Ubuntu on a phone, anyone? UBports reaches 18th stable update, but it's still based on 16.04
(2021/07/20)
- Reference: 1626788913
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/20/ubports_ubuntu_touch_ota_18/
- Source link:
UBports, which took on the task of maintaining the Ubuntu Touch mobile OS after Canonical abandoned it, has released OTA-18 with lots of improvements, but still based on the ancient [1]Ubuntu 16.04 .
According to the team, one of the big changes in this release is a rewritten Media-hub service, responsible for media playback and control. "20,526 lines of code later, the new media-hub emerged – with better tests, a more contributor-friendly structure, and a few fixed bugs to boot," [2]said the post introducing the release.
The OS update also improves efficiency. "We still have a lot of people using devices with just 1GB of RAM," the team explained. "OTA-18 almost always feels faster than OTA-17 on the same device."
[3]
Fairphone running Ubuntu Touch
Other fixes include automatic appearance of the on-screen keyboard in new browser tabs, a degree symbol on the on-screen keyboard, stickers added to the messaging app, snooze now works as expected in alarms, and "call audio was fixed on the Google Pixel 2."
That does not sound like much, but the team said "there are a lot of fixes that cost little in code but will have a huge impact in practice."
[4]
There are a few snags. Just 54 devices support Ubuntu Touch and, of those, just 28 support OTA-18. This includes Fairphone 2 but not [5]PinePhone . According to a [6]post in the PinePhone support forum: "Unfortunately, getting UT up and going on Pinephone/Pinetab is on the backburner until after the 20.04 upgrade."
[7]Linux Mint 20.2 is a bit more insistent about updating but not as annoying as Windows or Mac, team promises
[8]CentOS Stream: 'I was slow on the uptake, but I get what they are doing now,' says Rocky Linux founder
[9]Latest patches show Rust for Linux project making great strides towards the kernel
[10]System76 releases Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS 21.04 with auto-tiling COSMIC desktop
What then of Ubuntu Touch based on Ubuntu 20.04? Apparently, progress is under way, and in fact the limited number of new features on OTA-18 is in part because "the small team of people who know the internals of Ubuntu Touch has been preoccupied with things other than OTA-18," most of those other things being connected with 20.04.
This includes work on [11]Lomiri , the "convergence desktop" originally called Unity, until Canonical abandoned it. However, there will be an OTA-19 again based on 16.04 before we get a 20.04 release. There is more information on development progress in [12]this Q&A .
[13]
On the plus side, users of Ubuntu Touch on the stable channel will get OTA-18 on compatible devices simply by "using the Updates screen of system settings."
It sounds like an uphill battle, though. UBports' Ubuntu Touch is one of several ways to run a free operating system on a smartphone, but all have snags. One approach is to base a phone on AOSP (Android Open Source Project), in which case there is an issue with Google's proprietary Play Services not being available – see [14]here for how the /e/ Foundation works around this problem. Another approach (as with Ubuntu Touch) is to base the OS on Linux and to rely on the Linux application ecosystem.
[15]
There is plenty of interest in the idea of a phone that is free from Google or Apple and the various ways they restrict, track, and control smartphones, but translating that interest into a viable alternative is problematic. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2016/04/21/ubuntu_16_04_lts_launched/
[2] https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-ota-18-release-3764
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/07/20/ubports-fair.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPbzJXibDx6GNqq1tjGj5wAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/
[6] http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=14406&pid=97314#pid97314
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/linux_mint_202/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/centos_stream_greg_kurtzer/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/rust_for_linux_kernel_project/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/30/pop_os_2104/
[11] https://lomiri.com/
[12] https://www.ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-q-a-103-3763
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPbzJXibDx6GNqq1tjGj5wAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/android_without_google_e_smartphone/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPbzJXibDx6GNqq1tjGj5wAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
According to the team, one of the big changes in this release is a rewritten Media-hub service, responsible for media playback and control. "20,526 lines of code later, the new media-hub emerged – with better tests, a more contributor-friendly structure, and a few fixed bugs to boot," [2]said the post introducing the release.
