UBPorts 16.04 updates + feature tests

Newer version is out. 16.04 r175 seems fine again. Will do the feature test later…

1 Like

Installed via UBPorts installer from Linux, version 16.04 r175

What works for me

  • call / be called
  • send SMS / receive SMS
  • internet via WiFi
  • internet via mobile network (4G)
  • USB connection to PC / MTP
  • USB OTG
    • changing to correct physical keyboard from the status bar works
  • automatic screen rotation
  • bluetooth
    • audio speaker: MusicMan BT-X2
  • alarm
    • but clock app sometimes crashes and doesn’t seem to use the correct time zone
  • screenshot (press + hold Vol-up and Vol-down)
  • external sd card
    • I can access existing photos with the gallery app
    • I cannot navigate through the existing folders (maybe need to try formatting it)
  • gallery app
  • file manager app
  • terminal app
  • notes app
    • list of notes doesn’t show note name
    • after creating a note, one has to close and edit again before one can actually type something
  • calculator app
  • weather app
  • enabling ssh
  • the syncevolution script to set up my owncloud account

What doesn’t work for me

  • openstore (no apps displayed; maybe temporary issue?)
  • flash (new camera module; known issue)
  • camera (new camera module; app loads forever)
  • Adding an owncloud account (in settings > accounts)
  • keeping the time zone (have to set it again after each start)
  • Spotify web player
    • no way to login on a mobile phone, so without an app it looks like I can’t use it
  • email
    • no app installed and cannot use the openstore to download one
    • before wiping the phone I had upgraded from 15.04 with app “Dekko 2” installed, but that didn’t start and loads forever
  • music app
    • claims it finds no music even though there is some in the “Music” folder
    • when opening an MP3 from the file manager app, it wants to import the file but that never finishes
  • media app
    • cannot open any of the files I tried

Didn’t try so far/again after last update

  • contacts and calendar apps as I can’t add my owncloud account anyway
  • location (as far as I know, GPS doesn’t work)
  • External monitor via WiFi direct (with a Samsung BD-J5500 Blu-Ray player)
5 Likes

Adding your owncloud account doesn’t work in settings > accounts, but have you tried the syncevolution script method? I wonder if this could do the work :slight_smile:

I haven’t found the time yet to try that. It’s on my list.

In case anyone else tries 16.04 and needs to (un)install apps while the openstore app doesn’t work, here are a few things I learned today :wink:

  • Install packages
    • browse https://open.uappexplorer.com and download a package on the phone or push the file from a PC
    • either via terminal app or adb shell from PC: pkcon install-local --allow-untrusted <packagefilename>.click
  • Uninstall packages
    • click list to get a list of installed packages and their exact name for the actual uninstall command
    • sudo click unregister <packagename>

I got the syncevolution method to work :slight_smile: But it took quite some time to get things straight.

  • The script needs another variable declaration
    • after the line with “CAL_URL=…” add another with “CONTACTS_URL=…”
  • Initially I used spaces in “CALENDAR_VISUAL_NAME” and “CONTACTS_VISUAL_NAME”, but that seems to break the script
  • I had to install my self-signed certificate - saved as *.crt - first (after storing it in the home dir):

sudo mount / -o remount,rw
sudo cp <mycertificate>.crt /usr/share/ca-certificates/
sudo dpkg-reconfigure ca-certificates
sudo mount / -o remount,ro

Not sure if that survives system updates…

Edit: I saw that someone forked the gist and added the two necessary changes. The updated one can be found at https://gist.github.com/vanyasem/379095d25ac350676fc70c42efe17c8c

Didn’t update for quite a while… Now 16.04 r205 is installed and openstore and camera are working. Yay! :+1:

2 Likes

Can you already test Android apps?

The FP2 is not yet supported for anbox use: https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/anbox.html

Only three devices supported at the moment

  • Meizu Pro 5
  • BQ M10 HD
  • BQ M10 FHD
2 Likes

New camera? With flash and upright front camera?

New camera and front camera is still upside down. Didn’t check the flash.

Edit: also checked flash, doesn’t work.

