DebianOn is an effort to document how to install, configure and use Debian on some specific hardware. Therefore potential buyers would know if that hardware is supported and owners would know how get the best out of that hardware.

The purpose is not to duplicate the Debian Official Documentation, but to document how to install Debian on some specific hardware.

If you need help to get Debian running on your hardware, please have a look at our user support channels where you may find specific channels (mailing list, IRC channel) dedicated to certain types of hardware.

Contents

  1. Support
  2. Installation
    1. Obtain the image
    2. Verifying the images
    3. Flash the image
    4. Default pin and password
    5. Automatic resizing of your filesystem on first boot
    6. Updating the kernel for Wifi/Bluetooth Drivers
    7. Using JumpDrive and qemu to get emergency access to your system
    8. Newer modem firmware required for VoLTE
    9. Inserting/removing SIM card while powered on will likely irreparably damage the SIM card
    10. Upgrading from bookworm to trixie

Support

If something isn't working for you, you can get in contact with Mobian developers and the Mobian community in various ways. All of them are listed here.

Installation

This document guides the user how to install Mobian on their !Librem5, an open source smartphone designed by Purism to run Linux distributions.

Obtain the image

Pre-built Mobian images for the Librem 5 can be downloaded from this link.

Known working on 2026-05-07 is https://images.mobian-project.org/librem5/mobian-librem5-phosh-13.0.img.xz

Verifying the images

Mobian images come with multiple files:

To verify the download, use the following steps:

  1. Import the Mobian signing key from here.

    • Once downloaded, check the key's sha256sum - as of 30 June 2022, sha256sum mobian.gpg should give 4ab90ff82a88f11f681e5e857503833eb2108c9a77edaa9f64b7648c1b91c60a  mobian.gpg .

      As of 12 October 2025 the keys changed.

  2. Verify the signature of the .sha256sums file with gpg --verify <downloaded file>.sha256sums.sig, where <downloaded file> is the name without extensions such as .img.xz or .img.xz

  3. If the signature is valid, check the other files with shasum -c <downloaded file>.sha256sums

  4. If this prints OK for all files, then the download is verified.

Flash the image

In order to flash the Mobian image, you need to first install librem5-flash-image (version 0.0.5 or later). That package is in Debian sinds Trixie.

For instructions on getting and installing librem5-flash-image on Bookworm see this page, but do not flash the system image as written on that page, because that would install PureOS.

And you need package uuu, Universal Update Utility, which is in Debian Bookworm.

Here below on this Mobian page are the instructions to flash Mobian:

Uncompress the downloaded image: 

unxz mobian-librem5-UI-YYYYMMDD.img.xz

Note: before flashing an image for the first time, you need to install the required udev rules as root: 

sudo librem5-flash-image --udev

Finally, just run librem5-flash-image and follow the instructions: 

librem5-flash-image --image /path/to/mobian-librem5-UI-YYYYMMDD.img

You will be asked to put your Librem5 in flashing mode:

After flashing is successful, the Librem5 will automatically reboot into your new Mobian system.

Default pin and password

The default user is mobian and has the password: 1234. It is also used as PIN on the unlock screen.

The root-user is locked by default.

You should change the user password with 

passwd

once you have terminal access. If you want to access your phone via ssh (recommended), you need to set it up, check that it works with a password, and then set up key access to remove password access from the ssh service.

Automatic resizing of your filesystem on first boot

After flashing the image and booting for the first time, Mobian will resize the root filesystem to take all possible space on the disk. This can take a while and will only happen on first boot. So grab a ${DRINK_OF_CHOICE} and be patient.

Updating the kernel for Wifi/Bluetooth Drivers

If flashing Bookworm, you may need to update the kernel to 6.1 in order to retrieve the Wifi/Bluetooth card drivers. This can be accomplished by tethering the Librem 5 to another device such as a laptop or desktop machine. The following steps are a rough outline of how to tether and upgrade the kernel:

  1. Connect the Librem 5 to another machine via USB-C cable.

  2. Select Automatic DHCP configuration for the network via: Settings->Network->Wired->Wired Settings (Cog/Gear icon)->IPv4->IPv4 Method-> Automatic

  3. On the other machine there should appear a Wired Connection, Under the settings Network->{Wired Connection}->IPv4->Method->Shared to other computers, this will share your connection with any connected machines

  4. On the Librem 5, open Console and run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade to install the latest kernel. After successful upgrade the networking wifi/bluetooth card should be available.

Using JumpDrive and qemu to get emergency access to your system

For example, you ran apt dist-upgrade from bookworm to trixie and locked yourself out. You will need to complete the apt dist-upgrade by getting a chroot access to your system. You will need to long press the power button to force shut down, then use JumpDrive to boot.

Note: Installation to eMMC section above covers how to use JumpDrive.

Once JumpDrive is active rootfs is auto mounted as /media/<username>/rootfs in GNOME (you will have to mount it manually if not auto mounted). We have to mount /boot partition as well.

Note: In newer systems, this location may be /run/media/<uuid of the partition> (noticed this for PureOS, this may be PureOS specific and not relevant in Mobian) 

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/<username>/rootfs/boot #Note: /dev/sda2 is rootfs

make sure /dev and /proc is available inside chroot 

sudo mount -o bind /dev /media/<username>/rootfs/dev
sudo mount -o bind /proc /media/<username>/rootfs/proc
sudo mount -o bind /run /media/<username>/rootfs/run # needed for systemd resolved symlink
sudo mount -o bind /dev/pts /media/<username>/rootfs/dev/pts

You will need qemu-user-static package installed.

Now get chroot access to phone via 

sudo chroot /media/<username>/rootfs/

and you can continue the interrupted dpkg 

dpkg --configure -a

Remember to unmount all mount points 

sudo umount /media/<username>/rootfs/run
sudo umount /media/<username>/rootfs/proc
sudo umount /media/<username>/rootfs/dev/pts
sudo umount /media/<username>/rootfs/dev
sudo umount /media/<username>/rootfs/boot
sudo umount /media/<username>/rootfs

Newer modem firmware required for VoLTE

Older Librem5 needs firmware update to the modem in order to enable VoLTE.

See https://docs.puri.sm/Hardware/Librem_5/Maintenance/Modem.html

Unfortunately the firmware update package is proprietary and cannot be distributed openly. You need to send an email to support@puri.sm to obtain the update package.

Inserting/removing SIM card while powered on will likely irreparably damage the SIM card

From https://docs.puri.sm/Hardware/Librem_5/Troubleshooting/issues.html

For the Evergreen batch, the SIM card will likely be irreparably damaged if the SIM card is inserted or removed while the phone is powered on. Board revisions as of approximately mid-2023 include a SMT fuse intended to prevent damage to the SIM card, but this is not a failsafe solution. This issue will be addressed in future hardware revisions.

Upgrading from bookworm to trixie

Make sure the automatic screen lock is disabled during apt dist-upgrade so you don't get locked out. In case you are locked, out use the previous section to repair the rootfs.

Note: Using gnome software might be a safer option - but this has not been confirmed.

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