Kali not booting again

[Steve Marinos]

Hello ladies and gentlemen

So after nearly a year decided to dust off my Gemini, yesterday decided to dualboot android/kali, everything is smooth, after a hustle to update upgrade kali (since I could not physically insert some characters), everything went fine and an older me is used to reboot after any installation, so I reboot to kali, but it does not boot anymore, It get stuck at the 1st planet screen and then nothing it is stuck there, TWRP and android boot just fine, is there anyway to fix that beside the need to re-flash all over again in which might get me to the same situation?
Thank you in advance.

Now the nagging
I cannot believe that after a couple of years things are still in the alpha phase apparently, and am not blaming the dev team rather Planet computers that after all this time we still have a less than a half working device even on android level, and the fact that they are not really backing up their claims to the fullest, leaving all the software part for a few out of the communities to work for their (planet computers) claims, honestly I cannot believe that others still backed planet cosmos device after all this unmet claims by planet computers for the price of a today flagship devices, Gemini apparently will never be the N900 successor for me. Sorry for my rant but am not even 25% satisfied of planet computers strategy hence I did not back or ever will any of their products, I would think that they are not what I would call an honest company, small or big.

Sorry about me ranting here but I am really pissed at the moment and I just want something to work on this device because I hate to think that I have invested this much money for something less than half working and that each time I decide to make it work I am facing an another wall.

[Geeber]

Sorry to break it to you but Kali is more or less unusable These days. Especially since the new libc-bin upgrade uninstalls a lot of the Xserver-xorg-hwcomposer package which is the video drivers on the Gemini. Also installing Libreoffice does not work since it depends on the newer version of libc as well. It is sad since I quite liked Kali on the device. If you go to the Kali Linux ARM builds section you will notice that there is no download image for the latest Kali version on the Gemini. If you are desperate to use Linux it is possible to get Debian stretch or buster running. I have buster running on mine. However it requires a decent amount of troubleshooting to get working and yeah Planet didn't really put much effort into actually supporting Linux on the device. It more feels like a device that is capable of running Linux rather than a device that natively supports it.

[plutopants]

It more feels like a device that is capable of running Linux rather than a device that natively supports it.

I get that impression also.

It"s my experience of Linux all told - potentially it could work for me but then something doesn't and then it stops me from continuing. I will not look to try out Kali then.

I do have Debian on the Gem, and it is a wonder how it can manage it. A full desktop potentially on such a pocketable device. But I can not see it being my reliable workhorse just yet.

I got Synaptics working OK, after using a magnifying glass to find the Settings and increase the font size to 20. That has enabled me to peruse more of the potential software I could install. But some just does not suit or run properly.

The Cosmo is better than the Gem in Android. If Linux could be on it, then I'd give it a go and relegate the Gem to just Android.

I'm not an Android fan, but at least it works OK for most things I want/need to do day to day.

I am surprised, a little, that there isn't more Linux development on the Gemini. Perhaps the relative rarity of the device on the market is now taking its toll. Shame, though. I remember steps to get the Psions Linxified and that was an exciting prospect.

I live in hope that the rarer Cosmo might at least be taken forward enough for Linux to be deployed easily and practically so more casual users like me might be encouraged to give it a try. If I can manage to get the Gemini dual booted (the official guidance from Planet is clear and fairly straight forward), then anyone can, but I'd say be prepared for its limitations at the moment.

[Steve Marinos]

Sorry to break it to you but Kali is more or less unusable These days. Especially since the new libc-bin upgrade uninstalls a lot of the Xserver-xorg-hwcomposer package which is the video drivers on the Gemini. Also installing Libreoffice does not work since it depends on the newer version of libc as well. It is sad since I quite liked Kali on the device. If you go to the Kali Linux ARM builds section you will notice that there is no download image for the latest Kali version on the Gemini. If you are desperate to use Linux it is possible to get Debian stretch or buster running. I have buster running on mine. However it requires a decent amount of troubleshooting to get working and yeah Planet didn't really put much effort into actually supporting Linux on the device. It more feels like a device that is capable of running Linux rather than a device that natively supports it.

Hello mate
Yeah I gave up on Kali and flashed Gemian, well to say the least also am not satisfied and again not blaming the devs working on it that I have so much respect for their efforts to make things running and trying all possible solution to make things work, totally agree the Gemini is a show case only for dual booting a smartphone, maybe sailfish is the best solution if you don't want to run android, might put some effort there now since apparently the gemian still have a long road if it ever gonna succeed...

[Re4son]

Sorry to break it to you but Kali is more or less unusable These days. Especially since the new libc-bin upgrade uninstalls a lot of the Xserver-xorg-hwcomposer package which is the video drivers on the Gemini. Also installing Libreoffice does not work since it depends on the newer version of libc as well. It is sad since I quite liked Kali on the device. If you go to the Kali Linux ARM builds section you will notice that there is no download image for the latest Kali version on the Gemini. If you are desperate to use Linux it is possible to get Debian stretch or buster running. I have buster running on mine. However it requires a decent amount of troubleshooting to get working and yeah Planet didn't really put much effort into actually supporting Linux on the device. It more feels like a device that is capable of running Linux rather than a device that natively supports it.

Sorry for that. We've finally been able to get our changes accepted upstream:

https://mitya57.me/weblog/2020/01/qt-opengl...-available.html

That's that taken care of.

We're now working on what we hope to be the last roadblock before a new release: the update to systemd =>243 breaks the graphical login. No idea why but working on it. We can't go back to <243 as that will break even more.

[greguu]

Sorry to break it to you but Kali is more or less unusable These days. Especially since the new libc-bin upgrade uninstalls a lot of the Xserver-xorg-hwcomposer package which is the video drivers on the Gemini. Also installing Libreoffice does not work since it depends on the newer version of libc as well. It is sad since I quite liked Kali on the device. If you go to the Kali Linux ARM builds section you will notice that there is no download image for the latest Kali version on the Gemini. If you are desperate to use Linux it is possible to get Debian stretch or buster running. I have buster running on mine. However it requires a decent amount of troubleshooting to get working and yeah Planet didn't really put much effort into actually supporting Linux on the device. It more feels like a device that is capable of running Linux rather than a device that natively supports it.

Sorry for that. We've finally been able to get our changes accepted upstream:

https://mitya57.me/weblog/2020/01/qt-opengl...-available.html

That's that taken care of.

We're now working on what we hope to be the last roadblock before a new release: the update to systemd =>243 breaks the graphical login. No idea why but working on it. We can't go back to <243 as that will break even more.

Great news, mate.
We appreciate the feedback and it is really good to know that Kali on the Gemini is still being looked after! Thanks heaps!

Cheers!
Greg

[Geeber]

Many thanks Re4son,

I will look forward to being able to use Kali again on the Gemini.

[mibry]

Many thanks Re4son,

I will look forward to being able to use Kali again on the Gemini.

Has this been fixed yet so that Gemini can use Kali?

Thanks in advance.