Your biweekly UBports news during troubled times!

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                                          Hello community!

                                          Welcome to the UBports Foundation email newsletter, March 4th, 2022

                                          From your editor

                                          Writing an editorial today is not an easy thing. The world has another conflict, this time in Europe.  They say that when talking to people of another culture you should always avoid the topics of religion and politics. But what about war? There are people receiving this news letter in many different countries, including the once that are involved in this new conflict. But there are and have been other conflicts in the world as well, so what makes this one so different? Maybe simply the fact that it is closer to my home, although I feel blessed for currently being at a safe distance. They also say that the first thing that dies in a war is the truth. I hear the news from the European perspective, and since I think we have a free press system I am inclined to think it is true what they write. Other people in other countries may not be or feel this lucky. Sorry for being a bit philosophical today. That is the effect these events have on me. All things considered, all I can say is that I wish everybody would be safe. Safe from harm, hunger, pain or decease. Next thing you know I will be writing about world peace and this whole things turns into a written resume of a Miss World contestant. So, maybe best to leave this topic and start talking about other things, like our beloved Ubuntu Touch project. So let's go!

                                          Sit back, grab hold of your favourite beverage and enjoy another episode of the UBports Newsletter (while I write this edition this time with music from eighties instrumental band Sky on. Still using the excellent and stable MellowPlayer flatpack on my Ubuntu desktop).

                                          Greets, Jeroen Baten

                                          T-shirt text contest results

                                          The results of our not so wet t-shirt contest are in! Last time I send out another poll to find out what texts on t-shirts you would all like to see. The results of the recent poll are here https://strawpoll.com/polls/GeZANAQDjyV/results.

                                          Of all (currently) 2705 subscribers some 212 responded!

                                          Yeah, you read that right. We have about 300 new subscribers since last news letter and 4 times more people than last time submitted a vote! Thank you! Thank you! You are all absolutely amazing!

                                          In short, the top 3 winners are:

                                          1. Touch Choice, Touch Privacy, Touch Freedom, 22.51% (77 votes) by @MonCon

                                          2. #We Don't Follow You  17.54% (60 votes) by @moem

                                          3. Get In Ubuntu Touch 16.67% (57 votes) by @ma

                                          Also a special mention for @doniks with his text "There is a real Yumi?!" for doubting there is indeed such a thing as a Yumi! :-) Many congratulations to the winners. If they would be so kind to get in touch with me on email or Telegram I will make sure they get their well earned prizes.

                                          No T-shirt contest this time?
                                          Nope, but another poll none the less :-)

                                          I am sorry to bother you again with a question, but to tell you the truth, I'm getting a little bored of the heading at the top. So I asked a designer for a new graphic to put up there and got 2 proposals. And, well, I guess you know what I'm gonna say. Can you please cast a vote on which of these two you would prefer?

                                          First graphic:


                                          Second graphic:

                                          Please met me know in this new poll. It will only take a second of your time.

                                          Thanks!!

                                          Talking about news

                                          Sometimes our project makes the headlines. Somewhere nationally, or internationally. And when that happens we want to tell the world about it! Some time ago I asked you as our readers to collect email addresses of news desks where we can send press releases to. Our list grew from 0 to 143. And that is great.

                                          But there will be rather big news coming down the line soon (I promise) and I want to tell the world about it. So, if you know of news desks in your country, just email me their contact details and I will put them on our press releases list.

                                          VoLTE help needed!

                                          As you maybe know, some countries are switching off old networks in favour of the VoLTE protocol. And we are currently developing support for VoLTE for Ubuntu Touch. But, we need help!. We need people willing to work low-level on their device and work together with our VoLTE development team. So, We are looking for people with a particular skill set.

                                          Well, actually it is in two different areas (that don't need to overlap within the same person). So if you can do one, that would already make us very happy!

