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Ubuntu For Tablets Announced
hypnosec writes "Keeping its promise from yesterday Ubuntu has announced an operating system for tablets dubbed 'Ubuntu for Tablets' that it says will work on tablets of any size. Advertised to work on both entry level tablets as well as high-end tablets with enterprise specifications, the operating system offers multitasking, safer sharing, instant launch of applications through the menu bar on the left, effortless switching between applications among other features." The tablet version of the OS will also be presented at Mobile World Congress later this month. Also featured at SlashCloud.
And still no OEM partners like with the Ubuntu TV that we were going to be able to buy by the end of last year. This is going fail and fail hard. Maybe Canonical will then just go away and stop trying to push spyware on people.
Canonical is no longer a linux company, it's a company that uses linux.
Being that Linux can never really be "owned" by any one company, isn't that a given?
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Considering it's CLEARLY not for desktops anymore.
advertisements?
Could Nokia have a tablet in the works? If so could they release them with Ubuntu or would their Microsoft agreement limit them to Windows on those as well?
I don't want either iOS or Android, but I might get a tablet with KDE Plasma Active.
I have a Kindle Fire around here somewhere that runs aftermarket android roms. I see no reason why I should turn my nose up at a linux distro, if it works well. That part, of course, remains to be seen.
Actually, no we don't know what you mean. You're attempting to draw some distinction where there is none.
Only a year or so ago, you could have said "If the Tablet won't run iOS then no one will ever buy it. It's an dead investment."
Today we have plenty of Android tablets gaining a footprint. Microsoft aren't going to let go of the market segment easily either, even after their late start and poor initial showing. I'm not sure why you think an Ubuntu tablet is doomed to failure.
What's going to be important is showing it can do things the others can't or won't. Some of the multi-tasking on their video looks impressive and may offer that differentiation.
Advertised to work on both entry level tablets as well as high-end tablets with enterprise specifications, the operating system offers multitasking, safer sharing, instant launch of applications through the menu bar on the left, effortless switching between applications among other features."
I would modify the above piece to read...
Advertised to work on both entry level tablets as well as high-end tablets with enterprise specifications, the operating system offers multitasking, safer sharing, instant launch of applications through the menu bar on the left, effortless switching between applications among other features just like Linux does. "
And we all know how Linux is [generally] doing, right?
In the video on their website, Mark Shuttleworth bears a striking resemblance to Steve Jobs.
I thought that was pretty amazing.
Can I have some of that crack you're smoking? Oh, you smoked it al already.
Shuttleworth seems to be inhabiting an alternate reality these days. Unfortunately, it's one with a Unity dock running down the left hand side.
My tablet-ish thing is an Asus transformer, and while I'm happy enough with Cyanogenmod, I have it set up to run linux in user space because sometimes I want it to be just a bit more of a real computer.
If Ubuntu for tablet could give me a reasonable front end and still let me write code (we're not talking serious compiling here, just hacking together a bit of python here and there, mostly) and give me cleaner access to system underpinnings, I'd be happy to switch. Well, okay, and reasonable functionality in other ways - power management, etc. I've yet to meet an Android distro that really lets me do what I'd like.
Everyone uses Linux. You're using it right now. Even Microsoft uses Linux extensively.
The simple fact of the matter is that Linux became *the* mainstream OS a decade ago, and you never even noticed.
Forgive my ignorance, I'm continental - is a wigger a person who wears wigs? I don't think he does, though.
No, I don't think we do. What exactly *is* a 'linux company'? Is Redhat a linux company? What about Oracle? Intel?
I think perhaps the distinction is, for example, Microsoft is a company that uses linux. They have to in order to test and develop Hyper-V, since its advertised to work with Linux. They use it.
A linux company is a company that makes money off of selling a distribution or application or services for Linux, making active changes back into the community. By that standard, all the companies I listed above, *including Ubuntu*, are 'linux companies'.
