Quick trick for Ubuntu Phone: how to turn your Ubuntu Phone into an ftp server

Did you know that Ubuntu Phone has a cool app that turns your phone into an ftp server ?

Well this app is called WifiTransfer, and it is easy to install.
You search for "Wifi transfer" in the Ubuntu Store

Select the app and click on install

 

Once installed  you will be able to transfer files to and from you Desktop PC and your Phone in a flash.

When you open the app click on "Turn on WifiTransfer"

and you will be able to transfer files to and from you Desktop PC and Phone browsing the network with Nautilus or using the "connect to server" function of File Manager:

Quick trick for Ubuntu Phone: how to turn on Hotspot feature

One of many Ubuntu Phone's cool features is the Hotspot one.
You can turn on this feature quickly and easily.

In system settings you tap on"Hotspot"

and enter the Hotspot feature settings:

You just have to tap on "change password/setup", enter a Hotspot name and a key that has to be at least 8 characters long and then tap on the save button.

After this, turning on and off the Hotspot feature is just a matter of swiping down from the network indicator and tapping on a checkbox :-).

Mycroft: An Open Source Artificial Intelligence For Everyone

Mycroft, An  Open Source Artificial Intelligence For Everyone project, is the world's first open source, open hardware home A.I. platform. It is a state of the art A.I. based on Raspberry Pi 2 and Arduino,  three of the world’s most popular open development platforms and you can find it on Kickstarter here:

Mycroft kickstarter page

There are only 4 days to go to the end of the project and there is $93,955 pledged of $99,000 goal, so please backup this project it would really be a pitty that it will not reach it's gaol, if it does, the Mycroft developers  will release Mycroft software to control your Linux desktop:

Mycroft's AI Could Power Ubuntu's Unity and Give Users Voice Control

More on the project here:

Meet Mycroft: Open Source Artificial Intelligence Powered by Snappy
Snappy Ubuntu + Mycroft = Love
Checkout Mycroft powered by Snappy Core  

 

Ubuntu Phone India launch

Hello everyone, 

Got some fresh news on the launch of Ubuntu Phone devices in India.

Canonical just held a couple of hangouts with us, Ubuntu Insiders, to share some news on the launch of Ubuntu Phones in India.

BQ will be launching the same two European devices:

- BQ Aquaris E4.5:  http://www.bq.com/gb/aquaris-e4-5-ubuntu-edition    and 

- BQ Aquaris E5:  http://www.bq.com/gb/aquaris-e5-ubuntu-edition

with black variant in India on snapdeal site, 2 weeks after launch there will be an Ubuntu Store on Snapdeal where other Ubuntu products will be available.

We haven't got a precise date for the launch, but it will happen probably in the next two weeks.

For the Indian launch, Ubuntu Phone will not be released on devices with a specific Indian image but there will be specific apps content available from an Indian specific app store.

There will also be sources relevant to India to be put in aggregate scopes, you will be able to tag feeds so to put them in specific scopes, and tag scopes so to make them come out in the right aggregator scope.

For the moment there is not  specific content for India on the nearby scope, but  there will be a new cricket aggregator, Indian-specific news (NDTV, TOI) and a Bollywood scope.

Aggregate scopes allow brand owners and developers to bring their content to the end user.

Lately there has been news about BQ selling devices with Ubuntu Phone installed world wide, but for the US there are radio limitations so the device will not work everywhere, Canonical still has to find a partner to sell device in the US.

OTA's will be released with a 6 week cadence.

In the next OTA (OTA 6) there will be improvements for web apps (web apps will not have to be second hand apps for developers), accelerometer, push notifications, camera, connectivity, better social integration,  further plugins, power management and increasing performance.

Other work in progress is being able to watch videos and play media in scopes, have sound controls in the indicators, improve synchronization for calendar and contacts, improvements on bluetooth profiles (audio and monitor plugging in).

We are going towards convergence, we will probably have some convergence features in OTA 7.

Thats all for the moment :-).

Let's test Ubuntu Phone's Wi-Fi Hotspots (internet tethering) feature

In system settings under "cellular"
 the new "Wi-Fi" hotspot feature

Enabling Hotspot feature

Hot spot feature settings

We have a brand new Wi-Fi Hotspots (internet tethering) feature that's about to land in Ubuntu Phone with OTA-6.

I know a lot of persons that have been waiting for this feature eagerly.

So let's see how easy it is to help out testing it :-).

