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    gpatel-fr

    @gpatel-fr

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    Best posts made by gpatel-fr

    • RE: We Drop Ubuntu Touch Entirely

      @grenudi said in We Drop Ubuntu Touch Entirely:

      500+ device ports versus Ubuntu Touch's approximately 50

      uh? I am currently evaluating my options on getting a so called 'smart' phone again without Google and of course Apple, and from what I see PostmarketOS has ONE (1) device that can (more or less) qualify as 'daily driver': the Pinephone. Not sure if it's even compatible with the carriers in MY country.
      My understanding is that UT has about 10.
      From this point of view, UT has more coverage but if you have lot of credible stories of people using Volla or Google or Fairphone or Samsung devices under PostmarketOS as their daily drivers, I am all ears.
      By the way your expletives about the forum are making you seem like a troll. Sorry but that's very much what it looks. This forum is working really well and I'm favourably impressed by NodeBB.

      posted in OS
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: FOSDEM'26: FOSS on Mobile

      Here are the videos recorded about mobile:

      https://video.fosdem.org/2026/ub4132/

      UT is mentioned in the videos about state of Foss on mobile and the one about the apps store: the UT one is rather well placed, however Flatpak is coming for mobile and it has already a dominant position in general Linux apps.

      The video about openHarmony is intriguing given the resources of the organisations behind it.

      I have been interested by the one about push notifications, apparently more ready for prime time that I was thinking. It seems that the only real solution for Linux clients is the kde one, that would seem a good fit for UT since it uses QT.

      posted in General
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Why is Wayland compositor and Lomiri so far in terms of functionality compared to Compiz and Unity7 released some 20 years ago?

      @shano said in Why is Wayland compositor and Lomiri so far in terms of functionality compared to Compiz and Unity7 released some 20 years ago?:

      Compiz was released in 2006 and is still maintained. Unity7 was released in 2010 and is still maintained. My question is why Wayland and Lomiri are so far away in terms of functionality, plugins etc. compared to tech made 20 years ago.

      Are we building on top or reinventing the wheel?

      From what I see, Lomiri is not reinventing Unity 8, it is Unity 8.
      I downloaded the Lomiri source code and counted roughly 18000 commits between 2013 and 2017 (end of Ubuntu involvement) and 1400 commits between 2018 and 2025. The main reason is probably that Unity was a business project with serious resources behind it, while Lomiri (the new name for Unity 8 since 2020) is an open source project with a few part time volunteers. Also, it may be that there was so much work in Unity that there is not a lot of new development necessary, the bulk of new work being in other parts of the full (and huge) smart phone stack. I did not count but I think that a large part of these 1400 commits are just translations.

      I don't know Compiz but I tracked the project in its last hideout on Gitlab and counted about 30 commits in last 5 years, 20 of them in 2020. It's maintained in the most limited sense, there is almost no development.

      posted in Lomiri (was Unity8)
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Add "Tab" key to Ubuntu Touch keyboard?

      @Sander said in Add "Tab" key to Ubuntu Touch keyboard?:

      You can tap anywhere on the terminal area to mimick the behavior of the tab key

      thanks for this hidden gem ! TIL

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • [TIP] MMS behind Wifi

      Hello

      this is a little hack I have done to be able to send/receive MMS on my FP5 running 24.04.1.1 stable. Skills needed: some terminal experience, use of editor, sudo, basic networking knowledge, be able to read the system journal. If you are a total newbie in Linux, it may be better to abstain to attempt the following.

      Note that if your phone supports 2 cellular links, mine does not and so I have no idea if it will work in your case.

      Preliminary: find if your system behaves like mine by running the (very slow) command:

      journalctl | grep lomiri-download-manager | grep TimeoutError
      

      if you find lines looking like this:

      janv. 05 18:49:27 ubuntu-phablet lomiri-download-manager[21916]: E20260105 18:49:27.165113 21916 file_download.cpp:527]  Download ID{ 03d5e06553d8471085141080bcff97a1 }  http://213.228.3.45/mms.php?uZmaWepeEfC3hAAmufq69A ERROR::Network error TimeoutError: the connection to the remote server timed out
      

      then the problem is that the provider is blocking access to its network (here 213.228.3.0/24) when not accessing it from the cellular link (their own network). In this case, the following hack could apply to you.