You don't have to like Ubuntu, but you can't deny they've done some really great things for the community. Nothing they do is 'closed source', and you can like or hate their development and future planning methods (I think you have an issue with Unity, thats where most of the Ubuntu haters come from), but they are open and friendly to the community.
on the desktop is here!! oh wait
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
I've got a Nook Color tablet, in part because its boot loader is not locked. I can pop in a microSD card with an arbitrary OS (that supports the hardware) on it, and no DRM or cryptography or "secure boot" stuff is there to prevent it from just loading up.
Today, I use this with a stack of microSD cards with different versions of CyanogenMod installed, to be able to rapidly test code on completely different versions of Android.
Anyone know if I'll ever (or soon) be able to boot up Ubuntu on this device the same way? (If so, I'm in, but I'm not buying new hardware just for this OS.)
The Canonical website wasn't very clear on this, so can someone comment: given that I have an Android tablet w/ a stack of GooglePlay apps, what happens if I install UbuntuTablet on my hardware? Can I log into GooglePlay & get my apps and credentials (what's paid for and so on) back?
I suppose I really should be asking what will happen if I try to put Ubuntu on my actual tablet-- Onda, A10 based :-( .
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
Now all someone needs to do is fork it into a version that doesn't send my every keystroke somewhere.
In the demo of Ubuntu for phones, a Samsung S3 is running Android and Ubuntu *at the same time*.
I don't know whether Android is hosting Ubuntu, or Ubuntu is hosting Android, or some third piece of software is hosting both. But the end result is that you plug your phone into an HDMI monitor, operate an Ubuntu desktop on the monitor using a bluetooth keyboard/mouse, and use Android on the handset at the same time. The Ubuntu stuff had hooks into Android so there were desktop apps that interacted with your Android contacts etc.
Fairly neat. I got the impression that it wasn't all as open-source as I'd like it to be -- ain't that the Android way?
Did they fix the keylogging yet?
If not, I don't care about anything they come up with.
Doomed to failure? No, not completely. But when you are this late to market and your competitors have entrenched and solid ecosystems, your stuff better kick some serious ass and be available on some seriously nice hardware and have a thriving app ecosystem ready to go. Otherwise? Yes, pretty much doomed. You end up struggling mightily like Microsoft is with Windows 8 Phone. It is actually a decent OS and the hardware is pretty much on par with other phones. But it doesn't come out and just blow the others in the market away and the app ecosystem is not really "there" yet (which is why I have an Android phone). So they languish unsold. A tablet competitor like Ubuntu would be the same way. Make it really rock out of the box and get some devs on it right now or it won't go very far very fast.
cinnamon colbert, did anyone bother to inform you that you're a retard, or did they give it up as a lost cause?
Linux is just a kernel, and it happens to be by far the most popular kernel on the planet. The kernel gets coupled with many different kinds of user space to create an operating system. The GNU user space is just one of these, and Android is another, both extraordinarily popular.
You missed just one line from your narrative:
"Dad, why are you a retard compared to all my friends' dads?"
Good grief, Mark! Those minimum specs are mad!
And here I was thinking that I could try it on my HTC Inspire 4G. Then again, I'm not sure if I'd be even able to boot something arbitrary from an SD card there.
iOS has existed since 2007. The iPad has been in existence for less than 3 years as a freestanding product. Don't fool yourself. However entrenched you think one operating system or manufacturer may be in this sector, all it takes is a little bit of rot and a solid kick to turn the entire thing onto its head.
Without this, I can't see much adoption. Who wants to buy a tablet if it has no apps? Linux has plenty, sure, but are they optimized for a tablet interface? Given that it's already a linux kernel, wouldn't it be possible to add the dalvik VM and run android apps? So far as I undrestand, this was the case with the previous Nexus 7 iteration of Ubuntu. Why was this changed? If they release this for Nexus 7, i'll probably run it off a USB stick if possible, but I won't flash it over android unless there is some compatibility there. Simply put, I've purchased Android apps, and I don't want to lose those.
I think so: you mean "I HATE NEW THINGS AND LOVE COMPLAINING AND BEING AN ELITIST ABOUT MY OPERATING SYSTEM!!!!!"
That about sum it up? Really, that's about all I got from your post. Reminds me of people who talk about "true americans."
Canonical is no longer a linux company, it's a company that uses linux.
