My LG Nexus 5 Arrived Yesterday | Here's What I Think
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@mrlen Well, at least they responded quickly:
Hello Leonard,
Thanks for reaching out.
We have decided to put any updates for Linux on hold until further notice.
There are no version releases planned in the foreseeable future.
I apologize for any inconvenience.
We hope that you can still enjoy Viber on our other platforms!
Best regards,
Dora C.
Viber customer support -
@mrlen I responded with this:
With respect, that's a huge mistake.
Linux is the future.
But thanks for the quick response.
Len
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Looks like Viber is no longer my favourite messenger. I'm going to look into a FOSS, Linux video messenger and see if there's something we can adopt. I'm willing to chip in to make this happen; even if we have to build one from scratch.
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@mrlen The fundamental problem with a messenger is you need to run a central service, even if its federated, there must be operational service nodes on the internet, that occupy maintenance resources, and cost money to run.
So any FOSS messenger falls short of a reliable, 24/7 worry-free structure that is free of charge (I wonder if people would be willing to pay for a service thats actually privacy-focused. Probably majority would say no, why I should pay for open source).
Creating a piece of vide chat software is a smaller problem than runing the infrastructure for it.
The only option that I have for you is to motivate Telegram people to help us, since there we already have a good working base, plus they are publishing their client as OS library already. We would just need to add the call provisioning, and all the video capture and render stuff.
My languages: 🇦🇹 🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
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Linux ubuntu and derivatives is probably less of a secure sieve than windows, android (for smartphones if you use Android anyhow). Linux and derivatives are very reliable and offer a wide choice of software for computers but this does not represent the majority of users.
As for 'linux' phones, they are still suffering from a lack of software or are still too dysfunctional to convince outside enthusiastic developers/users, and therefore commercially not very valuable because they are not reaching enough people to generate a knock-on effect in investments and developments to be deployed.
Alas! My point of view -
@flohack There's a certain type of person that's perfectly willing to pay for open source apps/programs. I'm one of them. I don't use Linux just because it's free. Although that is great. I use it because I like the idea that it's open source and generally not run by greedy, faceless monopolies. I am currently paying for pCloud, because I don;t want to use Google drive or OneDrive. I have various other subscriptions I am paying for online, such as Fastmail for example -- because I refuse to use Gmail.
People will pay. Most people won't, bit there will always be some that will. Linux has a massive supportive community. If word gets out that it's not free (because it simple can't be, due to costs), more people will be encouraged to chip in.
All that's required is some good marketing.
P.S. You know how Bill Gates made his billions? He plagiarised the work of enthusiasts wrapped it all up and packed it and sold it at a premium. Just sayin'..
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GPS works on my Nexus 5 and, as far as I know, on all others on this forum. Be aware that the first fix could well take 30 minutes, or even more in some circumstances. Later fixes will be faster though never as quick as a car satnav.
PureMaps and Unav both work, though I prefer the former, and will even give navigation directions if you want. To use either of them off-line you need to install OSM Scout Server first, then download the maps of your chosen regions. Start OSM before starting your map application.
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@mrlen I also use a Nexus 5 as daily driver and very happy with it. I also use an Iphone 8 beside for whatsapp, banks apps, IoT and other stuffs that I need.
However GPS works right on my Nexus 5, 1st signal acquisition may take up to 15 min. You must be on the outside (clear environnement) Also ensure that localization is well activated on the top bar menu.I consider as well that adding in the future a VoWiFi possibility (or voice/video chat), wireless printing spooler as well as a decent Anbox integration would make Ubuntu Touch absolutly irreplaceable.
That's why I try to support the fundation as best as I can. -
@flohack Now, granted, I'm a newbie here I have not gotten into the "guts" of my Nexus 4 (and I am still waiting for the toys to make it my computer) but I get from reading stuff here that FluffyChat and Linphone have the infrastructure for video chat capabilities latently but they haven't been developed because there might be an issue for some phones vs others. I'm just curious. Would that be the easiest way from point A to point B? Working to build on infrastructure that is more "familiar" and then moving on to different chat platforms?
Nerd with UT on a OnePlus One. OnePlus 6T waiting in the wings for VoLTE.
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I also use a Nexus 5 as daily driver and very happy with it. I also use an Iphone 8 beside for whatsapp, banks apps, IoT and other stuffs that I need.
Then you're not using it as your daily driver
I don't think daily driver means what you think it means. lol, but jokes aside.. okies, I'll have another go at the GPS. I'll try outside in a clear environment, but if I can't actually use it inside my car -- then that would be kind of pointless. -
@mrlen You definitely can. You just need to get the fix outside, but after that, it runs smooth in a car. What I do (well did, before offline maps stopped working on pure maps) is I open the window, get the phone close to the opening for sometime, get the fix, then close the window, and off we go ^^
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@totalrando Sure both could be enhanced with video calls, its jsut that we need a few ppl experienced with C++ and Qt/QML... Go find some
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Actually, Slack kind of almost half works. I tried to call my wife's android from my Nexus 5 UT and it actually rang. I accepted the call, but then UT went back and crapped out. Something tells me it's probably got most of what it needs to run. Maybe just needs a bit more work.
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@mrlen But Slack is neither an Open Source App, nor is it native App for UT. Are you using Anbox with it? The device consumes too much battery with Anbox, too much background activity etc. So its not ready for daily use.
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@flohack Yeah, I don't like that it's not OS. I am not using Anbox. I put my phone out under the sky several times yesterday -- probably for 45 minutes all up. I couldn't get GPS to connect. I wonder if it's because I am in Australia?
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@mrlen In theory the GPS coverage is uniform over the entire planetary surface. It could therefore be a hardware problem.
However, you can try as following:Troubleshooting:
. Ensure localization is well activated in top bar menu
. Grant localization access to the application
. Prevent the application from going into sleep mode (Use UTTT to activate the status)
. Reboot Smartphone
. Ensure to be in a unobstructed location, open the app and leave it on during 15 minutes. -
Yesterday, I checked that location services were turned on already and that the apps had access. They were toggled on. I didn't reboot after I checked those things though.
And also, the phone is brand new.
I'll try again today.
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@mrlen please open a terminal and execute sudo test_gps, and see if after some time it spits out longitude/latitude infos
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@flohack It seems to be displaying something. It's refreshing like every 1/2 second and displaying timestamp, elevation, etc.
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@mrlen well it spits out a lot of information, but the critical one is a valid logintude/latitude after the GPS got a fix. If that never appears, only guess it that the antenna has issues. But in general your location backend works, otherwise the NMEA messages would not show up there.
