I am interested in - GPS location. I have Librem 5 too, that was not really usable (high dependency on Android apps for me, sorry), but no regrets. One thing that worked on Librem 5 and seems not to work on FLX1s is GPS (very important to me). On Librem 5 I could execute:
sudo cat /dev/gnss0 | grep -Pa 'GNGSA|GNGSV'
and would get to see NMEA messages, before and after location is acquired, with HDOP etc. On FLX1s there is no such device. And Linux app Satellite seems not to see any NMEA device. Also, why I am poking at this - bad location, as if GPS was only sometimes available and then with extreme HDOP. Android apps show always 9 out of 9 satellites (Osmand) and always in same constellation (Gpstest) - 4 USA, 4 Russian, 1 Indian. Also Gpstest shows year 2018, while GPS Test (with space) shows year 37 which is probably same 2018, just being relative year after 1981.
Sometimes my location shown (both in Linux map applications and in virtual Android) is some km north of where I live, sometimes some 200-300km east or vest of me, so not probable to just be cell tower locations.
Asked Google AI, tried out various commands, but mostly ended up in conflict with it - no such device under dev or I get utc, lat, lon, alt data sometimes matching my position, sometimes completely other placeand I get no NMEA lines. And this goes always with error also after enabling:
furios@myphone:~$ mmcli -m any --location-get-gps-nmea error: no actions specified
Google AI tends to go in circles with same advices, sometimes implying that something is stuck or buggy and some firmware might need updates.
Any place to read about these GPS setup relations to be able to fix?
Anyone dug any deeper here?
uldics Topic starter
13/01/2026 5:05 am
I'll just post here my endeavours, no idea where that will lead, but probably can give some clues what I have and what might be a solution.
I have 2 devices, but no data coming out of them:
```
furios@myphone:~$ ls -ltha /dev/g*
crw------- 1 root root 484, 0 12 jan 11.15 /dev/gpsdl0
crw------- 1 root root 484, 1 12 jan 11.15 /dev/gpsdl1
crw------- 1 root root 483, 0 12 jan 11.15 /dev/gps_emi
crw------- 1 root root 10, 58 12 jan 11.15 /dev/gz_kree
crw------- 1 root root 254, 0 12 jan 11.15 /dev/gpiochip0
furios@myphone:~$ sudo cat /dev/gpsdl0
^C
furios@myphone:~$ sudo cat /dev/gpsdl1
^C
furios@myphone:~$ ps aux | grep -i gps
root 1925 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [sub_gps_thrd]
root 1939 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [gps_kctrld]
root 1940 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/149-gps_da0]
root 1941 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/150-gps_nd0]
root 1942 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/151-gps_mb0]
root 1943 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/152-gps_da1]
root 1944 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/153-gps_nd1]
root 1945 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/154-gps_mb1]
root 1946 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:24 0:00 [irq/155-gps_dma]
1021 1967 0.0 0.1 11842084 8604 ? Sl 11:24 0:00 /vendor/bin/mtk_agpsd
furios 138770 0.0 0.0 15008 3460 pts/1 S+ 20:50 0:00 grep -i gps
furios@myphone:~$ systemctl status | grep -i gps
│ │ └─1967 /vendor/bin/mtk_agpsd
│ └─139328 grep -i gps
furios@myphone:~$
```
uldics Topic starter
14/01/2026 1:53 am
I read on Postmarketos wiki, that same command mmcli is in use there. But also Satellite is a great app for testing - I looked into Satellite, seems that it also uses gpsd, which is not to be found on my FLX1s. So, could it be that somewhere in the process of all development, productionsetting my phone just did not get the gpsd installed and configured?
I suspect the issue is that you are using stuff that worked on an Android phone and using it on a Linux phone. Android has it's own subsystem on the FLX1s so at the very least you either need to identify the Linux device or hunt for it in the Android subsystem. I note that on my phone I've got /dev/gpsdl0, /dev/gpsdl1 and gps_emi, but don't know if the gps in their names is a reference to the gps devvice.
GPS is working on my phone. Several Android apps show my current position and can track my movement. However I can't find anything that really locates me within a kilometre on the Linux side.
garydale 13/01/2026 7:50 am
On a related note, are there any SUPL servers that protect your privacy? Until I got the FLX1s, I'd never heard of SUPL. I think my previous phone just had a check box for high resolution GPS, which I think is a reference to SUPL. Without it, my walking app has me weaving all over the place. 😉
uldics Topic starter
14/01/2026 1:26 am
@garydale My vague belief is that none of SUPL servers actually use your location for anything. I think that what everyone and his dog has been believing is that if you use precise location you must share Wifi, your location etc. I don't think that is true at all and the reality seems to be that Google has attached Wifi to the term "precise GPS" to be legally covered (you agreed) while tricking you into accepting sharing location, wifi etc. if you want a decent GPS coverage. If you don't agree, they just don't give you AGPS data either by SUPL via internet or by Control Plane protocol via GSM internal communication even without SIM. But technically there is nothing, they do the data gathering by other means, this is just so you accept. So I think it is safe enough to just use Google SUPL server.
I've had location issues as well. Apps that use location like weather apps are consistently showing my location as Toronto. I've never been to Toronto... my actual location is just SE of Portland Oregon. I set the time zone manually so that at least is right.
calico 14/01/2026 11:29 am
@robertjrey I also have a doppelganger in Toronto although, living in northern Michigan, I'm in much more danger than you.
On a serious note, yes it's quite annoying
My location in Linux apps gnome-maps, Pure Maps ... was often way-off, 500 km to the south-east (an FLX1 in Germany). After a recent update and reboot, it seems to be exact.