Nah, they are a company that uses Linux users.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Well, it seems I misjudged to simpleness of my sentence.
I meant canonical used to be a great part of the linux ecosystem, fitted in with the open source culture and understood the os community and what sort of "features" would be hated. Now, not so much.
Elitist about my operating system? Couldn't be more wrong, running Win8 at home and win7 + ubuntu at work and I'm actually quite excited about the ubuntu phone.
Urgh... are we ever going to have an edit feature?
You didn't misjudge anything. You just didn't say ANYTHING related to that in your original sentence, there was absolutely no correlation to be made and anyone could've made up their own perfectly valid interpretation that had nothing to do with the ecosystem.
If you want to say something, say it. It's not fucking hard.
To put it as nicely as I can: A "wigger" is a fair-skinned fan of hip-hop culture.
I thought what I inferred was obvious. Therefore, I misjudged.
Ubuntu is not Android, so no. Not that it's impossible for Ubuntu to have an Android compatibility layer, but even if it did, it's unlikely Google would support it (ie the Play Store wouldn't be available.)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
true story, I know his dad.
Ubuntu runs on ASUS Transformer quite well. You might want to try it.
Linux is just a kernel, and it happens to be by far the most popular kernel on the planet.
Linux is just a monolithic kernel and as it happens, because monolithic kernels are operating systems, so is the Linux.
The kernel gets coupled with many different kinds of user space to create an operating system.
You are wrong, Monolithic kernel is a OS architecture what builds whole operating system in single address space and works like a single binary (can be modular with modules but at architecture level it is like single binary and modules needs to be attached to main binary to use them). For monolithic operating systems (like Linux aka Linux kernel) there is no other software involved. Monolithic architecture is the first one and oldest one for software what for decade(s) later were started to call as "operating system".
The story is totally different when it comes to much newer architecture what were promote to make older monolithic architecture obsolete, the Server-Client architecture whats basic idea is to slice monolithic operating system to multiple independent parts called as servers and all servers are controlled by very small microkernel what only implements critical functions of the monolithic operating system, while resto of needed OS functions are in servers. Every server implements specific OS function as independent program and can be ported and updated separately from other servers and microkernel.
Most people talk about Linux (and RMS as well) as it would be a Server-Client by its architecture but they don't have a clue about two different main OS architecture (nor they want to admit it as their lies would be called).
This is as Linux as Android is. Hell Android is probably more Linux this this.
I just dont understand why these mobile OS's keep wanting to force developers into a specific language. Android push's Java hard (ewe) sure you can use the NDK but from my perspective its not as straight forward as youd think. iOS push's Objective-C. and now Ubuntu mobile OS is pushing QML/Javascript/HTML5.
Sure you can make a webpage that does basic calculations or simple animations. But real raw data crunching within JS? seriously ? thats such a joke its not even funny. If all I wanted was a notepad, calender app, and a webbrowser then Id just continue using Android.
Show me a FFT JS implementation thats anywhere near as fast as C/C++. I write only in C/C++ and have zero interest in JS or Java, zero. Im not going to waste my time learning a new language that just anoy me.
Id love to see how JS interacts with low level stuff like gpio's, serial, usb etc. Oh there's a lib for that? what if there isnt... then what? wait out? thats not the point of open source, your supposed to be able todo whatever you want.
Linux imo is popular with developers because we can write whatever we want in whatever language we choose. Linux isnt supposed to force you into anything, why do all these linux mobile OS's feel the need todo so.
UDL
Or just make into a owners tablet instead of a rental as every other one out there is right now. You may have purchased it but you don't own it.
I don't know about you, but I don't think I know a single person who isn't running Linux a at this point. Sure a lot of them also run other OSes, but they all run Linux.
Canonical has had enough opportunities to learn from hardware mistakes that it might not make a bad Linux hardware company...
iOS (and app stores in general) is perfect example of vendor lock-in. My GF has an iPhone that she'd love to get rid of but she's spent the last 5 years buying apps for it. That's hundreds of dollars of apps. She'd rather get something non-Apple - especially in light of the fragility of the recent iPhone models, the majority of people I know who have one have broken theirs - but she feels this is too much of an 'investment' to walk away from.
