@Mr. Smartyman
I agree with Keneda. Kindness goes a long way. Why do you expect perfection? Do you see that from Microsoft's new products?

I know practically nothing in this field. Just a user. Started using Ubuntu 18.04 2 or 3 months ago. Last night I took a long time to install UT to my new used Nexus 5. The problems I had were exacerbated by my lack of knowledge. Patient study of the options listed often showed the way out of the trouble. I had a problem with UBports starting. I assumed it opened automatically. My installer said no port for this device. Install stopped when my device needed unlocking. Lastly, install interupted dozens of times, saying device connection was lost. I tried different cables and ports. When ready to give up, I tried recovery from the drop-down list from holding power+vol down. No more problems. Seems to me UBports has done a superb job when a complete newb can do this by trial and error!

Anyone can buy used phones to load UT on and sell them on Ebay. This would spread the UT name and it would take little organization. Anyone with UT experience could do it on their own in a heartbeat. There is a market for non-android phones. This forum has many comments about being sick of android. This idea has little competition and takes little funding or organization. At this stage of UT's growth, making UT available to those anxious for an alternative to android would spur demand and name recognition. The hard part for non-technical persons is installing UT. I've done it twice and it wasn't easy. Third attempt failed due to bad start button on phone. Will retry after replacing switch.

Later, marketing a new phone with UT installed may be workable, but I know nothing of the costs or how to go about getting manufacturing done. Maybe some phone makers would take custom orders for a large number of phones at low cost. Pinephone might be agreeable to giving some advice. I've seen a couple Nexus 5 UT phones for sale on Ebay for $120 each. That is twice the price of the same phones with android still on them. I don't know what they sold for. Just thought it might be worth bringing up on the forum.

Thanks for listening.
jjconstr

Hello, I'm Jerry. Don't have technical knowledge, just trying to use technology. Most of all leave the interference of the big companies. I have been using Ubuntu 18.04 for a few months and now will use touch when my Nexus 5 arrives. It feels so good to be free.

Hello,
Am planning purchasing Nexus 5 or Nexus 5x. The latter is new, has a better camera. Does anyone have an opinion on which is better for flashing Touch? Or other ideas?

I have been using Ubuntu Bionic Beaver for a few months now on my Win7 pc.

@Keneda
Any warrantee is only as good as the ethics of the manufacturer.

@Lakotaubp

Thank you for your reply. It's a help. I do need to take the easiest route here to achieve Linux freedom in my phone. I'll stick with the Nexus 5 since it is mature, supported and available.
Thanks again

@rocket2nfinity
Thank you for your replies. They give me direction in these uncertain times. I tried to use the command line when installing Ubuntu side by side on my Acer Win7 laptop. The instructions seemed clear enough but I failed miserably and repeatedly. Yes, the Installer and support are imperative. I made a small donation via PayPal when first discovered this site. Now I'll go back and make a larger donation. This is such good work and so needed. It's very important to keep it going.
Thanks so much!

@rocket2nfinity
Thanks for the confirmation. I tried some higher capacity batteries for a Moto e5 Play. got them from China of all places! Li-ion 4750mAh by Sporting Persistence. Instructions said they must be conditioned 2-3 times by charging 12 hours and fully discharging before recharging 12 hours each time. they didn't fully charge in 12, had to go another 12 and repeated the process 5-6 times. Now they work well, drain slowly in use. Maybe this is common knowledge for tech savy individuals.

@Lakotaubp
Thanks for your confirmation. Simple things like battery selection can be like reinventing the wheel if unaware of others' research. Thanks for keeping it simple! I'll go get one of those now.

@rocket2nfinity
ATT rejected my IMEI also, from their website. Though Id call them to make sure. Ill keep checking even for carriers with no service right at my house(we have land line also). By the way, what is MVNO

I checked my IMEI on Imei checker. It is a D820. one odd thing was under comments, IMEI.info: Negative byAnonymouson 2016/05/20 01:24Opinion:THIS IMEI # SHOWS UP ON A 16GB LG NEXUS 5 BEING SOLD BY WOOT.COM FROM A SELLER IN ASTORIA, NY

Is that just a dealer that sold it at one time? Or is it a bad IMEI?
Thanks for the great reply.

