great and informative interview! Thanks for posting and huge thanks to TheKit for all the work he has done for UT

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Start with installing gimp package in your Libertine Container.
Screenshot is GIMP running in Libertine Container using the Color 48 theme to make icons usable on a mobile device - https://bitbucket.org/paynekj/paynekj-gimp-scripts/raw/2e8e87faf5eaaf6036e0d8b68ff9f6f37a3f0421/themes/Color-48.7z

In order to install this theme I had to extract the 7z archive on my computer and upload the folder to the phone. Then I had to go into home/phablet/cache/libertine-container/xenial/rootfs/usr/share/gimp/2.0/themes rename the "Default" theme folder as "Old Default" - and then paste in the Color 48 theme folder renamed as "Default" (because trying to change the theme from Gimp's gui would just crash it)

Also to get the GTK menus to be sized to be useable on phone it is important to: create a file named .Xdefaults in a text editor (tedit is a good Ubuntu Touch native one for this) with a single line Xft.dpi: 280 - or whatever other dpi value which you prefer. Save this to the home directory of your chroot environment - usually .local/share/libertine-container/user-data/xenial/ in your normal home directory.

You also still need to use an external bluetooth keyboard for GIMP on the phone in order to have the gui respond.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Apps I would love to see eventually made available on UT:

Video Chat - even a single way to do this would be fantastic - whether it is via eventual support for Telegrams currently alpha video call capabilities being enabled in TELEports - or via Morph support for various web based services, or via WebRTC - whatever gives us a viable option on UT devices that is easiest to implement is all good by me.

Task List with ToDoTxt support - there are a ton of existing task list apps for UT already, but I really would like one that has ToDoTxt support, along with NextCloud syncing support, so that it could be synced to a multitude of cross platform apps, all in a "future proof" format. Info on the ToDoTxt spec is at http://todotxt.org/

Native basic Video Editing app - while there are a number of online web services that can be used for this task, it would be way more efficient and reliable if there was a UT app that could do basic functions like trim, rotate, resize and reformat for videos - especially useful for posting to social media directly from ones mobile device.

Ride share app - it would be very useful for me if there was a UT native app for either Uber or Lyft (the two most popular services for this in the USA). While these services can be hailed via an online web page accessible via Morph, the rest of the experience is definitely not as smooth as what you get on Android and iOS.

Widevine support - it would be nice if there was a Widevine plugin for Morph, allowing it to be used for movie streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. I understand the proprietary DRM nature of this makes it difficult to do this - but given that there are plugins for Linux via Chrome (that is compatible with some of the other Chromium based browsers, as well as Firefox) - perhaps there is some way this could still be implemented.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I was just thinking it would be fun and illuminating, and could possibly garner some promotion for UBports, if some recent devices (e.g. Volla Phone) that were fully configured were handed to some figures that were key to Canonical's initial effort to create Ubuntu Touch (e.g. Mark Shuttleworth, Jono Bacon, etc.) and if there impressions on how far Ubuntu Touch has come in the 4 years since Canonical dropped it were recorded and posted as a video. It would be nice to hear some talk by them on what they think could have happened if Ubuntu Edge had become a reality, as well as what they think UBports can offer for the future in terms of what has become of their "baby" once it "left home."

Just an idea! - and given that UBports has now been developing UT for around the same amount of time that Canonical did (about 4 years each - Canonical did 2013-2017) maybe one that makes sense to do now.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Us users tend to fill up these Q&A's with feature requests for things we would most like to see developed sooner than later - but what things would the UBports team like to see added to UT by their fellow devs and the community first??

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Given that the current "promoted/supported devices" are now all discontinued and at least 4 years old (with the Nexus 5 now 7 years old) - doesn't it make sense to change both the website as well as support priorities to a new set of "promoted devices"? Seems to me Volla Phone, PinePhone, OnePlus 3/3T, Sony Xperia X series, PineTab, perhaps Google Pixel 3A, and whatever Xiaomi/Redmi device is looking to be easiest to fully support, would all make sense to change the focuses to as far as what is "promoted"- with the understanding that some devices (e.g. PinePhone, PineTab) need a bit more development before placing into this category.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@unisuperbox - Dalton - I believe that self care, and allowing oneself to explore possibilities and potentials that might go beyond what one has done previously should always be the priorities in career and life decisions, so you have my utmost support towards your next endeavors, hopefully which provide both de-stressing and rich rewards from other opportunities.
Beyond that - have to say I am sad to see you step down - I think your leadership, hard work, and friendly manner have without a doubt been a key factor towards UBports and Ubuntu Touch development reaching so many accomplishments during your tenure - so THANK YOU for that! Very best wishes to you for a truly happy and healthy life in whatever you choose to do next.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@nero355 - the current work being done to enable VoLTE for Ubuntu Touch is prioritizing Mediatek support, as this development is being led by Volla, which uses those soc's - info here - https://www.jeroenbaten.nl/UT-VoLTE-proposed-technical-architecture.pdf

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@gdegrez - I am able to use a few specific desktop applications successfully on my Volla, Meizu Pro 5 and OnePlus One phone running OTA-18, although using the gui's (which are not optimized for phone form factors at all) is certainly very clunky (although aided when using a bluetooth keyboard/trackpad with them - and aided more when using an external display as well, although sending to external display is not an option on Halium 9 ported phones currently).

