Greetings from the UBports Newsletter Team

socials@ubports.com

Hello UBports Community,

Welcome to another edition of the newsletter! A biweekly news update you are so familiar with, but only a little different this time. First of all, Jeroen Baten is no longer the main editor. We are very grateful for the work he has done for the previous editions. So big thanks for that!

What will happen now? Well, for that we need your help! The goal is to turn the newsletter into a true community initiative: Produced by and for the community. So, this is a call on everybody to contribute and reshape this newsletter into something that is relevant and valuable for everyone here.

Do let us know how you would like to contribute through the email address socials@ubports.com.

Enjoy reading and we look forward to hearing from you!

The UBports Newsletter Team

Development updates & news

First things first: The OTA 24 Release

The developers in our community have been working overtime to get the OTA 24 release out. The decision was made to revert the new contact backend and move this to the Ubuntu Touch 20.04 release. The return of the contact sync should be working by now in RC and Dev channel. We are getting closer to reverse the old contact backend any time now!

We need your help with testing! Read the blog to find out what needs to be done.

Call for porters

Estimated is the first OTA-O for Ubuntu Touch based on 20.04 is to be released by Christmas so there will be a call out for porters. Curious how this works? Check the documentation below.

Documentation

All eyes are set on Ubuntu Touch 20.04

With the first beta versions of Ubuntu Touch 20.04 (Focal Fossa) being released very soon, End Of Live (EOL) of Ubuntu Touch 16.04 is approaching rapidly. After the release of OTA 24, Ubuntu Touch will reach maintenance mode which implies a feature freeze to all software components of Ubuntu Touch 16.04. The future OTA’s for 16.04 will only provide fixes for grave bugs and security fixes - including packages of the base OS from Canonical Ltd.'s Ubuntu 16.04 ESM subscription service - Hence a big thanks to Canonical Ltd for sponsoring the inclusion of Extended Security Maintenance updates into Ubuntu Touch 16.04.

What will happen now? After OTA-24, all feature development will target Ubuntu Touch 20.04. Ubuntu Touch 16.04 bug fixes will be accepted, but developers need to make sure that an addressed issue has already been resolved for Ubuntu Touch 20.04 (or is not present there, at all).

For more information check the Telegram development channel Channel

On the UBports Forum there is a section for Ubuntu Touch 20.04 Forum

Other Development Updates

Debian: We are now at 90% packaging before the Debian Bookworm freeze. The 12-01-22 packaging must be finished. You can track the status here:
Track Live Status:
https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=team%2Bubports%40tracker.debian.org

Ayatana indicators : 100%
https://ayatanaindicators.github.io/

Lomiri DE Components: 80%
https://lomiri.com/

Join The Ubuntu Touch Hackathon

It's been some time, but we are very pleased to announce a new in-person Hackathon!

Where: Würzburg, Germany,

When: 25th-27th November,

Why: Web Push Notifications in Morph

The exact venue is still being finalized so if you are interested in going or for further information please contact Jonny.

@jonny (Telegram)

@jonny:synod.im (Matrix)

Ubuntu Touch Q&A 121

Ubuntu Touch Q&A 121 will be this Saturday 19th November at 19:00 UTC. Please join us for Ubuntu Touch development, updates and answers to your questions. Here is the link to watch the live show:

Live Show

Another helpful tip: Know that forum questions get priority so please post them beforehand by using the forum link. During the show, you can interact with the presenters via Youtube Livechat and Telegram.

Forum

Hope to see you there !

Call for participate in fosdem 2023

Fosdem takes place 4&5 February 2023 in Brussels. This would be a great opportunity to catch up! Currently we are applying for talks and presentations in the Mobile dev room. There is a possibility we share a booth with Ubuntu – although this isn’t confirmed yet.

Do you have ideas to help organizing the event? Please join the Telegram group

Telegram Group

News From The Community

Alfred presented at the Ubuntu Summit

Alfred joined the Ubuntu Summit (November 9). Wonderful to see he represented Ubuntu Touch on this big event! You can watch his talk here.

Talk Here

To learn more about Alfred’s All-Blur-Everything check his Twitter page.

Go to Twitter Page

Do try this at home!

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=c39YZEbpcvQ&t=20s popped up on one of our telegram channels: It’s about trying out gaming on Ubuntu Touch phone while using a gamepad. Also check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEaSHGXW8k8 if you want to know more about retro gaming on Ubuntu Touch.

Are you also gaming on UT? How would you feel about setting up a new gaming chapter at the Ubports forum? Let us know via socials@ubports.com.

Keep yourself warm!

You can now buy the one and only ‘Ubuntu Touch’ socks for those who get cold feet easily…

Buy Here

Looking for Marketing Contributors

We are currently thinking about how we can improve awareness about Ubuntu Touch. This also means we need to improve our efforts to bring Ubuntu Touch more under the attention of people ‘out there’ (on a long term basis). It would be wonderful if we can attract more users – and keep them!

Are you someone who has creative talent – being good in writing, designing, or making any sort of content such as podcasts, videos, or whatever, and would you like to bring your passion for UT to the rest of the world? Then we would be so happy to facilitate you as best as we can!

Tell us how you would like to contribute via socials@ubports.com.

Not sure yet what to give away for Christmas?

GET YOUR DISCOUNT!

How about a Volla 22! From next week onwards you can get newest Volla 22 with

UT pre-installed for a discount of 25 euros.

CODE: ADVENT22

and save €25 on your purchase Volla 22!

Use now

Apps & More

Open store announcement

The Open-Store is available on Ubuntu Touch Focal so please update your apps to 20.04

Forum

Latest Ubuntu Touch 20.04 phones in the installer
Work on Ubuntu Touch 20.04 is moving at a fast pace with the following devices now available through the hidden channels on the UBports Installer

OnePlus 5 (cheeseburger)
OnePlus 5T (dumpling)
Fairphone 4 (soon after OTA 24)
Volla 22 (soon after OTA 24)