KDE's Plasma Active Ported To Nexus 7

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KDE's Plasma Active Ported To Nexus 7

Posted by timothy on Saturday December 22, 2012 @02:20AM from the looking-handy dept.

sfcrazy writes "KDE developers have succeeded in running the touch-optimized Plasma Active Linux Distribution on Nexus 7. Earlier Ubuntu developers managed to create a installer for Nexus 7, but those builds also showed that Unity, in its current form, is not ready for touch-based devices. KDE has an edge here as they have optimized versions for netbooks, desktops and touch-based devices so a user doesn't have to make any compromises as one has to do with other DEs or shells which are focusing more in touch-based devices only." Here are detailed instructions on how to install it.

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Unity, in its current form, is not ready for... by BlackPignouf · 2012-12-22 02:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

Unity, in its current form, is not ready for touch-based devices
Well, it isn't ready for desktops either! :D
1. Re:Unity, in its current form, is not ready for... by blackest_k · 2012-12-22 03:18 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I tried it with ubuntu on an archos G9 101 and touch orientated devices need a different interface to a desktop. Scroll bars are very tricky selecting a tool from the toolbox in the gimp for example too small to be usable. Now if you plug in a mouse and keyboard its pretty much the same as a 10 inch netbook. Theres a good number of gui's for linux but maybe kde plasma might be the only workable one. Theres a few things that need rethinking such as arranging text boxes to be visible when you bring up a keyboard even bringing up a keyboard when it is needed also needed.
  In theory it should be possible to get tools such as gtk and qt to respond in a touch friendly way on a touch friendly device but there is a long way to go before you can just run what you want on a touch screen.
  
  --
  Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
2. Re:Unity, in its current form, is not ready for... by KugelKurt · 2012-12-23 15:03 · Score: 2
  
  KDE have worked a lot already splitting application core and UI in many components and thanks to Nokia's past ownership Qt turned into a first grade mobile framework with technologies like QtQuick. With QtQuick it's even possible to write adaptive UIs rather easily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2MjFw_Pewg
  Complete desktop support for QtQuick will still take a while (Qt 5.1 or 5.2, depending on progress) but with the modifications KDE already made throughout their stack one QtQuick-based UI for mobiles and one traditional QWidget-based one for desktops is already possible, as can be seen in Kontact - Kontact Touch, Calligra Suite - Calligra Active, etc.
  The other DE projects seem to try to find a compromise and make one UI that works on both device types (see Nautilus and the removal of not touch-friendly features) which is IMO the completely wrong approach.
  KDE's approach with separate UIs and shared back-ends seems more logical.
Full GNU/Linux distro by TejWC · 2012-12-22 03:00 · Score: 5, Informative

Just a FYI: this is not like the other "Ubuntu on Android" solutions that exist. Android is actually wiped out of this tablet and replaced with Mer (formally MeeGo) with KDE Plasma running on top. You also get "real" multi-tasking with this distro.
1. Re:Full GNU/Linux distro by TejWC · 2012-12-22 14:23 · Score: 2
  
  As opposed to Android (which requires you to save your state when your app is backgrounded), you don't need to write any code to make your app a "multi-tasking" app. Also, you can do things like view 2+ apps that are running at the same time.
Maybe I should try this. by blind+biker · 2012-12-22 03:20 · Score: 5, Interesting

I've been a KDE fan for a long time (sans the brief periods of horror, but the KDE guys at least can learn from their mistakes). The thing is, the user experience on the Nexus 7 is already downright decadent out of the box. If I install Plasma (which I have seen earlier), my Nexus 7 will be brain-meltingly awesome.

--
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
on an android tablet... by drankr · 2012-12-22 03:21 · Score: 2, Insightful

... all I want to run is Android. That being said, I'm interested to see that KDE tablet they've been announcing. There I'm sure plasma active will make all the sense in the world. Unity per se was not bad on a laptop, but they really blew it with that Amazon thing. That rendered Ubuntu totally ridiculous and unusable.
1. Re:on an android tablet... by rundgong · 2012-12-22 05:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  on an android tablet... ... all I want to run is Android.
  Why?
  Isn't that like saying "On a Windows PC all I want to run is Windows"? By that logic there would be almost no Linux PCs since most of them come with Windows pre-installed.
  
  Dual booting Android and a full Linux dist seems like a pretty nice feature on a tablet.
2. Re:on an android tablet... by lennier1 · 2012-12-22 06:23 · Score: 2
  
  Since modular tablets like the Asus Transformer are taking over the niche Netbooks filled a few years ago (portable computers for situations that don't require the power of a full-fledged laptop), it doesn't hurt to have more options in that segment.
3. Re:on an android tablet... by drankr · 2012-12-22 11:20 · Score: 2
  
  Then we’re both in luck. I can buy hardware that is tested and fully compatible with the software it ships with, and then use it that way, you can buy the same hardware and then put OpenBSD on it. The difference between us is you seem to be angry for some reason.
Well, Windows 8 sucks even more on desktops and... by G3ckoG33k · 2012-12-22 03:29 · Score: 4, Interesting

"Well, it isn't ready for desktops either! :D"
Well, Windows 8 sucks even more on desktops. The ENTIRE WORLD KNOWS that...
KDE is cool with touch-based devices, not perfect, yet better than Win 8! :)
KDE is probably the best option for anyone using mouse and keyboard.
Re:is it still so laggy? by Nerdfest · 2012-12-22 04:06 · Score: 2

I would guess that the underlying graphics support is not using hardware acceleration. It's certainly not optimized for the device and the KDE desktop in general is far more full featured than any of the tablet OSes. It's going to take both to be usable on that hardware.
Re:Well, Windows 8 sucks even more on desktops and by westlake · 2012-12-22 16:37 · Score: 2

Well, Windows 8 sucks even more on desktops. The ENTIRE WORLD KNOWS that...
I don't know that.
I am sixty five years old. living quietly in a small town in upstate New York. Geeks are thin on the ground here and I have never seen one in the wild. That is what attracted me to Slashdot.
I was almost fifty when I was gifted with a hand-me-down P75 Packard Bell and went online with Win 95, a 14K modem and dial-up AOL.
I completed the upgrade-in-place thing to Win 8 Pro on the desktop late last Sunday night.
I have since been moving freely and comfortably between Metro, Media Center, the Desktop and AMD's Android AppZone Player.
It has been easy and it has been fun learning the new system.
Re:Why by OolimPhon · 2012-12-22 23:16 · Score: 2

Why would you want to port an inferior desktop (KDE) to a Nexus 7
Perhaps because it doesn't have Google's pawprints all over it?