Using default browser “WEB 40.2”, I browse to software.pureos.net and pick anything, I see the “Genius Meth Tool” for example, and it wants me to install from appstream:gnome-genius-desktop… can’t see the rest.
appstream opens a “Loading…” title and the dizzy circle spins. and below that, it says “loading application details.”
Is 10 minutes long enough to load? If so, it doesn’t work either.
This can be repeated by testing several different files…
Between clicking the Install Now button and getting to the false “loading…” window, A quick screen loads showing the old PuerOS Store front end.
It looks like someone is trying a redirect because software.pureos.net and PureOS Store look to have different landing pages.
PureOS Store landing page opens but no software lists in any of the categories.
The other store, software.pureos.net opens categories, and in categories, unlike PureOS Store, displays all the programs, but loops “Loading application details” when clicking “Install Now | ✓”
Add to that dogs breakfast, if while waiting for the “Loading application details” I click the back button “<” I am taken to the old PureOS Store landing page totally different from the other store landing page.
The gnome-genius in the screenshot above is the package name. This name should be spelled out exactly as written there, without any typos and exactly with dashes etc. as written there. To install this package via the command line use:
sudo apt install gnome-genius
You will have to provide a password (your Librem 5 pincode) and the “Genius Math Tool” will then be installed. You are finished with the terminal now.
Note that “Genius Math Tool” is only visible in the application icons if you clicked “Show All Apps” at the very bottom of all app launch icons, because “Genius Math Tool” does not really fit the window of the Librem 5 and is therefore not marked as a “Mobile Friendly App”.
I tested the procedure above on my Librem 5, and I do not want to keep “Genius Math Tool” on my Librem 5, so I remove it with:
Out of curiosity are you using epiphany? That application makes my phone run at a high temperature, someone suggested downloading angelfish as a mobile browser, not sure if there is a better one but it allow my phone to run at a lower temperature.
There is a huge difference between the software.pureos.net and the link in the L5 PureOS store.
To see what I mean, please try this.
Go to software.pureos.net.
Click “Utilities”
Click 1st item in Row 1 2nd column “Metadata Cleaner”
Click on “Install”
Now click the back icon (<)
See what I mean? The software.pureos.net landing page changes to the PureOS Store version of empty categories. if you watch closely, when clicking the BACK icon, there is a flash of the PureOS Store landing page version.
I would tag your nicely detailed way of finding and installing files a ‘Solution’, but it’s not. The solution would be for Puri to fix the store. But you have a great workaround. It worked for me and I install Metadata Cleaner without a hitch. Kudos janvlug.
~s
I wonder why Puri has not commented on when this issue will be fixed.
If we are to be able to use the privacy respecting hardware, why not a method with GUI for those that don’t know Linux commands, to install privacy respecting software (APPS, Programs)?
~s
In general Purism follows the upstream free software projects, in this case GNOME Software. New releases of PureOS will bring new versions of PureOS Store, which is based on GNOME Software. I use sometimes a recent version of GNOME Software in Fedora on my laptop and desktop (although I prefer the command line). GNOME Software improved a lot over time. It will come to PureOS with new releases of PureOS, to start with Crimson, and later Dawn.
Understood. Sell people the car and when they can’t get any where, tell them the tires will be ready - one day - soon - maybe. The store should be working now. BECAUSE if people read, it’s the same thing and botched redirects (by all appearances) back to the gimped PureOS Store. It can’t be that hard to fix.
IMO: On the matter of when being when ever it happens, is putting Byzantium on ignore except for absolute emergencies. L5 will be obsolete if people can’t reach the software.
I’d love to see Puri succeed with millions of users of the L5. But that won’t happen until Puri starts talking to people that don’t speak Linux or geekineze.
Who has the time to learn all that.
I think the point is … when it is upstream software, generally speaking, it may not be good use of Purism’s time to make changes and/or fix bugs, particularly when so far behind the current version. In other words, Purism does not apply effort to the entirety of the Linux ecosystem. Purism focuses on the things that are specifically necessary for the Linux ecosystem to work on Purism hardware. If some piece of software is broken everywhere then it may be more efficient to let someone else fix it - and that will benefit everyone, not just Purism customers.
As an example, we all want the camera on the Librem 5 to integrate with the wider Linux ecosystem. However probably noone other than Purism is going to do that work (or at least noone outside the mobile Linux space) because it is hardware-specific. So Purism would focus on that (no pun intended), among other things.
There will of course be occasions where Purism does just fix some general bug and it does benefit everyone. There are always subtleties in the dynamics of everyone-waiting-for-someone-else-to-fix-it. So in reality there is a balance to be struck between the specific and the general.
I understand though that the package install GUI is an ongoing hot-button issue for you.
As @janvlug says, it may already have been fixed but until a software upgrade for the Librem 5 to Crimson or Dawn is released for general distribution, you won’t know. Does Purism have the resources to have tomorrow’s upgrade released yesterday, in order to sate the insatiable? Probably not.
You always have another side to things. I’ve been around the block a few times and after doing some tests, can see what is wrong with it. And it’s not hard to fix. Change the link on the phone to correct landing page ink. Ta da!
It was incredibly hard to fix. People worked on it for years. And now it is ready. But only when PureOS will be upgraded, the fixes will become available on the Librem 5. That is why the development of PureOS, first to Crimson, and then to Dawn is so important.