      First step: add to the system the capability to change the network manager configuration.

      cat /etc/systemd/system/etc-NetworkManager-dispatcher.d.mount 
      [Unit]
      Description=Mount unit for etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d
      DefaultDependencies=no
      Requires=system.slice dev-sda17.device -.mount
      Conflicts=umount.target
      Before=umount.target local-fs.target
      Before=network-pre.service
      Wants=network-pre.service
      
      [Mount]
      Where=/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d
      What=/userdata/system-data/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d
      Options=rw,relatime,upperdir=/userdata/system-data/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d,lowerdir=/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d,workdir=/userdata/system-data/tmp
      Type=overlay
      
      [Install]
      WantedBy=network.target
      

      create this file with sudo.

      then:

      sudo mkdir -P /userdata/system-data/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d
      sudo mkdir /userdata/system-data/tmp
      

      then add in our dispatcher.d directory the file that will call our script:

      cat /userdata/system-data/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/99routechange 
      #!/bin/sh -e
      
      interface=$1
      status=$2
      
      #logger "99routechange: ($interface): $status"
      
      /usr/bin/python3 /home/phablet/bat/networkchange.py $interface $status
      
      

      (you will have to create the preceding file using sudo of course)

      create our work directory

      mkdir ~/bat
      

      create the script that will ask to the system the network configuration when a change is detected and run the commands adding the necessary routes to the provider:

      cat ~/bat/networkchange.py 
      
      import os
      import subprocess
      import sys
      
      DEFAULT_ROUTE = 'default via'
      
      if __name__ == '__main__':
          interface = sys.argv[1]
          status = sys.argv[2]
          with open('/home/phablet/bat/status_network.txt', 'w') as f:
              f.write(f'network {interface} : {status}')
          with subprocess.Popen(['ip', 'route'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE,  universal_newlines=True) as ipr:
              lines = ipr.communicate()[0].splitlines()
              lig1 = lines[0]
              lig2 = lines[1]
              lig3 = lines[2]
              if lig1.startswith(DEFAULT_ROUTE) and lig2.startswith(DEFAULT_ROUTE) and not lig3.startswith(DEFAULT_ROUTE):
                  if lig1.find('wlan') != -1:
                      idx = lig2.find(' dev ') + 5
                      cellular_interface = lig2[idx:][0:lig2[idx+1:].find(' ')+1]
                      with open('/home/phablet/bat/cmd_to_run', 'r') as f:
                          lines = f.readlines()
                          with open('/home/phablet/bat/status_network.txt', 'w+') as flog:
                              for l in lines:
                                  new_line = l.replace('{cellular_interface}', cellular_interface)
                                  flog.write(new_line)
                                  os.system(new_line)
      
      

      then add the specific to your configuration route commands, example for my case follows:

       cat /home/phablet/bat/cmd_to_run 
      # cellular_interface is replaced by the caller
      ip route add 213.228.2.0/24 dev {cellular_interface} proto static metric 100
      ip route add 213.228.3.0/24 dev {cellular_interface} proto static metric 100
      # this is the address for mms.free.fr
      ip route add 212.27.40.0/24 dev {cellular_interface} proto static metric 100
      

      Please note that these IP addresses will not be correct unless you happen to use Freemobile (my provider). Otherwise, you will have to replace the IP addresses in the first lines by the specific addresses for your provider that you will find by using

      journalctl | grep lomiri-download-manager | grep TimeoutError
      
      

      Note that you may have to add more lines if your provider has many networks used.
      Also, do NOT add addresses server by server, use network ranges (here /24 means 256 consecutive IP addresses) else you will spend your life trying to cover all the servers used by your provider. In the case of Freemobile, at the moment Free seems to use 2 /24 ranges. Maybe there are some that have escaped me.

      and for mms sending, for my provider the dns name for the server is found in the cellular config, you will find the IP address by using dig:

      dig mms.free.fr
      

      (replace 'mms.free.fr' by the name of your provider mms server)

      It's possible that the configuration may be different for your provider.

      Note: you MUST use IP addresses, the symbolic names will NOT work; for my use here I replace mms.free.fr by 212.27.40.0/24.
      It's quite possible that your provider uses also symbolic names (not raw IP addresses like Freemobie) for downloading MMS, in this case you should also find an appropriate IP range using dig like I did for uploading.

      Finally, enable the whole systemd configuration.

      sudo systemctl daemon-reload
      sudo systemctl enable etc-NetworkManager-dispatcher.d.mount 
      sudo systemctl start etc-NetworkManager-dispatcher.d.mount 
      

      and you should be able to send/receive mms when wifi is activated.

