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Ubuntu on tablets

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Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#161

Post by spyder »

mtgx wrote: post #64
pajju wrote: post #53

They learnt everything from others by launching late, but added most of the good design patterns. Great work all together. Worth mentioning, Ubuntu is emerging as perfect web platform with tight integration with web-services. "And now web applications are first class citizens too, wow. I was waiting for this to happen fast." At this stage they need: 1. More Partners. They must have strong tie-ups with OEM partners, w…

2. The apps will remain compatible, just like on Android, but I fear they will give too much control over to carriers. From what I understand they want to give "total branding power" over a device to carriers. So we'll see how they go about that without pissing off the user. If it's subtle enough it might work. But I still hate the idea of giving even more power (again) to the carriers. The carriers should be powerle…

Ubuntu design guidelines: http://design.ubuntu.com/apps

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#162

Post by phireph0x »

I've used Ubuntu on the desktop since 2004 so this is an exciting development. From the video and screenshots the design is really polished and the UI/UX well-thought-out. I really want to see this succeed but have doubts. The mobile market is already crowded with competition from Apple and Android, not to mention second-tier players (Microsoft, Blackberry) gunning for a larger slice of the pie.

Even if Ubuntu achieves a modicum of success, their entry into the market means yet another platform that mobile developers must target (I'm not counting web apps since those can be supported equally with minimum effort across platforms). It's a wonder that Ubuntu chose to create another binary mobile development platform instead of adopting Java (leveraging the skills of existing Android devs) and calling it good enough.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#163

Post by noahl »

WrkInProgress wrote: post #154
emehrkay wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the transformations that the OS goes through based on device, very much like responsive web design. My favorite feature is running phone apps on the side with the Windows8-like split view, great idea. I wonder how that translates to portrait.

If they ape the Windows 8 snap view completely, it won't work in portrait. It will be interesting how they deal with installing phone apps on the tablet. They might just allow carte blanche or might require a developer to opt in to avoid issues with phone specific apps being unusable on the tablet.

What issues would they have with phone-specific apps, other than possibly lacking a microphone and cell plan? If their security model makes the developer list what sensitive APIs (like voice and location) they use, then they already have enough information to disable apps that depend on having a microphone.

If you mean having apps work on bigger screens, it looks like side stage lets them keep phone apps at a reasonable phone size. They might require opt-in to make phone apps fullscreen - that seems reasonable. (Although it sounds like one of their goals with QML is to make it easy to write apps that grow with screen size, so they're hoping that almost all apps will be able to do it.)

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#164

Post by barrkel »

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #130
rufugee wrote: post #21

As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm now using Cinnamon as a desktop environment. I really, really wanted Unity to work, but I've had continued performance problems which make it ultimately unusable for me. I understand Ubuntu's need to turn a profit, but I really wish they'd focus on making Unity stable and performant before chasing down these other opportunities... Disclaimer: I run three monitors, so I'm probab…

When Unity came out, I reverted to gnome-classic for a while and tried Cinnamon, but found it to be the least stable - my system would occasionally freeze. Now I'm on Unity. It has improved to the point that it meets my needs (granted, I've only got one or two monitors running at a time) and stays out of the way. (I've got Docky running, which I find makes it easier to switch between applications.) I have also come t…

I have to use Ubuntu at work, and Unity took a lot of customization to be workable.

Compiz regularly crashes, but thankfully it automatically restarts. Now I don't need to panic when the whole screen stops updating.

The "snap" window dragging feature is broken in the presence of multiple monitors; as you drag the mouse across the monitor boundary, the mouse pointer becomes momentarily disconnected from the window location, so that you are moving the window as if by a long invisible stick, not by its original grab location.

The overlay scrollbars don't interact well with Eclipse; JUnit running tests outputs file paths that Eclipse turns into hyperlinks, and the hyperlink mouseover stops the scrollbar from from being triggered when the pointer approaches the child window border. The overlay scrollbar thing doesn't seem to have been fully thought through.

Gnome-terminal is one of the slowest terminals I've ever used; it would literally slow down development by blocking on log-verbose tests. I've gone back to my old stalwart of rxvt.

I don't understand the difference between Windows key and Alt key command prompts. I've given up trying to figure out how to register my various user-directory installed applications with the taskbar thing. So I've stopped using both, and now I start all my apps from the terminal, with shell scripts to redirect output if they are chatty.

The Alt-Tab task switcher is broken just like the OS X one is, switching between its concept of applications rather than top level windows. This means alt-tabbing between Eclipse and Firefox would bring the Downloads window to the fore, leaving the actual browser hidden behind maximized Eclipse. Usability disaster. With some difficulty and playing around with preference managers that come with warning labels, I've rebound the keys to a slightly more usable window switcher.

Oh, and the fun I had when I tried to bind Ctrl+Alt+F12 to a command in Eclipse; took me back decades to switching terminals with Alt+F keys.