When you launch the web browser and visit the website, choose an app, and click “Install Now,” the PureOS Software app is then launched separately to perform the installation for you (via appstream:<package-name>-desktop, I guess). The software app is not working on your device, as we all know, so this installation method won’t work for you right now.
Your current options to install an application are:
(Simplest method) Use the sudo apt install <package name> method from the terminal. This method should automatically add any and all required dependencies (i.e. required supporting packages).
(More complicated method) On the website, instead of clicking “Install Now,”
scroll down until you see the actual package versions:
click on the “arm64” version; the Librem 5 is built on 64-bit ARM architecture). The .deb package (i.e. Debian package, because PureOS is based on Debian Linux) will be downloaded to your Downloads directory:
install the downloaded .deb file using commands in the terminal. Here’s a very short tutorial from Ubuntu Linux (another Debian Linux derivative). But… You will need to first install the entire list of dependency packages. [EDIT: Actually that one “arm64” button next to the word “Architectures” might install the whole list of dependencies at once, but I haven’t tried, so I don’t know for sure. If it does, then proceed to
the “arm64” version further down for the actual app to be installed after the dependencies.]
=== So using method 1 is a lot easier:
purism@pureos:~$ sudo apt install gnome-genius
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
genius-common
The following NEW packages will be installed:
genius-common gnome-genius
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 2,760 kB of archives.
After this operation, 17.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos byzantium/main all genius-common all 1.0.25-2 [2,184 kB]
Get:2 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos byzantium/main arm64 gnome-genius arm64 1.0.25-2 [575 kB]
Fetched 2,760 kB in 4s (668 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package genius-common.
(Reading database ... 107103 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../genius-common_1.0.25-2_all.deb ...
Unpacking genius-common (1.0.25-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package gnome-genius.
Preparing to unpack .../gnome-genius_1.0.25-2_arm64.deb ...
Unpacking gnome-genius (1.0.25-2) ...
Setting up genius-common (1.0.25-2) ...
Setting up gnome-genius (1.0.25-2) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26-1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (2.0-1) ...
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.69) ...###########################.......]
purism@pureos:~$
Note: the actual package name of Genius Math Tool is gnome-genius.
===
Should you, Sharon, the Purism customer, be required to resort to these methods? No, of course not. But if your store app is not functional, then you’ll have to… or just don’t install anything until everything is working correctly.
There do seem to be multiple issues Sharon is having here, right? One being the PureOS store app on the L5 is buggy and then another that the list of apps appearing in the PureOS store is not the same as the apps appearing on software.pureos.net website.
But isn’t that second one more of a “works as intended” thing? The PureOS store app is only showing apps that are marked as “adaptive” to prevent the average user from installing something that Just-Doesn’t-Work™ on a small screen or without a keyboard or mouse.
Then on top of that, though, is the issue that there are apps visible on software.pureos.net (like the Metadata Cleaner example – I tried it) that can be installed on an L5 despite not being marked as “adaptive” that seem to work on a mobile device just fine. OK, so that’s actually three issues, isn’t it – the third being that there are some perfectly fine mobile apps that aren’t properly marked as mobile friendly and therefore don’t appear in the PureOS store app?
Fixing #3 sounds like it would require a hand-audit of entire repositories to install everything and adjust metadata to ensure that the desktop-only/adaptive flag is set correctly for the latest version of the package. At least it’s NMP, I don’t have repo write privileges.
(Also, probably a typo in the first post, but I definitely caution anyone against installing “Genius Meth Tool” unless you want some serious dental issues and other health problems.)
Correct, except I would say, both contain all the same apps, it’s just that…
… it’s worth noting that the search function in the app can access everything else in the repo (same as on the website), even if a lot of apps won’t be adaptive. Some will be, but as you say, won’t yet have been marked as adaptive, i.e.:
But the points you make are already well known here in the forum.
How can there be something wrong with my store “app” and not everyone? Easy answer - doesn’t work that way.
You may have missed my post about this issue where I step-x-step pointed out it’s NOT me, it’s NOT my “app” and it’s repeatable AND the issue is in the linking and redirect.
Since that didn’t work, maybe more proof is needed.
But of course, consumer is always wrong and must abide by the hidden rules or pound salt. So no one followed the links kinks I suggested. I already asked a couple of times that anyone look through the process I gave. What’s wrong with it? Makes too much sense maybe.
This -thing- went back on a RMA and came back exactly the same. So, IMO, they opened the package, repackaged it and sent it back.
Darned good thing the L5 isn’t a late model Puri car, or by the time it could do anything, even play the radio, cars would be obsolete.
On behalf if everyone else that hasn’t time, nor was informed pre-purchase that the L5 is no where near what the barkers claim, I thank you for the step-x-step as to how those educated in Linux, basic digital device electronics, and basic cell phone engineering.
I doubt Puri is going to be able to hang around much longer.
People want to pick up their phone and use it. Not to pick up their L5 and be used.
BTW your response should be edited a tad and made part of the L5 How-to docs/wiki/PDFs - where ever it is.
I know you’re not the only one with a malfunctioning store app; I’ve already said so. And no one knows why the app malfunctions for you and others, while working well for some.
I did replicate what you described in your links, and I think my post above explained it:
Nobody here is blaming you.
At this point you either have to follow one of the working methods, or take no action at all while you wait. It’s totally up to you.
Actually, there is one more thing you could try in the terminal, and that is:
sudo apt --reinstall install librem5-gnome
which might correct the software app, but no guarantees.
Probably not.
