That’s the Motorola Moto E 2015 4G/LTE, codenamed “surnia”. Since the middle of 2018 I had been working on that phone as an Halium porting (there had been some questions about that at this forum). Luckily, thanks to the forum user @bartbart2003 and the forum user @guf, we have been capable of booting and using Ubuntu Touch (UBPorts) on that phone, and we have resumed that project that I left because kernel panics and bootloops. Its specifications are here:

-Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916); 4-core Cortex A53 @1,2 Ghz
-1 GB of RAM
-8 GB of internal memory
-4,5” 960x540 screen
-Rest of specs: https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e_(2nd_gen)-6986.php
-Models: XT1524, XT1526 and XT1527 (DO NOT confuse with XT1511 and XT1505, as that phones are only 3G and non-compatible with this port)

So, at this moment, we have that things:

Working:

Boot
Touchscreen
WiFi
Rotation, brightness, proximity sensors
Mobile network (mobile data, SMS, calls but NO AUDIO)
Hardware buttons (Power and Volume)
WiFi hotspot (buggy, WiFi stops working PERMANENTLY after starting it)
GPS
Vibrator
Notification LED
AppArmor
USB OTG
Time between reboots
microSD card
Offline charging (with graphics)
MTP access (read/write)

Partially working:

Camera (taking photos works with both cameras but video recording broken)
Audio in calls
Timekeeper (you have to store time manually due to the shutdown issue)

Not working:

Bluetooth
Shutdown/reboot from system
RAM management: no swap implemented at this moment
Anbox: It won’t be fixed by our part, because performance issues (mostly related with the very low RAM) make that Android apps would not fire up on this device. If someone manages to get anbox with apps working, please, say it on the thread for further inspection. It will be very appreciated.

At this moment, we have tested on that rootfs exposed, and it has worked:

-UT edge rootfs: http://ci.ubports.com/job/xenial-hybris-edge-rootfs-armhf/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/out/ubuntu-touch-hybris-xenial-edge-armhf-rootfs.tar.gz

-Plasma Mobile https://images.plasma-mobile.org/caf-rootfs/pm-rootfs-20190703-055501.tar.gz. See also https://docs.halium.org/en/latest/porting/install-build/plasma-mobile.html

-Halium-based rootfs https://docs.halium.org/en/latest/porting/install-build/reference-rootfs.html

The installation instructions are the next (assuming that you have the TWRP installed on the phone, or some recovery with Busybox support, and, of course, bootloader unlocked):

0-THIS WILL WIPE ENTIRELY YOUR DEVICE AND YOU WILL NEED TO CHANGE THE FILE SYSTEM OF /DATA TO EXT4 FROM F2FS IN TWRP BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. AND, IT IS A MUST REQUIREMENT DOING A NANDROID OF YOUR CURRENT ROM WITH TWRP: TWRP Home >> Wipe >> Advanced Wipe >> tick data >> Repair or Change File System >> Change File System >> EXT4 >> Swipe to change.

1-Download halium-boot

https://mega.nz/file/6TRRgAAa#YjtJ35nXxIMS_tVyaURRHuJfvjx3mxLFY1H6WWzD_Z4

Boot in Recovery Mode (Power + volume down buttons) and flash it with:

fastboot flash boot /path-to the image of halium-boot/halium-boot.img

2-Download system.img and halium-install.zip

system.img: https://mega.nz/file/GXBVAQyA#w68fYNKZ3He4Zg69QC9bkvQI8702ZAho4M4TVmKdfxg

halium-install: https://gitlab.com/JBBgameich/halium-install/-/archive/master/halium-install-master.zip

Decompress halium-install.zip in a place where you remember. After that, get into the folder via Terminal (in the shell type "cd/(path to the folder where you have the folder halium-install)/halium-install". Be here all the rest of the install instructions).

3-Download the latest rootfs from UBPorts:

https://ci.ubports.com/job/xenial-rootfs-armhf/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/out/ubports-touch.rootfs-xenial-armhf.tar.gz

4-Boot into TWRP recovery (or your recovery with BusyBox) and run this command (in the folder halium-install):

halium-install -p ut -v path/to/rootfs.tar.gz path/to/system.img

Put a password that you can remember when prompted. Wait, and it should flash all succesfully, if all goes well and there aren't error messages.

5- Finally, reboot the phone, it should boot Ubuntu Touch and it should appear on the bootscreen. The lockscreen password is the same as the password you made before in the halium-install script. You can remove it if you want in the Settings.

