Nothing works on Volla - what am I missing?

Lalle75

Hi. I got my Volla now for some hours. I'm working with Linux (Debian and Ubuntu) for >10 years now, but I cannot achieve anything on this system.

No sftp connection, no file sync, no root access. Even the owncloud app doesn't connect to my server. The only thing I can do, is going to the internet and surf on websites. But that's it.

The file manager doesn't show any buttons to connect to a remote device. Where are the cloud apps and all the connection and remote tools I'm used to work with on my other systems?

Regards,
Lalle

gpatel-fr

@Lalle75 said:

No sftp connection, no file sync, no root access.

Err, huh ?

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ which sftp
/usr/bin/sftp
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ sudo ls Pictures
camera.ubports  imported  Screenshots
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$

here accessed via SSH.

I don't use file sync but I have seen posts about apps for that (recent post about SyncThing IIRC).

Now Ubuntu Touch is phone oriented, it's not a desktop operating system. Don't expect it to run Gimp as easily as on a desktop OS. Don't expect to run apt-get update line on Ubuntu desktop, it can't do that except if you are willing to break it.

libremax

@Lalle75 said:

Hi. I got my Volla now for some hours. I'm working with Linux (Debian and Ubuntu) for >10 years now, but I cannot achieve anything on this system.

Hello Lalle, I think the answers provided by UT FAQ 8 (https://t.me/UTFAQ/10) may be useful for you:

"8. Can I use apt on Ubuntu Touch?
yesn't [yes and no]. Ubuntu Touch is built with privacy, reliability and stability accross a wide range of devices in mind. It is crucial that the developers are able to quickly reproduce and fix bugs across devices to ensure no faulty update ever makes it to the stable channel on any device, ever. To achieve this the rootfs is read-only.

This allows UBports to provide image based updates. When you run an OTA update it replaces the read-only part of the operating system. Userdata is not a part of that, so you don't lose that or installed apps. But apt is not designed for a read-only rootfs, so as a result it will attempt to write to the read-only portion of the operating system. While you can remount your rootfs as read-write, because apt is writing into a normally read-only part of the system, an OTA update can partially overwrite the changes apt made. This can result in a broken system. So using apt essentially means you are running your own fork of Ubuntu Touch.

You can install apps from the OpenStore app. How to get updates is described in our usage channel.

there are other package managers that are made to work with a readonly rootfs, current working examples include snap and crackle (https://github.com/tuxecure/crackle)."