So today, I got UT working on the FAJITA (yes, I am basically always going to capitalize this.) I was inspired to try non-stop till it worked because of the arrival of my wife's PinePhone, which she was immediately in love with, yesterday.

It led to some interesting discussions, one of which was the terror experienced after ordering-- from YouTubers who have no idea how Linux phones work. In particular, my wife, a huge KDE fan, was dumbfounded by the constant and ignorant claim that "there is virtually no software for this phone", leading her to wonder if her phone would even work. When she finally got her phone, she realized that KDE Plasma on the phone was feature-complete and had virtually everything she wanted and much more-- and that people reviewing these phones often have no idea how they work at all.

I've been using UT on a Nexus 4 since November. And yes, I do get the "some features may not be working" thing but we shouldn't overdo it: because often folks who show up here are already somewhat knowledgeable about how they are sacrificing the ease of say, Android or iOS because they want freedom from that ecosystem. So pointing out a system's flaws isn't always the best approach, as it can lead to a mistaken assumption that these distros aren't "market ready".

The truth is that the things that most people expect to work (calling, messaging, camera, etc) do in fact work on UT and other systems for many of the devices. And work extraordinarily well. Example: Convergence on our phones is simply a given for us, but we should remember that desktop mode in Android, even now, barely even works. (I don't know about Apple. I pretend it doesn't exist.)

Here's another example: FAJITA here has a 16/20MP camera combo. Camera is buggy, but it also looks absolutely incredible and takes amazing pictures. Did it work as well as the OnePlus app? No idea. I never used any of the apps on it before installing. I just plugged it in and started working on installing UT. (I'm sure some here have read of my amazing T-Mobile experience.) And a LOT of people do that. I have no idea how a Nexus 4 natively worked in Android. I just bought one and plugged the installer into it.

So what I am saying is that our experiences-- even when it means debugging, testing and trying new things-- are in fact relatively advanced experiences, and new user expectations are often considerably lower... except for some professional YouTubers who love the latest bells and whistles, have no concept of things like security except on paper, and will chase down the latest corporate trends. I frankly wouldn't be surprised if some have some other motivation to down our systems (one guy ripped on the /e/ project saying it had no apps when it's literally an Android fork that can use apk files.) like, idk, money.

I don't mean to down all YouTubers. Just the ones I am talking about. And I don't mean to imply that our systems are perfect. I am totally aware of their limitations. But they're pretty darn good and everyone who works on UT and other distros should pat themselves on the back for what they've accomplished. And we should pat them on the back too.

My two cents.

Well, I'm back after the tragic loss of the FAJITA (the OnePlus 6T I had) in a Walmart. For a couple of weeks I lumbered on sadly with a moto e6 that I bought at the same Walmart (I still have my Nexus 4 but it wasn't getting all my calls and 3G ain't what it used to be here.)

So I discovered a nice website called Backmarket, where they make it a mission to sell refurbished phones (1 year vendor warranty, so, no complaints there) so I looked at the most supported devices, considered how addicting that OP6 was and decided to buy a OnePlus One.

WOW. It even changes the splash screen on boot. This feels like an "official" Ubuntu Phone. And I'll get calls again.

Now I think I am going to experiment with this weird moto e6 I have. It has a Snapdragon 435. So I am going to see what happens if I can unlock the bootloader and flash some stuff.

Over the many months I have used UT, I have been looking for a good way to use Matrix. Even though we have FluffyChat I've found it's pretty useless for most things except chat notifications.

Solution? Use the desktop version of Element (make a webapp for it) and sign into FluffyChat, which will give you Matrix notifications. Granted Element works best sideways on the phone.

@dimka said in the phone turned into a cap:

I had no idea that I would have to jump with a tambourine and cast spells to install Ubuntu Touch.

At least it didn't turn you into a frog like the last guy

@ragz It's only an issue with an older phone -- it will affect my Nexus 4, since it's 3G. But you are correct in that it is not a UT issue, it's a phone issue.

@lduboeuf furiously googling all those words now

@prog-amateur Pantalaimon is a separate app which you can open which then allows E2EE encryption in FluffyChat.

Until FluffyChat is upgraded again (it's currently not in development) we probably won't see too many updates. I use a webapp for Element which works find sideways personally, but a lot of folks swear by Fluffy+Pantalaimon.

