Hi,

regarding app development I'd like to know, if Ubuntu.Components are going to be removed or not and what will be the replacement. I found some references to pure QQC2 and Ergo, but I'm not sure. App then looks very different.

I'd like to know in what toolkit to start making apps, so they would have consistent look&feel now and in the future and how to apply Suru theming correctly. I really liked Ubuntu touch UI guidelines and the toolkit representing them.

Maybe a blogpost about where is it going and what is current status would be nice.

Just to let you all know (a year later) no OTA update so far broke my changes to ca-certificates. But it might be a case, that this part of file system simply wasn't updated either and it might get overwritten eventually with the next OTA.

Hi,

my wifi was not working at all after installing 16.04/rc yesterday on my Nexus 5 (I didn't wipe the device, coming from 15.04/rc). Wifi switch button was always ON after any reboot, but it didn't show any networks or connect to known networks.

I was able to make wifi work by running nmcli r wifi on in terminal, since nmcli g stated, that wifi is just disabled (while UI stated, that wifi is ON). Until next reboot, wifi seems to be working and respect UI switch state changes. After reboot, it doesn't work again.

From outside view it seems that on reboot it somehow wrongly decide if wifi is either ON or OFF and it just states ON and switch button doesn't work. I would assume, that if I had disabled wifi before reboot, it should be still disabled after reboot...

Hope this helps somebody else too.

Hi,

sorry for the long post, but I'd like to share my experience with the Google Pixel 3a XL, as I think it could help others make the decision when choosing a phone for the Ubuntu Touch. It will be also a little comparison with Google Nexus 5, which was my previous phone.

I bought a 3 month old phone (returned to the store) because they no longer sell a new one. I've been using the phone as daily driver for 3 weeks now and I must say I'm impressed. It's a real difference from Nexus 5.

I was a little worried at first. It still costs like a new mid-range phone and there were some posts on the forum, which made me worry about the current state of this port. In the end, everything went good.

Installation

I had to flash older Android version (as noted on the devices page), since it was updated to the latest. I used the same version as on the devices page, but downloaded it from "bonito" section, as it is the XL version ("sargo" is the base version).

Unlocking the bootloader was a little different than on Nexus 5, but I guess you have to search for tutorials and FAQs for the specific phone and Android version everytime you get a new phone.

# install tools on linux machine
sudo apt install adb fastboot

# on phone in android settings
- enable developer mode
- enable USB debug
- allow OEM unlock
- restart to fastboot mode

# on linux machine run command and confirm it on the phone using buttons
fastboot flashing unlock

# download and unpack the android image and run command from within the unpacked folder
./flash-all.sh

# in a few minutes it was all done

Then I used UBports Installer to install Ubuntu Touch from stable channel. I had to pick device manually, since there was an entry only for Pixel 3a and not 3a XL and I selected to wipe the device. After a while it booted into a post-install wizard.

Calls, SMS, MMS

There are some known problems with USA carriers, also depending on the phone model, but since I'm in central Europe with european phone model everything works.

I just noticed it takes some time to connect to the cellular network. It asks for unlocking the SIM like 30s after I unlock the phone for the first time after the boot. This happened almost instantly on my previous phone.

When I enable airplane mode (by mistake), it won't reconnect to the cellular network. I loose patience after 30s and reboot always fixes everything.

There are still some glitches with the calls. Speaker won't disable during the call when it was once enabled and you can't change volume during the call. But I don't usually need those features and it all seems fixable to me.

There is one issue, which I think is related to the phone itself. The other side have troubles hearing me if they don't change volume to 100%. I tested it by myself by swapping the phones and can confirm, that I could barely hear them when volume was set to 50% in a quiet room. I could hear clearly when using the old Nexus 5 and same settings.
So far only 1 person reported the problem to me and others seem to hear me clearly, but this seems to be generic issue for some/many? Pixel devices with no fix from the Google.
I had similar experience with my first Nexus 5 (European model), but it was probably faulty device, since my second Nexus 5 (USA model) had no problem.

I do not use MMS, so I can't report on that.

