8 Linux Handheld Computers You Can Splurge On

As consumers, we are used to correlating handhelds with the big names like Valve's Steam Deck, Lenovo's Legion Go, and ASUS' ROG Ally. But these machines are geared towards gaming and are priced like it too.

Lately, a different segment has been getting just as much attention. Indie creators and small hardware outfits who are shipping handhelds built around open hardware, swappable parts, and running full Linux distros.

We have picked out eight such handhelds that range from fully assembled devices to bring-your-own board kits that expect you to bring your own board, battery, and storage.

1. CardputerZero

M5Stack has kept its Cardputer line going since 2023, updating it every so often. The original ran on an ESP32-S3, and so did the follow-up, the Cardputer-Adv, just with a bigger battery and more sensors bolted on. Howeverm, neither of them ran real Linux.

The CardputerZero changes that. It swaps the ESP32 for a Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero, which is equipped with a Broadcom BCM2837 with a quad-core Cortex-A53 running at 1GHz and 512MB of RAM.

You get a 1.9-inch non-touch LCD with HDMI output up to 1080p, a 46-key keyboard, and a 1500mAh battery to keep it running, all of which fits into an 84 x 54 x 23.1mm shell you could mistake for a fat credit card.

The Standard model throws in an 8MP camera and a full IMU sensor suite; features the cheaper Lite version drops entirely. Both variants keep Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and a built-in app store that lets you flash community firmware without requiring a computer.

Check it Out

Suggested Read 📖: This Credit Card-Sized Linux Box Has a Keyboard

2. Mecha Comet

The Mecha Comet looks like a chunky Android phone at first glance, until you notice the 40-pin magnetic connector running along the bottom edge. Snap on a QWERTY keyboard with a trackpad, a gamepad with a dual D-pad, or a bare GPIO breakout, and the same device becomes a different tool entirely.

For the software, it runs Mechanix, Mecha's own Fedora-based distro powered by Linux 6.12, with the bootloader, kernel, and root filesystem all being published as open source. They are also committing to releasing the full PCB schematics once mass production starts.

You get to choose between two configurations; the cheaper one will get you an NXP i.MX 8M Plus, a quad-core Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.8GHz, paired with 4GB or 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Step up to the higher tier, and you get an i.MX 95 with a six-core Cortex-A55 setup, yielding roughly double the GPU throughput.

Both of these are equipped with an NPU and share the same 3.92-inch AMOLED touchscreen that outputs at 1080 x 1240.

Check it Out

3. Orange Pi Neo

The Orange Pi Neo has been in the works since early 2024, being built as a joint effort between Orange Pi and Manjaro Linux.

The planned hardware for it is an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U chip, a 7-inch 1920x1200 display running at 120Hz, dual touchpads modeled after the Steam Deck's, and Hall effect joysticks with RGB lighting.

Sadly, it is running quite late, and the recent hike in DDR5 RAM and SSD prices has only added to the delay, with Philip Müller, Manjaro's project lead, saying that they are waiting for a good time to launch.

I added this to the list because, on paper, this looks like a capable Linux-powered handheld; would've been a bummer to skip.

Check it Out

4. PocketTerm35

Waveshare has designed the PocketTerm35 around a dedicated RP2040 microcontroller that handles the keyboard, screen brightness, and volume control duties, freeing up the main board to just run Linux.

That main board can either be a Raspberry Pi 4B or a Pi 5, both of which slot in as the actual compute hardware doing the work. Software-wise, it runs a full Linux desktop with a terminal and command-line tools included, and it's compatible with RetroPie for retro gaming.

It is sold in four different configurations. Two come with a Pi 4B or Pi 5 already installed along with a preloaded SD card and heatsink, and two are accessory-only kits for anyone supplying their own board.

Check it Out

5. piBrick PocketCM5

Ahmad Amarullah, an Indonesian maker, has spent considerable time refining what eventually became the piBrick PocketCM5. The final design pairs a Raspberry Pi CM5 with a BlackBerry BBQ20 keyboard, complete with its own integrated trackpad, inside a compact 80 x 145 x 19.6mm shell.