                                          We need help getting doubango to work with the commercial IMS core. To be able to do this it would help if you have: 

                                          • Familiarity / experience with the following protocols/systems:

                                            • VoIP telephony using SIP/RTP

                                            • IPsec/ESP (IKE not required), particularly on Linux

                                            • Optionally: knowledge of 3GPP IMS

                                          • Experience in system-level C programming on Linux

                                          • Ability to dive into existing, not well documented code base (doubango in this case)

                                          And for the work on the Volla phone side integration

                                          • Familiar with system-level Android development/debugging

                                          • Familiar with Android RIL and Android telephony APIs

                                          • Optionally, familiar with 3GPP TS 07.10 multiplexing

                                          • Some experience in reverse engineering baseband/modem interfaces

                                          So, if any of these terms are familiar to you, please step up to the plate and become an Ubuntu Touch hero! Send me an email and I will forward it to the VoLTE development team.

                                          If you are unsure, soon we will organize a webinar where mr open source protocol stack Harald Welte (of Osmocom fame) will do a talk on VoLTE for us. Stay tuned for the date!

                                          News, hot from the press

                                          Nope, but coming real soon now!

                                          Apps in the spotlight

                                          Here are some new Ubuntu Touch apps to try out:

                                          You can find these apps on the OpenStore (https://open-store.io/).

                                          Please remember that OpenStore has a built-in option to donate to app creators. We urge you to use that button, so that we'll get more great apps on Ubuntu Touch.

                                          Help needed!

                                          If you have some spare time or money, we could use some help in the following domains:

                                          • The Spotify app Futify is now translatable. If you speak a second language, please consider adding it in Futify. To do this, you need to copy the file qml_en_EN.ts from https://gitlab.com/frenchutouch/futify/-/tree/master/i18n, then rename it into your language code and translate all <translation> tags in it. Then make a merge-request to add the translation in the app's next release..

                                          • Do you want to help with translating the core apps of Ubuntu Touch? Create an account on https://translate.ubports.com and start adding translations.

                                          • If you own a JingPad and want to give Ubuntu Touch a quick test, here's a test image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ai-aN9trEjZF162Lq8xTUcKK12eccCjG/view. Let @fredl know of any issues you come across, so it can be supported in UBports installer later.

                                          A message for all new subscribers: with other mobile phone operating systems you may get stuff for free in money terms but then you are the product in that transaction. With Ubuntu Touch you are not the product, but we can’t live just on fresh air. Please consider the value you get from Ubuntu Touch, including the money you save by not spending money on paid apps, and donate on https://ubports.com/donate

                                          And if you have been an active community member and want to pitch in on a more managerial level, consider becoming part of the Board of Trustees. You can read more about this in the following blog post: https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-blogs-nieuws-1/post/become-a-member-of-the-ubports-foundation-3766

                                          OTA-22 finally adds video calls to Ubuntu Touch

                                          Video calls is a long-awaited feature for Ubuntu Touch users, and OTA-22 now finally has it. A lot of people have been begging us to make video calling an option, because on other smartphone platforms this has been possible for a while. For many users video calls were one of the last hurdles to make their Ubuntu Touch phone their daily driver.

                                          If you want to try this out, just open a video calling web app such as Jitsi Meet, Whereby or Element (for Matrix) in Morph Browser. When the permissions dialog pops up, give the browser access to your device’s microphone and camera.

                                          For now this feature only works in the Morph Browser, but this is already a great user experience and will make a lot of Ubuntu Touch users happy. This is also the door opener to video calling in apps in the future.

                                          Read more about the other features of OTA-22 in our press release: https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/press-release-ubports-foundation-releases-version-ota-22-adds-video-calls-to-ubuntu-touch-3837


                                          Changes to the Release Candidate channel

                                          we are doing some changes to our policy regarding the release candidate (RC) channel: while previously a new RC image was published every Wednesday morning CET, from now on we will publish a new RC only on demand. This  means that the RC channel will now only receive updates when there are enough changes suitable for a release.

                                          This change gives the release candidate channel a real meaning: users should be more aware about when it's time for bug hunting, but in the time between releases they can rely on stability. You will be informed about an incoming release candidate on social media, and your device will also show a pop-up notification telling you that you can install the release. If you want to help testing things earlier, switch to the devel channel to do so, and then back to RC when you are satisfied with the result.

                                          Read the full details on the forum: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/7496/changes-to-release-candidate-channel


                                          Press release: UBports foundation releases version OTA-22, adds video calls to Ubuntu Touch