@lakotaubp said in Install UT to N5:

@jjconstr Ok firstly have you enabled developer mode on the nexus 5 (normally taping the build number in System Settings, About) then mtp transfer and android debugging and you need to install adb on your Mint OS ( full instructions on the web) Then restart the installer and follow the instructions. Back later bysy for awhile now.

EDIT:Nearly forgot check bootloader is unlocked though it may well be on the N5 also the installer may do it now too.

Thanks for the memory jog. After following the steps outlined in your latest post, installation went smoothly. I believe the installer did unlock the bootloader. I appreciate the ubports community. Being Google free is what freedom is all about!

@lakotaubp

Well, lots of attempts, but the installer doesn't start.

When asked to "Choose your Linux distribution to get detailed installation instructions.", I chose Linux Mint which is on my pc.

"Hello World" succeeded. I installed Snapstore with errors: "Can't perform following tasks. Run configure hook of Snapstore. Download snap "gnome-3-34-1804" (66) from channel stable. I couldn't find that gnome package and Snapstore didn't show in Menu.

Snapd installed and confirmed by trying to reinstall.

ubports-installer_0.8.4-beta_linux_64.AppImage is installed. This was installed before snapd.
Plugging in phone brought "Open with Image Disk Writer". Clicked ok, nothing happened. Subsequently, a list of files and apps opened asking to select which to open the installer with. None were applicable. Choosing none-nothing opened.

Double clicking AppImage file results in error saying no application is installed for opening this type of file.

N5 shows reliably on file manage as mounted.

Tried different cords especially thick ones.

Twice an error on plugging in phone: Unable to mount Nexus 5, unable to open MTP device "[usb:002,018]". It was mounted.

Turned off Protonvpn, no change.

I have snapshots of terminal output in case it would help.

Does N5 mounting file mgr verify cord is good?

I'm stuck, don't know what to do. Please help.

@keneda thanks I'll look at that link.

@lakotaubp
Thanks, I installed snapd form Software Manager and AppImage from UBPorts install instructions. I'll use the link you gave in your post and see what happens.

Should I move this post to the device subforum I just discovered? I think the idea is very good to segregate posts by device.

Does this phone have a stable version of UT ready to install? I bought one of these for my wife, but would much rather have UT on it. It's a beautiful phone with a large screen and battery.

Hi, Snaps is said to enable running UT installer. Will it work on my Mint Mate 19.3 OS? 19.1 and 20 are listed as compatible, but not 19.3. See below. Or do I use AppImage?
Thanks in advance.

From: https://snapcraft.io/install/ubports-installer/mint

Enable snapd

Snap is available for Linux Mint 18.2 (Sonya), Linux Mint 18.3 (Sylvia), Linux Mint 19 (Tara), Linux Mint 19.1 (Tessa) and the latest release, Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana). You can find out which version of Linux Mint you’re running by opening System info from the Preferences menu.

I'm going to close this thread. I've receive two more N5's. Will start a new topic to ask questions on loading Touch. Thank you all for your help.

@rondarius
It just hit me. "Couple years since you did that" should not have made a difference since the phones being discussed are old phones. It would be interesting to try replacing just the mother board to see what would happen.

Could you possibly been backed up to a cloud service and had the data restored automatically?

@applee

I'll save this info and maybe get back to working on it later. Maybe buy parts phones for the motherboards. Either that or buy working phones. Thank you for enlightening me.

Now have two parts phones on order. Also some data transfer media and adapters. Was able to transfer contacts and documents to at 63GB thumbdrive with micro usb plug. Plan is to see if this data can successfully be transferred to another N5.

@rondarius

Strange it is. I just had a local tech look at the N5 I fell on. He said the storage chip is in the middle of the motherboard, about 5/8" square. He also said services are available to recover the data from the chip, but expensive, between $200 and $600. My data is not worth that much. The tech said the trouble is in the motherboard. So, the phone is bricked. Maybe I'll buy a parts phone for the motherboard or just replace the phone. I really appreciate all you guys' help!