@grenudi said in We Drop Ubuntu Touch Entirely:

Resource Allocation Suggestion
Current distribution (estimated):

This isn't even estimated, it's just a wild guess with zero data supporting the conclusions made in it.

@grenudi said in We Drop Ubuntu Touch Entirely:

Comparison: PostmarketOS Approach
PostmarketOS demonstrates alternative strategy:

500+ device ports versus Ubuntu Touch's approximately 50

While I appreciate the efforts by the PMOS devs, most of those 500 device ports you note from PMOS just boot the system, and then don't do anything most people need a phone to do. Where as on UT the ported devices are much more likely to actually be capable of working as daily drivers, with the majority of the supported devices having all expected functions working.

700+ contributors and growing
Active funding (NGI grants, reserves over 40k EUR)

That's great, and I know that UBports would welcome additional developers and funding too. Be aware that UBports does have a good number of patrons though.

Reuses existing components (Alpine packages, established desktop environments)

Obviously UT reuses LOTS of existing components received from Ubuntu, and has collaborated with Debian & Manjaro teams as well. PLUS there have been exchanges with the Mobian, Droidian, Postmarket and Sailfish OS teams working on certain issues too.

Monthly development updates with community engagement

There are regular updates from the UBports dev team on their YouTube Q&A, along with constant posting on multiple dedicated Telegram and Matrix channels.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@grenudi said in We Drop Ubuntu Touch Entirely:

1. Browser Development Challenge
   Current situation:

Morph browser maintained by small team

Yes, Morph is indeed maintained by a small team, but the QtWebEngine it uses is maintained by a larger team upstream of it, and is basically an implementation of Chromium (which obviously has a gigantic team maintaining it).

No extension support (including ad blocking)

INCORRECT - ad blocking can be easily enabled via the uAdBlockNG app (available in the Open Store at https://open-store.io/app/uadblockng.liohmoeller ), and in the EFF's online test at https://coveryourtracks.eff.org provides "strong protection against web trackers and ads" once it is activated

Alternative approach:
Consider adopting Firefox Mobile or Chromium-based solution with privacy enhancements, allowing browser development resources to redirect toward core OS improvements.

See above - Morph is using Chromium. AND Marius posted today on the UBports Telegram group a new test build using the Qt6 Webengine (which updates to a much more recent Chromium version) that should likely be integrated into a UT update by the end of this year.

There is also THREE additional projects led by UT community members developing alternative native browsers for UT:
uFirefox - a mobile optimized fork of Firefox that uses the current 143 verson - https://gitlab.com/debclick/uFirefox
uWolf - a mobile optimized version of Librewolf (which is a privacy/security hardened fork of Firefox) - https://open-store.io/app/uwolf.chromiumos-guy
Mimi - new browser in alpha state using Apple's WebKit webengine - https://open-store.io/app/mimibrowser.fredldotme

SO - browser development for UT is ongoing, and seeing some major improvements that will be available to all UT users soon.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

There is a known bug with Snaps that osk is not properly called up with them. From my understanding Mir 2.x integration is needed to fix this, and while this is something the core dev team is working on, it might be a few months before it arrives for UT. A possoble work around is to use bluetooth keyboard with these apps.

For Firefox, I would suggest installing the version built for UT by Fuseteam, it features osk working, along with touch scrolling, pinch to zoom, as well as some tweaks to the gui better optimizong it for mobile use. Just download the most recent build for arm64, unzip, and then open the click in Open Store to install - https://gitlab.com/debclick/uFirefox/-/artifacts

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@Simmonz - yes, this is a known bug at the OS level for Focal 20.04. Hopefully a fix will happen after Noble 24.04 is released.

@musicologist - I have never tested with this device, but generally the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter (both gen1 and gen2) works well with most UT devices that support Miracast.

@AmauryDBZ - you are in luck, Futify was just updated with a fix today

@AmauryDBZ - be aware that LibreWolf, which uWolf is forked from, is a privacy hardened browser, which might not be compatible with Spotify. You could try disabling the uBlock Origin extension (which is on by default), otherwise maybe try regular non-hardened Firefox from https://gitlab.com/debclick/uFirefox/-/jobs/10771487022/artifacts/file/build/aarch64-linux-gnu/app/firefox.fuseteam_141_arm64.click

If that doesn't work, the dev of Futify (UT native Spotify app for premium accounts) is working on a fix for its current login problems, so check back at https://open-store.io/app/futify.frenchutouch
for an update soon.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Unfortunately none of those browsers have a working Widevine extension available for them yet, which is the DRM that Netflix needs to work. A few years back Netflix worked in Waydroid for me, but with changes made by them to their app this is no longer the case.

There was an attempt by Marius to make a UT native Widevine extension, which you can download from the Open Store at https://open-store.io/app/widenabler.mariogrip - but in my tests this doesn't work for Netflix.

