Part 2 is now available
https://youtu.be/I4oHLSJDN9w

Hello all. I'm doing a Youtube video on the internals of Ubuntu Touch.

The goal is to promote UT by removing the 'black box' image, especially to those who use Linux already. And hopefully this will carry on to the new UT users that will come from the Pinephone.

I did manage to figure most things out without having to bother anyone.
But it's probably easier to just ask so I don't give out wrong information.

So I will ask questions in this thread and hopefully it will shortcut the searches I've had to do. I will likely already have the video ready before I get answers but it will be a series of videos so I can always expand later.

My first question is: where is the actual Kernel found? And is this a recompiled Kernel? Or stock Kernel?

I see that /system/boot has android-ramdisk.img which I assume is one of first loaded code. Is that like initramfs?

If someone could tell me the boot sequence that would be great.

I'm also interested in a comparison of a boot sequence between a legacy port like a Nexus5, versus a Halium port, and vs a Pinephone.

Thanks in advance and I'm sure there will be plenty more questions..

Solved. When the device clock is not set correctly then the certificates get invalidated. So set the clock manually and it worked

Here's part 1 of the video series, Exploring Ubuntu Touch - Dissecting the Black Box
https://youtu.be/rMmWmNyDKG8

There's a lot more to explore but this is a beginning.

I cannot access the OpenStore on newly installed Nexus 5's. Upon going to the browser, I noticed that the HTTPS certificates are showing in read and giving "untrusted" messages.

So this indicates that root certificates either got uninstalled or some other root certificate related error. I have not noticed this before today. Though I haven't touched any UT devices in a few days.

This is on 2 newly installed devices.

Hi folks, please help me understand something that has been confusing me.
From what I've read here, UT is tied to a Linux 3.x Kernel and this has some effects because drivers in 3.x may not have the same dependencies and with other related code and thus simply moving it to 5.x Kernel will be a problem.

Then someone told me that the Pinephone uses a 5.x kernel and the CPU will only work with a mainline Linux version. Yet, UT was ported to Pinephone.

What am I missing here? Is Unity compileable in mainline Linux? I thought it was said many times here the UT is a full OS not just some Desktop environment layer like Plasma Mobile.

But I was told that I was wrong. And UT had to have used a mainline linux kernel to run on the Pinephone. Or maybe Marius just picked a specific set of drivers and moved them over to UT in whatever the kernel version is (3.x)?

Or maybe I'm not understanding this at all and I'm really stupid. It is possible. I just want to make sure I know what's up without rolling up my sleeves and compiling a build of UT myself.

And the ubuntu-app-launch worked on something I installed from apt! Thanks! Slowly making sense.

My python app is still failing on some other aspect of gtk so I'll research that some more. But glad to have made some progress.

@dobey thank you. the question on the setting was for me to understand how the graphics framework knows to use which display client to use. That's all. Most of my questions here are for discovery and education (for my Youtube videos on UT) and not for anything I'm specifically doing.. One of the videos will discuss Mir specifically.

And it actually came to me as I ran libertine launch and the message about the mirclient came up. I was just curious where that was set.

This is a great community and I hope to be saying many positive things about it and all of you.

I'm going to try something for my Nexus 5. Since the only major problem for me with UT is the bluetooth when in the car, I'm going to try a hardware solution.

I ordered this:
TaoTronics Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter and Receiver, 2-in-1 Wireless 3.5mm Adapter (aptX Low Latency, 2 Devices Simultaneously, For TV/Home Sound System/Car/Nintendo Switch)

https://amzn.to/39cpYZ2

I'll let you know if it works. In theory, I'll just leave it in the car at all times.

I know most of the testing is being done in Europe but for us in the US, the time zone issue on UT Pinephone is a pain since we're so far from GMT.

I know most of the testing is being done in Europe but for us in the US, the time zone issue on UT Pinephone is a pain since we're so far from GMT.

Solved. When the device clock is not set correctly then the certificates get invalidated. So set the clock manually and it worked

I cannot access the OpenStore on newly installed Nexus 5's. Upon going to the browser, I noticed that the HTTPS certificates are showing in read and giving "untrusted" messages.

So this indicates that root certificates either got uninstalled or some other root certificate related error. I have not noticed this before today. Though I haven't touched any UT devices in a few days.

This is on 2 newly installed devices.

Unfortunately, this device doesn't work with the car kit either. So it's probably using the same Linux drivers. LOL

@Flohack I appreciate all the work you do!

I'm going to try something for my Nexus 5. Since the only major problem for me with UT is the bluetooth when in the car, I'm going to try a hardware solution.

I ordered this:
TaoTronics Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter and Receiver, 2-in-1 Wireless 3.5mm Adapter (aptX Low Latency, 2 Devices Simultaneously, For TV/Home Sound System/Car/Nintendo Switch)

https://amzn.to/39cpYZ2

I'll let you know if it works. In theory, I'll just leave it in the car at all times.

Part 2 is now available
https://youtu.be/I4oHLSJDN9w

Yes. I'm using OPO on Tmobile

@dobey here's why I started playing with Libertine.

in theory, on a standard phone like the Nexus 5 I'm using, there are many space limitations doing even testing inside the host. While there are not the same space limitations inside Libertine.

So let's just say I'm testing an app that I could load in the host. I run apt-get install and it says out of space in /cache which apparently is where apt puts it's stuff.

Given the lack of resources available, it's not even possible to do much playing at the host side and then one is stuck with libertine, and its limitations and 'experimental' bugs.

Now I expect this would be different on a pinephone since UT is not stuck with the pre-made partitions on Android.

I also understand that there are differences in pre-loaded libraries in the Host vs what's in Libertine (desktop 16.04) which brings it's own different set of issues.

The point of this exercise is to see if I can do normal Linux things on a UT device vs. let's say using PostmarketOS. This is a valid comparison and an often made one between the OS options.

I understand the upcoming changes (wayland, pinephone) will change the comparison.

One might say that this kind of playing is not normal and would break OTA updates. But that will really be a non issue on the Pinephone since one could just have a clean UT install always available on an extra SD card.

Partly this ability to play with this stuff is why we're on Linux. Partly it's also because of privacy advantages.

In any case, I've concluded that Libertine isn't the answer but need more space on the host to do more experimentation. Hopefully the Pinephone will give that space.

@arubislander indeed! at least for now.

I have a couple of apps I could port over too to the openstore. And there are some changes I'd suggest to the system apps. But that's not connected to this thread.