Bananarchy Linux

Bananarchy is a keypad-first Linux distribution hardforked from postmarketOS (v26.06 / Alpine edge armv7), built for Qualcomm MSM8905 (Snapdragon 205) and Qualcomm MSM8909 (Snapdragon 210) smart feature phones with 240x320 QVGA non-touch displays and physical 12-key T9 keypads.

Current public release: a1025 (codenamed argonaut) — see the changelog for release notes.
Download the recent images for your device from this link: https://cloud.disroot.org/s/dB7bM7sRTScetDJ
Project philosophy: read The Bananarchy Manifesto for the background and goals behind the distribution.
User and flashing guide: see the user manual for installation, keypad navigation, and hardware details.

Key features

System and hardware support

Mainline Linux 6.12 kernel: custom patches and out-of-tree drivers for Qualcomm QDSP6/Q6Voice audio routing, Dual-SIM modem control, the rear 2MP GalaxyCore GC2395 camera (/dev/video0), the SY7807 flashlight LED (white:torch), physical keypad/slider events, and clean PM8909 poweroff.
Alpine Linux Edge base: full access to the Alpine package ecosystem with < 95 MB idle RAM usage on 512 MB devices and full local root access out of the box.
Pure X11 graphical stack: cross-compiled Xlibre (X11Libre/xserver) display server paired with a customized Sxmo (sxmo-de-dwm) window manager (240x320 vertical stack layout, Conky desktop clock and system status widget, < 2 ms slider/key wake latency, and zero Wayland overhead).

Keypad-first user experience and native DWM plugins

Instead of spawning slow shell scripts for everyday phone tasks, Bananarchy runs a suite of preloaded C/C++ plugins inside DWM that sleep at 0% CPU and open in < 2 ms:

System and context menus (dmenu): instant full-screen 10-line vertical menus with live T9 filtering, built-in submenus, and hardware toggles.
Global controls drawer (xdrawer): press both softkeys together from anywhere to adjust speaker, earpiece, and ringtone volume, ringer mode (Ring+Vib / Vibrate / Silent / DND), 3-level vibration intensity (Light / Medium / Strong), flashlight, sound and microphone mute, screen brightness, and keypad backlight.
Phone dialer (xdialer), call log (xcalllog), and call screen (xcallscreen): press any digit on the home screen to start dialing with live T9 contact matching, run interactive carrier USSD codes (*100#, etc.), or type *#06# to inspect both IMEIs. Incoming and active calls open a dedicated call screen with earpiece/speaker switching, microphone mute, DTMF keypad, and one-key normalized WAV call recording (~/Recordings/rec_HHMMSS_<caller>.wav). The Call Log includes a 5-tab view (All, Miss, In, Out, Spam) with integrated anti-spam number blocking (~/.config/sxmo/block.tsv) that automatically hangs up blocked callers and logs them to the Spam tab without triggering missed-call notifications.
Contacts (xcontacts) and SMS manager (xsms): full phonebook editor with direct Qualcomm QMI SIM card contact import and export across SIM 1 and SIM 2, paired with a threaded SMS conversation view, multi-tap message composer, and built-in anti-spam blocklist / Spam Folder (~/.local/share/sxmo/block) with one-key thread blocking and restoration.
Modem and Dual-SIM manager (xmodem): 4-tab cellular control center (SIMs, Radio, AT, Log) supporting physical SIM 1 / SIM 2 active slot switching, SIM PIN unlock and PUK unblock wizards, 2G/3G/4G radio mode selection, interactive USSD sessions, and a live AT command console.
Networks and Bluetooth manager (xnetworks): 3-tab connectivity manager for Wi-Fi networks, WPA2 password entry, Wi-Fi hotspot, USB tethering, 4G/LTE mobile data (wwan0) and APN editing, and Bluetooth pairing.
File manager (xfiles), music and tracker player (xmusic), and camera (xcamera): keypad directory browser with built-in text and image viewers (plus one-click actions to launch .gb/.gbc ROMs in the Game Boy emulator, play audio, preview images, set any image as wallpaper, or install any audio or tracker file as ringtone), a 3-tab music and chiptune tracker module player (WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC, Opus, MOD, XM, IT, S3M, and more), and a live V4L2 camera viewfinder with digital zoom, flash/torch control, self-timer, and photo gallery.
Themes (xthemes), wallpapers (xwallpapers), and ringtones (xringtones): installable .Xresources color and font themes (~/.xthemes/*.xth, 20 preinstalled schemes) with live zero-restart reload across the entire UI and terminal, alongside dedicated managers for desktop wallpapers and call ringtones (supporting both standard audio and tracker modules) with 3-level vibration control.

