Markus Göllnitz
Developer of free software. Excited about Linux on mobile. Member of GNOME. Contributor to open data. Enthusiast for linked data. Passionate about photography. Physics student with interest in mathematics.
Involvement in Mobile Linux and GNOME
Hooked by the idea of running the same OS I use on my notebook also on my mobile device, I started to investigate the feasibility of using GNOME on a phone, with close-to-upstream Linux, an up-to-date desktop environment, and the user space I grew up with. Inspired by what great projects such as Mobian, postmarketOS, and the GNOME app ecosystem, and its gems like Wike, or Foliate achieved, and accustomed to FLOSS workflows, I decided to get involved:
One of my first endeavours was to revive Usage. While there are other great task managers out there, there certainly is a need for an application that hides the complexity of the underlying system. And as the sole maintainer, I continue the journey towards an app answering “My system does something I think I don't want. What is going on?”
Ever since I also took responsibility in Railway – a public transport routing app – as a co-maintainer, where it is a pleasure to be a part of the Schmiddi on Mobile project.
Since May 2024, I have been supporting Papers – the soon-to-be default document viewer in GNOME – to shine on mobile, by improving its UI, as well as its gesture input system. As part of the Google Summer of Code project, I received a stipend for this involvement.
