Best posts made by Capsia

@Kaizen Hi,
thank you, great pages.
Just some notes for the devices page:

1. We have an official device checklist for working features at: https://gitlab.com/ubports/community-ports/general/-/blob/master/DeviceChecklist.md
2. The installer and the preparatory steps sections could be merged in a how to install, which would be easier to read.
3. If a user gets stuck while installing, it could be useful to have links to the forum, telegram channel and/or matrix channel.
   I've made some changes to the page you've shared:
   
   (My first mock-up)

Hi,
this is an experiment I've done with Ubuntu Touch and I would like to share. If someone needs a microphone for conferencing during the pandemic but doesn't have one, here is how to use your Ubuntu Touch phone as a microphone for your pc.

Things you need:

1. Your Ubuntu Touch phone
2. A jack to jack audio cable

Step by step:

1. Plug the cable into the microphone port of your pc and in the jack port of your phone.
   Check that you've done the step 1 before going to step 2.
   Check in the sound panel that headphones are plugged.
2. Run the following command in the terminal:
   pactl load-module module-loopback
3. Note the number in the output, you'll need it to stop microphone sharing.
4. Enable silent mode to prevent notifications from going into the microphone.

To stop sharing microphone:

1. Run the following in the terminal replacing number_to_replace with the number you have noted before. Do not unplug the cable before running the command.
   pactl unload-module number_to_replace
2. You can now safely remove the cable.

Please check that you've done the operations in the correct order. (Don't hurt your ears).

Tested on Nexus 5 Dev

Hi,
just a few thoughts about Open-store and apt package manager. I don't think that any of the two ways is perfect or wrong, they are just different in the way they handle security and privacy.
Open store allows everyone to upload a new app, that will be automatically added and will be available by default on all the UT devices. Apps aren't checked by humans if they don't ask for dangerous permissions, because they are containerized.
APT has some default repositories which only contain apps that are trusted by the OS maker. Apps can't be submitted to be displayed in apt. The user can install all the other apps by adding repositories, that the user should trust. An app is added to the default repository only if it has enough users and it passed mantainer's security checks. This makes containerization almost unnecessary, but still a nice measure for extra security.

Hi @arubislander ,
I'd like to contribute an adapted icon that looks more Ubuntuish to make the app follow the icon style.

Hi,
maybe just a red border to mark the notification as important and persistent could work and at the same time would be more consistent in the UT style.

@mymike said in Improve system settings disk usage analyzer:

What about putting the bars under each label? This way check boxes can be places instead of colored boxes

Looks great

Hi,
I would like to ask if there will be some kind of collaboration with Mozilla given that now they are working to make the ESR versions of Firefox compatible with the infrastructure of KaiOS and possibly also with the old FirefoxOS infrastructure. Could this bring Mozilla and UBPorts together? Would it be possible to make FirefoxOS apps available on UT? Are there any possibilities to have Firefox browser on UT?

Here you can find the original post by KaiOS:
https://twitter.com/KaiOStech/status/1237728747681447937

Thank you

Hi @SwankyBarbecue4 ,
I've written a post about microphone sharing to pc some time ago.
https://forums.ubports.com/topic/4181/don-t-have-a-microphone-don-t-worry-ut-can-do-this-for-you?_=1607703957051

I've also tried without success for the camera. If you'd like to investigate what went wrong, here are the steps I tried:

1. Mount using sshfs the ut root on pc.

sudo sshfs -o allow_other,default_permissions,IdentityFile=/home/USER/.ssh/id_rsa phablet@IP_ADDRESS:/ /home/USER/utcam/

2. Read the video stream on /dev/videoX using ffmpeg ( to check try the following )

ffplay /home/USER/utcam/dev/videoX

3. Push video to /dev/videoX on pc using v4l2loopback ( you'll need v4l2loopback set up on the pc )

ffmpeg -i /home/USER/utcam/dev/videoX -f v4l2 /dev/video2

I've never found the right /dev/videoX, all of them said unauthorized, but I think it should in theory work. Someone who knows the structure of UT would understand this better than I do.

@BigB Hi, afaik NetworkManager doesn't manage cellular connection in UT, you should probably try with ofono / rild.

@scottbouch For Davical there is no maintenance needed, unless you want some more advanced setup, and it is very reliable, but it isn't very easy to install. There is a package in the default Ubuntu repository, but you'll have to setup manually PostgreSQL and Apache.
https://www.davical.org/installation.php

@scottbouch Hi, I'm using Davical on my Pi (Ubuntu server) and it works very well on my UT phone. I've also tried Radicale and Baikal, but I can't say much about them, because I haven't had UT yet.

@Rebecca58 Hi,
to see the share button you'll need to switch view from icons to list in the app settings.
then you'll be able to swipe from the right and see the share icon.

@Rebecca58 RNDIS stands for 'Remote network driver interface specification', usually known as USB network tethering, MTP (default) is used to access files on the phone when connected using a usb cable.

