Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?

dobey

@chdslv said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

You know, UBPorts doesn't have to look like Ubuntu. It should look like a mobile phone.

The OS is Ubuntu Touch. UBports is the foundation and community that maintains it.

However, just because it's a phone doesn't mean it has to be exactly the same as Android nor iOS either. You can have your opinion and that's fine, but the launcher is not visible when you're running an app, only when you're not using any apps and need to launch one. Claiming something is taking up useful space on an empty screen, is not a sensible argument.

Ubuntu Touch is not Android. It doesn't have the same gestures. If what you want is Android, then you should probably run Android, and not Ubuntu Touch. Complaining that Ubuntu Touch is not Android won't change anything.

Keneda

@dobey
I just axplained what he wants, not how is build uTouch. He wants to keep drawer, so he would still have access to apps.

And i quote :

@kugiigi said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

Anyway, it seems like you're fine with a hack-ish workaround. You can resize the icons in the launcher in UTTT though it's only limited up to 6 as minimum. I believe it changes a gsettings value so perhaps it's worth trying to set that to 0.

Maybe like that he could achieve.

chdslv

@dobey said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

@chdslv said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:
Ubuntu Touch is not Android. It doesn't have the same gestures. If what you want is Android, then you should probably run Android, and not Ubuntu Touch. Complaining that Ubuntu Touch is not Android won't change anything.

Who's complaining?
I bought the N5 only to use Ubuntu Touch from Ubports in the last quarter of 2018. And, it'll run that until its last breath. So, it is going for 2 years. Telling me to go for an Android is just nonsense. I have Android too, also in an older phone N6 Shamu, but with the newest Android (August 2020). Both phones were produced in the same year, 2014. So, I have something to compare with. Having an additional sim with unlimited country calls plus 10GB internet is quite cheap, just 5.66 euro per month (equivalent currency). So, I can continue to play/test with UBports/Ubuntu Touch and Android.

I rarely come here, only when I have a serious question, or a suggestion. I always upgrade, so the problem. If one is testing, one should upgrade. I will, of course, upgrade when time comes for the next OTA 13.

@syper said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

@chdslv I don't understand what you want to do.
Once deactivated, it will no longer be possible to launch an application.

OK, I understand you. The thing is, if UTTT can resize to icons up to min. 6, maybe there's a way to decrease the icons down to 1px, then the launcher would become 1px thick. Can that be achieved?

kugiigi

@chdslv I think Rodney said those things because it was as if you wanted what Android/iOS does since you describe how they currently work.

Anywau enough of that
I tried modifying UTTT to go beyond 6 but it looks like the gsettings won't accept any value below 6. So it looks like your only way os to modify the qml of Unity 8/Lomiri.
You can find relevant QML files at /usr/share/unity8.

jezek

Pardon my intrusion.
After reading this thread, I have to say some words.

My opinion is, that the thing what @chdslv wants is not that far fetched or exotic. He simply wants the launcher to be hidden unless requested by user(am I right?).

As far as I recall, vast majority of launchers has some feature called something like "hide if not focused", or "auto-hide". If the hidde feature is set, the launcher stays hidden, unless you unhide it by moving mouse over it, or with some keyboard shortcut. The Lomiri launcher is one of few launchers (I dare to say the only launcher), that lack this auto-hide feature.

So, how would this feature work? Ubuntu Touch is not desktop, or mobile. It's convergent and the Lomiri DE can be in two usage modes. Finger (staged) and mouse (windowed) mode. In mouse mode, the launcher is always visible, in finger mode, the launcher is visible only if no application is open (or swiped/focused by user).

If the hide feature would be implemented and enabled, then in staged mode as well as in windowed mode, the launcher should behave the same (like every other launcher in every OS with this feature enabled). That means it is always hidden and unhides only if focused by mouse, swipe gesture or keyboard shortcut.

What are your opinions?

Than you for your time and I'm looking forward for discusion.

AppLee

@jezek said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

I'm looking forward for discusion.

I'm not against discussion. But in this case we're discussing over a fully functional feature.
We can always enhance it, tweak it and so on for eternity there will always be people arguing it's too this, not enough that...
The core feature is to be able to run an app and it works.