You can test this feature on  both Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) and Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) based phone images

First you need to enable "Developer mode" on your Ubuntu Phone, to do this you go to system settings, "About this phone", swipe down right to the bottom and tap on "Developer mode", on the Developer mode page turn on "Developer mode" switch:

Now let's connect the phone to your Ubuntu desktop PC with a USB cable and in terminal write:

citrain device-upgrade <silo #> <pin/password on device>

so for testing this feature the command will be:

$ citrain device-upgrade  46 0000

where 0000 is your device's pin or password and 46 is the silo number.

If you don't have the phablet-tools-citrain package installed you need to:

$ sudo apt install phablet-tools-citrain 

Now to start the hotspot: 

1. Ensure Wi-Fi is enabled.
2. Go to System Settings -> Mobile/Cellular​
3. Tap “Wi-Fi hotspot”
4. Set up your hotspot
5. Enable it.

If you hit an issue, here's how to report it:

- ​A client can't see the hotspot or the hotspot does not work:​
  * File against: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-network/+filebug

​​  

​* Please attach /var/log/syslog as well as ~/.cache/upstart/indicator-network.log​

- There's a problem with the System Settings UI:
  * File against: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-system-settings/+filebug
  * ​Please attach log files which you'll find here: ~/.cache/upstart/application-legacy-ubuntu-system-settings-.log​

Enjoy testing :-D.

UbuContest 2015

Canonical Ltd., the Ubucon Germany 2015 team, and the UbuContest 2015 team, are happy to announce the first UbuContest! We are excited to bring you an engaging, enlightening, community-organised competition, where the Ubuntu community brings forward innovative, creative and incredible apps, scopes and ideas for the converging Ubuntu world of the future. Contestants from all over the world will have until September 18, 2015 to build and publish their apps and scopes using the Ubuntu SDK and Ubuntu platform, starting today.

We know it's not all about shiny new apps and scopes! A great platform also needs content, great design, testing, documentation, bug management, developer support, interesting blog posts, news, technology demonstrations and all of the other incredible things our community does every day. So we give you, our community members, the opportunity to nominate other community members for prizes!

We are proud to present five dedicated categories:

1. Best Team Entry: A team of up to three developers may register up to two apps/scopes they are developing. The jury will assign points in categories including "Creativity", "Functionality", "Design", "Technical Level" and "Convergence". The top three entries with the most points win.
2. Best Individual Entry: A lone developer may register up to two apps/scopes he or she is developing. The rest of the rules are identical to the "Best Team Entry" category.
3. Outstanding Technical Contribution: Members of the general public may nominate candidates who, in their opinion, have done something "exceptional" with an Ubuntu-based device, Unity8, Mir, etc. on a technical level. Each jury member has one vote, and the nominated candidate with the most jury votes wins.
4. Outstanding Non-Technical Contribution: Members of the general public may nominate candidates who, in their opinion, have done something exceptional, but non-technical, to bring the Ubuntu platform forward. So, for example, you can nominate a friend who has reported and commented on all those phone-related bugs on Launchpad. Or nominate a member of your local community who did translations for Core Apps. Or nominate someone who has contributed documentation, written awesome blog articles, etc. The rest of the rules are identical to the "Outstanding Technical Contribution" category.
5. Convergence Hero: The "Best Team Entry" or "Best Individual Entry" contribution with the highest number of "Convergence" points wins. The winner in this category will probably surprise us in ways we have yet to imagine.

Our community jury panel members Laura Cowen, Carla Sella, Simos Xenitellis, Sujeevan Vijayakumaran and Michael Zanetti will select the winners in each category. Successful winners will be awarded items from a huge pile of prizes, including travel subsidies for the first-placed winners to attend Ubucon Germany 2015 in Berlin, four Ubuntu Phones sponsored by bq and Meizu, t-shirts, and bundles of items from the official Ubuntu Shop.

We wish all the contestants good luck!

Go to ubucontest.eu for more information, including how to register and nominate folks. You can also follow us on Twitter @ubucontest, or contact us via e-mail at contest@ubucon.de.

UbuContest details and story

Snappy Personal Desktop

It is still a WIP and it is also quite early, but if you want to try out Snappy Personal Desktop, here is how to do it:

$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash personal rolling --channel edge -o personal_x86.img --developer-mode
$ kvm -m 2048 -vga qxl personal_x86.img

the password for logging in is "ubuntu".

Oh, for this to work you need  Ubuntu 15.10 or at least ubuntu-device-flash from Wily.