Using the updater app I installed version 16.04 r219

What works for me

  • call / be called
  • send SMS / receive SMS
  • internet via WiFi
  • internet via mobile network (4G)
  • USB connection to PC / MTP
  • USB OTG
    • changing to correct physical keyboard from the status bar works
  • automatic screen rotation
  • keeping the time zone after reboot
  • bluetooth
    • audio speaker: MusicMan BT-X2
  • screenshot (press + hold Vol-up and Vol-down)
  • external sd card
    • I can access existing photos with the gallery app
    • I cannot navigate through the existing folders (maybe need to try formatting it)
  • shutting down the phone
    • only causes reboot instead of shutdown on LineageOS
  • openstore
  • camera (new camera module)
    • flash does not work
    • front camera image is upside down
  • contacts app
    • using CardDav
  • calendar app
    • using my CalDav calendar
    • times of appointments seem to be broken
  • gallery app
  • file manager app
  • terminal app
  • music app
  • notes app
    • list of notes doesn’t show note name
    • after creating a note, one has to close and edit again before one can actually type something
  • calculator app
  • weather app
  • enabling ssh
  • the syncevolution script to set up my owncloud account

What doesn’t work for me

  • alarm
    • clock app crashes before I can set an alarm
  • flash (new camera module; known issue)
  • Adding an owncloud account (in settings > accounts)
    • existed in 15.04, in 16.04 just Ubuntu One and Google accounts available
      /ubuntu-touch/issues/447)
  • Spotify
    • web player has no way to login on a mobile phone
    • login fails with CuteSpotify
  • email
    • app “Dekko 2” loads forever
  • media app
    • cannot open any of the files I tried
  • logviewer app
    • immediately exits
  • telegram app
    • hangs at phone number verification step
  • Android apps
    • anbox is not yet supported on the FP2

Didn’t try so far/again after last update

  • location (as far as I know, GPS doesn’t work)
  • External monitor via WiFi direct (with a Samsung BD-J5500 Blu-Ray player)

Some more points

  • I get a few random reboots that usually don’t happen on LineageOS; but not as many as other UT users report (but then, I don’t use it as daily driver…)
  • enabling ssh used to require this workaround: https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/444#issuecomment-370507393
    • not sure if that just survived the OTA update and still needs to be done on fresh installs
5 Likes

Small update: found time to try wifi direct but no devices are found (that at least worked with 15.04)

Again just a small update. After not running UT 16.04 for quite a while I now updated to 16.04 r.259.

The only other thing I did was installing a working package of the Telegram app (AFAIK not available in the Openstore yet). Just download the latest click package at Release Final release: API53 · ubports/telegram-app · GitHub

Then, on the phone or via ssh (in the download folder) type

pkcon install-local --allow-untrusted com.ubuntu.telegram_2.5.3.2_xenial_armhf.click

Replace “2.5.3.2” with whatever version you downloaded.

Found something nice: at https://github.com/rubencarneiro/custom_bootlogos you can download images to flash custom boot screens. For all those who are a little irrated that it still says “Powered by Android” even if you run UT on the FP2 :wink:

And, using the updater app I installed version 16.04 r299

What works for me

  • call / be called
  • send SMS / receive SMS
  • internet via WiFi
  • internet via mobile network (4G)
  • USB connection to PC / MTP
  • USB OTG
    • changing to correct physical keyboard from the status bar works
  • automatic screen rotation
  • keeping the time zone after reboot
  • screenshot (press + hold Vol-up and Vol-down)
  • external sd card
    • I can access existing photos with the gallery app
    • I cannot navigate through the existing folders (maybe need to try formatting it)
  • shutting down the phone
    • only causes reboot instead of shutdown on LineageOS
  • location (GPS)
  • openstore
    • installed the store app for xenial (was shared in the UT QA telegram group)
  • camera (new camera module)
    • flash does not work
    • front camera image is upside down
  • contacts app
    • using CardDav
  • gallery app
  • file manager app
  • terminal app
  • music app
  • calculator app
  • weather app
  • logviewer app
  • telegram app
    • a working version for xenial was shared in some of the UT telegram groups
    • the xenial openstore also shows the telegram app, so it may now work “out of the box”
  • enabling ssh
  • the syncevolution script to set up my owncloud account

Used to work but not at the moment

  • bluetooth
    • audio speaker: MusicMan BT-X2 (can’t connect; may be temporary)
  • calendar app
    • using my CalDav calendar
    • times of appointments seem to be broken
    • app comes up but then crashes on interaction (that’s new; used to work)

