We are planning a community event with hackathon from May 18th to 19th to promote an open source alternative for Android and iOS. We invite developers but also founders and entrepreneurs to discuss possibilities and cooperation with us and to work on some practical topics.

I'm from Volla. We think, that a convenient VPN app for Ubuntu Touch would be a good idea, because the VPN from in the settings is only for experienced users. I think of a simple login in form and a selection of the country.

We are working with Hide.me for the Volla Phone, who provides a simple REST API for the available server and OpenVPN scripts. Further more they will publish soon the source code for a Linux WireGuard command line tool.

Is someone interested to work on this app? We could spend a Volla Phone as a thank you for the effort. Let me know.

If I follow the recommendation in the documentation, I should use crossbuilder for platform development and clickable for app development. The suggested editor is Atom. Unfortunately I have no idea, how install the mentioned plugin.

I wasn't able to install the Unbuntu SDK, that seems to be out of maintenance:

What's about Qt Creator and a setup with the libraries and dependencies, that are necessary for UBports?

For Ubuntu Touch on the Volla Phone I'm looking for a solution to extend the system UI with the Volla Springboard. It's a new approach for a simplified user interface for quick actions without the need to open apps. You may have a look at our project page.

One idea is to modularise the system UI to replace the content of the left sidebar with an app. Another clever idea on our Volla Community Days last week was, to use the finger print sensor to trigger an event to open an app or bring it to the front.

Some more ideas, comments, estimations of feasibility? Is someone interested to work on that challenge? We could spend a Volla Phone as a thank you. Let me know.

@advocatux Indeed, the budget is not comparable. However I like the community approach. Unfortunaltey I've sold my professional video equipment. Othervise I would offer to record sessions at the next event. But I think a half professional recording would also be ok for Youtube. If the speakers offer their slides it would be easy to add an audio overlay. I could help at the next conference.

Unfortunately, there is no response for a community event for UBPorts. My company could host a boot camp or similar event for UBPorts. We also could choose a broader scope like alternativ operation systems beyond UBPorts in general like Plasma Mobile and Sailfish OS. A probable date could be in September after the summer vacation season. What do you think?

Are there any community events to bring people and companies together, who would like to realize ideas, innovate and make business with the Android and iOS alternative.

Currently, the alternatives are only available as after marked operation systems. Purism could be the ice breaker for further brands and phones to create a relevant market.

I would like to discuss the possibilities to port UBPorts for hardware and customize the user interface and experience.

@andybleaden Thanks for your tutorial. it makes UBPorts better readable. I would appreciate the text size in the system settings.

I tested the convergence use case with an external screen, that is connected with a dongle, that uses Miracast over WiFi. In addition I tested the setup with and without a bluetooth keyboard with touchpad.

I could manage to morror the sceen in a large desktop resulution. Unfortunately the screen ratio of the vidio signal (16:10') didn't match the ratio of the external screen (16:9). The vido signal was cropped.

Further more I realised, that hte mouse respectively touch pad signals are processed with a sginificant delay. So it is allmost impossible to control the external display. I also wasn't able to activate the window mode with the tweak app.

I think, it is not an issue of the hardware. My UBports developer device is Fairpgone 2. I compared the setup with LineageOS on a weak Wileyfox Swift developer device. The external screen with Sentio and LeenaOS are very smooth and the mouse pointer response has no realizable delay.

How can I improve the performace of the convergence use case. Only with the delay, the tested setup is not usable for practice.

Shouild I test a secenrio with a wired connection? Unfortunately the FP2 has USB-B and not the full implemented USB-C to connect an external screen with HDMI. Some recommendations and experiences?

@ingo Thanks for your recommendation. The installation did work, but then a system update of UBports has detroyed my Fairphone. No, problem, it is a developer device. I was able to recover my Fairphone and install Anbox abein with the android tools as described on the documentation page: https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/anbox.html

I could mange to install FDroid from a download and then Yalp Store within FDroid. Running Yalp Store seems to be to abitious. Yalp Store crashes while logging into the Play Store. So, in general Anbox is working on my Fairphone.

Sometimes the interaction with Android apps is liettle bit tricky because of the missing back navigation button on the system level. Alien Davlik adds a navigation bar with a back button. Maybe this could be an approach for Anbox either. The disadvantage would be a smaller screen.