Some other potential fixes for this issue can be found at
https://github.com/AsahiLinux/widevine-installer
https://ftp-master.debian.org/new/widevine-installer_0.0~git20240811.eab8c66-1.html
https://codeberg.org/mogwai/widevine

• but all these possible fixes would need a maintainer to port it to UT first, and they might not necessarily fix the issue for it.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@UBportsNews - with more support for snaps coming in Noble, are there plans to also fix the bugs in Libertine, or does it make sense given the clunky legacy implementation of its code, that hasn't had anyone step up to maintain it, to just deprecate Libertine in Noble instead?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@UBportsNews - Is there a plan as to what to do with the core Notes app for Noble?

From my understanding, it seems that the api that it uses to sync with Evernote is being deprecated by them, and given that Evernote is a commercial service that only offers syncing between two devices for its free basic plan, and also given that this is based on a legacy connection established and coded by Canonical, I was wondering how this effects Notes app in UT in the future.

Given that NextCloud provides a well known and well supported FOSS solution for file syncing, that already has account support in the System Settings, as well as other UT native apps (e.g. GhostCloud, UBsync) that use it, perhaps the way forward is to change to NextCloud syncing for the Notes app. There is also the JotIt app in the OpenStore, which syncs notes with NextCloud, that perhaps could be forked as a replacement for the Notes app.

Or, is the plan to just remove the Notes app from the list of core provided apps, given it seem there is no maintainer for it currently?

Thank you for all your continued work on UT!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@hisacro - well, the longer term future is never all that clear, but in the more short to mid term, there are ports being worked on for the Furilabs FLX1, and the Brax Phone 3, that should be promising options for those that want to support companies that target their products specifically to be privacy respecting.

After that, the Fairphone 6 has been announced and will very likely get a UT port as well. Volla, despite being a small niche operation, has shown some resilience and consistency, with UT support being enabled for every device they have released, so I think we will see more from them in the future as well.

Pixel 5, 6, 7, and 8 (and variants of these) should be doable for Halium based ports, it just takes someone that owns one of these devices, that has the needed patience and technical know how, to volunteer for this effort.

Regarding Xiaomi phones in the future (which includes brands such as Redmi and Poco), those were already kind of a pain the a to get their bootloaders unlocked, and with Xiaomi's new HyperOS (their new bloated skin on top of Android), they have made it even harder to unlock. I had to use a third party hack called "Hypersploit" in order to unlock a Poco X3 NFC which came with HyperOS 1, and apparently this hack no longer works on Hyper OS 2.

Best reagrds,
Steve Berson

@RobTheBold - I have no plans to drive on the interstate between cities any time soon, plus I don't answer calls while driving anyway - and there are close to no basements here in central TX, plus this is a test device with a cracked screen, not a daily driver for me. So I am afraid I can't answer your questions at all.

Phone calls over VoLTE in the USA are now working for Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro (miatoll), using latest Focal (20.04) dev channel build! Tested using T-mobile network, calls are clear with no echoes either way, with both calling and receiving working great. SMS text and single recipient MMS photo sending and receiving work on this device with VoLTE as well. Big thanks to the UBports team and the community devs and porters for this very big step for UT!!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@MrT10001 - 23.10 were easy enough installs and have worked excellently for me on both an MS Surface Go 1st gen (using the Surface Linux kernel) and on an older i7 dual boot desktop. I'm someone that uses a lot of Gnome extensions as well. The only issues I've had on the desktop have been related to the Nvidia video card I have on it (thinking of replacing this with a Radeon) - otherwise performance has been excellent with it. I have yet to try out 24.04 but I will probably do the upgrade in a few days after official release.

@thedeafenguy - T-mobile announced that they were temporarily delaying the 2G shutdown in the USA, but have not announced a revised shutdown date yet. I think it will likely be shutdown in 2025 though.

You can read more on this at
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/t-mobile-decides-not-to-abandon-its-millions-of-old-customers/ar-BB1i7OeU

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@klh - I have 4 different watches that I have flashed to Asteroid OS: Ticwatch C2+ (skipjack), Huawei gen1 (sturgeon), LG G Watch R (lenok), and LG Watch Urbane (bass). These sync to Android using either the Asteroid OS sync app or Gadgetbridge.

There is a UT native Asteroid OS sync app called Telescope that has yet to be updated to Focal, I believe the maintainer of this app was needing some help to figure out getting around some issues for this port.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@Mark-Muth - Libertine in Focal is working well for me on my Volla Phone now, it just took multiple tries for me to get it installed (I ended up having to use the Terminal instead of the Systems Setting gui to get it done).

Best regards,
Steve Berson

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@doniks - thank you so much for this! In my tests on Volla Phone running Focal it works
The only issue I saw is that the default container id shown by it on launch is "xenial" - please change this so it defaults to "focal" so users do not have to enter this for each new install.

Beat regards,
Steve Berson