Packaging a GTK app as an click package is possible, but I could only manage to do so by giving the app special permissions (so this is a workaround and will most likely not be excepted in the official app store). Here is an example that worked on my Nexus 4 with Mir as the display manager and will maybe also work on other devices:
Video of working app (a simple image editor):
https://libre.video/videos/watch/2f2c5304-d278-4b43-84e0-3c463d3a6432
Source Code:
https://gitlab.com/AdamSchrey/image_and_buttons

Some of the things done here will maybe not be necessary on some devices or in future versions of Ubuntu Touch.

I had to add this lines to the .desktop file:
X-Ubuntu-Touch=true
X-Ubuntu-XMir-Enable=true

I had to add this line to the .apparmor file:
"template": "unconfined",

Otherwise I would get this error:
** (process:26446): WARNING **: Unable to exec '/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-app-launch/xmir-helper image-and-buttons_0.9.0 ut_session.sh' in '/opt/click.ubuntu.com/.click/users/phablet/image-and-buttons': Permission denied

I had to export this variable to get bigger buttons/text/entries...:
export GDK_SCALE=2

To get an on screen keyboard I installed this packages on my device:
maliit-inputcontext-gtk3 maliit-inputcontext-gtk2

...and exported this variable:
export GTK_IM_MODULE=maliitphablet

I reply to this old post, because when I searched for a solution, this was one of the first things that came up and I could not find any working examples my self.
Maybe someone will find this helpful or will tell me if my app and my solution also work on other devices.

Some of the things I did, were taken from this website:
http://kriscode.blogspot.com/2016/09/x-applications-on-ubuntu-phone.html

Update:
I removed the proof of concept web app from the OpenStore, because I have no time right now to regularly restart the server or to fix the stability problems. It would also not make much sense to improve something, that will not be used.

It is all available under GNU GPL3 at: https://gitlab.com/AdamSchrey/open-store-payment-poc
So if anyone wants to revisit the idea, he/she can do so.
I am also happy to answer any questions about it.

Thank you all for the feedback

@doniks I thought the icon could be improved and created a different icon:

This is a png file. The original file is a svg file. It seems like the forum does not like svg files, so I made a merge request.
I did not like the low resolution of the current icon, this should not be a problem with a svg file.
If you still prefer the current icon, that is no problem.

Hello,
I wrote an app to compare the performance of different devices and released it on the OpenStore: https://open-store.io/app/ut-sysbench-qt-gui
I hope the arm64 version works, because I can only test the armhf version.
It would be nice, if some of you could share your device's name together with the results you get, after clicking on "Multiple Benchmarks".
"Export and Compare" will copy the results to your clipboard and show you a bar chart with the performace of other devices.

Multiple results from different persons for the same model are also useful.

You are also free to share problems with my app. I know that the memory (RAM) test does not work on all devices.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Results of my LG Nexus 4 with Ubuntu 16.04 OTA-19:

sysbench --test=cpu --num-threads=2 --cpu-max-prime=20000 run
57 events per second

sysbench --test=cpu --num-threads=8 --cpu-max-prime=20000 run
113 events per second

sysbench --test=memory --num-threads=4 run
Operations performed: 0 ( 0.00 ops/sec)
0.00 MB transferred (0.00 MB/sec)

sysbench --test=mutex --num-threads=64 run
total time: 2.4057s

@theprivacydad said in Trying out UT on Pixel 3a XL for review article:

one question I have is that I see a terminal but don't know how far I should attempt to go with installing software the way I am used to

I think one of the most important things to understand for new UT users is, that the root file system is mounted read only and therefor it is not supported that the user just installs programs in the terminal with "sudo apt install ..." or makes changes to the system.
This restriction allows for OTA updates, so that everyone uses the same system packpackages. The individual applications on top of the system are not deeply integrated in the system and there are similar permission rules to android (for example camera and position permission). This should allow for more security.

If you still want to use classic terminal programs like htop or vim, you can use Libertine for this or use Snapz0r or experiment with installing LXD with Snapz0r. Some people were also experimenting with NIX packages for Ubuntu Touch, but I do not know, if this is still in development.

With Waydroid you are also able to install many Android apps and in my experience it works very well for things like Signal or Whatsapp, but it needs some time to start and I advice for WayFreezr from the OpenStore to save some battery.