In short, Ubuntu Unity is horrifically bad. Linux is completely inappropriate for the desktop, unless you are so inept you only use a browser (get an ipad instead), or you are sufficiently skilled you think nothing of switching window managers. The trough in the middle is very ill served.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#166

Post by muuh-gnu »

andmarios wrote: post #51

I am a bit tired of how much Ubuntu gets promoted compared to other Linux based solutions. Here is a video of KDE's Plasma Active running on a Nexus 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7isMAmwW0 It is a real use video, there aren't any fancy photos, there isn't any CG in the video in contrast with Canonical's page. Plasma Active is being actively developed for about 2 years now and KDE 4 was developed from the ground…

> Here is a video of KDE's

KDE commited suicide with 4.0. After that, whatever they produced was basically irrelevant, because nobody could take them seriously any more. Nobody is going to bet anything on KDE because of the fear that they could pull another "lets throw away a perfectly working 3.5 and rewrite everything from scratch" again. The same applies to Gnome also. Gnome could have avoided the fate by learning from KDE's mistakes, but they screwed up even worse, unimaginably worse.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, and so on. They are the picture-perfect example of the saying in effect. For all practical intents and purposes, KDE and Gnome are dead now.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#167

Post by gph »

pekk wrote: post #149
naner wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one glaring flaw: you have to hold it This isn't really a flaw, tablets aren't going to replace computers they are just another computer that is used differently. They are better for reading and passing around. Products like the Surface Pro I think are overselling the form factor.

I'm not sure why Microsoft deserves special criticism here. Why isn't iPad overselling the form factor?

I'm fairly certain it's because the Surface has the keyboard-kickstand thing. Ipad doesn't. A few Asus models do, and perhaps some others I'm not aware of, but given all the advertising of it the Surface is the most notable.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#168

Post by ajross »

mtgx wrote: post #64
pajju wrote: post #53

They learnt everything from others by launching late, but added most of the good design patterns. Great work all together. Worth mentioning, Ubuntu is emerging as perfect web platform with tight integration with web-services. "And now web applications are first class citizens too, wow. I was waiting for this to happen fast." At this stage they need: 1. More Partners. They must have strong tie-ups with OEM partners, w…

2. The apps will remain compatible, just like on Android, but I fear they will give too much control over to carriers. From what I understand they want to give "total branding power" over a device to carriers. So we'll see how they go about that without pissing off the user. If it's subtle enough it might work. But I still hate the idea of giving even more power (again) to the carriers. The carriers should be powerle…

It's an open source OS. How is "carriers should be powerless" compatible with "users should have all the power?". The carriers are downstream users...

Now, I'm all in favor of interoperability requirements and limits on redistribution that infringes on freedom (c.f. automatic patent grants, antitivoization, etc...). But for branding? I just don't see it. If I, personally, am allowed to reskin my Ubuntu device, surely Verizon must be also, no?

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#169

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

bitsoda wrote: post #42

I still don't understand the tablet form factor. I concluded that it's not for me some time ago, but am waiting for the general population to come around to one glaring flaw: you have to hold it. For me, it doesn't matter how light a tablet is. A five pound laptop will always feel lighter since it will effectively weigh nothing because it's always on some kind of platform during use, either my lap or a flat desk/tabl…

I still don't understand the laptop factor. You are supposed to stay in the same place because the computer can't move, you can't either. Because the computer can't jump, you can't jump.

I use to go outside and work on the go on the field or lab, standing up, with a laptop you must sit down for working, non sense for me(we are bipeds, we designed for standing up a big part of the time, when we sit our bodies metabolism change, we become less active). I can talk with other people and show things on my tablet just moving my hand, or the tablet where the person is. With a laptop the computer does not move so I HAVE TO MOVE THE OTHER PERSON!

I use arms for holding my tablet in the car, in the lab, and a gorilla one for the field that I could attach to anything(a tree, any structure), and a backpack when I don't use it.

I just need one tablet which I could do real work, run UNIX programs, and add a pixel qi display for working under the sun, and I will have my dream machine.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#170

Post by tosseraccount »

pekk wrote: post #155
tosseraccount wrote: post #67

This is a winner for me if 1) It actually runs on hardware, it's not just a concept 2) I can attach a keyboard 3) I can run a bash shell and the unix utilities.

If you want an OS which runs on hardware and allows you to drive bash with a keyboard, you could get a laptop and run any flavor of Linux on it.

All laptop keyboards are bad. I just can't type as fast on them and all the keys are in the wrong place and it's easy to mis-type on them. It's just not comfortable. A good keyboard is a 100% productivity boost. Why get a laptop and put a keyboard on it when I can just get a good Linux tablet and put a real keyboard on it, like a model M IBM old school keyboard and get some work done.
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