Getting an iPad would be a no-brainer for anyone who already has an iPhone for the same reasons.
*cough* Ubuntu One *cough*
Google hasn't interfered with the Play Store running on things like Cyanogen Mod, as long as it's not bundled. Why would they do it here? Besides: Amazon has an android app store. What's preventing them from selling apps directly to Ubuntu users? It would benefit both Ubuntu and Amazon by having such a compatibility layer. It would be even nicer if Google could partner with Canonical so searching for an app through the lenses would yield results for both stores. Users could choose the cheaper price.
Agreed. I *just* tried out Ubuntu on my Nexus 7, and I promptly went back to cyanogen 10.1; it was very cool to be able to run basically full blown Ubuntu (and it's relatively speedy), but it's definitely not tablet-optimized, and there are too many little annoyances for me to want to keep it at the moment.
In its current iteration, Ubuntu on tablets seems geared more towards those who prefer using some sort of physical keyboard with their tablet. In that case, I can already see the usefulness. For those who want a tablet they can use while on the livingroom couch, or on their commute to work, Ubuntu isn't yet ready for tablet consumption.
LegendMUD
now tracking your fingertips...
I think squiggleslash's comment that Google is unlikely to support it is true; they don't support cyanogenmod, nor do they support any of their apps running on any modded versions of Android. Doesn't mean they're preventing it from happening, just means they're not officially backing it.
At this stage, it's probably not worth it for either Amazon or Google to work with Canonical on this type of support.
LegendMUD
To put it as nicely as I can: A "wigger" is a fair-skinned fan of hip-hop culture.
I think this clip from The Wire accurately illustrates that particular social phenomenon.
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Only Geeks will want to upgrade the OS on their tablet. Ubuntu is now out of the running for us Geeks.
I guess the "sensible" thing to do, then, is put UbuntuTablet on an SD card, boot from there, and see how GooglePlay and AmazonStore work out.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
I think that the tablet space is the same as the home computing space in the 80's. You had your C64s, your Amigas, Ataris, Apples, IBMs, Acorns and various other vendors machines. People's choices were not made about the OS, but if the machine met their needs by having the right games, the correct applications, compatibility with work, friends and family etc. People also expected that if they bought a different vendors machine, that they would have a different experience.
If I am half right, then there is room for other vendors to come in with products and be quite successful. . Of course, we didn't have the litigation and patent trolling so bad back then (although I do admit it exsisted)
. .
Google has played nice with CyanogenMod but they don't officially support it, and moreover they consider CyanogenMod a version of Android (because it is, it's AOSP plus some bits that don't affect compatability, not bits of AOSP in something else.) Google has been fairly hostile towards operating systems that have compatability layers but that aren't, essentially, Android systems.
They're right, in fact, to take on this policy. Google runs the Play Store not just for the benefit of users, but also developers who want to sell their apps. Developers do not want to support app sales to users who aren't running predictable versions of the Android operating system. It's bad enough, in many ways, that they have to navigate their way through "ICS + Sense" / "Gingerbread + Motoblur" type crap, actually having a situation where the apis don't necessarily do what they're expected to do adds another layer of awfulness.
The chances of Google supporting the Play Store under Ubuntu is close to zero. Amazon? Slight chance in that they distribute their store's APK to anyone who wants it, but it's notable that the Amazon App Store running under, say, an SDK image, rarely offers anything like the same range that it does on a real phone or tablet. In other words, they may also be uncomfortable supporting app sales to people with non-standard systems.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The same thing will happen as when you install Ubuntu Desktop on a machine with Windows 7- your Windows programmes will disappear. They are different operating systems- Android apps will almost certainly not run on it, and even if they did it would be very unlikely that you'd be able to simply install Google Play and go. As on a desktop, dual booting may be an option.
It is possible to run Linux (I've seen it done with Debian, but the principal should be universal) on Android in a chroot, using VNC to display the desktop environment. I see no reason you couldn't do this with the potential Ubuntu Tablet edition if you wanted, although obviously that's more technical effort. Google "Debian chroot" if you're interested.