Repositories in GitHub:

@bartbart2003 (main): https://github.com/bartbart2003/android_kernel_motorola_msm8916 and https://github.com/bartbart2003/android_device_motorola_surnia / https://github.com/bartbart2003/android_device_motorola_msm8916-common

@impreza233 (mirror): https://github.com/impreza233/android_kernel_motorola_msm8916 and https://github.com/impreza233/android_device_motorola_surnia / https://github.com/impreza233/android_device_motorola_msm8916-common

Halium device manifest: https://github.com/bartbart2003/local_manifest_surnia / https://github.com/impreza233/local_manifest_surnia (mirror)

Halium project management page: https://github.com/Halium/projectmanagement/issues/97

@doniks it has booted successfully, but we have not seem any indication on kernel log. We will test that command.

@doniks myself and a fellow (@bartbart2003 ) have tested that on config, but it seems not working at this moment

@doniks thanks I will take this on account.

@kugiigi and how it could be implemented on surnia?

Motorola Moto E 2015 4G/LTE, aka that phone:

I have some questions about implementing that functions on our surnia port (I am doing this with a fellow that helps me a lot). surnia only has 1 GB of RAM, and our first builds consume a lot of RAM, with the result of lags and saturation of the phone in its functions.

So, how we could implement that?

As a new device developer (still stuck in my Motorola surnia porting) it could be useful to have devices for testing and fixing things for improving my skills. What are the conditions? I'm willing to help, at least, in making UBPorts better.

@doniks I will do this. Thanks!!

I believe that instructions on this thread (https://forums.ubports.com/topic/431/porting-halium-to-nexus-7-deb) for connecting to SSH should work. I will do this and I will report feedback.

Well, my porting is going by good trail (the rootfs and systemimage has been flashed properly), but I have a little problem, well, two little problems:
-lightdm crashing (known issue, it can be solved by ssh)
-And no ssh connection by the phone to the computer. It hangs at the ssh connection. I have tried this: http://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/porting/common-problems-install.html#ssh-hangs-when-trying-to-connect and it does not work.
How I could get that problems solved?

In latest versions of JBBGameich's script this issue has been solved. I have flashed correctly rootfs.img and system.img This thread can be closed.

I reproduce my questions from the Q+A subforum of this week:

-Could Ubuntu Touch take less space on the internal memory of the phones? I believe that a lot of phones nowadays could enjoy more of Ubuntu if there are more space for apps (Android GO phones, for example).

-As far as you know, I'm porting UBPorts, with Halium, in a new device (Motorola Moto E 4G 2015 aka surnia) and my rootfs won't flash properly because of the limited space in /data. What is the best method of partition resizing for low internal memory phones without possibility of change partitions on flashing?

Yes, no problem, @UniSuperBox

My question is this:

-¿Could Ubuntu Touch take less space on the internal memory of the phones? I believe that a lot of phones nowadays could enjoy more of Ubuntu if there are more space for apps (Android GO phones, for example).

EDIT: I add a second question. I'm porting UBPorts, with Halium, in a new device (Motorola Moto E 4G 2015 aka surnia) and my rootfs won't flash properly because of the limited space in /data. What is the best method of partition resizing for low internal memory phones without possibility of change partitions on flashing?

Well, @doniks, I have tried creating files of various sizes with dd and doing an adb push with them, and there are some results:

-Images of 1 GB or 1,5 GB are not created by an error of insufficient space in halium-install
-Images of 2 GB or more are created but when I try to push it to the phone vía adb push (filename) /data it gives me an error of not enough partition size.

I have tried it not only with Ubuntu Touch images, also with Plasma Mobile rootfs and Halium reference rootfs.

Yes, I'm agree with the fact that the rootfs should fit on my partition .
I will test the image with dd and I will comment the results.
Thanks for your support!!!

Host: tested on:
-Ubuntu 16.04 64 bits, adb 64 bits
-Linux Mint 19 32 bits, adb 32 bits

Phone: TWRP 3.21-0
EDIT: adb->this version: https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=adb
Hope this helps...

Because the image that writes halium-install on my phone has 3 GB of data, and the script refuses to write it on the partition. I have tested with 2 GB rootfs.img. Still no luck. I will continue researching on this.

Sadly, rootfs.img does not fit in my /data partition But my work could be good...