If someone takes upon themselves to implement something different and arguably better then discussion can happen to consider integrating this PR. Until then I don't see the point of arguing because it's not a priority as the feature already works for everyone.

Se it's all about priorities. If you let yourself be distracted by things like that in a project then nothing is done and the project does not move forward.

So yes in this case the best answer is find someone with a good idea, technical knowledge, time and motivation. Come up with something to merge and then we can talk about something real.
Until then every idea is good, has its pros and cons, but it won't help Ubuntu Touch as a project.

Disclaimer: don't get me wrong, I would love a better customizable solution, but I don't mind as long as it works and as long as I see progress in the PinePhone, on stability, performances, power management and so on...
I find it more important.

kugiigi

@jezek The behavior of the launcher, wherein it is always visible when no app is open, was implemented mainly for discoverablity purpose. So that users can directly open their pinned apps from the launcher without doing any additional swipe or tap. And because the current desktop is just a wallpaper right now, there's really no functionality that is being affected by the launcher being there aside from visual function of the wallpaper. Perhaps in the future when something functional is implemented in the "desktop", this behavior can be revisited. Right now, it's more of a preference to hide it or not. I won't mind adding a tap to hide it though. Just a matter of someone to implement it it

Anyway, I think we're drifting off a bit from the OP's concern. I think it's more of that the launcher takes horizontal space from the app drawer and he doesn't use the launcher anyway, so he'd rather have that space for the app drawer.

chdslv

I had the chance to have the older version of UT, where you swipe from bottom to get to the App Drawer, so there wasn't a need to swipe from the left -- no launcher. Two things are needed in a mobile phone, a way to get to apps menu and look at all the open apps. Maybe, one needs a space for a favourites apps dock, but it could be a part of the app menu, and if it has to be a column, then its background should be without a background colour, and stay away completely unasked. If it has to stay seen, the with no background colour, it would be just icons arranged vertically. By the way, the Ubuntu icon should match the other icons. Well, this is up to discussion, maybe even the developers would have shot at it. Good day!

kugiigi

@chdslv What UT version is that? I don't remember UT ever working like that. Even the demo UI, which looked like Unity 7, has the launcher on the left and the app scopes can be opened from the left as well.

flohack

@jezek we had it hidden and then users complained to us they dont know how to open it, and how to start Apps. No matter what we do, there will be unhappiness. We have learned to live with it - I agree an option could be done, but we have by far more pressing problems than this cosmetic one.

chdslv

@Flohack said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

No matter what we do, there will be unhappiness. We have learned to live with it

It is not a matter of unhappiness. If anyone is using UT/UBPorts, it is because it brings happiness. So, if anyone is suggesting something, it is not "complaining."

dobey

@chdslv said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

I had the chance to have the older version of UT, where you swipe from bottom to get to the App Drawer, so there wasn't a need to swipe from the left -- no launcher

Ubuntu Touch has never worked this way. Here's a demo from CES 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwL77K2cb8o

The system was a little closer to looking like Unity7 then, but it was still not with the same behavior as Android, and the Launcher was still there. However, the "dash" could never be closed.

And no, we won't be returning the design to that.

Keneda

Swipping from bottom was to open installed scopes on Canonical uTouch, not installed apps.

GizmoChicken

@chdslv said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

@Flohack said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

No matter what we do, there will be unhappiness. We have learned to live with it

It is not a matter of unhappiness. If anyone is using UT/UBPorts, it is because it brings happiness. So, if anyone is suggesting something, it is not "complaining."

I'm not, in any way, attempting to belittle your request. And while I don't particularly support what you want (personally, I like the launcher), I applaud your initiative to request what you feel would be an improvement. Seriously, I do.

But as @Flohack, explained, at present, "[UBports] have by far more pressing problems than this cosmetic one."

For example, among numerous other projects, UBports is currently:

upgrading to Qt 5.12;
moving from upstart to systemd; and
preparing for a rebase from 16.04 to 20.04.

So, with the above in mind, how about deferring your request until those more "pressing problems" have been resolved?