Battery

The battery lasted 107 hours (from 100 to 3 percent) in opposite to like 20 hours on my Nexus 5. I'm not a heavy weight phone user, I do 1-2 calls a day, a few SMS, 30 min online max. Wifi, BT, mobile data and location services are disabled most of the time, but it still feels like a real freedom. It also charges really quickly.

Camera, Video

Photos seems to be better than on Nexus 5 and also after a few years I can finally watch videos I just recorded directly on the phone! This was a big trouble for me when using Nexus 5.

Related to the phone itself it seems, that camera is either closer to the edge or I just hold the phone differently, but I keep sticking my fingers in the camera veiw and this didn't happen with my previous phone.

WIFI, BT, 3G/LTE

Wifi and LTE seems to work perfectly. I can even re-connect when using mobile data. This was broken on my Nexus 5 since last two OTAs (after first usage of mobile data it reported no connection when re-enabled until the reboot).

I do not have any BT device, so I can't report on that, but from other forum posts it seems to work.

GPS, Navigation

I can get location like in a two minutes. Once they removed assisted GPS it took like 15-20 minutes on Nexus 5. Also I can run uNav with local OSM Scout Server without it crashing in a few minutes. I recently took 1h car trip with it and it worked great.

UI and others

Everything feels smooth and starts quickly. It's also big enough on XL screen, so I do not have to adjust the scaling.

I can't think of anything else, which I do with the phone and almost everything is marked as "working" on devices page, so you can probably count on that.

Oh, Tux Racer works on that nicely. It worked also on Nexus 5, but it heated-up the phone quickly.

Overall I'm impressed by the phone and the quality of the port, so big thank you @fredldotme.

I just fear, that there will be no Yumi animation during the OTA update, as recovery also looked differently (Halium 9 device), but we shall see with the nearest OTA.

@libremax said in Ubuntu.components ? ( Developpment guidelines ):

@krille Indeed a good question for next Q&A...

Hi, exactly my point. I also just started to play with QML and I think that Ubuntu packages were meant to ease on development and to ensure more UX consistency on uTouch apps. It would be a shame to throw it all away. But it's hard to tell, how much work is it to keep it compatible with used (latest) QT.

I don't know C++ and for example phone and messaging apps are complicated to me right now. It would be much easier to have QML object wrapping whatever C++ implementation to make a call and simply call it from QML code.

So I could focus on different design of a phone app instead of learning deep C++ and its interactions with some system/backend service.

Thanks @doniks I'll see if that works if I get the device.

@Stefan Hi, as @Tewel wrote, you can use syncevolution script mentioned on the UBports wiki. I shortened it to sync only my contacts and not calendars, since it works with online accounts by default. Fixes from the wiki are already applied to this source and with this setting i got "Personal - OwnCloud" address book displayed in address-book-app settings (and I set it as default). I'm not sure, where it got that name, since in owncloud gui it's displayed as "Contacts" and I named it "OwnCloud" in a script, but hey, it works.
I do not use multiple addressbooks, but judging by the script output on my phone it probably could work. Output listed other owncloud stuff like my calendars, memos etc., but as "inactive" and then synced only my contacts.

#!/bin/bash
# This script is a draft combination of the script found at https://gist.github.com/tcarrondo
# It is more or less to remember what I have done to make it work for my Fairphone 2 with UBports ubuntu touch
# Combined by me: Sebastian Gallehr <sebastian@gallehr.de>
# Thanks to: Tiago Carrondo <tcarrondo@ubuntu.com>
# Thanks to: Romain Fluttaz <romain@botux.fr>
# Thanks to: Wayne Ward <info@wayneward.co.uk>
# Thanks to: Mitchell Reese <mitchell@curiouslegends.com.au>
# --------------- [ Server ] ---------------- #
USERNAME=""               # you know this one
PASSWORD=""               # lots of ******