The OS update also improves efficiency. "We still have a lot of people using devices with just 1GB of RAM," the team explained. "OTA-18 almost always feels faster than OTA-17 on the same device."
[3]
Fairphone running Ubuntu Touch
Other fixes include automatic appearance of the on-screen keyboard in new browser tabs, a degree symbol on the on-screen keyboard, stickers added to the messaging app, snooze now works as expected in alarms, and "call audio was fixed on the Google Pixel 2."
That does not sound like much, but the team said "there are a lot of fixes that cost little in code but will have a huge impact in practice."
[4]
There are a few snags. Just 54 devices support Ubuntu Touch and, of those, just 28 support OTA-18. This includes Fairphone 2 but not [5]PinePhone . According to a [6]post in the PinePhone support forum: "Unfortunately, getting UT up and going on Pinephone/Pinetab is on the backburner until after the 20.04 upgrade."
[7]Linux Mint 20.2 is a bit more insistent about updating but not as annoying as Windows or Mac, team promises
[8]CentOS Stream: 'I was slow on the uptake, but I get what they are doing now,' says Rocky Linux founder
[9]Latest patches show Rust for Linux project making great strides towards the kernel
[10]System76 releases Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS 21.04 with auto-tiling COSMIC desktop
What then of Ubuntu Touch based on Ubuntu 20.04? Apparently, progress is under way, and in fact the limited number of new features on OTA-18 is in part because "the small team of people who know the internals of Ubuntu Touch has been preoccupied with things other than OTA-18," most of those other things being connected with 20.04.
This includes work on [11]Lomiri , the "convergence desktop" originally called Unity, until Canonical abandoned it. However, there will be an OTA-19 again based on 16.04 before we get a 20.04 release. There is more information on development progress in [12]this Q&A .
[13]
On the plus side, users of Ubuntu Touch on the stable channel will get OTA-18 on compatible devices simply by "using the Updates screen of system settings."
It sounds like an uphill battle, though. UBports' Ubuntu Touch is one of several ways to run a free operating system on a smartphone, but all have snags. One approach is to base a phone on AOSP (Android Open Source Project), in which case there is an issue with Google's proprietary Play Services not being available – see [14]here for how the /e/ Foundation works around this problem. Another approach (as with Ubuntu Touch) is to base the OS on Linux and to rely on the Linux application ecosystem.
[15]
There is plenty of interest in the idea of a phone that is free from Google or Apple and the various ways they restrict, track, and control smartphones, but translating that interest into a viable alternative is problematic. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2016/04/21/ubuntu_16_04_lts_launched/
[2] https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-ota-18-release-3764
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/07/20/ubports-fair.jpg
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPbzJXibDx6GNqq1tjGj5wAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/
[6] http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=14406&pid=97314#pid97314
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/linux_mint_202/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/centos_stream_greg_kurtzer/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/rust_for_linux_kernel_project/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/30/pop_os_2104/
[11] https://lomiri.com/
[12] https://www.ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-q-a-103-3763
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPbzJXibDx6GNqq1tjGj5wAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/android_without_google_e_smartphone/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPbzJXibDx6GNqq1tjGj5wAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Adair
For those on Android who prefer to minimise their Google contact - but without the buttock clenching frisson of going full Lineage on their precious hardware - there is Aurora (see F-Droid (other APK repos are available)), which basically anonymises your access to the Playstore - and works very well in my ongoing experience.
Anonymous Coward
Or you can just sign into playstore (and your phone) with a throwaway Gmail account.
You need to click "skip for now" everytime it asks for a credit card, or if you need to buy apps use a giftcard
elsergiovolador
How do you get a throwaway Gmail account without giving up your personal data?
Victor Ludorum
Who said it had to be your personal data?
Funny thing...
"There is plenty of interest in the idea of a phone that is free from Google or Apple..."
Oooh, I recall there being just such a thing some five to ten years ago... it got up to about 10% of the UK market share too, along with widespread panning from a lot of people on here who had never used it, but preferred Android "because Android was Linux-based", and therefore open source...
... oh yeah, that right. It was made by Microsoft...