What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?

[Lakotaubp]

Is UT different from "standard" Linux OS yes. Is it going to stay that way? from what I have seen and read yes. Could Lomiri be developed for/on different OS yes and as has pointed out this is happening. Is that a better direction for UT?
Can the pro's and cons of this and any other aspect of UT be discussed on the Forum? Yes of course, even if sometimes in a robust way. We all have opinions after all.
What must happen though is that the discussion is conducted in a respectful and friendly way between all parties. There may be no meeting of minds at the end of it but hopefully all those involved (taking part or just reading) will take something from it. If not what's the point. Please remember and keep this in mind when using the Forum.

[AppLee]

@poVoq said in What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?:

And Libertine is a workaround, claiming the opposite makes no sense at all

Now you're doing what you don't like from @dobey ...

Libertine is as much a workaround as VirtualBox is one.
That's a feature allowing the user to extend how to use its device.

The workaround is to use a desktop app with poor UX on a phone because no native app has been developed yet.
I know expressing an idea is difficult, but when the explanation doesn't work, try understanding why and change it so it become more precise.

[Keneda]

If i use uTouch, that's not because i'm a GNU/L power user, i'm even far.
I use it because i WANTED an alternative, open source, with freedom, without crapware, without data mining.
I use it because i WANTED a smartphone OS, that don't push me to change phone every 2 years, and guess what, 5 years with MX4 now...
I use it because i would enjoy having a portable secondary desktop with convergence, but not to replace my desktop.

OK it's not perfect, i was used to canonical first design with scopes since 2015, and lost it since i got ubports on my phone this year, now i miss some custom settings but hey, work in progress...

What miss on uTouch is more apps, so more user and devs to interest to, in my point of view.

Making it a "power user" GNU/L distro's not a good thing i think.

Just let uTouch being a phone adapted GNU/L distro that makes people sick of GAFAM but not used to GNU/L say to themselves "why not trying it, it's not far from what i know?", and also usable by advanced GNU/L users, as you can do lot of things with it anyway (as i understood, you even can make system writable with UTTT).

[poVoq]

@Keneda yeah, definitly. That is one way of seeing it, as I tried to explain already in my first post.
But it is an uphill battle, and maybe too amitious for a small community project like Ubports.

And then there is the fact that in the months since I joined this community and started developing some simple apps for it, I have seen a lot of people (with a traditional Linux background) come and go again for reasons that basically boil down to feeling unwelcome and constantly running into (what they perceive as) artificial limitations of the system.

I also had high hopes that the PinePhone would bring in more developers for UT. And while the final verdict is still out on that, my current gut feeling based on discussions around the PinePhone outside of this direct community is that because of the above reasons the vast majority (of the developers at least) prefer to use a more traditional Linux base and would rather port Lomiri to it than putting up with the uphill battle in UT.

That said, this isn't really a major problem if this community's majority of users and its current developers feels it is a tradeoff they are willing to make. But I wanted to raise this topic as I feel it is not being openly discussed and people fail to understand why UT isn't attracting nearly as many new users and developers as everyone would hope (of course under realistic assumptions, not claiming it could topple Android or such).

[Keneda]

@poVoq said in What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?:

I have seen a lot of people (with a traditional Linux background) come and go again for reasons that basically boil down to feeling unwelcome and constantly running into (what they perceive as) artificial limitations of the system.

If you love cats and go to shop and choose a dog, you get a dog, no?

What i mean, uTouch should be known, by GNU/L community users and even more devs, to be what it is, as it is like that from five years now.

Problem is this OS is not to replace or mimic a PC GNU/L "normal" distro, this OS is for phones and tablets, under arm, and for all users, not only advanced GNUL ones.

I want my phone to... phone, SMS/MMS, browse web, take photos, and lot of things yous can do with smartphone, i don't want to use it, like 99% of the time, as a desktop.

Now with convergence, it could be good to have PC like features, but, why would ubports devs brake phone OS specific tweaks, just for 1% of usage (for average user)?

If we can converge our phone to a PC like device with specific arrangment like libertine to run PC programms, that's not a problem.

Most people, even those tired of GAFAM, don't want a "traditional" GNU/L smartphone, they even don't care about GNU/L at all, they just wan't a smartphone that is smartphoning.

People that wan't a GNU/L full traditional system on their smartphone, because they will do linuxing on it prior to the rest, shouldn't get uTouch if that doesn't fill their needs, and they should know that it doesn't as they are advanced linux users that know a little what's happening in this community (the all GNU/L one, not just ubports).

[poVoq]

@Keneda said in What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?:

I want my phone to... phone, SMS/MMS, browse web, take photos, and lot of things yous can do with smartphone, i don't want to use it, like 99% of the time, as a desktop.

Sure, just like anyone else. But as other more traditional Linux versions on the PinePhone show, this is perfectly possible without a lot of things that make UT different. And in addition convergence works a lot better and things like video chat also work fine since it isn't prevented from working in the normal way like on UT.

[Keneda]

@poVoq said in What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?:

things like video chat also work fine since it isn't prevented from working in the normal way like on UT.

I'm quite sure vidéochat could work on UT despite its security guardrails...
And in the mean time, some apps can "have access to all system", at user own risk (but revieved before releasing on openstore), after all, no?

[AppLee]

@poVoq
I start to understand your point (I think).

Yes some people come here because "Ubuntu", so it's some kind of flare...
And yes these people are disappointed : they can't use latest stuff, playing Doom or TuxRacer is not possible (or annoying), ...

Earlier today I read a post from someone wanting to make a Raspberry Pi out of its old phone. With some work they can achieve this goal with UT, but that is the workaround : trying to bend the OS to do something else.

Those people won't help build up the OS I want, because (without any judgement) they mostly want to have fun with a touch screen and some sensors (on a personal note I can also relate to that but not with my daily driver phone).
You see a lot of them in the Pinephone community and it's fine. But that's not what UT is for.

When I read your post I think that you want us (as a community) to bail because it's a long way until UT is polished and with many useful and fun apps. But I don't think that we should stop because that is something I want and many others too.

[dobey]

@Keneda said in What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?:

I'm quite sure vidéochat could work on UT despite its security guardrails...

It already works. The only thing that doesn't really work with it in the browser is camera on hybris devices, because of the way Android HAL works, and this has nothing to do with literally any of the parts of how Ubuntu Touch itself works. On pinephone this is not an issue since it uses v4l, though camera itself is not yet quite working there.

[poVoq]

@AppLee said in What do you think? Use only Lomiri as poweruser?:

When I read your post I think that you want us (as a community) to bail because it's a long way until UT is polished and with many useful and fun apps. But I don't think that we should stop because that is something I want and many others too.

No, I don't want the community to bail. I like UT overall, although I like Lomiri more than some other parts.

But what I see is that this community is struggleing to maintain a lot of the stuff Canocial developed back then and which made sense for their buisiness case (taking a cut from the app-store sales like Google does). And a lot of this baggage from Canocial times does not only cause a maintainance burden (by now it is technical debt despite some nice things about it) but actively turns away new contributors. Yes some of those might be tinkerers and are not primarily thinking about the use of UT as a daily driver phone, but as with all healthy open-source communities there is always a mix of different motivations and the sum is larger than its individual parts...

[AppLee]

@poVoq
Ok, you'll have to be more specific about the burden, because I cannot fathom what they can be.
And I totally agree that everyone is welcome to contribute with their background and personal interest so we can achieve great things.