The screen is a 3.92-inch AMOLED panel running at 1080 x 1240 and a 90Hz refresh rate, output over MIPI/DSI. Full-size HDMI and micro-HDMI are both present too, so you're never lacking in ways to get an image onto a bigger screen.

Ports are expansive for something this size. You get 1x USB 3 Type-A, 1x USB 3 Type-C, 1x USB 2 Type-C, and 1x USB 2 Type-A, plus an internal USB 2.0 header, an I2C connector, and a GPIO extension header for anyone who wants to wire something in.

Every part of it, the PCB schematics, the 3D-printable case, and the keyboard firmware, is published openly on GitHub. The full DIY kit without the CM5 is listed on Tindie but was out of stock at the time of writing.

Check it Out

6. Pilet

soulscircuit's Pilet hit its Kickstarter goal within five minutes of its debut. It is pitched as a retro open source computer that was initially built to house the Raspberry Pi 5, but, later, switched to the Raspberry Pi CM5 instead.

While my original coverage of it did insinuate that the board was included, the original listing never mentioned that was the case. The change in board requirements did stir up disappointment among backers, but the creators have pushed forward.

It is offered in two sizes, the 5-inch Pilet 5 with a retro console layout, and the 7-inch Pilet 7, a tablet variant running KDE Plasma. Both share a 1280x800 touchscreen and a custom battery module for USB charging.

Check it Out

7. RootBoard

RootBoard is a pocket-sized Linux terminal designed by tinkerer Dian Lieu, built as an open hardware shell rather than a finished gadget. The keyboard controller, firmware, and software are all left fully open for makers to inspect and modify.

The shell wraps a 3.5-inch color display with a 70-key QWERTY keyboard and a built-in speaker, but there's no touchscreen here. You navigate using the keyboard or an external mouse instead.

And you will need a Raspberry Pi Zero, Zero W, or Zero 2 W, as the RootBoard doesn't feature a CPU, memory, or storage.

Check it Out

8. MNT Pocket Reform

A German outfit, called MNT Research has come up with the MNT Pocket Reform, their take on a compact Linux handheld that takes pointers from the Reform laptop series.

It ships with Debian preinstalled, with custom versions of GNOME and Sway both preloaded as desktop options. Schematics, firmware, and case design files are all published under an open license, along with the rest of the Reform hardware lineup.

If you go for this, you get to pick between three processor modules, an NXP i.MX8M Plus (via Crowd Supply), a Rockchip RK3588, or a Qualcomm QCS6490. You can swap between them later since the CPU sits as a removable card rather than being soldered down.

There's also the 7-inch display that sits above a mechanical ortholinear keyboard and an optical trackball.

Check it Out

---

Suggested Read 📖: If you are interested in Raspberry Pi-powered handhelds, we have a separate list for that.

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I Mined and Built My Way Through Space Haven

I have been gaming on Linux more than usual lately; that's part due to my main gaming rig being out of reach and part me wanting to play more on this platform than Windoze. I played a few indie games to pass the time and eventually went looking for new games to check out during the Steam Summer Sale.

That is when I found Space Haven, a native Linux space-themed colony sim with base building, survival, and combat elements built into it.

It is the work of Bugbyte, a Turku-based indie game studio who initially introduced the game on Kickstarter back in 2019, running a successful crowdfunding campaign, and eventually making it out of Early Access.

Here's how my playthrough of it went.

Worth your time?

I say yes! If you are someone who is a buff for building intricate bases and micromanaging the smallest of details, then this game can be a good play for you.

I completed the tutorial before starting a full playthrough, which walked me through the basics quite well, but it did take some considerable time to finish.

There's a lot to keep track of once you are actually playing. Crew health and mood depend on beds, food, privacy, and toilets, so you cannot just build a ship and forget about the people living on it.