@prog-amateur If I remember Pantalaimon isn't in the store; it is a click package. Let me find the link.

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/5727/detailed-procedure-for-fluffychat-encryption-via-pantalaimon?_=1628359843604

@domubpkm You can always make a site into a webapp. Currently I use the Element webapp (app.element.io) and tested video calling on it today. (I use it sideways to get max usability out of it). Works great.

Since there seems to be some debate about Telegram and Signal and which to prioritize, I am curious: what about a Matrix app? The messaging, even video, seems nice and crisp. Has there been any discussion on it?

Is there a roadmap for technical newcomers to Ubuntu Touch (who have some familiarity with Linux) to help with low-level fixes, etc? If there was a way for volunteers to help that was obvious I am sure people would join on.)

Sorry if this question was asked before

@rocket2nfinity I thought the 20.04 upgrade would upgrade ofono, which then would work with VoLTE?

UPDATE: away from wifi, the webapp worked! Got a ride successfully. Feeling good with this phone now!

Ironically, thanks to my OPO install on UT, my wife (who has been testing a variety of distros on the PinePhone) decided to try UT. Based on all the stuff she read, she expected minimal success. She was actually rather impressed with what she could do, and also noted it moved smoothly and quickly. From a state of development, UT seems to be roughly on par with everyone else's development using the PP. Because it uses Wayland Neverball wasn't an option, but a lot of things do actually work.

So it helps to start with lower expectations.

@dave_f1 what happens when you try the ```
fastboot oem unlock

Does my question from last time about 20.04 and ofono make it onto this one

So I use my phone for various things, one of them being playing the Mandalorian theme song about 50 times before going to bed. I notice that around every 10-15 times, the Media Player will stop playing. So I close the app and reopen. Works fine. I'm on a Nexus 4.

Is there a cache that fills up that I am inadvertently clearing by resetting the app?

Also, is there a loop feature on it I am not aware of so I don't have to keep pressing the Play button? Thanks!

@bolly Not to get political, but about the OTF.... https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-open-technology-fund-makes-privacy-apps-staffed-spies/279147/

How much money is the foundation short?

TL;DR DO NOT buy the T-Mobile edition of the Fajita unless you have Windows and a lot of free time on your hands.

Well, I've had my beloved Fajita for a week now, and it's still not running Ubuntu Touch. Why, you may ask? Simple. Unlike the regular edition of the 6T, T-Mobile decided to lock the bootloader and put their own version of OxygenOS on their phone.

"But wait! Can't you just get an unlock token from OnePlus?" Yes. Did that. It takes 7 days. And it didn't work, because the instructions are for Windows, even though the unlock .bin file they send you seems to work on Debian. It hung on waiting to connect the phone. So I went to Windows, where it hung on waiting to recognize the phone.

"Did you try OnePlus support?" I did. They referred me to T-Mobile support, who advised me to find the original owner because "something is wrong". (I bought it on eBay.)

"Hey! I just read on Google that you can bypass the T-Mobile garbage and load the original OxygenOS 9 port!" Sure... if it recognizes the Qualcomm drivers so it can download the revert to Android 9, something that apparently my version of Windows 10 seems to not want to help with at all. And they're all .exe files. And hey, it might be the wrong USB port. (Yes this is apparently a thing on Windows 10).

Long story short: if you're going to buy a 6T, don't buy the T-Mobile version unless you are prepared to download gigs worth of updates and fight for drivers. Now, I am, because I am operating on pure spite and WILL turn this phone into my daily driver, I am going to battle on. But if you'd like to avoid this hassle... don't buy the T-Mobile version of the 6T.

@ragz The difference is in the very design of the OS. Ubuntu Touch is based on Ubuntu, which is a GNU/Linux distribution, so its userbase is more interested in open code and transparency. By contrast, Microsoft and Apple's models are based on profiting off their users, so they hard code the data farming into their programs/products.

Now I didn't bring up Android because... if UT code is open, couldn't someone take it, make it have data harvesting and all that and close source it? They could, and that basically is what Android is: Linux with closed source parts and Google's intrusive presence. So UT's workaround is to basically partition off the closed source controller (which replaces the GNU part of GNU/Linux) and open the rest of the phone.