Ubuntu Touch OTA-18 Released - Still Using Ubuntu 16.04, 20.04 Migration Ongoing

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu Touch OTA-18 Released - Still Using Ubuntu 16.04, 20.04 Migration Ongoing

The UBports folks have released Ubuntu Touch OTA-18 as their latest over-the-air update for this mobile Linux platform. Notable with this release is what isn't there - the Ubuntu 20.04 base. Ubuntu Touch OTA-18 continues using now the five year old Ubuntu 16.04 LTS base while the migration to 20.04 is still in progress...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Touch-OTA-18

[Charlie68]

Does this mean they are using an out of support version of Ubuntu as a base? From what I read Ubuntu 16.04 ended support in April 2021.

[edwaleni]

I have this loaded on my BQ Aquaris M10 FHD. There were some interface tweaks when Touch first came out that were good & unique but Android has caught up since. These updates from UBPorts have been clean if not groundbreaking in functionality.

One of the recent hangups seems to be the integration of Anbox. It is listed as a feature, but yet requires a kernel patch, which then says it is already installed. (but doesn't work)

So at this time it appears to a WIP.

The other issue is the use case a Linux tablet would have.

Does one make it more Android like and focus on its app ecosystem, or make it more like Linux desktop with access to terminal and low level functions a tablet wouldn't necessarily expose.

At the moment, it seems to try to be a little bit of both and people see it lacking in both.

The addition of Anbox is supposed to resolve the app ecosystem issue by allowing Android apps to run, but the low level access is somewhat restricted to keep people from bricking their tablet, which i have done inadvertently and was forced to reflash.

[uid313]

Maybe this can be cool with new GNOME 40 with GTK4 or new KDE Plasma maybe with Qt 6.

[Mez']

Does this mean they are using an out of support version of Ubuntu as a base? From what I read Ubuntu 16.04 ended support in April 2021.

They are indeed. But from what I read it's no big deal, as it's just for some time (hopefully not too long), and it's not like 16.04 will be an Emmental (full of holes) within weeks. By the time they eventually migrate to 20.04, it should not be too risky using 16.04.

NB: Jeez, those ads reloading and changing the position of the comment frame, this is super annoying.

[Mez']

I have this loaded on my BQ Aquaris M10 FHD. There were some interface tweaks when Touch first came out that were good & unique but Android has caught up since. These updates from UBPorts have been clean if not groundbreaking in functionality.

One of the recent hangups seems to be the integration of Anbox. It is listed as a feature, but yet requires a kernel patch, which then says it is already installed. (but doesn't work)

So at this time it appears to a WIP.

The other issue is the use case a Linux tablet would have.

Does one make it more Android like and focus on its app ecosystem, or make it more like Linux desktop with access to terminal and low level functions a tablet wouldn't necessarily expose.

At the moment, it seems to try to be a little bit of both and people see it lacking in both.

The addition of Anbox is supposed to resolve the app ecosystem issue by allowing Android apps to run, but the low level access is somewhat restricted to keep people from bricking their tablet, which i have done inadvertently and was forced to reflash.

I didn't dare (yet) to install it back on my m10 FHD (went back to Android - 6.2 - since forever).

But there was a GoFundMe funding campaign attempt to progress on the anbox implementation indeed (to which I contributed a little).
The outcome of the work they did with the funds seemed like a virtual machine within UT running Android though, not just seamless apps integrated within UT, and hence not very practical (if you need to run some Android thing before launching an app...). So yeah, promising but nowhere near ready I'd say.

[mangeek]

The recommended base for Snaps is still 18.04. I noticed that my Chromium snap was running on some rather old libraries.

[krzyzowiec]

The addition of Anbox is supposed to resolve the app ecosystem issue by allowing Android apps to run

Seems self defeating to me. If you are going to run Android applications then your system will just be an inferior version of Android.

It would be better to copy Canonical here and adopt Flutter, which would get you more apps while also being something you could customize to blend in.

[skeevy420]

Seems self defeating to me. If you are going to run Android applications then your system will just be an inferior version of Android.

It would be better to copy Canonical here and adopt Flutter, which would get you more apps while also being something you could customize to blend in.

Some people have paid-for Android applications they'd like to run in other places and those paid-for apps are the limiting factor in changing operating systems. It's no different than Linux and Proton/Wine. The majority of people won't leave Windows if they can't bring along their programs; mobile platforms are no different.

I have some games, astronomy apps, and PowerAmp that basically keeps me on Android. Being able to do that on Not-Android is a godsend. I simply don't trust Android or the Play Framework anymore.

[Vistaus]

Maybe this can be cool with new GNOME 40 with GTK4 or new KDE Plasma maybe with Qt 6.

No, thanks. I LOVE the current Ubuntu Touch interface which I use daily on my phone, so I don't want anything else.