I am about to give up and leave

Bolly

I hope you find it useful in its Alpha state.

https://open-store.io/app/mimibrowser.fredldotme

bearbobs

I will recommend using this with libertine firefox, https://codeberg.org/user0/Mobile-Friendly-Firefox
only issue will be audio and some tweaking for the display you have

bearbobs

pmOS also have a similar implimentation: https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/mobile-config-firefox

dobey

@jojumaxx said in I am about to give up and leave:

I am just a Linux user, but UT is the only system I encountered yet, that doesn't allow me to use a package manager freely. Everything would be perfect if that was possible...at least I guess so...

No, it would not be perfect. To yet again reiterate something I've said countless times over the past 12+ years about Ubuntu on phones...

Ubuntu Touch is not a traditional PC Linux distribution, and phones are not traditional PCs.

Being able to install stuff on your phone that is not designed to work on phones, will not make a better phone experience for you. As you said, if you want a laptop, you'd use a laptop. Installing apps designed for use with keyboard and mouse, that don't scale properly, and don't have UIs designed for touch, will not make your phone experience better. It won't make web sites work better. It won't make chat or bank apps available.

Fuseteam

@jojumaxx said in I am about to give up and leave:

There's Libertine and Snap support which don't help with the mobile experience. If I want to have a tablet or laptop, I use a tablet or laptop.
Convergence is good as a bonus, if the basis works. It's called Ubuntu Touch, but touchable is nothing. Don't forget, that this is about phones.

I am just a Linux user, but UT is the only system I encountered yet, that doesn't allow me to use a package manager freely. Everything would be perfect if that was possible...at least I guess so...

These two concerns contradict each other

on one hand you feel that snap support is missing the point, on the other hand you feel that install apps with apt would solve the app issue....

Just as apps installed with snaps are not "touchable", apps installed with apt are also not touchable. The snap support is meant to address the issue have with the inability to use apps.

If you have apps that would well on droidian via apt, packaging those as a snap would bring it over to ubuntu touch, that would be up to the developer of that app however.

It is the same with banking apps— we can't have banking apps, if the banks behind those apps don't port them over to ubuntu touch

The outdated browser is a big issue yes, there are multiple effort attempting to solve that, the current rebase to 24.04 might help eleviate that to some degree, alfred's mimi browser is a work in progress that will likely solve the issue aswell, once finished i suspect it'll replace morph altogether, there is also ufirefox which is PoC repackage of desktop firefox with all usability issues.

If Ubuntu Touch doesn't fit your usecase, but other mobile linux distros do— perhaps you could outline those usecases. I would be particularly interested what apps you find useful on droidian that you would like to see on ubuntu touch, perhaps we can get them installed with snap or maybe repackaged for the open store

developerbayman

@jojumaxx i feel the same way im a dev for over 30 years .....after banging my head into brick walls over and over again and i complained non stop for a bit .....but really i just had to step back and realize "this isnt linux" ....ask all these guys they will tell you ......i dont have any answers it just is what it is ....the sooner you accept that the better off you will be ......i have like 50 programs i want to port to UT but i keep running into outdated libs and dead links all kinds of issues .......but ultimately the scope of UT versus how many developers is extremely unbalanced and as time goes forward UT seems to be falling behind .......its just not very cool to bust the existing developers ballz as they are doing their best and usually not even getting paid ......i totally get your frustration tho (like im your #1 fan in this) ........if you know how to code forge ahead and add the features you want (will be a learning experience)

jojumaxx

I get the feeling this going in a wrong direction.

I DO NOT criticize the state of Ubuntu Touch. I criticize HOW IT IS SOLD!

I studied computational linguistics and developed e.g. natural language processing models etc. Due to personal reasons I couldn't continue doing so. I say this to make clear, I have an understanding of how much work this is.

This said: Dear developers, I DO NOT criticize your work. I know this is often painful and hard and I highly appreciate it.

The only thing to be addressed here is preferences, but that's another thing.

I DO criticise, how the smartphones are sold and I'm talking about those who can be bought new with UT preinstalled.