Powering the ship adequately matters just as much, where you place power generators and power nodes to route power distribution throughout your ship, keeping life support equipment like the oxygen generator and water purifier running to keep the crew alive.

Below you can see how I had to add a power node to provide electricity to the oxygen generator, with power-related metrics visible on the right. In this case, I was completing a quest objective to expand the ship's power grid.

Installing a small power node (left) and mining an asteroid (right).

Resource extraction comes next. Pod hangars support mining, building, and starfighter types, and once you assign a mining pod hangar, it automatically sends out a pod to a selected resource and starts mining.

For moving beyond the current region, hyperspace jumps are the only way. After ensuring that you have installed a Navigation Console and Hyperium Hyperdrive, you can use the Starmap to chart your way forward.

Then there's the combat. The ship can be protected by placing Point Defense Turrets for shooting down incoming asteroids as well as enemy drones and spacecraft. The crew members themselves can be drafted and equipped with weapons too!

You can send them aboard derelict ships to salvage for resources, and any aliens or clankers they run into get shot on sight once you give the order.

Room for improvements

Two things bugged me while playing. The camera stays locked to one angle; there is no way to rotate the view to see the ship or its contents from a different side. Loading a new map also means clicking through a checkmark button every single time before you can proceed, which will get annoying.

What I have covered here is only the surface of what Space Haven has to offer. There is a lot more to dig into, including deeper ship combat, faction missions, and even prison management, if you go further than I did.

Even with the fun I had, it would be wrong to exclude an issue that can be a dealbreaker for you. Crew members treat every task as a separate event instead of chaining related jobs together, placing a single wall block before wandering off, or returning to base after each mining haul instead of heading straight back out.

That is something the developers can fix in a future patch. For me, it was not much of a dealbreaker, as I am used to making things hard for myself. ☠️

🎮 How to Play?

As this is a native Linux game, you can run it on any computer that meets the minimum hardware requirements, provided the distro you install it on has the necessary components to run recent video games.

It costs $24.99, with prices going lower during sales. You can grab it from GOG for a DRM-free copy that you can share with others, or from Steam if you want access to mods.

Space Haven

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ELM11-Feather Is a Feather-Compatible Board That Speaks Lua Natively

Most microcontroller boards on the market today rely on Python, usually in the form of MicroPython or CircuitPython. If you've ever wanted something leaner without giving up that no-compile, REPL-driven workflow, Lua is the option worth considering.

But then most microcontroller boards are not built for Lua even if you can run Lua on them.

That's the gap BrisbaneSilicon, a small Brisbane-based semiconductor outfit, is trying to fill with ELM11-Feather. It is a Feather-compatible board that runs Lua natively.

Actually, it's Feather-form-factor follow-up to the company's original ELM11, and the crowdfunding campaign for it is now live on Crowd Supply.

Key Specifications

• Native languages: Lua (application), C (driver), SystemVerilog/VHDL (hardware), all on one board
• Chip: GOWIN FPGA (no separate CPU core, the FPGA runs everything)
• I/O: 23 pins, each configurable as GPIO, PWM, UART, SPI, or I²C
• RAM: 1 MB
• Dimensions: 22.86 x 64.65 x 4.85 mm (0.9 x 2.54 x 0.191 in)
• Weight: 5.2 g
• Form factor: Feather-compatible, works with existing FeatherWings

ELM11-Feather is priced at $29.

More than the specs, the architecture choice is the highlight here. There's no traditional microcontroller on this board. Instead, a GOWIN FPGA does the work, running a dual-core setup with an independent Lua REPL on each core. That's the "clever bit". Because Lua is running on an FPGA rather than a fixed MCU, BrisbaneSilicon can expose the entire stack, hardware included, to the user for modification.

Each of the 23 I/O pins can be configured as GPIO, PWM, UART, SPI, or I²C, which is a lot of flexibility per pin compared to boards that hardwire a fixed number of each. The board also carries 1 MB of RAM, a hardware watchdog, 5 user-programmable LEDs, and a built-in 500 mA LiPoly charger with a status LED, all inside Feather's compact footprint (22.86 x 64.65 x 4.85 mm) at 5.2 g. Being Feather-compatible means it slots into the existing ecosystem of FeatherWing add-on boards without any adaptation.

