From the Newsletter Sept 27th:

Hello again and welcome to the latest newsletter,

All things FP5 have moved along a lot recently with quite a few things fixed and working. These include the following

fixed vgrid units
adb, mtp and usb
Modem is up
Sound and video decoding works
vibrationaidl added to hfd-service
flashlight
auto brightness
mobile data and calls
GPS

Many of the parts for voLTE have also no been merged but have not yet reached our devel update channel yet.

Work is being finished to make the FairPhone 5 available on the installer and as we know many of you are looking forward to this port we will let you know as soon as it is available.

We intend to show the FairPhone 5 at the up coming Ubuntu Summit in the Hague so if you are there please come and look us up to find out more.

I am excited!

Also "and as we know many of you are looking forward to this port we will let you know as soon as it is available" . Meaning this forum topic has received a good amount of attention in the UT space . 4.3K Views is a lot lol.

Hi. I currently testing the BETA port of UT for the Fairphone 5.

On the way I build a setup for Firefox running in Libertine.

The UI and accessibility is in my opinion really close to the android app. I thought other Ubuntu Touch user might find this useful too! It can be found on my website (because i m currently updating the information very frequently). Ask me if you need any help

(If linking to external source is not welcome i can also just copy past it here. Just let me know if that’s the case )

CatWithCode.moe - Everything about Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 5

List of stuff I tested with last tested Status and the Tickets if any (Copy of: https://catwithcode.moe/Blog/2024.10.07_Ubuntu_Touch_on_Fairphone_5/Ubuntu_Touch_on_Fairphone_5.html) :

Note: I test drove the Fairphone 5 with UbuntuTouch for around 17 days. Don't worry I hand a second, fully configured phone on hand just in case (And a Android Phone was ready to swap in) ;). I relyed on some Android apps to work but the main once are covered more or less, but especially the Signal installation explained below can be skipped as soon as waydroid works.

UPDATED: 2024.11.20
SOFTWARE: r91 - 20241109-2283

WORKS | WORKS, BUT STILL TESTING | NOT TESTED YET | ISSUES | NOT WORKING

✅ Install
✅ Setup
✅ Working with German SIM-CARD
✅ WiFi (With Network enforced Pi-Hole)
📈 Camera (Photo, Video, with and without Flash, Switching between cameras. Sometimes I need to reboot for it to work.)
📈 LTE [Works but sometimes I need to reboot for it to work]
✅ Alarm and Timer
✅ Stability
➖ 5G
➖ VoLTE
❌ GPS [Never got it to work]
✅ Battery Life - Really good! X11 App's running can consume a good bit more.
✅ Heat
✅ Snap's (Using Snapz0r - Many Apps run! BUT onscreen keyboard dose not work in general for snap on UbuntuTouch! Normal USB-Keyboards do!)
✅ Tap to wake
✅ Performance (Can be a little laggy sometimes (X11 especially). Display seems to run at 60hz (not the possible 90hz), but performance-intensive stuff like streaming 1080p@60fps is working great.)
✅ SMS
✅ CALL (2G? 3G?)
✅ FLASH
✅ Vibration
📈 Screen Brightness (Auto often dose not work)
✅ Proximity
✅ Rotation
❌ Fingerprint reader (The OS knows it dose not work)
⭕ USB-OTG [BUG: USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone (2.0 WORKS! 3.0+ CABLES CRASH.)]
⭕ Keyboard [BUG: IT WORKS THE FIRST TIME. AFTER RECONECTING A MOUSE THE COURSER IS NO LONGER USABLE. Probably related too; USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone (2.0 WORKS! 3.0+ CABLES CRASH.)]
⭕ Mouse [BUG: IT WORKS THE FIRST TIME. AFTER RECONECTING A MOUSE THE COURSER IS NO LONGER USABLE. Probably related too; USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone (2.0 WORKS! 3.0+ CABLES CRASH.)]
⭕ USB-HUB (3.0 and lower) [Keyboard, Mouse and USB-Drive work]
✅ USB-AUDIO - Works perfectly... surprisingly.
⭕ USB-VIDEO [BUG: Black Screen, Then Soft-Reboot and a broken Dekstop is half visible on a 1080p display. Tested with a SteamDeck Dock. Other Docks don't work. Eventually hard crash. Probably related too; USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone (2.0 WORKS! 3.0+ CABLES CRASH.)]
❌ Waydroid - [BUG: ERROR: Binder node "binder" for waydroid not found]
❌ NFC [Never really worked]
📈 Bluetooth [Works better now BUT still see's a lot of "unkown devices". Can connect with BT-Audio to some devices.]
✅ Libertine (Tested with Firefox and Signal-Desktop [AUDIO/MIC WORKS IF YOU INSTALL "pavucontrol".])

First: Whoever downvotes every topic: I were told to report bugs here. Stop being annoying.

Second: In the linked blog entry in my profil here I have made a very extensive list of things that have been tested (to not spam this area with usless topics like "works lol").

@kugiigi Thanks for asking! I know the Arrow and Touch Area of the Keyboard exsits. But I would need tap, ctrl, alt, ... more or less the keyboard modifier keys

Hi. I currently testing the BETA port of UT for the Fairphone 5.

On the way I tried to get Signal running. After a lot of tinkering I got it to work in Libertine.

I thought other Ubuntu Touch user might find this useful too because there is no nativ signal client.

