Ubuntu Linux Eyes Gadget Apps

An anonymous reader writes "Three developers have launched a project to turn Ubuntu into an embedded Linux distribution, according to a story on LinuxDevices.com. The resulting "EmbeddedUbuntu" OS aims to simplify the creation of embedded software for gadgets such as mobile phones, PDAs, and web tablets, and provide their owners with easier access to sophisticated open source desktop applications, such as multimedia streaming software. What do you think: will they call the mobile version Mobuntu?"

Comments

Official

[andrewbillits]

It appears to be an official Ubuntu project:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EmbeddedUbuntu

Re:Ubuntu? Why?

[MadJo]

Ubuntu indeed does not give you root access through the GUI and quite frankly it isn't necessary, running Linux as root is the same as running Windows as administrator, especially in the GUI!
At home, I run my Breezy as a normal user (I'm the only one on that machine), and I've never had to resort to the root user. 'sudo' _is_ enough for all your tasks, or if you prefer GUI password box 'gksudo'.

I don't understand why peopl gripe about this structure.. on the one hand they scream at the tops of their lungs that running admin in Windows is bad, but on the other hand, they do expect to have root (and nothing less) when running in Linux. Why?

Too ressource-hungry...

[Chaffar]

Well I use Ubuntu on the desktop and think it's probably the best OS in terms of efficiency (what you can do with it) Vs. effort (how much time you must spend in front of a screen to get your sound card/printer running)... but it is very ressource hungry compared to other *nix distros, so I don't see HOW they would like to translate their success in the desktop market to the phone/PDA market, where ressources are still a luxury.

Re:Hopefully it's not brown

[hey!]

Well, people who study this sort of thing say that colors and color combinations send different messages. Light colors suggest ease of use; dark colors suggest power.

Contrasting color combinations are attention getting and suggest fun. Saturated colors have the same effect. Think the baby isle of the toy store with its bright blues, reds and yellows. Adjacent, analagous color combinations, or tints and shades of the same color, suggest subtlety.

Decoding this, the typical Microsoft look is cool (as in temperature) and saturated, it is meant to be attention grabbing and suggest ease of use and fun, but it not so much fun and ease of use we are in Playskool territory. The Ubuntu look, in dark earth tints, suggests warmth, subtlety, and power, but not one that intrudes on the user's attention. It is a kind of power at rest. Perhaps a kind of latent power that the knowledgeable user can draw on. Now we know where Radagast got himself to, I guess. He works for Ubuntu.

My boss and I have frequent disagreements over color choices. He favors what to my eye are garish, oversaturated triadic color schemes. As a sales guy, getting attention is what he thinks of all day; however I believe that this Playskool look is tiresome for the users. I prefer neutral tones, shaded of gray, perhaps with subtle blue shades mixed in, although in truth I rather like a look of old, brownish red gall ink on parchment. My main motivation however is not aesthetic. I want background things to be readily seen, and when I choose a bright blue or red I want it to stand out. Too many bright colors produces visual confusion; you can see the background details but you eye is drawn aay from them; the foreground details are lost.