Full-Stack Programmability

BrisbaneSilicon calls this "Full-Stack Programmability," and that is main selling point of the board. The idea is that the same product can be extended at three separate layers at once: the Application Layer runs Lua, the Driver Layer runs C, and the Hardware Layer runs VHDL/SystemVerilog through a swappable "Hardware Overlay."

In practice, this means a user could design a custom hardware module (say, a quadrature encoder), write the C driver for it, and then expose it to their Lua scripts as a plain function like quadrature_encoder_speed(). Nothing about that workflow requires touching a separate toolchain for each layer either, since BrisbaneSilicon's own IDE, called Arvore, is built to unify all three.

Arvore handles project creation, uploading, and extending the Lua API from one interface, and a beta is already available to download. For anyone who doesn't want to install a custom hardware overlay by hand, the IDE has a config screen for that too. Purists who'd rather do everything from the command line aren't locked out either, that path still works.

BrisbaneSilicon says the hardware schematics and firmware API will both be released under the MIT license once the campaign wraps and production begins.

Compared to a few other boards in the same rough space:

• pico2-ice (RP2350 + ICE40UP5K): more GPIO and RAM, but no native scripting language and a higher price
• Adafruit Feather STM32F405: cheaper, but no FPGA and no hardware-layer extensibility
• Adafruit HUZZAH32 (ESP32): better battery life, but far fewer I/O options and no scripting-to-hardware pipeline

🛒 Pricing and Availability

The ELM11-Feather crowdfunding campaign launches this week on Crowd Supply.

Back it on Crowd Supply

The board is priced at $29. Shipping cost isn't listed yet, and BrisbaneSilicon hasn't given a firm ship date either. The company does say it has already manufactured and tested a small batch of 5 boards ahead of the main production run, which is a bit more reassurance than most campaigns start with, though the only risk it flags is component availability for the GOWIN FPGA and the BL702 chip.

🚧

As with any crowdfunding campaign, treat the timeline as an estimate. Back it because you want to support the project, not because you're counting on the ship date.

Suggested Read: If you're curious about other Feather-family and Arduino-alternative boards, check out our roundup of Arduino alternative microcontroller boards.

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Linux Mint Now Considers Wayland Stable

Among the mainstream Linux distros, Linux Mint has been an outlier, spending many years easing Cinnamon and its users, into Wayland one careful step at a time while other distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora made it the default experience.

Now, that patience is paying off, as the project's June update reveals that Wayland will no longer be considered "experimental" starting with the next Cinnamon release.

Better late than never, eh?

Don't worry, both X11 and Wayland sessions will be fully supported starting with the next Cinnamon release, and the latter won't be the default session. Linux Mint's founder, Clement Lefebvre, said that the Wayland experience now feels solid, "almost on par with X11."

Of course getting here took longer than it did for other distros, but a project like Mint doesn't rush a major change like this without carrying out the appropriate prep work.

You will see the results of that in what's lined up for the new release.

Cinnamon finally has full HiDPI support, sharp icons, better mouse cursors, and fixes for bugs affecting Chromium apps like Slack and VS Code.

Similarly, window progress shows things like Nemo's (the file manager) file/folder copy progress in the panel's app button, and focus stealing prevention keeps other apps from yanking your attention away mid-task.

Multi-monitor setups and KVM switches behave better, and hardware acceleration now runs across the compositor, desktop session, and both Wayland and Xwayland clients, including GBM over EGL for NVIDIA GPUs.

They have been busy

Back in February, Lefebvre revealed the team was rethinking its release schedule altogether, since a new version every six months on top of maintaining LMDE left them testing and releasing more than actually building features.