The UI is usable after some tweaking and all feature except video-calls work flawless. Even notification when the screen is off

(BOTH IMAGE LOADING AND ENTER/DELETE HAVE WORKAROUNDS NOW! NOT VERY GOOD ONCE BUT THEY ARE THERE! SEE REPLYS OR BLOG ENTRY):
Well… nearly all. One issue is still that the On Screen keyboard can not hit enter or backspace text. A USB-Keyboard still works though. Tried to create a custom Keyboard Layout but did not succeed until yet.

If someone has an idea to get the Keyboard full working PLS let me know.

Hope someone thinks this is helpful
And be warned. The setup involves A LOT OF jank xD

CatWithCode.moe - Everything about Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 5

(If linking to external source is not welcome i can also just copy past it here. Just let me know if that’s the case )

[EVERYTHING WAS WORKING AND DISPLAYING NORMALLY! JUST REMOVED PRIVATE INFORMATION FROM THE SCREENSHOT!]

@AppLee Hi. It still says: Something doesn’t look right. Your payment to this merchant can’t be completed using PayPal. Choose another way to pay.

Hello together!

I have a Fairphone 5 and really want to use Ubuntu Touch on it.I saw in the FAQ that support is potentially in the works.

I wanted to ask what the best way is to help with the Porting / Development and how to check the current Status on that Topic.

I can help with testing, donations and coding.
What ever the best way around this Topic is in this Community.

Thanks!

Small update about Linux on Fairphone 5:
I saw that the UBports installer already supports the Fairphone 5! It offers postmarketOS devbuilds, for those who want to try postmarketOS

COOL!

Current state of the port:
https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_5_(fairphone-fp5)

In "Ubuntu Touch Q&A 139" there is a "Fairphone 5" section which states: "Marius has continued work on getting FP5 to a usable state. Nice!

This thread started as a question about the state of things and has now become an information dump about UT and Fairphone 5 . Whenever something about this topic comes up somewhere, I will probably hear about it here first. :grinning_cat_face_with_smiling_eyes:

@Keneda Right. And now that a FP5 Area in the Forum exists this topic can also be moved there if im not mistaking.

@Moem Thx for the feedback. The 5th time I think I was told someone not liking or even hating the old font (OpenDyslexic btw.). I thought it was really readable but that seems to be a only me thing. :face_with_tears_of_joy:
And also the 2th time some one saied the new one is better readable even though I think the other way around lol.

Hi. Sorry just found out that i was tagged in a message. I did not get an email from the forum or something. I don’t check messages on other pages really. If someone wants to message me quicker just send an E-Mail or open a GitHub issue on my Repository for the website.

Seems like the issue was already solved.

Sorry again for now answering.

@Moem Hi. Sorry for the very delayed answer. I don't look around at my messages on other sides much (Best way to reach me is E-Mail or GitHub Issues). A port is not really an option. The dependency’s of SignalDesktop are a lot and most of the library’s are not on Ubuntu. Touch. As far as I could tell Signal Desktop is based on / made with electron aka. chromium aka. Chrome. That would mean a port of chrome to Ubuntu Touch would be somewhat needed. This is honestly insanely difficult and very work intensive (BUT not Impossible).

TL;DR:
-No, port is not an option.
-I would not recommend installing Signal like this. It is very prone to breaking and requires way to much maintenance and also works !barely!. But if someone Is on Ubuntu touch and really really REALLY needs it it works.
-The font: Yeah… the font is a little hard to read. I changed the design recently, Idk. If you mean the new font or the old one (the new one is pixelated). I would love to know, so I can fix it if it is really that awful to read xD. You could copy paste the text from my side into a notepad program and change the font to something that is easier for you to read.

I think that was a long enogth daly driver test

@kugiigi Thanks for asking! I know the Arrow and Touch Area of the Keyboard exsits. But I would need tap, ctrl, alt, ... more or less the keyboard modifier keys

I found a "workaround" for now:

You can get "somewhat" around the sending issue. Type enough so the "Expand Text Box Arrow" is usable (or move you finger around the text box a little (up works very often), for some reason the arrow shows up then too), press it and now you can press the blue send button to the right. It is far FAR from working / good but it works for now. That also allows selecting and then "overwriting" the current text. That can be considered as a "backspace" workaround.

ALSO: Signal-Desktop uses more battery then it should. It uses a far less if you close it and reopen it and don't open any chats. IDK. why.

New Update: I tested a little and build from source with the patches for fs-extra works and media loads then. The Signal-Unoffical fork works too but Keybaord enter and backspace still dose not work.

I also updated the entry on my website on how to create the conainter. I added a other cursed install path this time making a container into a debian install (more or less).

A asked in a diiffrent topic about the terminal bar but it is part of the terminal app. Meaning: Still no solution for the Keyboard issue.

I also noticed after an reboot resets to the lower speaker. executing pacucontrol and chaning it or using a script fixes it.

@ikoz Thx for the clear answer. Oh well that’s a bummer. This topic can be closed then

When starting the Terminal you can a bar at the top of the Keyboardf with many very usefull special keys.

Is this bar part of the Keyboard or part of the Terminal?

Having these Shortcutes everywhere were you could need them (like word prediction) would be very useful.

Also: Currently no progress with the Keyboard issue. It must either have to do with something in the X11 stack it runs in (missing package?) or the Keyboard layout. The keycodes send by a real keyboard seem diffrent and signal can use them and uses enter or backspace correctly. If anyone knows how to change the Keyboard layout or what X11 thingy is missing pls tell me. I would love to see a seeme good working signal app running . I know its janky but it works so well.... Waydroid is nice (as soon as its supoorted) but it think X11 Signal-Deskop could be better with battery usage and usability.