@Appointed
About UT and desktop apps:
The goal of Ubuntu Touch is to be an secure and open source mobile OS, that can optionally also turn into a Desktop OS, when you connect the mobile device to a bigger screen, mouse and keyboard.
When the user is in the desktop mode of UT, he maybe wants to use classic Desktop apps and this is what Libertine is for.
So it is not the goal of UT to make any desktop app work on a smaller formfactor and without a keyboard and mouse. Of cause you can still try to do so, but that it is not scaling correctly is no surprise. The real issue are the other errors (some programs not opening or not working correctly).

@Appointed said in Usable phone display:

responsible

Libertine is not working perfectly, but UT is a community driven project. You and me are as responsible to make things better as everyone else. The code is all on GitLab and GitHub. The UT core team is happy for everyone who can help.

For a lot of people it was way more important to get Android apps working on UT and move to focal and this was accomplished. So Libertine not working perfectly is a result of prioritizement and lack of contributors and not because of responsibility.

@MV I don't have a Volla X23, but the scaling probably works similar on most devices.
The steps in the question are maybe already the solution for you:

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/9317/how-can-i-change-scaling-on-20-04-focal-without-ut-tweak-tool-and-without-reboot

... These devices (and maybe other devices) set the scaling in /etc/deviceinfo/devices/halium.yaml.

In this file I changed "GridUnit" to a more convenient value (i.e. 28 on FP3 and 18 on Lenovo).

To make these changes take effect it is not sufficient to just restart Lomiri with systemctl --user restart lomiri-full-greeter.service. You'll have to reboot the device...

Here is a similar thread for CPU performance tests with sysbench: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/6750/ut-sysbench-qt-gui-compare-cpu-performance-of-different-devices

Result of the graphic test of my LG Nexus 4:

@doniks You're welcome and no problem

@kugiigi said in OpenStore payment system discussion:

Anyway, my concern right now is what's in the poc app? I'm not accusing anyone but we are mostly people who met in the internet and what if people who tries the poc actually input their payment details? How secure is the site and what does it actually do? Sorry if this was a stupid concern. It's just the first thing that came to mind

Your concerns are very valid, but it is designed so that the user does not need to put any data from him/her into the app. The user will see an address and can use any Litecoin wallet (another program or website) to send something to this address.
The server for open-store-payment-poc will now check the block chain, if any payment went to the given address (the sender and receiver are unknown, but every transfer to every address is known to everyone, this is how the block chain works).

You will always get a new address, when you click on "Buy" (needs some time and maybe sometimes fails, because the server hardware is not the best and my code for this proof of concept could be improved, it should only show that it can work). But every address always points to the same wallet (in this case my wallet, but it could also be the wallet of someone else for some other app).

@kugiigi said in OpenStore payment system discussion:

There's just so many things involved and not just technical but also legal matters.

The main idea here is: The OpenStore would not need to process the the payment, because it is done by multiple third parties (people who mine Litecoin or who have Litecoin nodes) and the OpenStore only provides an address and looks if there is anything transferred to that address. But the developer would probably need to take care of legal matters as taxes when he receives Litecoin to his wallet or later transfers them into "normal" money.

And just to be clear: Litecoin was chosen here as one of many possible solutions, because it works and is well established. I could have also chosen Bitcoin, but the confirmation times and the fees are lower with Litecoin.

@dafeihong Maybe you could try to download the APK inside Waydroid and install it from there. You will maybe also get a better Error message inside Waydroid, if it can not be installed.

If @k.nacke got banned because of his username: I think it was not supposed to be a stupid word play. When you search the web, it seems that there is actually a German living in Canada named "Kai Nacke" and he is also active on GitHub.

Hi @m.man, I do not know much about porting, but you will maybe get faster porting related answers at t.me/ubports_porting . If you want to ask in the forum, you maybe want to ask at https://forums.ubports.com/category/33/porting . It is a maybe a good idea to directly ask about porting and Android 14 and not to start your question with your specific device, because people usually do not like questions like "Will you port to [device X]?".

If you recently bought the device, you are maybe still be able to return the device to the seller without much complications, because porting is a lot of work and you will maybe brick your device in the process. So it is more convenient to get a device that is already ported to UbuntuTouch instead (Volla Tablet or Lenovo Tab M10 HD 2nd Gen 4GB/64GB).

