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RemixOS – Android for the desktop

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Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#171

Post by ocdtrekkie »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #116
bobajeff wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"if not for Sundar Pichai killing off Android's laptop project" This is the first I'm hearing of this. Do you happen to know what the project was called or anything more specific that I might be able to look up?

Not any sort of name, but an article on Sundar specifically cited that it was one of his early moves after taking over Android. I can dig up the source if you want it, but there's not a lot of additional info there, unfortunately.

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-06-24/googles-sund...

"And Pichai killed a project to develop a version of Android for touchscreen laptops—it overlapped with Chromebooks—shifting attention toward tablets and new categories such as smart TVs and wearable computers."

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#172

Post by smrtinsert »

nextos wrote: post #15

As a hardcore Linux user, I'm really torn about Android. On the one hand, it has created a nice software ecosystem by pushing a consistent set of APIs. Linux desktop applications were never remarkable except for a few ones. I think fragmentation into a myriad of frameworks led to this. The only 2 X11 applications I use are firefox and zathura. On the other hand, too much stuff has been redone in Android. It's too for…

Please kill package management. Android brilliantly bundled reusability within the app concept itself via Intents. It's safer, centrally managed, and way easier for the user.

A new Android OS and your favorite software is installed in minutes compared to traditional desktop oses and their awful combination of command line and gui crap.

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#173

Post by pier25 »

RivieraKid wrote: post #49

Well I'm sceptical you can make a good desktop OS by modifying Android. Major desktop OSs (including their ecosystems!) have been developed for decades, there's a lot of depth in their functionality, flexibility, different use cases. Two of the main issues are that apps designed for Android touch devices suck on desktop and that the Android SDK is very limited compared to what deskop OSs offer. Don't get me wrong, I…

I agree, but if you consider the success of Chrome OS it's clear that for a lot of users a simple OS is more than enough for their computing needs.

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#174

Post by teekert »

nextos wrote: post #15

As a hardcore Linux user, I'm really torn about Android. On the one hand, it has created a nice software ecosystem by pushing a consistent set of APIs. Linux desktop applications were never remarkable except for a few ones. I think fragmentation into a myriad of frameworks led to this. The only 2 X11 applications I use are firefox and zathura. On the other hand, too much stuff has been redone in Android. It's too for…

Like Ubuntu Snappy Core?

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#175

Post by pussinboots »

zer0zzz wrote: post #111

Why isn't anyone talking about how the hardware for their ultra tablet is literally the Surface 2? Did they get a bunch of unsold inventory or did they just have manufacturing rights to the design?

probably leftover inventory still interesting that this kind of a deal took place with m$ involved

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#176

Post by bmaupin »

zer0zzz wrote: post #111

Why isn't anyone talking about how the hardware for their ultra tablet is literally the Surface 2? Did they get a bunch of unsold inventory or did they just have manufacturing rights to the design?

Not only that, it's cheaper: $300 for the Remix Ultratablet (64 GB) and $350 for the equivalent Surface 2 on Amazon.

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#177

Post by heywire »

jmnicolas wrote: post #131
digi_owl wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. The problem is that the magic word "container" obscured what is actually being done (cgroups, namespaces, iptables, etc etc etc). Its one more thing that result in confusion between user and computer about the state of the machine.

It's a bit extreme, if you follow your logic why even bother with an OS ?!

I prefer to encode my bits on the disk with a needle and magnet, thank you very much...

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#178

Post by masmullin »

frik wrote: post #96
nextos wrote: post #15

As a hardcore Linux user, I'm really torn about Android. On the one hand, it has created a nice software ecosystem by pushing a consistent set of APIs. Linux desktop applications were never remarkable except for a few ones. I think fragmentation into a myriad of frameworks led to this. The only 2 X11 applications I use are firefox and zathura. On the other hand, too much stuff has been redone in Android. It's too for…

Isn't RemixOS required to release their source code? It's based on open source Android (incl GNU GPL parts) and yet doesn't publish the code. They shrug off such questions in their official forum.

Android is mostly Apache licensed. Meaning OEMs don't have to publish their changes.

http://source.android.com/source/licenses.html

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#179

Post by h4waii »

pekk wrote: post #108
voltagex_ wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every year I go look where Maemo/Meego/Mer/Tizen (whatever it's been rebranded as) got up to. The N900 remains the greatest phone I ever owned. I had high hopes for Jolla but I doubt they're really out of their financial troubles - they owe me a very expensive tablet, currently. By the time it's delivered it will be obsolete.

Swordfish is great on a phone. The picture for Jolla looks different if you are not in the US speaking from an Android/iPhone centric point of view. There is really nobody else taking Linux on mobile this seriously.

...

It's Sailfish.

Re: RemixOS – Android for the desktop

#180

Post by zer0zzz »

bmaupin wrote: post #176
zer0zzz wrote: post #111

Why isn't anyone talking about how the hardware for their ultra tablet is literally the Surface 2? Did they get a bunch of unsold inventory or did they just have manufacturing rights to the design?

Not only that, it's cheaper: $300 for the Remix Ultratablet (64 GB) and $350 for the equivalent Surface 2 on Amazon.

Yeah and sadly ms totally screwed up with rt when they had no available porting strategy for real applications to arm. And now rt is basically on life support and the rt devices have locked down bootloaders as far as I've heard which makes them kind of an even worse investment as far as buying a device goes.
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