for both the PinePhone and PineTab devices. While Pine64 has already started shipping the pre-order units of PinePhone Braveheart Edition as at Jan 17, 2020.
Albeit, the PinePhone is compatible with several other Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish OS and postmarketOS, which it can boot right from internal storage or using an SD card.
PinePhone Support for Manjaro Linux
According to the developers, the latest alpha build includes a brand-new Mobile interface, Manjaro ARM wallpaper, and a couple of new applications; also there is a new layout using extlinux.conf partition as a configuration file.
The latest build also introduces support for saving of contacts right in the Phonebook app, and allows for screen lock from the power button, a fix for brightness control, and changes to the default user password. But the best addition is that Manjaro ARM for PinePhone now supports direct phone calls.
And the new Manjaro ARM alpha images which are based on unstable branch of Manjaro Linux and runs the latest Linux 5.5 kernel from PINE64. So if you're a PinePhone user, you would definitely need to try the latest Manjaro ARM build.
How to install Manjaro ARM Alpha4 for PinePhone and PineTab
First, you need to download the image/xz file from the download location. And verify that the download has been completed successfully.
Kindly note the default login details as follows:
The premade users are:
User: manjaro
Password: 1234
User: root
password: root
Then, install Etcher (sudo pacman -S etcher if on Manjaro) and burn it to an SD card (of up to 8 GB or larger). The PinePhone or PineTab should be able to recognize the SD card as a bootable device and boot directly from it.
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