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

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

Given that Dekko2 was recently updated for the 2.x version from using the Oxide engine to the QtWebEngine - to the best of my knowledge no critical UT native apps are using Oxide anymore. Is there a timeline to remove Oxide support from UT (from my understanding, a step that will be necessary at some point in order to free up space in the UT image for future enhancements) - and is there a way to check whether our webapps will be effected by this? Am I correct in believing that any webapp made using Webapp Creators "Ogra container" will not work once Oxide support is removed - so that these webapps will have to be updated once the change is made? And is this change expected to be made in OTA-12, OTA-13 or later?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

• What improvements and fixes for the Morph Browser are marked as "definitely will happen" for OTA-6? Biggest requests I have myself is to be able to sign into sites like Dropbox, and be able to upload files to various services via the browser itself.
• Any chance that camera zoom for the OnePlus One will get fixed in OTA-6 - or is this just a serious brickwall of an issue that will likely take much longer, if ever, to fix?
• Would UBports consider hosting crowd sourcing drives for specific native apps? E.g. on the Telegram channel there were two of us that were willing to put up $80 to help fund coding for a native Wire app - and I would be willing to donate $200 myself towards a native Lyft app. Seems to me if there was a place hosted on the UBports site where people could donate towards funding specific apps they desired - with any funds held in escrow by UBports itself - then greater funds could be raised, and the donors would have the confidence that their money would not be sent without a functional app getting delivered, and the coders would have the confidence that they would get all pledged monies as soon as they delivered the functional app.
• Has the UBports team received the Purism Librem 5 developer boards yet - and based on specs known so far, does it seem realistic that it will end up being a fully convergence capable device?

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

For those attempting to use Firefox in UT, the one option currently available to us is to use it within a Libertine container. For many devices the Firefox 84 version that is in the default repositories will crash whenever a site is attempted to be loaded. However, Firefox-esr (extended support release) 78 works stably in my testing (although slowly, due to the lack of hardware acceleration for apps in Libertine containers currently).

arm64 version is here (scroll to bottom of page to find download links to the deb package in your language)
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21042451

and armhf version is here -
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21042452

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Some screen shots

There is a functional native Signal client (Axolotl) now in the Open Store, and there is a beta for TELEports available that allows the UT device to initiate an encrypted "secret chat" for Telegram, and there is a clunky but functional webapp available for Wire - so there is in fact a number of ways to send and receive encrypted messages from a UT device currently.

Also - if one needs to have end to end encrypted notes, the Standard Notes UT webapp allows to access these online with an option for them to be password protected.

But it would be great if encrypting our home folders was made much easier to do in the future - hopefully a developer will take on this task at some point.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@MarkG_108 - yeah - uNav is a bit clunky in usage in my experience - but I think offline maps for Pure Maps should end up happening within a month or two - I've been really encouraged by how well it works, and it was just ported to Ubuntu Touch a couple weeks ago.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I will note that for those that like a slightly cleaner look for their lock screen, that you can disable the circle thingy that displays usage stats by going into Settings and then Security & Privacy and unchecking Stats on welcome screen.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@gdegrez - Firefox-esr packages are not available in the default Libertine repositories. In order to install it you need to download the appropriate deb (armhf for older 32bit devices, arm64 for more recent 64bit devices, and then scroll to the bottom of the linked pages to choose the deb for the version in your preferred language) , place it into your Downloads folder, and then open and install the file via the Libertine gui available in the Systems Settings. Please note that because apps within Libertine containers are not hardware accelerated that Firefox-esr tends to run very slowly relative to the native Morph browser.

armhf
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21759468

arm64
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21759467

Best regards,
Steve Berson

UPDATED LINKS

armhf
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21759468

arm64
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21759467

@rocket2nfinity - that is good to hear. Cellular data working for that does not surprise me, but I seriously doubt there will be any call or sms support with it. Then again - please let us know if we are all to be pleasantly surprised after you test it!

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

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

@rocket2nfinity said in Verizon voice, data, sms not working:

@totalsonic You know, I'm curious. Since your Volla has dual sim on UT - Since Verizon is in the process of shutting off CDMA, and all new SIMs are LTE/VoLTE by default, I wonder if that gives you an option to use Verizon for data on your Volla? You'd have to try it with an IMEI agnostic MVNO such as Red Pocket or US Mobile if you're curious to try it.

I'd be glad to test a SIM if you want to send me one - you can pm me for address - but given that I think I already know the answer is going to be negative, given general experience with US UT users with Verizon is a no go to date, I don't want to spend the cash on one myself. I can tell you that Red Pocket Mobile's Verizon network SIM's all use CDMA though - which the Volla using UT definitely does not support. At this point AT&T is working well for LTE/4G on the Volla in Central Texas where I am (which apparently has a healthy amount of band 850 in use) - but this is not the case for everywhere in the USA. T-mobile is working well for calls and SMS with Volla (tested this in Southern California as well) - but it is limited to 2G data with Volla, and seems to only get errors with MMS as well.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@sringgen - Verizon and Sprint unfortunately do not work with Ubuntu Touch currently as they use CDMA instead of GSM. Your best bet for a network that works well with UT devices in the USA is T-mobile. Some mobile carrier resellers, like Red Pocket, offer decently discounted plans for SIMs that use the T-mobile network as well.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@jyv - you can use the Tagger app in the Open Store to scan QR codes and copy them to the clipbpard for opening of embedded url in Morph.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Found the link for the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus (2nd Gen) video - https://youtu.be/k5Lfj51h_0M

Also apparently someone started a port on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 (SM-T510 or SM-T515) - video on this here - https://youtu.be/p6JNZGKcTjU

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@marek_python - unfortunately tablet support with UT is currently poor right now - either being old devices that are hard to get (like the BQ MHD 10) and are underpowered (e.g. Nexus 7), or that are newer and buggy (and even the PineTab is underpowered in my opinion). What is really needed is some community developers willing to take on porting for some more tablets that are more readily available and that have decent specs.

Until then I recommend using an x86 Intel tablet that is sold with Windows 8 or 10 and flashing the standard amd64 Linux distro of your choice on it - I use a Dell 7140 (everything works but has big bezels) and a Dell 7275 (issue on this is cameras do not work) for this with Ubuntu Budgie 21.04 with Touchegg 2.0 multi-touch gesture enabler and the Onboard onscreen keyboard - overall performance is great, and they both can work with bluetooth keyboards or can work with an integrated snap on keyboard similar to the Surface line.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@adlinux - your volume rocker issue sounds like it might be a hardware problem specific to your phone as I have never had an issue like that on my Volla. You might try to bring it to Hallo Welt System;s attention to see if they warrant against that defect.

Best regards,
Steve Berson