@arubislander said in Ubuntu Touch Q&A 68 Saturday 25th Of January At 19:00 UTC:

Rather than competition the aim is to cooperate wherever possible with other projects. This helps cut down on duplicated effort, carrying all the projects forward, in accordance with the spirit of Open Source.

I completely agree with what you wrote. That is, it is not correct to say that the projects are in an engaged in unqualified "competition" to dominate market share.

Even so, I think it's fair to say that the various groups, although dedicated to cooperation wherever possible, are in engaged in a "friendly competition" to put the shared efforts to best use.

And in such a "friendly competition" to extend the capabilities of Linux phones, I'm cheering for UBports and hope that UBports will lead.

I'm not at all clear what Canonical is planning for their "Anbox Cloud" project. But if the project aims to offer a way to run some Android apps in the cloud (rather than directly on a Linux device), the project seems like a good thing for Ubuntu Touch.

Your initial thoughts on "Anbox Cloud" project?

@kugiigi said in Ubuntu Touch Q&A 68 Saturday 25th Of January At 19:00 UTC:

are there any other Canonical unfinished works that will be worked on in the future to be integrated in UT?

I'll defer to the devs, but here are a few things that come to my mind:

1. Completing the transition to the Wayland protocal;
2. Rebasing from Xenial (16.04) to Focal (20.04); and
3. Polishing aspects of Unity8 needed for desktop mode.

@tera said in PinePhone:

My understanding Is that an OS on the SD Card takes over the EMMC, so should allow easily to have multiple OS on the go (at least, it works on Pinebook Pro, duknow for the legacy one).

Yep, you are absolutely correct that the PinePhone can boot from the SD card.

But SD cards are slower, less reliable, and less convenient than internal eEMMC storage. Also, Average Joe doesn't want to carry around an SD card (which is easily lost or damaged) just to access his Android banking app (and nor do I).

To all who are reading this: I'm not suggesting that this is something that needs to be done tomorrow, next week, next month, or even within the next few months. However, given the glacial pace at which these projects progress, it's worth having these discussions now, in hopes that a dual boot feature will find its way to the PinePhone (or its successor) later this year, or maybe even next year.

But who knows, maybe Anbox will be fully functional on PinePhone by later this year, obviating the need for dual booting to Replicant (Android). But really, I suspect that even the most enthusiastic among us of doubts that will happen.

@mirroronthewall said in PinePhone:

Is there currently an effort to make LineageOS or Android available on the Pinephone?

Yes, Replicant is working to port Android to the PinePhone. Indeed, @Pine64 stated in this thread that "Down the road I think that Replicant will have a big install base."

So, when @Pine64 recently expressed the possibility that "people say that they want a Linux phone, but in reality are not quite able to let go of their Android for iOS phones.," in response, I suggested that such potential customers (namely, those who "say that they want a Linux phone, but in reality are not quite able to let go of their Android for iOS phones") may be more likely to buy a PinePhone if the PinePhone were able to dual boot between a pure Linux OS and Replicant (Android) from internal storage.

@mirroronthewall said in PinePhone:

I also think this would be a good thing, if I am following this conversation correctly.
Or is this considered to be too much work, not worth the effort right now compared to alternatives?

UBports is rightfully focusing on other projects at the moment.

But as has been pointed out elsewhere, Pine64 (the company) has been working with many other members of the Linux phone community, including "PostMarketOS, the KDE Plasma Mobile developers, Manjaro, LuneOS, SailfishOS's community porters, Nemo Mobile... the list goes on and on."

So, perhaps upon realizing that overcoming any reasons that prevent a significant number of potential Linux phone users from buying a PinePhone will ultimately benefit the entire Linux phone community (such reasons including occasional reliance on some key Android apps), other members of the Linux phone community may decide to work out how to dual boot between a pure Linux OS and Replicant (Android) from internal storage on the PinePhone.

@UniSuperBox said in PinePhone:

For what you're paying for a PinePhone, you can get a far better Android phone (new or used). If you want to run Android, it's just not a good purchase.

For me, I'd want Android on the PinePhone as a fallback. That is, as I wrote before, "I'd use UT whenever practical. But I'd likely need to boot into Replicant at least occasionally, at least until Anbox is better supported by UT." So, although I wish that the PinePhone had better specs (and hope that a future version will have better specs), the low specs on the current version is not a deal breaker.

@UniSuperBox said in PinePhone:

We're on the same side here, man.

@UniSuperBox, yes, I fervently agree that we're on the same side. Perhaps we're just not communicating well in writing.