      I hope I did not forget anything.

      Note that testing has been minimal 🙂 but the main risk is that it will not work.

      The configuration resists reboots.

      When this merge-request will land and be added to the stable release you use, then you will be able to disable this hack, that you will do by running

      sudo systemctl stop etc-NetworkManager-dispatcher.d.mount 
      sudo systemctl disable etc-NetworkManager-dispatcher.d.mount 
      sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/etc-NetworkManager-dispatcher.d.mount
      sudo systemctl daemon-reload
      

      Until then, happy MMS with wifi enabled !

      posted in Off topic
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: GPS don't seem to work on FP5 UT 24.04 stable

      Duh ! I will close this stoopid post, I had not used seriously a smartphone since several years and did not realize anymore how sensitive to location Gps services are. I tried only in 2 places in my home and both where unsuitable. When I got out in the air, Gps started to work. So it is working, really. I did a stroll this morning and it updated its position. I have still to get my hands to another brand of smartphone on Android to compare with the Fairphone 5 under UT to see how well it is working.

      posted in Fairphone 5
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Enabling MAC randomization

      @uxes said in Enabling MAC randomization:

      shipped on our system by default

      I am not sure that any phone is doing that by default.
      It has also a downside for anyone using this phone with ssh, that is, the IP address affected by the Dhcp server (the wifi access point) will change often.
      It's not a big deal but it can be annoying.

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: GPS don't seem to work on FP5 UT 24.04 stable

      @GooglyBear said in GPS don't seem to work on FP5 UT 24.04 stable:

      a GitLab issue to follow progress for Fairphone 5

      AGPS is not really linked to a specific port (even if it can work on some devices it seems, but it's mostly unintended). It's tracked here

      posted in Fairphone 5
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Backup and restore (TWRP-style)

      @Charly

      I have seen one post seeming to say that it was restored in the most bleeding edge version, I can't vouch for it as I use stable, however if you install crackle you can use nix immediately and you can get the nix version of rsync (more up-to-date than the Ubuntu 24.04 version).

      https://gitlab.com/tuxecure/crackle-apt/crackle
      https://gitlab.com/EricHeintzmann/ubuntu-touch/xiaomi-surya/-/wikis/Install-with-crackle

      Once you have crackle running, run 'crackle install rsync' and you are there 🙂

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Status of the Location Service (GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo) ?

      @Moem said in Status of the Location Service (GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo) ?:

      I don't know what any of that means

      it's a service provided by Qualcomm

      https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/security/network-activity/

      http://izatcloud.net/

      See an analysis here:

      https://ti.qianxin.com/blog/articles/Analysis-of-the-Hidden-Backdoor-Event-in-Qualcomm-GPS-Service-EN/

      TLDR: backdoor is too strong a word, but there are privacies issues. If the software is rewritten as open source, this could be less problematic.

      posted in Fairphone 4
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      gpatel-fr

    Latest posts made by gpatel-fr

    • RE: A Qml6 webapp: Touch piano

      @pparent

      Tested and approved ! well, at least it did not destroy my phone at first launch. Now I only have to remember my piano lessons of oh so long ago (I hated it).

      BTW from what you write, it seems that there are no official guidelines for Store inclusion ?

      From the information given by another poster, it was my understanding that any confined application could be uploaded without review, yet your application is confined yet was denied entry by the gatekeepers.

      Since you are a prolific click provider, I'd say that you could be entitled to use the next Q&A to ask who is responsible for this function and on which criteria ?

      Edit: some warning, the application is locking the phone in landscape mode until stopped 🙂

      posted in App Development
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: GPS positioning stops working after a random duration

      @slowcyclist

      I don't recall ever having things like that in my logs. I am not running the same version as you, I stick to stable. Not sure if it could make a difference since AFAIK your daily version was the same as the 24.04-1.2 stable 12 days ago, I take it that the problem is older than that for you ? I never tried the daily, do you really upgrade your phone every day ?

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: GPS positioning stops working after a random duration

      @slowcyclist

      I never used GPS a lot , but now that you are speaking of it, I'm beginning to vaguely remember that there could be one or 2 times when GPS stopped mysteriously indeed.

