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Ubuntu for Android

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Re: Ubuntu for Android

#41

Post by orbitingpluto »

Reminds me of doing the Debian chroot on the Nokia N8x0. That's been around for quite awhile. It's nice to be able to apt-get whatever you need. It's prohibitively slow to use on a device from 2007 though and overclocking is a bit risky and drains the battery quickly.

(Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I still use one of these things rather than the brand new 1.2 GHz dual core Android phone sitting next to it in my bag.)

I don't really see this panning out unless Ubuntu runs on the mobile screen as well. I'd also hope that the curated experience can be replaced with, well, anything else. Ubuntu is increasingly becoming a forced experience and reconfiguring things is a waste of time. Configuring something to how you want to use it is also a lot more educational than trying to figure out where to disable the new configuration.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#42

Post by bambax »

bguthrie wrote: post #17

This, or something like it, is the future: the computing device is portable, and adapts itself to the forms of input available. There's no reason why your display should have to be permanently attached to the device that drives it, and increasingly, it won't be. I don't know what the implications are for Ubuntu or Android. But genuine support for a first-class computing experience is one of the few things that would…

> This, or something like it, is the future: the computing device is portable, and adapts itself to the forms of input available

Maybe it is, but it's not the future I'd like best.

I would like to have a desktop in the cloud, and data in the cloud, and nothing in my pocket; nothing to lose or break or have to make sure it still has juice.

When I get somewhere to work (a client's, a café, a friend's, etc.), I log in to my cloud desktop using whatever dumb machine is available, and off I go. Everything I do is automatically saved, backed up, versioned, synchronized for me.

A portable computer is useful in the subway, but at the office? What benefits do we stand to gain from still having things run or be stored on a local machine?

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#43

Post by mrb »

You could push the ease-of-use even further with wireless HDMI, A2DP, and Bluetooth HIDs. Imagine: sit at a desk, without your phone even leaving your pocket. The wireless HDMI monitor, Bluetooth keyboard, and Bluetooth A2DP speakers automatically pair up with your phone. You just start using the device, eg. show a video to your friends, or start working. Stand up and leave. The phone unpairs itself from the monitor/speakers/keyboard, free to be used by the next person.

(If security is a concern, make this less automatic, eg. make the pairing require pressing a button on the phone.)

I have been waiting for precisely that concept to take off for years, namely using your cellphone as your portable computer.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#44

Post by movingahead »

vijayanands wrote: post #22

I strongly believe, this would be just the beginning. Mobile phones give you three things - (recently, Horsepower), Mobility and Identity. And there are a plethora of things that could be powered with a combination of the three. Weirdly, wrote about something like this, back in 2008. http://www.vijayanand.name/2008/10/the-future-of-living-how-... ... in a nokia centric world, be it.

Yes, this is what we hope the future looks like. But, for this to happen, the device manufacturers need to collaborate. We still don't have a universal phone charging adapter. Imagine how messy things will get if Apple, Samsung, Nokia etc each start making their own docks which are not compatible with others.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#45

Post by cbr »

nextparadigms wrote: post #5
dave1010uk wrote: post #2

Not 100% sure but I think this is a chroot. From the features page [0]: Ubuntu and Android share the same kernel. When docked, the Ubuntu OS boots and runs concurrently with Android. This allows both mobile and desktop functionality to co-exist in different runtimes. [0] http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android/features-and-specs

It looks great, but I still think Google needs to make it so when docked like this, what you see on the PC screen is the "tablet UI" of Android. It makes more sense, and you don't even have to waste resources running 2 OS's on a mobile processor.

When docked you have power, so "wasting resources" isn't much of a worry.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#46

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

xpaulbettsx wrote: post #31

If Microsoft was smart, this would be exactly how their Win8 tablets should work - plug it into a dock and it turns into a Desktop PC. Ubuntu and Microsoft are in an awesome place here that Apple is going to miss out on.

They already do... they have a Desktop, and you can plug in a mouse and Keyboard.

However, Windows on ARM only allows one Desktop app, Office.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#47

Post by cpeterso »

bguthrie wrote: post #17

This, or something like it, is the future: the computing device is portable, and adapts itself to the forms of input available. There's no reason why your display should have to be permanently attached to the device that drives it, and increasingly, it won't be. I don't know what the implications are for Ubuntu or Android. But genuine support for a first-class computing experience is one of the few things that would…

Desktop PCs will always outperform portable devices. I think future docking stations will include both a big display and a big processor. When you dock your phone, your phone's apps will be running on the dock's fast processor while accessing your personal data off the phone. When you undock your phone, your running apps will seamlessly migrate to the phone's processor(s).

This will be extremely asymmetric multiprocessing.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#49

Post by cbr »

yread wrote: post #32

So what do you do when the phone rings and you're doing something uninterruptible on the PC?

Ideally: pick the phone out of the dock and answer it. Your desktop session will pause until you return the phone to this (or another) dock. If what you're doing on the desktop is so important you can't pause it, don't take the call.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#50

Post by spinchange »

Is this going to be available to end users to install themselves, or is Canonical holding out for handset makers to respond to this and partner with them?

Sadly, since so many of the big Android guys are also in bed with or paying some kind of extortion to Microsoft, I would expect there to be some amount of pressure and possibly economic incentives for the big Android ODMs to NOT to ship this.

Beyond that, is any carrier going to be interested in offering subs Ubuntu? (Idk, maybe?) Put this into the hands of end users first even if it's a "sloppy" / hack-ish install. That's the way to get it out there.

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