Still wondering why I bought this.
I’m always trying out different ways of upgrading Debian (or installing a different OS) on my Gemini PDA; anything more recent that the ancient shipped version would be nice.
I’ve had one of these devices from Planet Computers since their Indiegogo campaign, but upgrading any OS onto it is not straightforward at all.
I love the idea of it but for me, it’s a device looking for a purpose.
However every so often I forget about the hours I’ve sunk into finding a use for it, dig it out of the cupboard of forgotten tech and boot it up.
Current Debian state on the Gemini PDA
- Stuck on Debian 9 (stretch)
- There is a path to upgrading to Debian 10 (buster) but a simple apt-get upgrade will fail
- No further updates including security updates
- Cannot set a static IP so no easy way to use SSH
- Cannot set a wpa_supplicant so no WiFi auto-connect
To cut down on some of the time I spend tinkering with this thing, I put together a couple of scripts that:
- Update the base system, install some tools and apps and create a new user
- Add scripts, configure existing apps and add some new ones
Run these using bash to get the nice colourful output in the Terminal:
- bash 01.Install.sh
- bash 02.Configure.sh
01.Install.sh
This will:
- Disable ancient repos
- Update APT repos and install apt-transport-https
- Purge VLC before installing again later (causes upgrading error)
- Upgrade the system, this one will fail because of the LibreOffice nonsense (causes upgrading error)
- Repair LibreOffice
- Update APT repos and install some tools
- Update APT repos and install some apps
- Upgrade the system – system wide upgrade
- Set Timezone
- Set Locale as en_GB.UTF-8
- Create a new user
- Change the hostname
- Enable avahi
- Configure wpa_supplicant for automatic login
- Symlink the config into -wlan0.conf
- Configure wlan0 interface
- Finally, tidy everything up
02.Configure.sh
This will:
- Configure Wireshark
- Make the Terminal colourful
- Delete the gemini user
- Remove some directories
- Add some directories
- Add and configure the .ssh directory
- Populate the .ssh directory
- Add some scripts
- Install Arduino from backup and configure
- Install VNC from backup
- Configure Conky & Compton
- Auto-hide the bottom panel
- Add the ‘mount’ scripts to the menu
However, Debian is not the only choice.
The Gemini PDA has a variety of operating systems available to use.
(And I’ve been through most of them over the years.)
I’m not going to cover how to re-flash a device (there are numerous articles about that on the interwebs) nor am I going to bemoan why there is no active development on any of these.
Alternatives to Debian when upgrading the Gemini PDA
If you are upgrading Debian on a Gemini PDA this is an overview of the current OS situation.
Other OSs are available
I wish that these were all straightforward to install, but they are not.
Android is easily the easiest with a re-flash back to stock.
However, Sailfish comes in a close second with PostmarketOS being the most complex to get up and running.
All have their idiosyncrasies though.
Android
- Stuck on Android 8
- No further updates including security updates
- Some current Apps no longer function under an OS from 2017
- There seems to be no rooted Android image available so I was never able to have an unlocked boot-loader (meaning no alternatives like Lineage OS)
Sailfish
- Looks lovely but takes some getting used to
- Has an easy to use gesture based interface
- A nice RSS reader
- No Android integration due to a lack of Alien Dalvik
- A lack of useful (to me) Apps and with some Portrait only
- Maps work but were awkward to get set up
Kali
- All of the Debian issues but with some cool tools
- No monitor mode for this chip set so no fully functioning Wireshark
PostmarketOS
I compiled the image file but borked the flashing process, all my fault and I’ll return to this one at some point
All of the Gemini PDA code examples can also be found on Forgejo .