Apps that I have tested that have some decent functionality that native apps and webapps do not necessarily provide are:

text editors:
medit
gedit
leafpad

word processing:
abiword

system information:
hardinfo
screenfetch (command line - run from the Terminal)

email client:
geary

web browser:
firefox-esr 78 (need to download deb of the extended support release, the 8x versions available from the default repository do not work)

metronome (for musician's practice):
gtick

games:
aisleriot
gnome-mahjongg

image editor / gallery:
gthumb
gimp

drawing:
mypaint

video player:
mpv

pdf viewer:
evince

stylus-style note taking / pdf markup:
xournal

Also - whe the Libertine Tweak Tool app allowing you to resize the gui menus (but not all gui elements) is invaluable towards making these desktop apps more usable.
SO - while current Libertine is far from optimal, and while a lot of apps will crash on you, or be unusable due to their gui's being so cluttered or going offscreen, at least there are a few select ones that can offer at least a little bit of additional functionality available for our UT devices.

As for when additional development will happen to Libertine - frankly until the rebase to 20.04 happens and is given a bit of extra time beyond that to iron out bugs, it doesn't make sense for anyone to tackle Libertine, as any effort now for 16.04 might end up having to be reworked for 20.04 anyway.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I want to mention that for folks who do install Firefox-esr 78, if you go to update the packages in your Libertine container it is important to set Firefox to "hold" on any updates, so you don't end up replacing your Firefox with a current but unusable version.

The Terminal commands to enable this are:
$ libertine-container-manager exec -i xenial -c /bin/bash

# apt-mark hold firefox

To undo this hold enter:
# apt-mark unhold firefox

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@nomad - regarding the 48megapixels of the main camera - the sensor is indeed 48mp but rendered down and saved in a 4:1 ratio in both Android and UT

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@nomad - there is a fork of the Camera App that is in alpha state that allows you to access all the camera lenses, that you can try at your own risk if you wish.

If you wish to test this install the "Custom Camera" click file at https://iubuntu.cz/ut/ that allows lens switching - then you need to download from the same page the cameraplugin-aal_0.5.0+ubports0local~1642453987_arm64.deb to ~/Downloads folder first, and then run in Terminal:
sudo mount -o remount,rw /
cd ~/Downloads
sudo dpkg -i cameraplugin-aal_0.5.0+ubports0local~1642453987_arm64.deb

Note that this has only been tested by myself on Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro, and OnePlus 6t, so might not work with your device. Also, this app crashes when you select a lens that is a depth sensor (since portrait mode is not enabled in UT yet) or is a zoom mode for front camera.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@luksus - thanks so much for your work on this. Does this also mean that the X605 can also get OTA updates?

@liutaoabab - I haven't tried this out in a long while - maybe it got broken in a recent OTA - will test this tomorrow when I am back in my studio (and on my Meizu Pro 5 as well to see if the problem is only on OPO)

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Looking into it further - seems also that Mattermost is a paid service once you go beyond wanting basic features and small numbers of participants. No thanks!!

@dpitti - I personally find a lot of use with Telegram, and I think TELEports is a really nice client for it.

Telegram most certainly is the best supported instant messaging service for UT currently, given that FluffyChat for Matrix on UT needs a maintainer, Axolotl for Signal is still climbing a steep development curve (made harder by Signal's often upstream changes), Toxza for Tox is in a very basic stage, and that other services only have webapps or are not supported on UT yet at all.

Of course - whether to use any of these services is up to the end user - but for me it truly is nice to have decent support for Telegram on UT.

Telegram is NOT hosted in Russia - servers are located around the globe, financial HQ is in London UK, operational HQ is in Dubai UAE. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)

There are chat groups for UT also already hosted on Matrix (but that do not bridge to the Telegram groups) if one is looking for an existing alternative to Telegram.

I had never even heard of the Mattermost service prior to this post - given that there is no UT client for it at all seems one is putting the cart before the horse as far as this request goes.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@farmer - LTE mobile data for UT devices works and will continue to work on both AT&T and T-Mobile networks though.

@farmer - sorry, maybe your post is not worded as you wished, but you are providing misinformation here. OPO, Pixel 3a and Xperia X on UT does NOT have support for VoLTE. While these devices (and the other UT devices) can still use 3G on T-Mobile in the USA to send and receive calls, this ability will end on July 1, 2022.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@domubpkm - https://whereby.com works well in my tests, and is a privacy respecting FOSS service as a plus.

Best regards,
Steve Berson