What doesn’t work for me

  • alarm
    • clock app crashes before I can set an alarm
  • flash (new camera module; known issue)
  • Adding an owncloud account (in settings > accounts)
    • existed in 15.04, in 16.04 just Ubuntu One and Google accounts available
      /ubuntu-touch/issues/447)
  • Spotify
    • web player has no way to login on a mobile phone
    • login fails with CuteSpotify
  • email
    • app “Dekko 2” loads forever
  • media app
    • cannot open any of the files I tried
  • notes app
    • list of notes doesn’t show note name
    • after creating a note, one has to close and edit again before one can actually type something
    • note contents are not saved
  • Android apps
    • anbox is not yet supported on the FP2

Didn’t try so far/again after last update

  • External monitor via WiFi direct (with a Samsung BD-J5500 Blu-Ray player)

Some more points

  • I get a few random reboots that usually don’t happen on LineageOS; but not as many as other UT users report (but then, I don’t use it as daily driver…)
  • enabling ssh used to require this workaround: https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/444#issuecomment-370507393
    • not sure if that just survived the OTA update and still needs to be done on fresh installs
3 Likes

Short update:

3 Likes

First release candidate for UT 16.04 is out. This time I didn’t just update my FP2 but did a clean install (manually installed FPOS, then used the UBPorts Installer including “wipe”). I had used the phone to test so many OSes/versions that I wanted to rule out any side effects/old misconfigurations.

So now I’m on version 16.04 (2018-06-23/2 or r351)

What works for me

  • call / be called
  • send SMS / receive SMS
  • internet via WiFi
  • internet via mobile network (4G)
  • USB connection to PC / MTP
    • it takes some time before folder contents are shown (used to be faster)
  • USB OTG
    • changing to correct physical keyboard from the status bar works
  • automatic screen rotation
  • keeping the time zone after reboot
  • screenshot (press + hold Vol-up and Vol-down)
  • external sd card
    • I can access existing photos with the gallery app
    • I cannot navigate through the existing folders (maybe need to try formatting it)
  • shutting down the phone
    • only causes reboot instead of shutdown on LineageOS
  • location (GPS)
  • openstore
  • camera (new camera module)
    • flash does not work
    • front camera image is upside down
  • bluetooth
    • audio speaker: MusicMan BT-X2
  • alarm
    • some people report crashes (cause might be having more than one alarm or an repeated alarm; didn’t dare try that yet)
  • contacts app
    • using CardDav (via syncevolution script)
  • gallery app
  • file manager app
  • terminal app
  • media app
  • music app
  • notes app
  • calculator app
  • weather app
  • logviewer app
  • telegram app
  • enabling ssh
  • the syncevolution script to set up my owncloud account
  • Adding an owncloud account (in settings > accounts)
    • uses HTTPS with self-signed certificate (needs to be set up as described in this earlier post about the syncevolution script: March 4th)

Used to work but not at the moment

  • calendar app
    • using my CalDav calendar (via syncevolution script)
    • app comes up but then crashes on interaction (that’s new; used to work)
      • some people suspect all-day events to cause this kind of crash

What doesn’t work for me

  • flash (new camera module; known issue)
  • Spotify
    • web player has no way to login on a mobile phone
    • no app available for xenial (didn’t try CuteSpotify vivid app)
  • email
    • no app available for xenial (didn’t try Dekko 2 vivid app)
  • External monitor via WiFi direct (with a Samsung BD-J5500 Blu-Ray player)
    • device is not found
  • Android apps
    • anbox is not yet supported on the FP2

Some more points

  • I get a few random reboots that usually don’t happen on LineageOS; but not as many as other UT users report (but then, I don’t use it as daily driver…)
4 Likes

Indeed, congrats to the UBPorts team ! :slight_smile:
More info about the new RC on this blog post.

I’m not a daily driver neither… But from what I read :

2 Likes

I was testing the new version of the UBports installer (0.1.17) and by that upgraded my phone to 16.04 (2018-07-04/2).
Not doing a full feature test but so far it seems that the calendar app crash is gone.
Also, several previous installer versions didn’t work 100% (on windows), so in the past I mostly reverted back to 0.1.9, but this seems to no longer be necessary.

Hello! You wrote that in order to do a clean install you first manually installed FPOS, then used the UBPorts Installer including “wipe”. I also have a FP2 and I thought that a clean install was always the result when using the “wipe” option, so I wonder: why was it important for you to manually install FPOS first? Is that something I should also do, if I want to ensure a clean install?

To be clear, the way I am installing is that I have an Ubuntu laptop with the UBPorts Installer installed, I just connect my FP2 to that and choose to install using the “wipe” option. So I do not install FPOS first, I install UT directly. Should I install FPOS first, and if so, why?

1 Like