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

GT · 25 Dec 2020, 15:54

I really like the Volla Phone with UBPorts. However, there is this a simple, but annoying bug:
It is not possible to read the exact time in the top right corner of the notification bar, because the Volla Phone's display has rounded corners. E.g. when it is 21:19, the "9" is not readable, but hidden behind the round corner of the screen.

I just wondered whether there can be an easy fix for this issue? The clock just needs to have ~3mm spacing to the right edge. If it is difficult to get such a setting into the Ubuntu Touch image, maybe it is easier to have a setting for this in the UT Tweak Tool? What do you think?

I think these two bugs are related, but try to rather find a thorough solution for the entire problem for displays with notch:

"Camera Notch interferes with notification bar at top of screen in Ubuntu Touch. #2"
https://github.com/HelloVolla/ubuntu-touch-beta-tests/issues/2

"UI support for the phones with a notch #523"
https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/523

@myii

stanwood · 25 Dec 2020, 20:37

@gt My wife has also a Vollaphone and has the same issue.(which is more a current statement than a real issue)
As I'm a simple user without any technical knowledge I'm not able to really help you. However, I wonder if there is a way in UT tweak tool to temporarily resize the display scaling maybe?

Btw, a little off topic, she's unable to recharge the battery when Vollaphone is off (device automatically boots in fastboot mode). I've been told to try "fastboot oem off-mode-charge disable", but didn't dare to do it atm. Did you tried this command?

GT · 25 Dec 2020, 20:53

@stanwood Thanks for joining this issue on the time not being readable on Volla Phone.

To your off-topic question, see: https://github.com/HelloVolla/ubuntu-touch-beta-tests/issues/37 I have the same problem, but I tend to push the power button for five seconds to hard reboot the device; this works for the fast boot issue.

CiberSheep · 26 Dec 2020, 10:49

@gt Yep. That's a known issue. Not an easy one to solve though.
There is some discussion about it...

Sander · 26 Dec 2020, 15:55

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 · 26 Dec 2020, 16:46

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

domubpkm · 26 Dec 2020, 17:24

@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 · 26 Dec 2020, 17:37

@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 · 26 Dec 2020, 18:05

@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 · 26 Dec 2020, 19:45

@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 · 26 Dec 2020, 21:25

@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 · 27 Dec 2020, 15:42

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

kugiigi · 28 Dec 2020, 08:28

@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 · 5 Jan 2021, 10:40

@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 · 6 Jan 2021, 07:51

@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 · 24 Jan 2021, 15:18

This post is deleted!

jojumaxx · 24 Jan 2021, 15:43

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 · 24 Jan 2021, 17:30

@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 · 24 Jan 2021, 18:52

@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 · 24 Jan 2021, 19:34

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