# December 2019 round-up

DevFeed: [December 2019 round-up](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/december-2019-round-up-32457.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://mobile.nixos.org/news/2020-01-08-december-2019-round-up.html>)

Author: Samuel Dionne-Riel

Published: 2020-01-08T00:00:00Z

Content type: news

Language: en

Sources: [Mobile NixOS news](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/mobile-nixos-news.md>)

Topics: [Mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mobile.md>), [qemu](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/qemu.md>), [xfce](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/xfce.md>), [adb](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/adb.md>), [boot](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/boot.md>), [pixel](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/pixel.md>), [color](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/color.md>), [x86](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/x86.md>)

Tags: [adb](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/adb.md>), [boot](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/boot.md>), [color](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/color.md>), [mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile.md>), [pixel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pixel.md>), [qemu](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/qemu.md>), [x86-64](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/x86-64.md>), [xfce](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/xfce.md>)

## AI overview

This December 2019 Mobile NixOS project update summarizes merged changes, including a more touch-accessible example system, QEMU fixes with portrait-mode VGA BIOS support, stage-1 boot and failure-state improvements, adb fixes, Google Pixel 2 framebuffer fixes, and support for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7.

## Source excerpt

This update is the second in a series of regular updates on the state of the project. Only changes that have been accepted and merged in Mobile NixOS are chronicled here. There's always more work currently in-progress. Notable changes Among the changes, and the 10 PRs merged, these changes are highlighted. Make the demo more useful on a touch device These are changes to the "example" system. This is a finalized version of the demo system that was running on the devices during NixCon 2019. The main difference is that this is not a raw XFCE desktop, but a pre-configured system that is more accessible on touch devices. The onboard on-screen keyboard is configured to be of a useful height. Additionally, XFWM has been replaced with Awesome WM configured to maximize all windows. This is still not an appropriate mobile environment, only a collection of configuration that makes it work well enough to test things up. Read more in pull request #63. Enhance QEMU Device The x86_64 based QEMU VM has seen fixes to, first, make it actually work right. What's more interesting in this PR is the patched VGA BIOS that rotates the expected resolutions (720p, 1080p) on their side in portrait mode. This is especially helpful when working on purely software things like improving the example system. These changes are part of pull request #59. Different stage-1 fixes The root filesystem is configured to expand to the size of its backing partition during boot. Part of pull request #61. Critical failure states are graphically reported. As documented, a full-screen color-coded "sad phone" gives a general idea of the error encountered. Part of pull request #58. Other notable changes #41 fixing adb for stage-2. #67 which fixes spurious framebuffer failures on Google Pixel 2. Ports One new device has been merged during December. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (xiaomi-lavender) [@samueldr] (#28) Bringing the total of devices to 10.