Now the following scenario:
A random person (using Ubuntu on their PC at home) is looking for a new phone. Maybe something de-googled this time. The person finds out about Volla Quintus. Then the person finds out "hey, I could order it with UT preinstalled" and does so.

Go to the website. They state, that if you do use Linux, the phone is for you because everything will be familiar.
They say, that all basics work.

Now the phone arrives and half of the stuff doesn't work. Now anger and frustration begin, not to mention the money that thing costs.

If there was a real warning, like in the Pinephone Shop, you either don't buy or you know what you're dealing with.

THIS is my point!

So the UBPorts devices site changed a bit. It doesn't claim any more, that the experience is comparable to other OSes on the marked.

When I bought my original Volla Phone, that was true and it was my daily driver for a long time.
I bought the next promoted one, because I thought they wouldn't put it on the marked without improvements, but the experience was worse. And I felt scammed because these devices nevertheless cost a lot if money. And they put phone after phone on the market of which none really works.

So this is about Volla, too.

From now on, like Pinephone, I look at Ubuntu Touch like an enthusiast project.
I do not expect functioning devices when I order them. And potential buyers should be clearly warned.

I still believe in UT and love it. And I hope we will get to the point of working daily drivers again.

I wish I could contribute in cases of development, but due to personal reasons, I simply can't

So again, I DO NOT criticize developers or UT itself but how it is presented to potential buyers namely as working alternative which right now it is not.

This might cause people to loose money they maybe don't have in the believe they buy a working "Linux" phone.

Thanks for reading!

tuXut

@jojumaxx
Thanks for writing, I see it exactly the same way...
I would prefer that there are 3 functioning devices (a cheap one, an expensive one and a medium one). I am also very disappointed with the Volla X (it is not a recommended device anymore...!!!) I won't say what I think now...
I still think UbuntuTouch is the operating system I like best for a phone...

jojumaxx

@tuXut Thanks.
I once suggested, that the Pinephone (Pro) would have been a good start, since it's "open" hardware.

In my understanding most time is lost in running after the Android Compatibility Layer (Halium).
How much development could go into functionality, usability and features on the Pinephone?

Instead there is (AFAIK) one developer keeping UT on the Pinephone alive. I shortly revived my PP UT CE and want to leave that developer a big "THANK YOU - good job, keep it up" here.

That's sad. And again my question (no one answered yet): Why not the Pinephone? Why running after Android development which seems to go too quick to keep up?
The PPP could be THE UT device and compared to what we have now surely wouldn't be bad...

tuXut

@jojumaxx

in my fantasy world, all the developers are working on a Linux phone ... we would have had a 101% functioning device for 10 years,
Greetings and have a nice weekend.

domubpkm

@jojumaxx As a non-developer user, I have 10 years of frustration with UT smartphones, and for developers it is the same I am sure ! And it is currently amplified by the absence of a powerful browser. But I still use UT passionately. We are approaching Noël, we will see if there is a miracle.

AppLee

Hi @jojumaxx

As far as I know, it is easier and faster to create a port for Ubuntu Touch on an Android than it is on the PinePhones.
You seem to think that the time from contributors can be managed like in a company ; that is simply not true.

When a porter has a desire for Ubuntu Touch on a device they own, they invest their time doing so and share it with the larger community.
And that's probably not time they would have invested in Pine64's devices or another Ubuntu Touch related project.

A major chunk of development time is actually spent on keeping up with Ubuntu LTS.
A effect is the Qt version supported and it lead to the fact that our browser is out of date.
If we had the manpower a better strategy would be to keep up with Ubuntu Stable and update every 6 months, but that is out of reach at the moment.

To answer your question we are not running after Android and there are few ports to newer devices.
The exceptions I have in mind are Fairphone5 and Volla better we are partnering with them.
We partnered with Pine64 but it was very difficult to improve with the drivers provided if I understood it correctly.

I for sure would love to have an open hardware phone well supported by Ubuntu Touch.
But it has some challenges that we could not address without compromising the OS so focus shifted.

Now if you can motivate enough skilled developers to improve the Pine devices situation that would be great and welcome by many I'm sure.
What Oren is doing with the PinePhones is remarkable, you're absolutely right.
And I'm sure he appreciates the gratitude love and if you can donate it's always appreciated...