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Ubuntu for Android

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Re: Ubuntu for Android

#81

Post by __alexs »

bambax wrote: post #42
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 t…

> What benefits do we stand to gain from still having things run or be stored on a local machine?

Security.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#82

Post by javajosh »

bambax wrote: post #42
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 t…

> I log in to my cloud desktop using whatever dumb machine is available, and off I go.

Unfortunately there is no way to verify that that machine is actually "dumb". Fundamentally this is because modern computation and storage are microscopic phenomena. Even today we take it as an act of faith that our freshly produced electronics only do what the manufacturers say - and this is an ongoing problem for US defense contractors that outsource component manufacture to China.

This problem is also experienced by travelers who expect a "dumb browser" at the internet cafe, when in fact they are being key logged.

> What benefits do we stand to gain from still having things run or be stored on a local machine?

There are a few, such as statefulness that is maintained even without network connectivity. But the big one is that, presumably, "your" device is more trustworthy than a dumb terminal because, at the very least, you haven't acted to subvert your own security (although even this is often not the case).

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#83

Post by rbanffy »

mrb wrote: post #43

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/…

Just be careful with thermal output. If you make your phone work this hard, you'll get your leg burned.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#84

Post by javajosh »

sskates wrote: post #77
cpeterso wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 multiproce…

"Desktop PCs will always outperform portable devices" That doesn't mean portable devices won't replace them. Laptops began to replace desktops a few years ago, the same way PCs replaced mainframes.

That's right: once a certain threshhold of compute performance is reached, the excess is only useful for specialists and gamers.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#87

Post by cs702 »

I can see this working really well for younger users, non-power-users, and non-techies who want to carry around their desktop environment and whose needs are met by web apps like Google Docs.

I can also see its potential in developing countries where many people have a phone and a TV but not a PC.

The medium-term goal is sort of obvious: Ubuntu running on the phone with the ability to display Unity on its own tiny screen or on larger external displays and allowing the user to interact with it via touch or via external input devices like keyboards, mice, etc.

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#88

Post by lhnn »

Shut up and take my money. This is what I've been dreaming of since I got my smartphone. Why should I even have a netbook for general purpose computing? I want to go anywhere with my MID (mobile internet device).

Re: Ubuntu for Android

#89

Post by mrb »

morsch wrote: post #76
mrb wrote: post #43

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/…

To me, that seems like a lot of trouble to share a relatively trivial amount of hardware. Hardware which is optimised for different, fairly specific circumstances, incidently.

It's not sharing the device's hardware that matters, but the device's data. All your data is either on the phone (pictures, etc), or available through the phone which is always on and always authenticated to the "cloud" (Android Gmail contacts, emails, etc).

The future of computing is either that (using your cellphone as a computer), or putting 100% of your data on the cloud (so you can access it from any device). But the former has the advantage that data can be cached on the device (pictures, contacts), therefore it does not require permanent Internet access so you can work even when offline.

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