# ----------------- [ Phone ] ----------------- #

CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME="owncloudcontacts"            # I use "myCloud"
CONTACTS_NAME="owncloudcontacts"          # I use "personalcontacts"
CONTACTS_VISUAL_NAME="OwnCloud"      # you can choose a nice name to show on the contacts app like "OwnContacts"
CONTACTS_URL=""                    # CardDAV url to my contacts taken from OwnCloud web interface
CRON_FREQUENCY="hourly"        # I use "hourly"

export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(ps -u phablet e | grep -Eo 'dbus-daemon.*address=unix:abstract=/tmp/dbus-[A-Za-z0-9]{10}' | tail -c35)

#Create contact list
syncevolution --create-database backend=evolution-contacts database=$CONTACTS_VISUAL_NAME
#Create Peer
syncevolution --configure --template webdav username=$USERNAME password=$PASSWORD syncURL=$CONTACTS_URL keyring=no target-config@$CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME
#Create New Source
syncevolution --configure backend=evolution-contacts database=$CONTACTS_VISUAL_NAME @default $CONTACTS_NAME
#Add remote database
syncevolution --configure database=$CONTACTS_URL backend=carddav target-config@$CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME $CONTACTS_NAME
#Connect remote contact list with local databases
syncevolution --configure --template SyncEvolution_Client Sync=None syncURL=local://@$CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME $CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME $CONTACTS_NAME
#Add local database to the source
syncevolution --configure sync=two-way backend=evolution-contacts database=$CONTACTS_VISUAL_NAME $CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME $CONTACTS_NAME
#Start first sync
syncevolution --sync refresh-from-remote $CONTACTS_CONFIG_NAME $CONTACTS_NAME

#Add Sync Cronjob
sudo mount / -o remount,rw
COMMAND_LINE="export DISPLAY=:0.0 && export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(ps -u phablet e | grep -Eo 'dbus-daemon.*address=unix:abstract=/tmp/dbus-[A-Za-z0-9]{10}' | tail -c35) && /usr/bin/syncevolution $CONTACTS_NAME"
sudo sh -c "echo '$COMMAND_LINE' > /sbin/sogosync"
sudo chmod +x /sbin/sogosync

CRON_LINE="@$CRON_FREQUENCY /sbin/sogosync"
(crontab -u phablet -r;) # only if no other cronjob already exist in the crontab
(crontab -u phablet -l; echo "$CRON_LINE" ) | crontab -u phablet -
sudo mount / -o remount,ro
sudo service cron restart

Hi, @MrT10001. Thank you for suggestion. I tried to toggle it and it doesn't change anything. Phone is still not visible to the PC. Both before and after the reboot

I also tried to just switch it to the RNDIS and reboot. But then on opening UT tweak tool again "MTP" was selected, so it seems the change is not actually saved or persist reboot.

Hi @Craig,

I can confirm your report. Phone is visible to PC when in recovery. It's strange, that device is using two different IDs/Names:

When in fastboot menu (power + vol. down)

Bus 006 Device 003: ID 18d1:4ee0 Google Inc. Nexus/Pixel Device (fastboot)

When in UBports Recovery

Bus 006 Device 004: ID 18d1:d001 Google Inc. Nexus 4 (fastboot)

I could see various USB related messages in recovery logs, but can't really tell what they mean.

I wonder if there is any way how to install older OTA and test this since Phone is not visible to ubports-installer.

Hi,

just to let you know this problem has been solved for me by upgrading to 20.04 base (OTA-3). I had to re-enable developer mode after the upgrade.

For some reason device is weirdly named by lsusb, but transfering files works again, adb shell too.

Bus 004 Device 002: ID 1209:0003 Generic pid.codes Test PID

Hi,

just to let you know this problem has been solved for me by upgrading to 20.04 base (OTA-3). I had to re-enable developer mode after the upgrade.

For some reason device is weirdly named by lsusb, but transfering files works again, adb shell too.

Bus 004 Device 002: ID 1209:0003 Generic pid.codes Test PID

Hi @fairose,

I still use the way mentioned in my post from almost 5 years ago. It gets overwritten from time to time, but I just re-run the commands to trust my cert again.

I think I changed .pem to .crt, but otherwise it is in /usr/share/ca-certificates/certificate.crt (filename doesn't really matter).