In this thread, @PINE64 expressed the possibility that "people say that they want a Linux phone, but in reality are not quite able to let go of their Android for iOS phones." In response, I informed @PINE64 that I would be more likely to buy a product produced by his company if that product offered a dual boot option. I also expressed that, in my opinion, it may be wise for Pine64 (the company) to hedge its bets by offering a way to dual boot between a pure Linux OS and Android from internal storage. And I concluded my post with "I realize that you have plenty of other priorities, but I hope that offering a way to install at least two operating systems, and dual boot between them, is among your priorities."

I'm not making any demands, just making a suggestion. As far as I'm concerned, @PINE64 is free to do with my suggestion whatever he sees fit, including ignoring it, or alternatively, reaching out to *other" members of the community, such as "PostMarketOS, the KDE Plasma Mobile developers, Manjaro, LuneOS, SailfishOS's community porters, Nemo Mobile... the list goes on and on" if UBports doesn't have the time or interest to explore a dual boot option for the PinePhone.

@UniSuperBox said in PinePhone:

So if you'd like to see a dual-boot option, it's time to jump in!

@UniSuperBox, given that we're on the same side, I assume that you hope that the PinePhone will, eventually, be an attractive option for the "average Joe" user, which is what I hope. (And no, I'm not talking about the "BraveHeard" edition, I'm talking eventually.)

If you hope that the PinePhone will, eventually, be an attractive option for the "average Joe" user, please stop with the if you want it, you build it type responses when I and others offer non-demanding suggestions. Otherwise, you'll be restricting interest in the community by orders of magnitude.

Peace.

@UniSuperBox said in PinePhone:

all software is up to the community. We get support from Pine64 through specifications or (limited) access to engineers from component manufacturers, but Pine64 does not make software.

You aren't seriously suggesting that Pine64 relies on "the community" for every aspect of the boot process, are you?

In any case, in a post asking about a whether @PINE64 would be providing a script for installing to eMMC, @PINE64 stated: "I'll put together a 'rough' SD->eMMC image in time for when phones are delivered later this month." So @PINE64 seems to have more control over what will ship on the PinePhone than you seem realize.

@UniSuperBox said in PinePhone:

So if you'd like to see a dual-boot option, it's time to jump in!

I'm suggesting here, to @PINE64 (not to the UT devs), a feature that I feel would be welcomed by potential customers of his company. By doing so, I've jumped.

@PINE64 said in PinePhone:

A positive way to look at it is that people (potential end-users) understood that at this point in time the phone is meant for technically capable enthusiasts, who can contribute to the development and testing processes.

All things considered, I think it's good sign that you've sold as many "“BraveHeart” edition phones as you have. Congratulations!

@PINE64 said in PinePhone:

A less positive view to take is that people say that they want a Linux phone, but in reality are not quite able to let go of their Android for iOS phones.

Although it's a good sign that you've sold as many as many "BraveHeart” edition phones as you have, I think that you'd be wise to hedge your bets by offering a way to dual boot between a pure Linux OS and Android from internal storage.

In my case, as I mentioned before, I'd be more likely to buy a Pinephone if I could install, and dual boot between, Ubuntu Touch and Replicant (Android) to the internal storage. I'd use UT whenever practical. But I'd likely need to boot into Replicant at least occasionally, at least until Anbox is better supported by UT.

I realize that you have plenty of other priorities, but I hope that offering a way to install at least two operating systems, and dual boot between them, is among your priorities.

@erlend said in Ubuntu Touch Q&A 67 Saturday 11th Of January At 19:00 UTC:

I hear last time that.. Mir is going to be replaced with Wayland....

The devs can clear this up better than I can, and so I defer to the devs for a more complete explanation.

But in the meantime, suffice to say that it's not quite correct to say that "Mir is going to be replaced with Wayland." (Mir is a display server, and Wayland is a protocol.) Rather, UBports is replacing the "old" Mir display server with the "new" Mir display server.

The "old" MIr display server used its own (non-Wayland compliant) protocol, while the "new" Mir display server is now Wayland compliant. As of about Mir 1.6, in addition to being Wayland compliant, "new" also supports the legacy protocol that was used by the "old" Mir display server. However, that legacy support will eventually be removed from Mir (probably starting from about Mir 1.7), hence the need to "Waylandify" Ubuntu Touch.

Questions for Q&A: Regarding your efforts to "Waylandify" Ubuntu Touch, have you had a chance to experiment much with moving libertine to use xwayland? And if so, what are your initial impressions regarding the difficulty of the project?

Not a question, but I just want to say...

Congratulations on completing and marking closed the Unity8+Mir upgrade project!