      I'd say that with a process calling back into another, the first process locking everything just because one time it did not get a reply from the client layer would be a fragile design, maybe Google has done this but this does not look like something people designing a system for billions of users would do.
      If there is some retry mechanism, restarting the UT service could be of help.

      posted in Support
      G
      gpatel-fr
    • RE: GPS positioning stops working after a random duration

      @slowcyclist

      I don't see anything of the sort in my logs of the preceding month, however I am not really using the feature, I have posted that the behaviour was too unreliable (hit and miss, sometimes it works very well, sometimes not at all.

      I tested it a bit at some time to see if AGPS could be made to work, without success so far, however in the process I had found this command:

      sudo lomiri-location-serviced-cli --bus system --test
      

      that allows to follow the activity of the satellite detection in the Halium container; IIRC this command was terminating regularly if left to run continuously, maybe this is related ? it could be linked to a restart of the container or something.

      Looking at the service (systemctl cat lomiri-location-service), I see that no automatic restart has been configured like there is for services such as ofono, for example.
      Maybe you could add an overlay to the service to see if it brings some more reliability ? Beware that an overlay already exists, you would have to take care of that somehow by naming the overlay file such as it comes after the existing one.

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Synchronize appointments with caldav and radicale

      @slowcyclist

      err, no, my test reconnects to the server.
      However there is something of a strange behaviour that I don't understand currently.
      When asking for a sync even in test mode from the command line:

      syncevolution --print-databases backend=caldav username=<user> password=<pwd> syncURL=http://192.168.20.12:5232
      [INFO] start database search at http://192.168.20.12:5232, from sync config '@default', syncURL='http://192.168.20.12:5232'
      

      I often see a block, the connection is not established (nor refused). After some time (a few minutes ?) the reply is sent. I see the log of the server at the same time, it does not receive anything, it's syncevolution that is refusing to send.
      When looking at the same behaviour from the phone UI point of view, when clicking on the sync button, it turns in display busy and after some time the server is receiving data and the sync button turns in mode inactive (but with an red error indicator).
      Even trying syncevolution --help blocks.
      It's as if syncevolution was refusing to work at some moments.

      Looking a bit more, it's as if it's the phone UI connection that is blocking itself (and all other operations such as syncevolution --help or the manual sync that I posted above; when the UI phone attempt at connection finishes, I can then do sync tests from the command line without limitation.

      It's as if the sync initiated from the phone UI was blocking syncevolution for about 5 minutes, then it deblocks itself (and other syncevolution clients on the phone such as my test sync) , synchronize the events successfully but returns an error.
      A bit of testing seems to show that the delay is about 5-6 minutes. Maybe it's actually that syncevolution is setup to sync every 10 minutes and the button has no effect other than to block until the automatic sync does its thing.

      If what you see looks like what I see, that would be a pattern and maybe an issue could be created on Gitlab.

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Smooth Edges (name pending) - Let's Fix the Bugs That Drive You Mad

      @arubislander said:

      it is not the case for video codecs either

      indeed. This week-end I tried seriously to add ffmpeg codecs to my FP5 with 24.04-1.2 stable and basically succeeded, see https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/lomiri-messaging-app/-/issues/359#note_3122981838
      So it is possible to play ALAC files with the existing UT applications (mediaplayer...). The fact that it is slower than when accelerated by the hardware is true of course, but a not too old processor like the FP5 one is powerful enough to handle simple video files without acceleration (did not try 4K though).

      posted in OS
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Calendar general CalDAV to iCloud?

      @lsitongia

      Maybe you could try in the terminal (or better connected via ssh) a command like:

      syncevolution --print-databases backend=caldav username=<your-user-name> password=<your-password> syncURL=<your-service-url>
      

      as an example, the service URL for my test radicale server looks like: http://192.168.20.12:5232

      posted in Support
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Thinnking of getting myself into Fairphone 5...

      @Boldos said in Thinnking of getting myself into Fairphone 5...:

      Flashed the Ubuntu 24.04-daily

      what do you mean by that ? 24.04-2.x, that is, the bleeding edge ?

      posted in Fairphone 5
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Ubuntu touch logo (SVG)

      @domubpkm said in Ubuntu touch logo (SVG):

      svg thumbnails can't be displayed in gallery with 24.04-1.x.

      Not displayed in preview mode, yes. If you click on it, it will be displayed.

      posted in Design
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      gpatel-fr
    • RE: Ubuntu touch logo (SVG)

      @pparent said in Ubuntu touch logo (SVG):

      Is there a license for those artworks?

      yes, here

      Don't ask me for a lawyer's point of view on this legal jargon.

      posted in Design
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      gpatel-fr