Ubuntu touch on bq Aquarius

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Ubuntu touch revisited - on BQ Aquarius E5

Even though there now is a product on the market since mid 2015 I still do not see it as a fully working operating system comparable in functionality, stability and availability of apps to current builds of IOS or Android. It is however a nice (nerdy) environment for playing around with. If you just need a phone to make calls, surf the internet, take pictures then it already serves your purposes.

References

State overview

Working features

Existing problems

still deciding whether to use Ubuntu Touch on bq Aquarius 5 as primary phone

ActiveSync
  • ActiveSync client missing (needed for syncing contacts, emails and calendars with Exchange/zarafa) - this is a real showstopper
Spotify Client

Not tested yet

Installing Ubuntu Touch

This step is obviously not needed since the phone comes with Ubuntu pre-installed. Just needs an update from 14.10 to 15.04 (just give it some time after the update to come up again).

Status from 2016-02-13 with Ubuntu Touch 15.04: 

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu-phablet 3.4.67 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jan 8 11:59:19 UTC 2016 efc96d8 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ cat /etc/ubuntu-build 
9
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$

Using Ubuntu touch

The big question: to write or not to write

Still have to figure out if remounting the root partition in rw mode is a good idea. This enables you to use apt-get update/upgrade/install but seems to disable standard upgrade mechanisms completely. To get back to the standard build you supposedly need to install from scratch!?

connecting to phone via ssh

This is good news - no need for usb connections - just a simple network ssh/sftp/scp session will do (taken from http://askubuntu.com/questions/348714/how-can-i-access-my-ubuntu-phone-over-ssh/601972#601972)

  • install the Terminal app on the phone from the App Store.
  • Open a Terminal and type (this is easier with the phone in a landscape orientation, the last command will hang; this is expected):
sudo setprop persist.service.ssh true
mkdir -pm700 ~/.ssh
ip addr
nc -l 1234 > ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Look for your phone's IP address in the Terminal as returned by the ip addr command or use the app "net-info".
  • On your computer, type (replacing 192.0.2.1 with your phone's IP address from above):
nc 192.0.2.1 1234 < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
  • If successful, the last command on your phone's Terminal will now succeed.
  • On your computer, type (again replacing 192.0.2.1 with your phone's IP address from above):
ssh phablet@192.0.2.1

Copying files to device

scp localfile touch:path-on-device

Sample script to copy media across to external card: 

scp -r $1 phablet@ubu:/media/phablet/FD71-883A/$2


Syncing data with phone

syncing pictures and videos

Short script to sync pictures and videos taken with camera to PC (and automatically sync on to owncloud).

Here ubu is the name of the phone (may be replaced by ip). 

if `ssh phablet@ubu [ -e Pictures/com.ubuntu.camera/* ]`
then
   rsync -avi --remove-source-files phablet@ubu:Pictures/com.ubuntu.camera/* /Users/tim/ownCloud/ubu_touch/pictures/
fi
if `ssh phablet@ubu [ -e Videos/com.ubuntu.camera/* ]`
then
   rsync -avi --remove-source-files phablet@ubu:Videos/com.ubuntu.camera/* /Users/tim/ownCloud/ubu_touch/videos/
fi
syncing contacts, calendars, mail

to be tested 

syncevolution --import /home/phablet/Documents/utcontacts.vcf backend=evolution-contacts database=Persönlich

Command line tools

Checking installed version

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ system-image-cli --info
current build number: 9
device name: vegetahd
channel: ubuntu-touch/stable/bq-aquaris.en
last update: 2016-01-21 16:15:55
version version: 9
version ubuntu: 20160123.1
version tag: OTA-9
version device: 20160108-efc96d8
version custom: 20160111-926-36--vivid
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$

Using sudo

You may run priviledged commands using sudo, use your login pin/password as your sudo password.

recording Sound

record test.wav Play test.wav

Various useful commands on Ubuntu touch

dpkg -l     - lists all installed packages
click list  - lists installed click packages
pkcon install xxx   - installs click package
pkcon search name xxx - searches for package containing xxx

sending sms

choose ril_0 for SIM 1, ril_1 for SIM 2: 

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ /usr/share/ofono/scripts/send-sms /ril_1 +49xxxxxxx "test 123" 0
Send message using modem /ril_1 ...
/ril_1/message_70C69448335BD170B04F1096E1DD04DE46C83176
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$

customizing gui

get installed apps
ls /home/phablet/.local/share/applications /usr/share/applications/

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ ls /home/phablet/.local/share/applications /usr/share/applications/
/home/phablet/.local/share/applications:
clickscope.desktop                                              com.canonical.scopes.wikinear_wikinear.desktop
---snip---
com.canonical.scopes.twittertrending_twittertrending.desktop    videoaggregator.desktop

/usr/share/applications/:
account-polld.desktop     dialer-app.desktop       online-accounts-ui.desktop     telephony-service-call.desktop  unity8.desktop
---snip---
content-hub-send.desktop  messaging-app.desktop    syncmonitorhelper.desktop      unity8-dash.desktop             webbrowser-app.desktop
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$
changing core-apps (appearing at top of apps list)
  • set
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.ClickScope core-apps '["messaging-app", "webbrowser-app", "dekko.dekkoproject"]'
  • reset to default
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.ClickScope core-apps  '[]'
  • empty list
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.ClickScope core-apps  '[""]'
changing Launcher icosns (appearing left hand side menu)
  • set
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher items "[\
'appid://ubuntu-system-settings' \
, 'appid://com.ubuntu.filemanager_filemanager' \
, 'appid://dekko.dekkoproject_dekko' \
, 'appid://webbrowser-app' \
, 'appid://com.canonical.scopes.contacts_contacts' \
, 'appid://com.ubuntu.developer.majster-pl.utorch_uTorch' \
, 'appid://com.ubuntu.music_music' \
, 'appid://dialer-app' \
, 'appid://messaging-app' \
, 'appid://com.ubuntu.camera_camera' \
]"
  • empty list
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher items  "[]"
  • reset to default
???

Useful Apps

Utilities

  • Terminal
  • Beru (PDF and ebook Reader)
  • uTorch

Network

  • net-info
  • Network Scanner

Navigation

not really usable yet - will keep revisiting

  • OSMtouch
  • OSMScout

Email

  • Dekko

Sound/Media

  • CuteSpotify - currently (2016-02-16) very unstable
  • Podbird
  • Recorder
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