There are a growing number of user interfaces or shells for mobile Linux distributions. Some of the most popular include Phosh (developed by Purism), Plasma Mobile (from the folks who make KDE), and Lomiri (from the UBPorts/Ubuntu Touch team). But there’s also Sxmo, Hildon, Glacier, and others.
Now you can add one more to the list: Cutie Shell. It’s a new mobile phone shell with a design that’s inspired by user interface for Sailfish OS – an operating system that’s based on open source software, but which has a proprietary UI.
The shell is written using c++, the Qt framework, and WML, and the source code is hosted at GitHub.
The design was heavily inspired by Sailfish OS, with similar card-based multitasking system, notification, and quick settings features. The default wallpaper is also a knockoff of the one used for Sailfish.
I and and one other person have been working on a mobile shell inspired by SailfishOS. pic.twitter.com/3QZQbBOfv4
— Erik Inkinen (@erikinkinen) August 16, 2021
Cutie Shell is very much a work in progress, and only a few developers are working on it so far. But you can already install it on any phones or tablets capable of running Droidian, by following instructions at the Cutie Shell website for either using an automatic installation script or manually building the software from source.
Developers have gotten the software up and running on devices including the PinePhone, Volla Phone, and Google Pixel 3a.
Now running successfully also on @MobianLinux on @thepine64 PinePhone. In the picture, PinePhone is the rightmost phone. The other phones (Google Pixel 3a and @hello_volla Phone) are running @droidianlinux . pic.twitter.com/edhcTFnniU
— Cutie Shell (@projectcutie) August 23, 2021
via Erik InkinenÂ