By April, the decision was final, Linux Mint 23 got pushed all the way to Christmas 2026, the longest gap between major releases the project has taken. Part of that extra time went straight into Wayland.

Earlier, Lefebvre had called a redesigned Cinnamon screensaver the last missing piece of the puzzle for full Wayland support.

The old screensaver only ran on X11 as a standalone GTK app, sitting outside Cinnamon's own window manager. The new one runs on both X11 and Wayland, rendered natively by Cinnamon's own compositor.

The rest of that time bought more convenience for users. Mint started shipping HWE ISOs in May, giving people access to newer kernels like 6.17 on LM 22.3 without needing to wait for the LM 23 release.

All that's left now is the wait. Based on what's already landed, the next Linux Mint release looks like it'll be worth it.

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FOSS Weekly #26.28: Microslop Moment, Rustification, Brave New features, KDE Plasma Tips and Meme Distro and More

Recently, Microsoft reluctantly agrred that a bug was eating up uo to 500 GB of disk space in Windows 11. They knew about the bug for months, no fix came.

Germany may not have kicked right in the Paraguay match, but it sure has kicked out Microsoft Sharepoint. The state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will be using Nextcloud for over 5,000 employees. We need wins like these, don't we?

There was a time when every other new distro was based on Ubuntu but that list is shrinking. Linux system vendor Tuxedo is moving to Debian for its TuxedoOS distro.

Firefox users have had containers (old article) for years. Brave 1.92 finally adds them natively, keeping cookies and site data separate per container even when visiting the same site.

You get four default categories, temporary containers are one right-click away, and the feature is also heading to Brave Origin, which as you might remember is free for Linux users.

Most office suites shipping AI right now have made it difficult to avoid. Collabora Office 26.04 goes the other way, keeping AI off by default. Turning it on means plugging in your own API credentials or self-hosted model.

In other news, Canonical is pouring in €40,000/year into the Trifecta Tech Foundation, and their next target is to rustify Ubuntu's time synchronization components.

🚧

Ubuntu 25.10 users should upgrade to 26.04 LTS sooner rather than later. July 9 is end of life for the interim release, meaning security patches stop that day and anything disclosed after goes unpatched on your system.

📚 Linux eBooks from O'Reilly

Humble Bundle has a new O'Reilly collection packed with Linux and Unix books, covering everything from shell scripting to system administration and kernel internals. Pay what you want for a few titles, or pay a bit more to unlock the entire bundle. If you have been meaning to deepen your Linux knowledge, this is worth grabbing before the deal expires.

Part of the money gets donated to Code for America.

Get the eBooks

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

Hannah Montana Linux is back, and yes, it's 2026. Noah Cagle, a developer, has rebuilt the legendary meme distro on Debian 13 with KDE Plasma.

Microsoft was caught lacking after a Windows 11 storage bug ate up to 500GB of disk space, with a fix quietly being slipped into a preview update.

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials, and Learnings

Three years with Obsidian and Logseq, and the conclusion isn't that one is better. They just solve different problems. Obsidian is a Markdown writing environment where files and folders are the organizing principle. Logseq is an outliner where every bullet is a referenceable block.

But then my colleague Sreenath is obsessed with note management and he also experimented using only Markdown and KDE's Dolphin.

KDE is actually quite versatile and we have covered plenty of KDE tweaks and tips over time. Sharing some of them here:

• Tagging feature in KDE's Dolphin file manager
• Dolphin file manager tweaks
• Customizing and twekaing Konsole terminal
• Theming KDE Plasma (properly)
• Explore KDE themes (a bit old)
• KDE customization tips

Enjoy KDE 😄

👷 AI, Homelab and Hardware Corner

Sipeed's NanoKVM-Go is a single USB-C KVM that carries video, audio, keyboard, mouse, disk emulation, and power pass-through over one cable with WiFi 6 for wireless connectivity.

PocketMage is a pocketable e-paper PDA with a physical QWERTY keyboard, a 3.1-inch e-ink main display, and a secondary 1.8-inch OLED strip for menus that need faster refresh.