I don't know why are you getting the error, but I guess there is a problem with some certificate you put in there.

Hi @Craig,

I can confirm your report. Phone is visible to PC when in recovery. It's strange, that device is using two different IDs/Names:

When in fastboot menu (power + vol. down)

Bus 006 Device 003: ID 18d1:4ee0 Google Inc. Nexus/Pixel Device (fastboot)

When in UBports Recovery

Bus 006 Device 004: ID 18d1:d001 Google Inc. Nexus 4 (fastboot)

I could see various USB related messages in recovery logs, but can't really tell what they mean.

I wonder if there is any way how to install older OTA and test this since Phone is not visible to ubports-installer.

Hi @TandyNeoma,

1. I did this multiple times over the past days, no change.

2./4. I already tried this with a different PCs/ports and phones. Cable itself works, same for my PC.

3. I do have Debug enabled. I tried to toggle it, no change. But I noticed similar problem as when toggling MTP. When I disable the developer mode (debug), then this change is not persistent. After the reboot I still have developer mode enabled instead of disabled. I think this is not OK, phone should remember such setting.

It would be most helpful, if someone could share the knowledge, where such low level services like MTP keep their logs or how to check their actual status.

Hi, @MrT10001. Thank you for suggestion. I tried to toggle it and it doesn't change anything. Phone is still not visible to the PC. Both before and after the reboot

I also tried to just switch it to the RNDIS and reboot. But then on opening UT tweak tool again "MTP" was selected, so it seems the change is not actually saved or persist reboot.

Hi,

it seems, that MTP is not working after the OTA-25 update on my Google Pixel 3a XL.

I'm not really sure that its the root cause, but I was using it a few days back, then I installed OTA-25 and a day later I can't connect to the phone to transfer my files.

I was trying to resolve this by myself few days, but with no success.

There is absolutely no error message on the computer side. No new device is shown in lsusb output, when phone is connected. Phone does charge from the USB, but it's simply not displayed in file manager.

It seems, that the phone is not advertazing itself properly to the PC.

I do have developer mode enabled, including ADB access, but no device is found for the adb shell command either.

Can anyone suggest where to look for some relevant logs on the phone? Is MTP running as some kind of system service I can check?

I was thinking about the possibility of trying to downgrade the version, but I don't know if it's possible and how to do it? I can change the release channel, but I reckon RC/Devel don't have a different image when OTA-25 is the latest version. Also (at least for now) I don't feel like installing Focal as I need fully working phone.

PS: Cable and PC are working. I tried it with different android/ubuntu phones.

Hi @rik, SMS works fine for me, but I use phone in central Europe and have european model. As far as I know from other forum threads, problems with SMS/MMS are reported for USA models and networks. Some suggests switching to 3G or various specific APN settings to make it work.

@joadri said in Pixel 3a XL experience:

@zlamalp Hi, I just installed UT on my pixel 3a XL and I am having issues with the camera being out of focus. Any suggestions from you or anybodie else here? Is there anything I can do to solve this problem on the phone?

Hi @Joadri,

can you be more specific? It's like it won't focus at all or what?

If I tap the sceen before taking picture with the camera app, it will focus on the object in that place. If I want to take picture of anything in different distance, then I again tap the screen to set focus. There is no difference in behaviour from Nexus 5 and like this I get proper sharp photos.

I guess Android probably does some kind of autofocus, but I don't think there is anything like it in Ubuntu Touch.

Hi,

sorry for the long post, but I'd like to share my experience with the Google Pixel 3a XL, as I think it could help others make the decision when choosing a phone for the Ubuntu Touch. It will be also a little comparison with Google Nexus 5, which was my previous phone.

I bought a 3 month old phone (returned to the store) because they no longer sell a new one. I've been using the phone as daily driver for 3 weeks now and I must say I'm impressed. It's a real difference from Nexus 5.

I was a little worried at first. It still costs like a new mid-range phone and there were some posts on the forum, which made me worry about the current state of this port. In the end, everything went good.

