Sailfish Community News, 24 March, Games

[dcaliste]

Given the delay to the 4.4.0 release (of which more below), alongside this challenging situation, it’s likely that we will also see fewer Sailfish OS releases this year as well.

I must admit that I skip part of the game description, so I may have missed the details of the delay of 4.4 ; but it seems to me that these details are currently missing.

we’ve also decided we need to focus our resources, particularly to tackle some of the engineering challenges which have for example been holding up the next Sailfish OS release.

I don’t know the internal situation of Jolla, but focussing more on engineering is always good news ; -)

As a result, we’re planning to reduce the number of community-related activities

Ah, that’s a sad side-effect in the end, but I can understand that sparsity of resources requires decisions to be made.

a cut-back version of the fortnightly newsletter.

To keep it afloat during this period, we may try to get more community contributions. Would you welcome a recurring section taking the form of a digest of the previous 15-days in term of commits, PRs and activities in github.com/sailfishos repositories ? Or reviewing it would be too time consuming ? That’s what I’m interested in, software engineering, so I would be willing to do it ; but maybe some other community members may provides topics they are familiar with…

[poetaster]

@flypig

Simon Tatham’s Puzzles

I started on a WebView version of this. Coming soon.

The godot efforts of @sashikknox are worth mentioning! If current SDL problems get ironed out, there will be more games.

[flypig]

@dcaliste

I may have missed the details of the delay of 4.4 ; but it seems to me that these details are currently missing.

The reference was to the 4.4.0 EA release, rather than the delay; sorry for the ambiguous phrasing. But, to clarify, we’d hoped to get the 4.4.0 EA release out sooner. This isn’t implying any more delays between EA and full release.

@dcaliste

Would you welcome a recurring section taking the form of a digest of the previous 15-days in term of commits, PRs and activities in github.com/sailfishos repositories ?

Yes!

@dcaliste

Or reviewing it would be too time consuming ?

No!

This is a great idea @dcaliste, and I for one would be very happy to see it. If you want a regular slot for this, then it’s yours.

@dcaliste

but maybe some other community members may provides topics they are familiar with…

I’d be very happy to receive contributions on anything that interests the community. We’ve had great contributions in the past (including from you of course @dcaliste) and reviewing them is not a problem. Ping me if you have something. The only requirement is that they ideally arrive the Friday before the newsletter goes out.

[thigg]

Its a very understandable decision that you need to cut down on community communication to focus your efforts, but still very sad.
I wish you the clearest minds for engineering then

[cartron]

I also like a lot @dcaliste proposition to sum up what happen on the SFOS Github!

[BruceTanner]

@poetaster

@flypig

Simon Tatham’s Puzzles

I started on a WebView version of this. Coming soon.

I look forward to this! Can I cheekily take this opportunity to suggest you particularly look at the puzzle called “Filling” because the andoid version isn’t usable (the little number buttons do not appear) and neither does the web version (relies on a keyboard for number input). (XA2.) Thank you in advance!

[BruceTanner]

“Patience Deck… The game is easy to play on small-screen devices.”
I didn’t find it so - on my XA2 the numbers on the cards too small for me to read. But I am getting old.

Compare with the “Basic” card face in Simple Solitaire Collection by Tobias Bielefeld on F-Droid (no nasties).

[dcaliste]

for one would be very happy to see it. If you want a regular slot for this, then it’s yours.

I’m going to try to follow the rythm !

Here is an example of what I could provide (the friday before the community letter), summarizing the last day activities:

dcaliste/sailfishos-digest/blob/master/20220331.md

The idea is to complete such MD files regularly from day to day during the past 15 days before sending them to you, @flypig. Do you think the format and the content would fit in the letter ?

[flypig]

@BruceTanner

on my XA2 the numbers on the cards too small for me to read.

There are different card styles which may be worth trying (Pulley menu > Options & Rules > Pulley Menu > Common settings > Card style). The “Simplified” cards are much clearer, and depending on the game, playing in landscape may also help.

[flypig]

@dcaliste

Do you think the format and the content would fit in the letter ?

I think it would work nicely; let’s try it

[poetaster]

@BruceTanner

Filling

got it. Now to consider building the front end in qml. hmmm.

[poetaster]

I also think this is a great idea. I would be a regular reader, at least.

[KuroNeko]

@flypig

As a result, we’re planning to reduce the number of community-related activities we’re actively involved in. This will mean a pause to our long-running community meetings, and a cut-back version of the fortnightly newsletter. We’re also likely to be less active on the forum than we have been up to now.

Can we have some Jolla people hang out at least without answering any questions in the suspended meetings? I think it is good to be able to talk to some of you at least and it should reduce the effort for those meetings quite a bit, I hope, so maybe that is an acceptable intermediate solution. I.e. just half an hour to talk about stuff/chat? I really enjoy those community meetings!

[cyberlyra]

I hope that taking a break community leading for a bit will help you get VoLTE activation working!! This is my most sought after feature and I am crushed that it is not included in 4.4.0. At the risk of sounding like a broken record… please, please fix this! Jolla claims it wants to expand to the US this year — without that feature your product is dead in the water as none of the Sony open handsets are compatible with US 5G bands, 4G is going VoLTE-only, and they are shutting the 3G networks. Currently your lead users are facing a system shutdown that will basically brick Jolla devices - already my most reliable access is now 2G. I am still holding out hope that Jolla will come through…please please come through!! And let us know how we can help you!

[nephros]

Something like a “What’s new in Chum” would be nice in addution to the github digest.

[nekron]

@flypig

We feel that we’ll be better off serving you all by focusing our effort on getting through this tricky time and maximizing our engineering and development activity.

First thanks for the honest words to community about the current situation and what actions Jolla is gonna do or plan for the time coming.

I’ll also second that development efforts are much needed besides any political situation to get SailfishOS back into the 20’s instead of hanging around in the 10’s (Qt framework?).

There are big challenges to come and better get things done right now than wasting time for meetings (however meetings are great to get in direct contact with Jolla devs and community).

I think it’s fine to deploy three to four updates per year if a bunch of new features and upgrades will be added.

Just my 0,02 € …

[sashikknox]

not Godot only
my favoriteis Quake2 port )

[rinigus]

@flypig: Heebo is available at Chum as well (all arch/sfos versions combos) - Show sailfishos:chum / heebo - SailfishOS Open Build Service

[poetaster]

Of course! How could I forget! Shame, shame.