Please be aware, that Ubuntu Touch is not a "normal" Linux distro (more restricted, some desktop apps do not work) and depending on your use case, it is maybe better to buy a tablet with Intel or AMD CPU and use standard Ubuntu or Debian (I think it is fairly easy to install Linux on some Surface Tablets).

@theprivacydad said in Trying out UT on Pixel 3a XL for review article:

I am also testing out UT with a view to possibly installing it for my own kids. They currently run /e/OS, as that works on so many older devices.

Despite me using and liking UT, I personally do not recommend it as a daily driver for others right now.
I think hardened Android flavors like /e/OS or Volla OS are probably a better choice for most people who just want to have something that is more privacy focused than standard Android. Taking the most used mobile OS (Android) and removing the spyware is just a simpler solution and results in better compatibility with existing infrastructure than you will have with UT.
With Ubuntu Touch much more things need to be done from scratch, this can result in many advantages in the long term, but in the short term you have a less polished OS (for example the standard web browser being outdated or VoIP not working on every device).

I am sure this things will improve, but most hardened Android flavors are most likely more polished right now.

@theprivacydad said in Trying out UT on Pixel 3a XL for review article:

one question I have is that I see a terminal but don't know how far I should attempt to go with installing software the way I am used to

I think one of the most important things to understand for new UT users is, that the root file system is mounted read only and therefor it is not supported that the user just installs programs in the terminal with "sudo apt install ..." or makes changes to the system.
This restriction allows for OTA updates, so that everyone uses the same system packpackages. The individual applications on top of the system are not deeply integrated in the system and there are similar permission rules to android (for example camera and position permission). This should allow for more security.

If you still want to use classic terminal programs like htop or vim, you can use Libertine for this or use Snapz0r or experiment with installing LXD with Snapz0r. Some people were also experimenting with NIX packages for Ubuntu Touch, but I do not know, if this is still in development.

With Waydroid you are also able to install many Android apps and in my experience it works very well for things like Signal or Whatsapp, but it needs some time to start and I advice for WayFreezr from the OpenStore to save some battery.

@theprivacydad Snap packages are still work in progress and they will hopefully get better support in the next version (noble 24.04). I think upgrading to Mir 2.x in Q2 2026, could maybe fix a lot of graphical bugs.

Under the current stable version (focal 20.04) you can already try snap packages out with Snapz0r from the Open Store, but a lot of them will probably not work. I think it is more a proof of concept for now.

@kari said in FP4 can install Android 11/12/13 and /e/OS 11/12/13 and PostMarkOS, except Ubuntu Touch:

the boot loader was still unlocked

This is perfectly fine. Do not change anything about it or you will maybe brick your device.

Question about the future of Libertine in noble: Some time ago, it was discussed that Libertine will maybe not exist in a future version of UT, because most desktop programs could be installed as a snap package (and even terminal programs that are not available as a snap could maybe be installed with LXD). But I noticed that Libertine still seems to be in noble (24.04-X.X).

Was it just less work to not remove it for now (I totally understand if there are more important things right now) or has the strategy changed?

Some idea if Libertine will be removed in the future: Maybe it would be good to not directly remove the the settings menu for Libertine, but replace it with something like "Libertine is not supported anymore. Please try to install traditional desktop apps over snap [link to snap store] or click here to automatically set up a LXD container for you". Because there are still a lot of old forum discussions and documentations about installing desktop apps over Libertine. So people will maybe get confused, when they can not find Libertine on their device.

Thank you very much for all your work

@theprivacydad Haha, Libertine is maybe not the best choice for installing a web browser. Please take a look at "uWolf" and "Mimi Browser" in the Open Store, before trying to install a web browser over Libertine. Graphical programs did not work great on Libertine, last time I tried it.
I think uWolf is currently the most versatile webbrowser for UT, but it maybe does not fit correctly on the screen of your device.

As libremax said, the standard browser for UT (Morph) is outdated right now and it will take some time to fix this.

@BarrickBeau I do not know much about Libertine, but libqt5gui5t64 is mentioned in a recent merge request, so this will maybe be fixed with: https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/libertine/-/merge_requests/147
So as an end user, you will probably have to wait for the next system update.