Most USB-C hubs are fixed in what they offer. DockFrame has four slots that take in Framework expansion cards, alongside tool cards so the port lineup can be whatever you need it to be.

Valve quietly open-sourced the Inkterface this week, a DIY e-ink faceplate for the Steam Machine.

Why should you opt for It's FOSS Plus membership:

✅ Ad-free reading experience
✅ Badges in the comment section and forum
✅ Supporting creation of educational Linux materials
✅ Free Linux eBook

Join It's FOSS Plus

✨ Apps and Projects Highlights

Lockpicker is a GNOME-native frontend for hashcat that lets you crack password hashes without you needing to memorize hashcat's syntax.

📽️ Videos for You

Your Linux terminal needs the oomph factor. These seven tools will get you there.

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💡 Quick Handy Tip

On a vanilla GNOME setup, you can assign keyboard shortcuts to an PWA.

First, you need to copy the command used to launch the web app. This is the value of Exec keyword in the desktop file.

Now, open the Settings app, go to Keyboard -> View and Customize Shortcuts -> Custom Shortcuts -> Add Shortcut. Here, you have to add a name for the PWA, and in the Command field, enter the command you copied from the Exec field (without the Exec=) and paste it.

Now input a keybind using your keyboard, and create the shortcut by clicking on "Add." This also works for AppImage files, btw.

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If you are interested in learning about open source AI, please subscribe to our upcoming Local AI Weekly newsletter. Expected to start dispatch from this month itself.

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🎋 Fun in the FOSSverse

The Riddler can be a pesky character, can you help Batman solve a riddle and save Linux?

I spot an impostor here, I wonder who that is. 🤐

🗓️ Tech Trivia: On July 4, 1956, MIT researchers plugged a keyboard into the Whirlwind computer, letting programmers type commands directly instead of wrestling with punch cards, dials, and switches.

Whirlwind was already five years old at the time, but this simple addition changed how humans and computers would talk forever.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 From the Community: Pro FOSSer Neville has asked a very interesting question. Do computers need to be managed and can AI take over the job?

Valve refusal to support Linux distributions other than Ubuntu has raised eyebrows over the years, but a recent Reddit thread makes some convincing arguments.

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Avoiding Vendor Lock-in By Using KDE Plasma As Personal Knowledge Base

There is no shortage of personal knowledge management (PKM) applications available today if you use Markdown notes.

Be it Obsidian or Logseq or Tolaria, there is a pain point associated with almost all of them. They add a layer on top of the plain markdown files. From Wikilinks to custom properties, there is always something that makes the interprotability an issue.

It almost feels like a vendor like in despite Markdown being an open standard.

Recently, I started experimenting with a different idea. Instead of relying on a specialized application, I tried using the KDE Plasma desktop itself as the foundation for this workflow.

Let me share how we can use Dolphin, along with a few KDE tools, to build a simple Markdown-based knowledge management system. I

t is still an experiment, and it certainly has limitations (that I will discuss later), but it has been an interesting workflow to explore.

🚧

This is a highly experimental topic, and you are essentially taking the entire burden of note taking, organizing and interlinking.

Create Some Templates

The first step is to create a few Markdown templates that make taking notes faster.

Inside your ~/Templates directory, create two files:

• Markdown.md
• QuickNotes.md

0:00

/0:13

Create an empty templates file

Once these files are in the Templates folder, they become available from Dolphin's right-click context menu, allowing you to create new notes instantly.

Open QuickNotes.md in your preferred Markdown editor and add a simple structure such as:

## Core Concept

---

## Key Characteristics

---

## Examples

---

## Related Reading

---

This is the template I use for quick notes, but you can customize it as per your need.

From now on, you can create a structured Markdown note anywhere in your file manager with just a few clicks.

Create a Folder for Your Notes

Next, create a folder that will hold your entire note collection.

I created mine as ~/Documents/MarkdownSource, but you can choose any location you prefer.