Input, terminal, and developer tools

6-mode fcitx5-t9 keypad input: press # to cycle between abc, Abc, ABC, Sym (all 32 ASCII punctuation symbols), Ctl (Ctrl sequences, arrows, PageUp/PageDown, F1–F12), and 123 numeric modes with a fixed bottom candidate bar.
First-class Linux terminal (st): patched with HarfBuzz OpenType ligatures (Fira Code as the default system and terminal font), XIM T9 input, and live theme reloading.
On-device development, scripting, and gaming: preinstalled gcc/g++, make, git, GNU coreutils, GNU bc/dc, nano, ed, sqlite3, lua (5.5 and 5.4), yabasic, perl, tcl, the Janet language and jpm, the Bantam coding agent, frotz (interactive fiction), standalone X11 keypad games (Snake and Tetris), and a full-featured Gambatte-based Game Boy / Game Boy Color emulator (gambatte / gbemu) with readjustable keypad controls (B=8, Turbo B=5, A=9, Turbo A=6, D-pad, Start=2, Select=3, Palette=*), 10 color palettes, save states, and File Manager .gb/.gbc integration.

Supported MSM8909 and MSM8905 devices

Device	Codename	SoC	CPU / RAM	Display and panel firmware	Device tree (`.dtb`)
Nokia 8110 4G	`nokia-argon`	Qualcomm MSM8905 (SD205)	2x Cortex-A7 @ 1.1 GHz, 512 MB	2.4" 240x320 SPI (`nokia,argon-gc9305-v2-panel.bin`)	`qcom-msm8905-nokia-argon.dtb`
Nokia 2720 Flip	`nokia-beatles`	Qualcomm MSM8905 (SD205)	2x Cortex-A7 @ 1.1 GHz, 512 MB	2.8" 240x320 SPI (`nokia,beatles-gc9305-panel.bin`)	`qcom-msm8905-nokia-beatles.dtb`
Nokia 800 Tough	`nokia-tough` (`nokia-coconut`)	Qualcomm MSM8905 (SD205)	2x Cortex-A7 @ 1.1 GHz, 512 MB	2.4" 240x320 SPI (`nokia,coconut-gc9305-panel.bin`)	`qcom-msm8905-nokia-coconut.dtb`
Nokia 8000 4G	`nokia-sparkler`	Qualcomm MSM8909 (SD210)	4x Cortex-A7 @ 1.1 GHz, 512 MB	2.8" 240x320 SPI (`nokia,sparkler-gc9307-hlt-28-panel.bin`)	`qcom-msm8909-nokia-sparkler.dtb`
Nokia 6300 4G (sibling)	`nokia-leo`	Qualcomm MSM8909 (SD210)	4x Cortex-A7 @ 1.1 GHz, 512 MB	2.4" 240x320 SPI (`nokia,leo-gc9305-hlt-24-panel.bin`)	`qcom-msm8909-nokia-leo.dtb`