Installation

I had to flash older Android version (as noted on the devices page), since it was updated to the latest. I used the same version as on the devices page, but downloaded it from "bonito" section, as it is the XL version ("sargo" is the base version).

Unlocking the bootloader was a little different than on Nexus 5, but I guess you have to search for tutorials and FAQs for the specific phone and Android version everytime you get a new phone.

# install tools on linux machine
sudo apt install adb fastboot

# on phone in android settings
- enable developer mode
- enable USB debug
- allow OEM unlock
- restart to fastboot mode

# on linux machine run command and confirm it on the phone using buttons
fastboot flashing unlock

# download and unpack the android image and run command from within the unpacked folder
./flash-all.sh

# in a few minutes it was all done

Then I used UBports Installer to install Ubuntu Touch from stable channel. I had to pick device manually, since there was an entry only for Pixel 3a and not 3a XL and I selected to wipe the device. After a while it booted into a post-install wizard.

Calls, SMS, MMS

There are some known problems with USA carriers, also depending on the phone model, but since I'm in central Europe with european phone model everything works.

I just noticed it takes some time to connect to the cellular network. It asks for unlocking the SIM like 30s after I unlock the phone for the first time after the boot. This happened almost instantly on my previous phone.

When I enable airplane mode (by mistake), it won't reconnect to the cellular network. I loose patience after 30s and reboot always fixes everything.

There are still some glitches with the calls. Speaker won't disable during the call when it was once enabled and you can't change volume during the call. But I don't usually need those features and it all seems fixable to me.

There is one issue, which I think is related to the phone itself. The other side have troubles hearing me if they don't change volume to 100%. I tested it by myself by swapping the phones and can confirm, that I could barely hear them when volume was set to 50% in a quiet room. I could hear clearly when using the old Nexus 5 and same settings.
So far only 1 person reported the problem to me and others seem to hear me clearly, but this seems to be generic issue for some/many? Pixel devices with no fix from the Google.
I had similar experience with my first Nexus 5 (European model), but it was probably faulty device, since my second Nexus 5 (USA model) had no problem.

I do not use MMS, so I can't report on that.

Battery

The battery lasted 107 hours (from 100 to 3 percent) in opposite to like 20 hours on my Nexus 5. I'm not a heavy weight phone user, I do 1-2 calls a day, a few SMS, 30 min online max. Wifi, BT, mobile data and location services are disabled most of the time, but it still feels like a real freedom. It also charges really quickly.

Camera, Video

Photos seems to be better than on Nexus 5 and also after a few years I can finally watch videos I just recorded directly on the phone! This was a big trouble for me when using Nexus 5.

Related to the phone itself it seems, that camera is either closer to the edge or I just hold the phone differently, but I keep sticking my fingers in the camera veiw and this didn't happen with my previous phone.

WIFI, BT, 3G/LTE

Wifi and LTE seems to work perfectly. I can even re-connect when using mobile data. This was broken on my Nexus 5 since last two OTAs (after first usage of mobile data it reported no connection when re-enabled until the reboot).

I do not have any BT device, so I can't report on that, but from other forum posts it seems to work.

GPS, Navigation

I can get location like in a two minutes. Once they removed assisted GPS it took like 15-20 minutes on Nexus 5. Also I can run uNav with local OSM Scout Server without it crashing in a few minutes. I recently took 1h car trip with it and it worked great.

UI and others

Everything feels smooth and starts quickly. It's also big enough on XL screen, so I do not have to adjust the scaling.

I can't think of anything else, which I do with the phone and almost everything is marked as "working" on devices page, so you can probably count on that.

Oh, Tux Racer works on that nicely. It worked also on Nexus 5, but it heated-up the phone quickly.

Overall I'm impressed by the phone and the quality of the port, so big thank you @fredldotme.

I just fear, that there will be no Yumi animation during the OTA update, as recovery also looked differently (Halium 9 device), but we shall see with the nearest OTA.

Just to let you all know (a year later) no OTA update so far broke my changes to ca-certificates. But it might be a case, that this part of file system simply wasn't updated either and it might get overwritten eventually with the next OTA.