🚧

Avoid spaces in file names. Spaces in files names can be a pain in Linux, speically when dealing with scripts in the command line.

Inside this folder, create sub-folders to organize notes. I also recommend creating two additional folders:

• Inbox, for notes that you haven't organized into a dedicated folder, yet.
• Attachments, for images and other files that your notes may reference.

Keeping attachments inside the root of your notes directory makes them much easier to manage later.Avoiding Vendor Lock-in By Using KDE Plasma As Personal Knowledge Base

Install a Markdown Editor

Since this workflow revolves around plain Markdown files, you'll need a Markdown editor.

I intentionally avoid recommending dedicated PKM applications such as Obsidian or Logseq here, because using one of those would defeat the purpose of this workflow.

I've tried the Ghostwriter Markdown editor from KDE, and it has worked very well for this experiment. Apostrophe is a similar editor, if you prefer a GNOME style application.

On Arch Linux, you can install it using:

sudo pacman -S ghostwriter

For other distros, use your package management commands.

Configure Dolphin to Open Markdown Files

Now make Ghostwriter the default application for Markdown files.

Open System Settings and navigate to Default Applications → File Associations.

Find the Markdown file type and move Ghostwriter to the top of the application list.

Ghostwriter for Markdown

This can also be done by right-click on a Markdown file, go top Properties. Here, select the open with option and change the application preference order in a similar interface as above.

From now on, double-clicking any Markdown file in Dolphin will open it directly in Ghostwriter.

Use Dolphin Tags for Organization

Tagging is one of the most useful features in any PKM system. Without it, finding notes later becomes much more difficult.

Fortunately, Dolphin already includes a simple tagging system.

Open Dolphin and enable the information panel by selecting Menu → Show Panels → Information.

A sidebar will appear showing details about the selected file or folder.

Here you'll find a Tags field where you can assign one or more tags to each note.

Using Tags in Dolphin

Once you've tagged your files, Dolphin's search function can quickly locate notes that share the same tag.

Using Tags in Dolphin

📋

Dolphin's tagging and file search features depend on the Baloo file indexing service. Make sure Baloo is installed and running before relying on tags for searching.

Interlinking Notes

We've now covered most of the essential parts of this workflow. The only major feature left is linking notes together.

This is one area where a file manager-based workflow is less convenient than a dedicated PKM application.

Since Dolphin doesn't understand wiki links or automatically manage relationships between notes, you'll need to create standard Markdown links yourself.

One improvement I would recommend is storing all your notes and attachments inside a single dedicated notes directory. Instead of using absolute file paths, create links using relative paths whenever possible.

Relative links are much easier to manage because the entire notes directory can be moved to another location without breaking the internal links, as long as the folder structure remains unchanged.

To make this easier, I created a small Bash function that generates the relative path between two files.

relpath() {
  local from_dir
  from_dir=$(dirname "$(realpath "$1")")
  realpath --relative-to="$from_dir" "$2"
}

I added this function to my .bashrc. I originally wrote this function for a terminal-based PKM workflow, but it fits this KDE-based workflow just as well.

Now, whenever I need to create a link from one note to another, I simply run:

relpath current_file distant_file

The command prints the relative path, which I can directly use in the Markdown link.

0:00

/0:21

Get relative path in terminal

A normal Markdown link looks like this:

[Link text](Link address)

It's a manual process, but once the link is created, you can easily navigate between your notes from within your Markdown editor.

And this way, you have a folder containing subfolders of markdown files. The interlinking is the hardest and boring part but once that is done, your knowledge base can be used on any OS, with any Markdown editor.

It Is Not Perfect (Obviously)

And that's not a surprise. You are not using a specialist tool so there are a few limitations worth knowing.

Strict Data Organization Is Needed

With this approach, your desktop environment effectively becomes your knowledge management system.

That also means you are entirely responsible for keeping your notes organized.

If you don't maintain a clear folder structure, your note collection can quickly become difficult to manage.

