Samsung Expressat Fully Mainlined! (Well Close To...)

A Dream Come True! :D

23 Sep 2026

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

If you don’t understand why I’m excited, well allow me to explain…

AFTER ALMOST 10 YEARS, I SUCCESSFULLY GOT MY MOBILE PHONE, THE SAMSUNG GALAXY EXPRESS SGH-I437, TO RUN AN UP TO DATE OPERATING SYSTEM!! :D

Almost 10 years ago, I knew nothing about Linux and getting this phone to the finish line was something I had dreamed of for so long. Now I’ve finally achieved it! :D

Luckily, you can do this too and probably much faster than 10 years! The advancement of AI makes it quite trivial to build, test, and iterate to at least get a working solution. However, it’s up to you to understand the code, and ideally send it upstream for submission so that others can benefit from this as well :). Although, I think even having working code is a good reference for others to piggyback and use if you do decide not to upstream.

The Significance

Most people only know 2 mobile operating systems: Android and iOS. Well, there are multiple other (niche) players, but the most well known one that I’m most fond of is postmarketOS. This is because:

  1. This is a fully fledged Linux distro. It’s not neutered in any way. It’s basically a desktop Linux distro for your phone
  2. No corporations behind this. Just an army of volunteers trying to support their devices. No ads, no bloat, and lifetime updates (if you fully mainline it into the Linux kernel and postmarketOS/Alpine doesn’t deprecate the architecture you rely on… Looking at you armhf :/ ).

A third OS means more choices for consumers. And when things go wrong (like with Microsoft Windows), they can jump ship and easily switch.

AI helps because I can exceed my output with the limited time that I have. Using big tech to defeat big tech. :P

Watch your backs Apple and Google. :)

The Code

Here’s roughly how I used AI: https://logicalerzor.codeberg.page/blog/ai-kernel-development/

I should update the process when I have the chance, but some updates:

If you want to see the code that’s been written, here it is:

Now even though my mainlining effort has been for the the Samsung Galaxy SGH-I437, other devices using the same SoC family can benefit for this code! Please see:

If your device has any of the SoCs listed above, you might benefit from the using my code!

That said, please make your own device specific linux package. I do not want to carry patches for devices I’m not responsible for. Also, if you do decide to use my code, it would be nice to credit me wherever possible, but I understand if AI starts basically copying the code I have with no attribution. I just want it in mainline Linux to be honest. :P

Next step: probably introduce a device specific kernel for the expressatt and promote it to community. It’s slightly taking a step backwards (previously I was only using the official pmOS and Alpine kernels), but upstream maintainers are slow in responding. I think I’m not going to convert it into a device-generic-armv7 port and instead choose to increase its visibility for others to hopefully join in :D

Others using AI

These are the other people that I believe are using AI to accelerate mainlining their devices. Check them out!

There’s probably more, but due to the backlash of using AI, they’re probably incognito.

Upstreaming Status Report

Pending Upstream Submissions I’ve Slightly Neglected

Waiting for Maintainer Input

What’s Working in Mainline Linux

What’s Left To Send to Mainline Linux

This list will potentially grow later as I find more things