Repository structure

bananarchy/
├── README.md                              # Project overview, repository layout, and build workflow
├── CHANGELOG.md                           # Public release build history
├── MANIFESTO.md                           # The Bananarchy Manifesto
├── MANUAL.md                              # Complete flashing, keypad, plugin, T9, camera, and modem manual
├── flash-edl.sh                           # Automated USB EDL flasher wrapper (sudo + ModemManager handling)
├── flash-edl.py                           # Multi-device Qualcomm Sahara/Firehose EDL flasher
├── rebuild-image.sh                       # Builds boot.img and partitioned MBR .img
├── chroot-shell.sh                        # Rootless Docker armv7 package and rootfs customization shell
├── artwork/                               # Bananarchy master icon, generated icons, wallpapers, and splashes
├── bootloader/                            # lk2nd secondary bootloader and Sahara/Firehose programmer (8110.mbn)
├── devices/                               # Device definitions, DTBs, and MIPI-DBI panel init sequences
├── patches/                               # Upstream kernel, EDL, Sxmo, Xlibre, and fcitx5-t9 patch sets
├── src/
│   ├── sxmo-dwm/                          # Patched sxmo-dwm (240x320 bstack, Pango bar, softkey bar, and plugin API)
│   ├── dwm-plugins/                       # DWM plugins (dialer, calllog, callscreen, contacts, sms, files, camera,
│   │                                      #   themes, modem, networks, ringtones, wallpapers, music), theme.h, and runner
│   ├── xdrawer/                           # XDrawer global phone controls DWM plugin (xdrawer.so / xdrawer)
│   ├── sxmo-dmenu/                        # Resident DWM menu plugin (dmenu.so) and client (dmenu / xdmenu)
│   ├── sxmo-st/                           # Patched sxmo-st terminal with HarfBuzz Fira Code ligatures and XIM
│   ├── xf86-input-libinput/               # Xlibre xf86-input-libinput DDX driver
│   ├── xf86-video-fbdev/                  # Xlibre xf86-video-fbdev fallback DDX driver
│   ├── fcitx5-t9/                         # 6-mode fcitx5-t9 keypad input method
│   ├── games/                             # Standalone keypad X11 games and Gambatte GB/GBC emulator (snake, tetris, gambatte)
│   ├── leds-msm8905-torch/                # Kernel driver for SY7807 torch LED, WCD codec init, and PON shutdown
│   └── msm8905-cam/                       # Kernel V4L2 driver for GC2395 2MP rear camera (/dev/video0)
├── overlay/rootfs/                        # System configuration overlay applied over the target rootfs
├── prebuilt/                              # Pre-compiled armv7 binaries and kernel modules
└── scripts/                               # Cross-compilation, artwork generation, version, and overlay scripts

Build and customization workflow

1. Regenerate artwork assets

Whenever artwork/icon-large.png is updated, regenerate all icons, 240x320 wallpapers, and animated boot splashes:

./scripts/generate-artwork.py

2. Recompile core components (optional — prebuilts included)

All components are pre-compiled in prebuilt/ and overlay/rootfs/, and can be rebuilt from source at any time using rootless Docker (alpine:3.24):

# Rebuild cross-compiled Xlibre (X11Libre/xserver) + libinput/fbdev DDX drivers
./scripts/build-xlibre.sh

# Rebuild patched sxmo-st, sxmo-dmenu, sxmo-dwm, and all 14 C++ DWM plugins
./scripts/build-sxmo-x11.sh

# Rebuild standalone X11 games and emulators (snake, tetris, gambatte)
./scripts/build-games.sh

# Rebuild multi-mode fcitx5-t9 input engine
./scripts/build-fcitx5-t9.sh

# Fetch latest master from https://code.luxferre.top/luxferre/bantam-cpp and cross-compile Bantam AI agent
./scripts/build-bantam.sh

# Rebuild Linux 6.12.1-msm8916 QDSP6/Q6Voice audio modules, torch LED module, camera module, and DTBs
./scripts/build-kernel-audio.sh

3. Customize rootfs packages or configs

./chroot-shell.sh
# Inside the container shell:
#   pkg-add <pkg>
#   pkg-del <pkg>
#   pkg-search <pattern>

4. Build flashable device images

# Build for Nokia 8110 4G (default)
./rebuild-image.sh nokia-argon

# Or build for Nokia 2720 Flip, Nokia 800 Tough, or Nokia 8000 4G:
./rebuild-image.sh nokia-beatles --mkinitfs
./rebuild-image.sh nokia-tough --mkinitfs
./rebuild-image.sh nokia-sparkler --mkinitfs

Output images are written to images/:

images/bananarchy-<device>.img: partitioned MBR image with pmOS_boot + pmOS_root for EDL userdata, fastboot flash userdata, or a microSD card.

Flashing via USB EDL (`05c6:9008`)

sudo ./flash-edl.sh nokia-argon

See MANUAL.md for complete EDL, Fastboot, and microSD installation instructions, keypad navigation shortcuts, and the multi-mode T9 reference.

Credits

All Bananarchy-specific components were initially created by Luxferre and released into the public domain with no warranties.

Alpine Linux, postmarketOS/Nura, and other third-party components are guided by their respective licensing terms.

12 KiB Raw Blame History Unescape Escape