For example, a note may contain links to attachments stored in completely different folders. Without a consistent organization strategy, finding those files later can become frustrating.

Similarly, if you are linking notes to a PDF file, keep those files organized in a folder and don't mess up with its location. Else, interlinking won't work.

Distro and Desktop Environment Changes

This workflow is tied to KDE Plasma's tagging feature. Moving away from KDE Plasma would likely mean abandoning parts of this workflow altogether.

Link Fragility

You probably have already realized that this is the weakest link in the entire workflow.

The Markdown links point directly to file paths. If you rename or move a file or folder later, every note pointing to that location will break.

Unlike dedicated PKM applications, Dolphin doesn't automatically update links when files are moved. Any reorganization requires manually updating the affected links yourself and that would be a serious pain.

Wrapping Up

I know this approach is far from perfect. Compared to dedicated PKM applications, it places much more responsibility on you to organize your notes, attachments, and folder structure properly.

Personally, I think that's not necessarily a bad thing.

When you organize your notes yourself, you naturally become more familiar with your knowledge base. You're more likely to revisit, reorganize, and improve your notes over time instead of treating them as something you write once and never look at again.

At the same time, this workflow won't suit everyone.

If you depend on advanced features such as automatic backlinks, graph views, embedded queries, or seamless note linking, a dedicated PKM application will provide a much better experience.

On the other hand, if your priority is to keep everything as plain Markdown files while using lightweight tools that are already available on your desktop, this approach is certainly worth trying. In my opinion, this workflow also works well for people following the Zettelkasten method.

I'm still experimenting with this workflow myself, and I'll probably continue refining it as I use it more.

What do you think about this idea? Would you consider using your file manager as a personal knowledge management system, or would you rather stick with a dedicated application? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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Another German State Just Kicked Out Microsoft ...Kind Of

The German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is done with Microsoft SharePoint, ditching it for a self-hosted Nextcloud deployment that is already serving around 5,000 employees.

Eventually, that number will be scaled up to 50,000 public sector workers, covering agencies ranging from ministries down to municipal offices.

What's happening?

Currently, Nextcloud is handling file sharing, and features like chat, video conferencing, and groupware tools are coming next. The existing implementation as well as the expansion is being handled by DVZ M-V, the state's IT services provider.

The state's CIO, Marco Anschütz, says the SharePoint migration for the first 5,000 employees went smoothly, with no disruption or data loss, further adding that:

Together with DVZ M-V, we've built a platform that runs reliably today and is being expanded step by step.

The above quote was translated from Deutsch. 📝

Nextcloud isn't the only aspect of the open source push. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern also uses OpenProject as an alternative to proprietary project management tools and has built its own administrative AI assistant, LEA, that is based on OpenWebUI.

Not a solo effort

The northern state isn't figuring this out alone. In 2025, its Ministry of Finance and Digitalization signed a cooperation agreement (in Deutsch) with the State Chancellery of Schleswig-Holstein, specifically to strengthen digital sovereignty across both states.

That's a state which needs no introduction when it comes to adopting open source solutions to Big Tech problems.

Many of their governmental agencies have already migrated their email system off Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, made LibreOffice mandatory across their administration, and are expecting to save more than €15 million a year in licensing costs as a result.

Nationally, Germany backs the same direction with the Deutschland-Stack, a sovereign infrastructure framework. It limits public administration to two document formats, ODF and PDF/UA, excluding Microsoft's .doc, .ppt, and .xls entirely.

The framework also favors open source tools and European providers over foreign ones, aiming to cut vendor lock-in, and promoting digital sovereignty across public administration.

Wrapping up

None of this means Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is cutting ties with Microsoft entirely. SharePoint is out, sure, but that's the scope of what's actually announced so far.

Nonetheless, going from 5,000 employees to their stated target of 50,000+ is a massive undertaking, and with two states coordinating this move instead of migrating separately, their alliance might end up as an example for other German states to follow.

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Suggested Read 📖: Austrian Ministry Kicks Out Microsoft in Favor of Nextcloud

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