Easy fix possible? Issue of not readable time on Volla Phone display with rounded corners?

[Sander]

Last week I did some research on the menu bar of Ubuntu Touch. I tweaked a few qml system files to create a temporary solution for the notch and rounded corners of the Volla Phone. I have raised the menu bar height so that the bottom matches the camera notch. In addition, I increased the margins of the indicators and application title, so that no information disappears under the rounded corners.

You can find the tweaked qml files on my GitHub: https://github.com/SanderKlootwijk/vollanotchfix

Shell.qml goes into /usr/share/unity8/
Panel.qml and PanelMenu.qml go into /usr/share/unity8/Panel/

Once again, this is a workaround until a universal and better solution for phones with a notch comes along.

[GT]

Thanks a lot @sander-klootwijk. I will try out your fix. The photos look excellent.

[domubpkm]

@sander-klootwijk Your fix looks great

What is the procedure to install it?
Can we go back? What is the procedure for that?
Thanks

[AppLee]

@domubpkm
Those are QML files, you can set your filesystem in RW and replace those files.
It should do the trick.
You'll probably need to reboot or at least restart Lomiri.

[Sander]

@domubpkm As @AppLee says, you'll need to replace the original system files with the ones from my GitHub page. After that, a reboot or restart of Lomiri is required. But I might create an install script, to make installation a bit easier.

[domubpkm]

@sander-klootwijk Good idea for a script.
Especially if the fix has to be reinstalled for any reason.
It won't give me the internet SIM (only internet wifi) on my UT Volla but at least me as everyone will have the time!

[Taiga Woods]

@gt a quick workaround might be to install the suru dark mode indicator. So you would have another (non-essential) icon in the indicator bar between clock and edge of display.

[GT]

@sander-klootwijk Your fix worked for me. It looks perfectly now! Thanks

[kugiigi]

@gt Backup the replaced file if you want a way to easily go back to the original. Though you can also reflash should anything bad happens. Also note that your changes may be overwritten by an OTA update or worse break your system. Just a fair warning It's safe in general especially since you can reflash without losing data via the installler anyway.

[GT]

@sander-klootwijk Just as a follow-up: After some days of using the fix, I am very happy. It works perfectly and there is no regression over the original .qml file.

The only thing I needed to get used to is the following: Since the Volla Phone doesn't have a notification LED, the only sign that there is a notification is the green envelope in the menu bar. Since I tend to switch off Bluetooth, the BT icon is not shown anymore in the menu bar (makes the entire menu bar shorter). When doing so, the green envelope is hidden by the notch. The same would have happened with the switches for location and rotation. Is there maybe a setting in the .qml files that disables this kind of dynamic menu bar so that always all icons are shown?

[Sander]

@gt After looking at the system files once again, I figured out how the menu bar is organized. The indicators request a preferred position in the bar. For the date and time this preferred position is 20 for example. The date and time appear on the far right of the bar. The message indicator has a preferred position of 100, so it appears on the left side of the bar.

In an ideal fix, this entire system would have to be rewritten, with some fixed indicators appearing to the right of the notch and the rest placed to the left. But now the bar is indeed dynamically laid out and updated from the right side of the screen, causing some indicators to disappear behind the notch.

It's possible to change the position of indicators. You could temporarily give the messages indicator a preferred position of 22. The envelope will then appear to the left of the date and time in the bar.

For this you need to edit the file "com.canonical.indicator.messages". This can be found in "/usr/share/unity/indicators/".

Note the selected line "Position = 22". Don't forget to restart Lomiri after the adjustment.

This also is a hacky solution, but hopefully it will solve temporary frustration, until the notch problem is properly and universally addressed.

[jojumaxx]

This post is deleted!

[jojumaxx]

Hello,

I'd like to apply that fix, too. But I can't copy the files to their destination since the file system is read-only:

cp: cannot create regular file '/usr/share/unity8/Shell.qml': Read-only file system

So I tried using adb. I can't push files there either since:

remote Read-only file system

So I tried

adb root

but after that, the VollaPhone isn't in the device list any more. So any command following that results in

error: no devices/emulators found

I also tried this:

root@ubuntu-phablet:/home/phablet# mount -o rw,remount /system
mount: cannot remount /dev/loop0 read-write, is write-protected

Not working though I'm root...

Can somebody help me with that?
Thanks!

[Sander]

@jojumaxx Hello! The file system is read-only by default. You should make it read-write before modifying system files.

But to save you the trouble, someone made a way better and user friendly approach of my fix.

You can find the fix over here on GitHub: https://github.com/JamiKettunen/unity8-notch-hax

Just follow te steps under Applying the patch in the terminal on your Volla.

I don't know if he's on the forums here, but thanks to Jami Kettunen for making this fix a lot easier to apply!

[jojumaxx]

@sander-klootwijk That worked. Thank you!

Nevertheless I wonder, how I would get write access to the file system. Quickly going through the script I found

sudo mount -o remount,rw

That's the same I was trying, right? How does the script gain the access while I couldn't?
I'm still learning and I'd like to understand that, so I would appreceate help.

Thank you!

[AppLee]

@jojumaxx
In your previous post you used ADB, it doesn't work on UT.
That's probably why...

[jojumaxx]

@applee In the last piece of code I didn't use adb. I should have said that more clearly.
I'm going to study the script further, maybe it clarifies itself.

[forgemo]

I'm glad to have found this thread. This is a very little but super-annoying ui-bug. Especially since this will immediately jump into your eye the first moment you are starting your Volla Phone for the first time.

I guess there are a bunch of new Volla Phone users, who might be unfamiliar with the terminal. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to describe the exact steps on how to apply the patch provided by JamiKettunen/unity8-notch-hax.

Step by step

1. Open The "Terminal" app on your phone and make sure, that you have a working internet connection.

2. Enter your phones unlock code when asked.
   

3. Now you need to write the three lines under the section "Applying the patch" from unity8-notch-hax to the terminal.

[Optional] To make your life a little bit easier for you, I put the three lines into a QR-Code. You can scan them with the Tagger app and copy them to your phones clipboard.

3.1 Entering the first line looks like this.

3.2 Entering the second line looks like this.

3.3 Entering the third line looks like this. It will ask you for your phones unlock code. Type your code and confirm it by starting a new line. Don't worry if you can't see anything when typing your code. It's kind of "invisible" for security reasons.

4. After entering the last line to the terminal and pressing enter, you will see a message in the terminal, telling you that a restart is required.You can type a 'y' for 'yes' and confirm it with starting a new line. A immediate restart will be initiated. I can't show you a screenshot of it, since I forgot to create screenshots, when applying the patch on my phone.

5. Enjoy your Volla Phone!

Reverting the changes

You can revert the changes by entering the last command a second time into the terminal and answering every question with "y".

[stanwood]

@forgemo Thank you! I just have tried your solution and it worked perfectly well!
So I assume next OTA will cancel the fix? However, it will be easy to reinstall it again....

To revert manually, should I just type:

./apply-notch-hax.sh

...than press Y , Correct?

[domubpkm]

The fix works very well but :
On the Volla, the Grid Unit of 22 (use UTTT) is the right one to be able to see directly the indispensable envelope icon of the notifications (with rotation of the screen locked) as well as the network icon L, 3G and.. Time. !

Edit : Envelope and network icon not hidden by the notch, this is the purpose of this scaling, not to take into account personal choices.