Keneda

@GizmoChicken said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

So, with the above in mind, how about deferring your request until those more "pressing problems" have been resolved?

I don't feel this topic is a "i want that now dude" kind of topic...

I feel if someoe can give him a "hack" to do this, like "the launcher size to 0" mentionned earlier, that would be enough for him.

"Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?" is not a request, it's a question.

If nobody have a clue and so the answer is "no", so be it.

But if some kind of tweak can make the deal, he will be enjoyed by that.

jezek

I feel if someoe can give him a "hack" to do this, like "the launcher size to 0" mentionned earlier, that would be enough for him.

I will not give him a hack, cause this issue doesn't bug me (and I'm lazy and don't have time until it concerns me ). I'll give him an advice. There should be a qml file for the launcher somewhere. Use find and grep commands to locate the file. Backup, edit, experiment, hack, play with the file (if something goes terribly wrong, you can always reinstall). Read, try to understand what's going on. Insert log statements and read logs to see what's going on. After finding a satisfying hack, publish, or try to make it not looking as an hack and make an pull request.

Don't make excuses that you can't code or you can't do it because it is hard and you are dumb. If you can read and write, you can program. Just like with other skills, you have to do it and practice to master it.

"Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?" is not a request, it's a question.

Yes, there is the possibility. There is always a possibility to something software related. But it involves experimenting and lots of time and failing (even if you're knowing what you're doing). If I would do it by myself I would probably just try to keep the launcher hidden. It can hide, there is already some code for it, it should be only a mater of changing some condition.

That's all what I have to say. Good luck.

chdslv

As @Keneda understood, it was a question, not a request. It is a question to those young and enterprising people here. If someone can find a solution, I'd quite happily implement it. If not, the question is dropped.

Its time for me to go away and enjoy life, as the rest of it is not much to the time I was present on this planet Earth.

Keneda

@jezek

WOW!

jezek

Sorry, I couldn't let it go... this is what I found out... It took me 15 minutes including writing this reply.

Let's find all files in /usr that contains case insensitive word "launcher"

$ find /usr/ -iname '*launcher*'
/usr/bin/cautious-launcher
/usr/bin/unity-webapps-qml-launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-system-settings/private/Ubuntu/SystemSettings/Launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-system-settings/private/Ubuntu/SystemSettings/Launcher/libUbuntuLauncherPanel.so
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-system-settings/liblauncher-plugin.so
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Greeter/Unity/Launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Greeter/Unity/Launcher/libUnityLauncherAS-qml.so
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Unity/Launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Unity/Launcher/libUnityLauncher-qml.so
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/libertine/launcher
/usr/share/ubuntu/settings/system/launcher.settings
/usr/share/ubuntu/settings/system/qml-plugins/reset/ResetLauncherHome.qml
/usr/share/ubuntu/settings/system/qml-plugins/launcher
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_background_middle.png
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_background_top.png
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_background_bottom.png
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_reflection.png
/usr/share/applications/unitywebappsqmllauncher.desktop
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherDelegate.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/FoldingLauncherDelegate.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/FoldingLauncherDelegate.qmlc
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qmlc
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherPanel.qmlc
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherPanel.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherDelegate.qmlc
/usr/share/icons/suru/apps/scalable/preferences-desktop-launcher-symbolic.svg

Hmm... the /usr/share/unity8/Launcher folder looks promising...
After reading, what's in the /usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml, there is a parameter that looks promising:

28 
29     property bool autohideEnabled: false
30     property bool lockedVisible: false

I mean the autohideEnabled... Let's see, where it's used...

$ grep -nr autohideEnabled /usr/share/unity8/Launcher/
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml:29:    property bool autohideEnabled: false
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml:411:                if (root.autohideEnabled && !root.lockedVisible) {
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml:607:                autohideEnabled: true

Only in three positions... maybe if it was always true, the launcher would stay hidden... try to edit the line 29 (you'll need to remount the / as rw) and restart unity8 via UbuntuTouchTweakTool...

...

This is all the effort I'm willing to invest into this thread for now. Maybe it will help. Happy hacking.

EDIT: maybe the autohideEnabled is not he way to go, maybe it does someting else, I haven't tried...