@dobey Sure, not all devices has a fingerprint sensor. But using a fingerprint sensor in an app would be a benefit for the devices, that have this hardware feature. NFC and Dual SIM are also features, that not all devices have. But the operating system should support it. Anyway, the feature was only requested for Volla devices, which will have a finger print sensor.

Ubuntu Touch is not Android, but it should support requirements of a platform for mobile devices not limited by Smartphones. This includes customization if OEMs. Ubuntu Touch could alternatively use the approach of Jolla for Sailfish OS.

Anyway, this is out of scope of this thread. If someone know, how we could access the fingerprint event, let me know. Because the system needs this event, there must be somewhere on some level an API.

@Keneda Exactly. We may develop that our selves. But community developers are invited to help us. We would spend a developer device.

@kugiigi Thanks. Community developers are invited to help us.

@dobey It works on Android devices. The idea doesn't come from myself but from the community. I like the convenience.

See the Android documentation and some articles like this

@arubislander Yes hide.me offers a script for OpenVPN. This works fine for experienced users. However this script doesn't cover the following requirements:

1. Considering changing servers
2. Optimizing bandwidth by choosing the currently fastest server for a location
3. Switching countries
4. Supporting kill switch
5. Supporting newer protocol WireGuard
6. Convenient installation for consumers

UT has the potential to become an alternative to Apple and Google for consumers. Therefore I'm looking for a convenient and best solution.

If someone is interested to work on a convenient solution, let me know. We can offer a Volla Phone as a Thank you.

@AppLee Exactly. Modifying QMLs is fine for a proof of concept of the UX and to show it to a focus group, but not for a product release.

Therefore my question for a modularization of the system UI to allow customization as a standard.

Sailfish OS offers the approach with a VPN script. The disadvantage is, that it doesn't cover the requirement to change the server or - as mentioned in the discussion - a kill switch. A kill switch might be implemented by the system itself.

One more thing. We should be aware, that many consumers doesn't know anything about openVPN scripts or similar technology, but they are able to install the app of the VPN provider, they have chosen from an app store.

Companies would need an MDM solution for UT. But this is another topic.

@dobey The app wouldn't need the biometrics information itself, just an event, that the sensor was touched. So the critical information would be protected.

For other use cases biometric confirmation, encapsuled in the middleware, could be an interesting feature, for example to unlock a protected data source or to confirm any transaction.

Where is the component to get this event? The middleware needs this event either?

@kazord Last year a developer has shown in our hackathon, that is s quite simple to exchange the system UI by modifying some QML files. He presented the nice grid style ofr open apps like Nemo Mobile and Sailfish OS instead of the current fan style in Ubuntu Touch.

My hope was, just to modify a QML for the sidebar with a Loader, that loads the launcher app instead of the current sidebar logic. To avoid conflicts with the default system this part could be dynamically controlled as a standard - with any setting or an installed app with specific privileges.

My idea in general is to provide customization of the system in a standard way. Sailfish OS could be a good example for this approach. OEMs like Intex and Jala have used the Standard Sailfish OS with some customization for their market. The idea of a Super App is quite smart. It is a app, that can be called with one swipe gesture. It can be controlled by a setting.

Anyway. If someone is interested to help us with a proof of concept. Let me know.

I have doubts, that the system settings could fulfill the requirements for VPN.

• Dynamic server list
• Country selection
• Kill switch
• App specific VPN settings

VPN apps needn't be a hack. It’s a standard for Android, iOS, iPadOS or macOS. So UT could learn from this operation systems.

For sure a VPN app usually asks to related permissions. Afterwards the VPN would occur in the network settings.

Anyway, the improved system VPN settings could be a short term solution like in Sailfish OS. Is someone interested to work on it? Or does someone know anyone else?

Does someone know, wether it’s technically possible to develop a VPN app for UT and publish it n the store? We would like to promote it with our partner.

@AppLee Ok. Thanks. Is it possible to do this programmatically?

The app wouldn't be available in the app store but exclusively available on our devices. Is it possible to add further repositories to the Store like F-Droid?

To implement a convenient UX we would need a one touch call of the springboard. Therefore I like the fingerprint idea.

Otherwise we would need to modify Lomiri but I would prefer standard customization optons.