| Hello community!Welcome to the UBports Foundation email newsletter, November 26th, 2021 |
From your editorToday when I started writing I had no clue at first what to talk about. Did things happen? Was there something to report? And then it dawned on me. YES, there are big things to mention.
There was a net OTA release! And it got its fair share of mentions. UT git mentioned in the Linux unplugged podcast episode 432 (https://linuxunplugged.com/432), OTA-20 got mentioned in Linux Action News 216 (https://linuxactionnews.com/216) and on Tux This Week In Linux 176 (https://tuxdigital.com/2021/11/thisweekinlinux-176/). So download them to your favorite podcast player (mine is Podcast Addict) and give it a listen!
There was a new release of the devices.ubuntu-touch.io site and the main UBports.com website also switched to a new template and content set.I wish I could say that everything went without a hitch, but with complicated matters this rarely is the case. So we are making a list (and checking it twice) about things that need fixing and will do so soon.
At this time all I can say is that my workload is pretty high. I guess most of you can relate to those kinds of moments where you only know: "the only way out is through".
So, with Covid19 numbers again on the rise everywhere, all I can say is: stay safe and keep on hacking!
Greets, Jeroen Baten
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Apps in the spotlightHere are some new Ubuntu Touch apps to try out, selected by Mateo Salta and presented in the latest Q&A session: 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: Do you have some web browser programming experience? It would be awesome if you could add Web Push Notifications to Morph browser. This would extend the current functionality where you only receive notifications from open tabs. The move to Focal will not happen automatically for every currently supported device. If you're a device maintainer, you'll have a big role in making the necessary adjustments. If you're not sure where to start, ask for help on the Telegram group https://t.me/ubports_porting. 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. How UBports collaborates with other projectsThe UBports Foundation is not only overseeing development of Ubuntu Touch. We’re also collaborating with developers of other mobile operating systems, because we all have a common goal: more freedom of choice for phones. By working together, we avoid duplication and fragmentation.
This collaboration happens in a couple of projects used by Ubuntu Touch Halium gives various mobile platforms a common Linux base. This allows each project to focus on the development of the higher layers, where they differ from each other in their user interfaces. Lomiri is best known as the user interface of Ubuntu Touch, but we've also worked on getting it available in Manjaro and Debian. The UBports Installer is not only a useful tool to flash Ubuntu Touch to your phone, but also lets you flash other operating systems, such as VollaOS, Sailfish OS and Droidian. The VoLTE implementation that the UBports Foundation is funding is being developed as an open source project. This allows other mobile operating systems to add VoLTE support to their own telephony stack.
Read the full blog article here with more information about how we're collaborating with other mobile platforms in these projects: https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/how-ubports-collaborates-with-other-projects-3788 |
Ubuntu Touch Q&A 112Dalton and Marius were the hosts of the Ubuntu Touch Q&A 112 session. They talked about the migration to the Ubuntu 20.04 base and some firmer rules for device support. With the ongoing work on Ubuntu Touch based on 20.04 (Focal), more and more questions are popping up about which devices will or will not be supported. Marius said that Lineage OS could be an example for Ubuntu Touch in how they operate some strict rules about their support efforts. They insist on minimum levels of commitment from maintainers before a device will be supported on their infrastructure. And if that commitment wanes, they move the device to the community-supported list until someone else steps in and takes over maintenance. Another project that could give some inspiration for a way to handle this is Debian. If a Debian package is rejected for core support, it's put out for package adoption rather than being directly removed. Starting with the 20.04 migration, we need guidelines about quality, and we need a discussion about these quality criteria. We also need a mechanism which automatically kicks a device out of the Ubuntu Touch support infrastructure if its port doesn't meet that quality. You can watch the whole session and read our notes here: https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-q-a-112-3791 |
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