According to an article posted on xda-developers.com, developer Erfan Abdi, has "successfully created a GSI-esque, platform-agnostic Ubuntu Touch image that can be installed on any Project Treble compliant device."
Would you please talk briefly about the UBports Generic System Image (GSI) project and what the project may mean for the future of UT on modern (Android 9+) Android devices?
Not a question, but I just want to say...
Congratulations on your progress toward completing OTA-12! Amazing work!!
Mir 0.32 release candidate discussed here. Note the logind support is nearly complete.
I suggest waiting a few months (preferably at least six months) to gauge whether GitHub will change for the worse in any way. If you notice changes for the worse, then plan an orderly exit at that time. But if you don’t notice any changes for the worse, no need to divert precious time from development.
@nexus5 said in future ubuntu touch:
Please do 3 versions of Ubuntu touch: lite, normal, maximum.
To be direct, I do NOT support your proposals. Even so, I want to THANK YOU for taking time to express your thoughts here. Again, THANK YOU!!
Also, I’m very SORRY to see that a few have “down-voted” your post, especially given that “down-votes” are anonymous on this site. Please don’t let them deter you from expressing you thoughts here. 
As for those of you who (anonymously) down-voted this post, WTF? If you don’t like a post, take a few minutes to explain what you don’t like.
As an aside, I think this site should rethink allowing anonymous down-votes. Either show who down-votes, or eliminate the option to down-vote. Just my opinion, for which I suspect that I’ll receive at least at few anonymous down-votes for expressing.
For the adventurous it would be reasonable to take Ubuntu 18.04 and...
- install the Mir from the Release Candidate PPA and Unity8 from UBports;
- recompile and install QtMir locally; and,
- try logging into a Unity8 desktop session.
Reportedly, the UBports repo has been updated, and Unity8 can again be installed using the instructions found here.
Unity8 on 18.04 is discussed in Ubuntu Touch Q&A 31 starting at about 61m49s.
Once you've brought the latest versions of Unity8 and Mir to mobile devices, will you allocate more resources to bringing a usable version of Unity8 to desktops/laptops?
I ask because I suspect that offering a version of Unity8 usable on desktops/laptops will appeal to a large audience, which may ultimately attract more interest in your mobile project.
I have thought that you can boot a system from the SD Card as well.
Yes, you can boot the PinePhone from an SD card. But SD cards are typically slower, and less reliable, than internal storage.
Looks like the Mir team is making progress with the logind tweak.
From the Q&A 66 Blog:
Marius wanted to have some fun over the holidays so he played around with Focal – what will become 20.04 of Ubuntu. He wanted to see what had been added and removed. Lots has gone, so will need to be put back before we can use it. We will be basing on 20.04, so although fun it is part of our preparation for the future. At this stage we are just scoping out what will need doing.
Gizmochicken, PhoenixLandPirate and others asked a series of inter-related questions – for example, what will you focus after OTA-12? Is there a road-map? What about Nextcloud? Maybe we could create a few project areas and call for contributors around them? For example around the work needed to upgrade from 16.04 to 20.04?
@UniSuperBox and @mariogrip , I want to thank you both for discussing the above questions/suggestions at length during Q&A 66. Speaking for myself, I'm amazed with how much you've accomplished in such a short time, and I see lots of potential in the UBports team.
I understand what you're saying regarding the seemingly never ending need to change priorities, and not wanting to promise more than you can deliver. Even so, having worked in fields related to technology development (albeit not software development) for over thirty years, I continue to recommend that you, at the very least, publish your top priorities for the coming year, along with approximately when you want to achieve each of those priorities (with caveats, if needed). If for no other reason, doing so will help you to think through the most efficient path from A to B.
Sure, you'll almost certainly need to amend your timeline multiple times throughout the coming year. (And I, for one, won't fault you when you do.) But having your priorities written down (and published to community) will help you to keep yourselves on track.
So, once you get past OTA-12, I hope that, even if not a full roadmap, you'll at least publish a list of your top priorities for the coming year. And who knows, maybe a "unicorn" will find something on the list into which he might want to poke his horn.
Potabi devs plan to "start porting Lomiri to Potabi" in August, 2021.
Heard of them?
Working with them?
I notice that Miroil has seen some recent activity.
I know it's been touched on in previous Q&A sessions (including one featuring @alan_g as a guest), but would you please expand on:
(1) how Miroil will help UBports upgrade to Mir 2.3+ and
(2) why that's a good thing for UT and Lomiri?
@povoq said in Ubuntu Touch Q&A 98 Saturday 10th Of April At 19:00 UTC:
@shouko Yes I noticed that. I was rather wondering if there is a chance for more official support, maybe via the Ubports installer.
Honestly, I haven't tried to install UT to a newer Android (9+) phone hanving A/B slots. So I have no idea what A/B options are even possible with the current installer. But, yep, I'd really like to have a way to install to a "B" slot, while leaving Android in the "A" slot untouched (or vice versa.)
@UniSuperBox If not already possible (which it doesn't seem to be), I hope that, sometime in the future, the UT installer will allow for installing UT to a "B" slot, while leaving the factory-shipped Android in the "A" slot untouched (or vice versa).
If that's already possible, that would be welcome news to me, and so I hope that you'll discuss in this (or maybe a future) Q&A.
@shouko said in Ubuntu Touch Q&A 98 Saturday 10th Of April At 19:00 UTC:
@povoq You can unofficially dual boot A/B devices if you have UT installed on one slot and any other OS installed on another slot. You can switch slots easily using bootclt commands or use a GUI app like https://open-store.io/app/switch-my-slot.shouko to do that.
@shouko Awesome! Thanks!!
According to the project management and issue tracking page for the PinePhone:
Applications running on the PinePhone use the Wayland protocol, not MirAL, to speak to Mir. Therefore, all of the issues posted in the Waylandify project on UBports' GitHub affect Ubuntu Touch on the PinePhone.
I notice that the referenced Waylandify project hasn't been updated since July 8, 2020.
Question: Do the issues posted for the Waylandify project still affect Ubuntu Touch on the PinePhone?
If selected to become the first Norwegian in space, will @mariogrip develop UT from the Moon?
Regarding Lomiri on Manjaro ARM for the PinePhone, in your view, what are the biggest issues to be overcome?
During Q&A 93, @mariogrip mentioned that you've made much progress with systemd. Which is great news!
QUESTION: For Halium devices, are you considering the possibility of transitioning from upstart to systemd while still based on 16.04? Or will you continue using upstart until re-based on 20.04?
Speaking for myself (and only myself), I greatly enjoy hearing about your progress with the technical foundations of UT.
So...
QUESTION: With the transition to Qt 5.12 (a huge accomplishment!) nearing completion for the release of OTA-16, what will be your primary goal for OTA-17?
On Twitter, @mariogrip asked:
Ubuntu for me, please.
Also, I was surprised (and intrigued) to see someone request Lomiri on Fedora SilverBlue.
QUESTION: I realize you have many things on your plate now, and so I'm not asking about your immediate plans, but would you consider bringing Lomiri to Ubuntu Core sometime in the future?