Keep in mind that Ubuntu and Android are completely and intentionally unrelated OSes. It's like wanting all of your purchased Windows apps to run on OS X (and vice versa), or your Google Play apps on iOS devices. Some technical possibilities exist to do this, but those are hacks or workarounds.
I'm not saying that Android apps on Ubuntu shouldn't ever be possible, I just think it's silly to assume they *should* work just because this flavor of Ubuntu runs on tablets that were originally intended for Android. If you Boot Camp your macbook, there's no expectation that OS X apps will run on your bootcamped Windows install.
LegendMUD
Kernel and userland are android. The skin is from ubuntu.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I don't want either iOS or Android, but I might get a tablet with KDE Plasma Active.
Well most likely you'll get a tablet with Android which you'll have to wipe and then install KDE Plasma Active on, that's fine for you - and probably most of the readers of this site - but I see that as the major stumbling block when it comes to mainstream adoption.
iOS (and app stores in general) is perfect example of vendor lock-in.
That's the case with all platforms, Windows, OSX, desktop Linux distros, Android, etc... It would be great if app developers decided that if you purchase their app on one platform you got access to it on all platforms where it was available, obviously it's less financially viable for the developers and certainly less attractive to platform vendors but it would be nice ;)
Everyone viewing this web page is using Linux: The web host is probably using Linux, as well as the ISPs delivering the bandwidth.
As it happens, I'm writin this on an HP 2760p. A traditional tablet pc. It's currently running Ubuntu 12.10 and everything works reasonably well.
The reality is that we are in the midst of a very significant shift in computing, from desktop PCs to tablets and phones. Laptop and desktop sales are down, tablet sales are skyrocketing. Canonical is the only company focusing on Linux desktop computing. Unity is good and is getting better quickly. I honestly believe that they have the best approach to scaling the UI. Canonical is essentially pushing responsie design for the Linux desktop.
What other Linux distribution do you see pushing the end-user computing envelop? These guys are moving forward and should be celebrated and supported for doing so.
I look forward to Ubuntu for Tablets on my 2760p. Count me in!
I don't want either iOS or Android, but I might get a tablet with KDE Plasma Active.
There already is KDE running on Nexus 7 http://youtu.be/Bb7isMAmwW0
And who exactly just runs the linux kernel? nobody, dumbass.
What I've been doing recently is running it in user space, and yeah, that's great.
Is it possible to run it directly while preserving screen use, power management, and so on? It's been a while since I looked, but I seem to recall it being more than a little dodgy.
The things she "owns" aren't really there. They don't exist. It's the equivalent of a 1 or a 0 on a computer. She will never hold those things in her hand. She can walk away at any time. I love my Kindle, but I'm not buying Amazon everything for the rest of my life because I own the girl with the dragon tattoo. That's retarded.
Is she a game addict? are these "coin" investments? If they are, I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. I don't understand how you could possibly have hundreds of dollars worth of real apps. Does she always do a search for something and click on every one of them?
How do you even manage hundreds of dollars worth of apps on her phone? I've run through free apps and have about 100 in my phone now it looks go-awful and eats up an awful lot of space.
No one's being pedantic. Being pedantic would mean pointing out how you just used the word "inferred" when you meant "implied".
I don't know about you, but I don't think I know a single person who isn't running Linux a at this point. Sure a lot of them also run other OSes, but they all run Linux.
You're right, but certainly RMS's vision has failed thus far, the idea was control of the system and freedom for the user, but in virtually all the places we use GNU/Linux we, as users, don't have that control or freedom - though on some smartphones we do have total control and freedom.
I don't know about you, but I don't think I know a single person who isn't running Linux a at this point. Sure a lot of them also run other OSes, but they all run Linux.
Sure, but the RMS vision for GNU/Linux has largely failed, almost all the places - excluding some smartphones of course - that people use GNU/Linux they have no more freedom than if they used Windows or OSX, they don't have the freedoms or the control of the system that RMS professes is necessary. The place it really grants those freedoms is and control is on the desktop, which is where comparatively very few people actually use it.
