Ubuntu Touch and Convergence (again)
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One of the promised features of the Ubuntu Touch platform was so-called
Convergence. It was expected to be the way to make a phone which can be
converted to a desktop computer just by connecting a big screen and a
keyboard and a mouse.
The execution of the idea was relatively straightforward: all
applications have had to be written with use of the Qt 5.x library and
with their GUI defined in the QML markup language. Then it have had to
make possible applications with dynamic layout which should have made
them usable bot on small (phone) and big (desktop monitor) screens. And
on tablet and laptop screens, too.
It has been a sane idea but with one important flaw: very little people
are eager to re-write their applications for use with an another
strange toolkit. There is not much Qt5 applications and even less of
them use the QML. Many important open source programs - like the Gimp
or the Firefox - use Gtk+ (even the old 2.x version) and others still
use the Xaw (Athena) toolkit or even the Motif/Lesstif. And probably no
closed-source or even a commercial application uses the Qt5 (but I may
be mistaken).
So the Convergence concept less or more failed with the platform.
Actually, no one of them is bad: I used the Ubuntu Touch phone for
about 4 years and it was much more pleasant experience than one can
have with more mainstream mobile operating systems.
But I initially got my Ubuntu Touch phone (the BQ Aquaris E4.5) because
I wanted to use the Convergence feature (I still have been using a
no-SGI desktop just a second one - for tasks like WWW browsing, data
transfer and so - thus having one device for both roles of such desktop
and a phone made sense for me).
Unfortunately, the E4.5 was never able to be used as a desktop - its
hardware didn't allowed to connect a monitor and the wireless monitor
connection was newer added to Ubuntu Touch port for this device. So I
got the BQ Aquaris M10 tablet: it was big enough to serve as a desktop
monitor (10") and it had a micro-HDMI connector. It was ever possible
to connect the device to an external screen and use such screen. There
were bugs and problems (not all screens were supported and use of
external screen caused instability in some cases). After the last
update of the original Ubuntu Touch system the external screen was
totally unusable because no native application was able to run when
such screen was connected. They simply crashed just after their start.
When the Canonical ceased the Ubuntu Touch development then the UBPorts
people [2] decided to continue in the platform development. There were
several updates of the system, the switch from the Ubuntu 15.10 to the
16.04 (it wasn't so simple because the Ubuntu Touch is not a normal
Linux but it uses the Android base system with device drivers) and
continued to remove bugs.
I recently have been started to use my M10 tablet more recently (I have
been using it for reading of PDF and other files which are too heavy
for my SGI O2 or the Kindle reader) so I also have been trying how the
device is useful for other tasks.
So, there are many improvements in the area of the so-called legacy X11
applications. They often work and there is now a GUI tool (albeit very
simple) to install them. An important feature is that now the
Gtk+-based applications (both Gtk+ 2.x and 3.x ones) can use the native
on-board keyboard (other X11 applications usually work only with an
external hardware keyboard so they are almost useless in table mode).
There are issues with modal dialogues but the X11 application can be
used in the same way as the native ones. Thus now it is possible to use
the StarDict program as a valid replacement of the native but
chronically unstable KnownDict program. It even supports the "sidebar"
mode: in the tablet mode when the device is in landscape it is possible
to see 2 windows - one occupies about 3/4 of a screen width and the
second occupies the rest.
The desktop mode has been somewhat improved, too. One can use external
keyboard and mouse easily (both the Bluetooth nd the USB ones - but
there is only one miniUSB port available so use of USB devices implies
that the tablet cannot be charged via this port). The device can be
easily controlled from keyboard (but some programs still require a
pointing device) and the user experience - while far from perfect - is
much better than when one uses a tablet. There are limitations, of
course: there are no virtual desktops and the phone-style limited
access to file system and sandboxing of individual programs makes many
UNIX-like approaches impossible. And if one closes a X11 application
then the whole GUI environment often crashes and is restarted.
But the biggest issue which is still here is a support of external
displays: this probably does not work at all. I tried to use a cable
(which is proven to be OK) and nothing happened. I even restarted the
device with the cable connected and without and nothing happened. So
the "desktop experience" is limited to a 10" screen with a keyboard and
a mouse. It is not unusable but also not too comfortable.
Of course I wrote this post on such setup... I will be very grateful if
anyone can recommend a good and durable Bluetooth keyboard to me. I
have a HP one here and while it is small, durable and has great battery
life, its keys are terrible.
References:
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Touch
[2]
http://ubports.com