@Rebecca58 Hi,
the hotspot issue is a known issue on Nexus 5 and maybe also on the other devices.
You can enable tethering from UT Tweak Tool:

1. Install UTTT from the OpenStore and open it
2. Go to the system section in the top left hamburger menu
3. In the ADB settings, you will find RNDIS, enable it for USB tethering

@BigB @herr-b Great

@herr-b said in [SOLVED] PiVPN with PiHole home server. UT client configuration [step-by-step]:

(I also used the same folder, you used in your post but I don't know if this has any influence, just made it easier for me to check the fields and make the new input.)

Any directory should be fine, I've just used the same as on my pc to make checking easier

@BigB

1. Yes traffic is still encrypted, ECC is used to make smaller certificates and faster cryptography for clients that support it. UT doesn't support it yet, in the future the openvpn package might get an update so that we can benefit of the latest improvements.
2. I haven't tried changing port, but it should work. Also change the configs accordingly.
3. Yes

@herr-b It's ok that the traffic isn't routed to the vpn, the command is just creating the connection between UT and the VPN server to check if the settings are supported in the previous version of OpenVPN (installed on UT).

To check if the configuration is ok and it is saved in the settings follow the procedure:

1. Find the id (UUID) of your vpn connection running:

nmcli c

2. Run the following command and check your config:

nmcli --show-secrets c show CONNECTION_ID

Check the vpn.data and vpn.secrets fields:

vpn.data:                               ta = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/ta.key, cert = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/client.crt, dev = tun, key = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/client.key, ca = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/ca.crt, remote-cert-tls = server, cert-pass-flags = 0, cipher = AES-256-CBC, remote = YOUR_IP_OR_DOMAIN:1194, auth = SHA256, connection-type = tls, ta-dir = 1
vpn.secrets:                            cert-pass = YOUR_SECRET_PASSWORD

If the fields are wrong you can force the config running:

nmcli c modify CONNECTION_ID vpn.data "auth = SHA256, ca = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/ca.crt, cert = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/client.crt, cert-pass-flags = 0, cipher = AES-256-CBC, connection-type = tls, dev = tun, key = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/client.key, remote = YOUR_IP_OR_DOMAIN:1194, remote-cert-tls = server, ta = /home/phablet/.cert/nm-openvpn/ta.key, ta-dir = 1"

In case no secret is saved

nmcli c modify CONNECTION_ID vpn.secrets "cert-pass = YOUR_SECRET_PASSWORD"

@herr-b Can you check if running the following command works:

sudo openvpn myfile.ovpn

@BigB Hi,
I'm running pivpn+pihole (Ubuntu server on my Pi) on my UT phone (N5) successfully ( step by step below )

1. Install pihole first, this will allow you to use the install procedure without having to edit config files:
   pivpn documentation: https://github.com/pivpn/pivpn/wiki/OpenVPN

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

2. Install pivpn: make sure you've selected local dns (pihole) and disable elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), because ECC is not supported on the old version of OpenVPN on UT. Also make sure you've selected OpenVPN, not Wireguard.

curl -L https://install.pivpn.io | bash

3. Open port 1194 (default) on your router. A domain with DDNS is also useful if you don't have a static IP, else you have to change the IP in the settings each time your connection changes IP.
4. Add the client to pivpn ( don't use special characters in the password or username, just letters and numbers)
   more info on alphanumeric pw and user: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/2188/solved-vpn-no-vpn-secrets-error

pivpn add

5. Get the ovpn file from your pi and extract files:

ca.crt <- all the content between <ca> and </ca>
client.crt <- all the content between <cert> and </cert>
client.key <- all the content between <key> and </key>
ta.key <- all the content between <tls-auth> and </tls-auth>

6. copy the 4 files in ~/.cert/nm-openvpn on your phone
7. create a new vpn connection in the settings using the following settings:
   Server: your public ip
   Port: 1194 (default)
   Type: OpenVPN
   Protocol: UDP
   Auth type: Certificates (TLS)
   Client certificate: client.crt
   Private key: client.key
   Password: (password of the client)
   CA certificate: ca.crt
   Use additional TLS authentication: yes
   TLS key: ta.key
   Key direction: 1
   Verify peer certificate: yes
   Peer certificate TLS type: Server
   Cipher: AES-256-CBC
   Compress data: no (doesn't seem to work)

If it still doesn't work, please post the content of the following command when you are trying to connect to the VPN:

tail -f /var/log/syslog

@Toadtoad Hi,
You can test if you are in the terminal by connecting your headphones,
then type:

pactl load-module module-loopback

Now you should hear your voice from the microphone to the headphones.
If it works, make sure to unload the module before unplugging the headphones:

pactl unload-module module-loopback

If everything worked, you've successfully opened the terminal.
(If you run the commands without plugged headphones, your phone will generate strange, loud sounds)