The things she "owns" aren't really there. They don't exist. It's the equivalent of a 1 or a 0 on a computer. She will never hold those things in her hand.
This just in, we're redefining the concept of existence! Linux doesn't exist because it's the equivalent of a 1 or a 0 on a computer and you will never hold it in your hand.
This is really the major turning point for Canonical. They have a clear vision the gracefully goes from desktop to tablet and then phone and no other company has this but Apple. Google really screwed up early on by not becoming a majority stakeholder in Canonical and rolling Ubuntu (which they use internally on desktops already and have since it launched) into a Google branded desktop solution as an alternative to Windows. Now they're trying to pull a fast one and do Chrome OS which isn't sufficient for daily desktop use despite their marketing. Today it's about the whole ecosystem not just tablets and phones...
wtf is with /.? why didn't that post come through before? :S
The Samsung S3 can operate as a USB host (alas, it has a micro-B, not micro-AB connector; non-standard cable time). Might well have a USB keyboard, plus powering the phone.
Will Ubuntu dual-boot with Android on the Transformer (I have a TF101). Or will its user-space coexists with Androids on a shared kernel? Endless questions about interoperability ensue.
There can be distinction: a company that actively develops Linux, versus one that just picks it up as a module and does not contribute.
I thought what you inferred was obvious too. Don't feed the trolls. =)
At the moment it is a little dodgy. I'm waiting until at least 13.04 or 13.10 before installing it on my prime.
AndroWine?
YMMV
The problem here is that reviewers don't understand it, just like they didn't understand Maemo/Meego.
If we are lucky, you have a full-blown Ubuntu/Debian below the surface, meaning you can do everything with it you can also do with a Debian box. Now _that_ would be a big advantage over the rest. You'd just make it boot into some sane user interface and do everything you want to do.
It would be a real Linux then.
Yes, and all the DSL routers, a bunch of the DSLAMs, probably not the core routers so much (they're more likely to be Cisco, or Juniper - but Juniper uses FreeBSD), any wifi bridges. Maybe someone is reading this on a modernish digital TV rather than a monitor - oh look, Linux, right there in the TV!
Year of Linux on the desktop? Don't make me laugh. It's been the *decade* of Linux in devices though.
The Wintel duopoly has finally met it's match, and it is LinArm. Or, Android+Arm. Or Android+X. Or XXX. Whatever, wintel it is no longer.
Sadly, no, we're not.
That is all.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
one that just picks it up as a module and does not necessarily contribute
FTFY
So, they're a Distro? Wow... [sarcasm]That's news to me[/sarcasm]
Last time I checked Distro's weren't required to be active members of the Kernel development community. The point of a Distro is *exactly* to pick up the Kernel like it's a module and throw some stuff on top of it. Some of them, though not all of them, have a few developers actively contributing back to the Kernel. Though this isn't exactly out of the kindness of their hearts... Usually it's because they want to use something that's broken/buggy or add some new feature.
I really don't see the point of owning a tablet. There are literally no situations I can think of in which it would be genuinely useful to me to own one.
I suppose in five or ten years time, die-hard CLI users will be laughing at die-hard WIMP GUI users who once sneered at the CLI and called it outdated or saw it as overly geeky. Newly-estranged desktop computing users will struggle to come to terms with the fact that the majority of the general public have started to see their 'traditional' GUI systems as "weird" and "hacker-like", what with their small text, elaborate methods for issuing commands and confusing screens such as one with multiple different panes of information showing at once.
Not true, to a given definition of "userland". The Android kernel is installed, as is the full Android userland (UI, Dalvik, Google Play, you name it). When you plug it into a docking station, the Android userland goes away and the Ubuntu userland (Unity, GTK+, Nautilus, etc.) appear. The kernel is the only shared resource.
So two userlands are installed in parallel. They don't "go away" and "appear". Its just a matter of fiddling with PATH and loader paths.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Very true; I was putting it whimsically for comic effect.
The point is that, excluding the kernel (which is the Android kernel, as opposed to the mainstream Linux kernel), Ubuntu On Android is proper, full Ubuntu- not just a Unity-themed Android skin.