Ubuntu ported to the Nexus 7

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTIxMTA

by onosendai • 14 years ago

121 66 14 years ago

mariusmg• 14 years ago

OK...but why ? It's not like Unity is a good fit for a 7" tablet.

densh• 14 years ago

Very simple use case: connect keyboard and mouse and you'll get portable linux workstation. It's a pity that there is no hdmi out but you shouldn't expect a lot from $200 tablet. As a bonus you'll have lots of open source packages (including various development tools) that will run just fine on this relatively powerful hardware. Most of the user-friendly ubuntu apps won't be usable without a mouse. There are also lots of keyboard-oriented applications that might be fine with just a keyboard.

ConstantineXVI4• 14 years ago

As is, the N7 works just fine for me as a SSH terminal to a proper Linux machine in a pinch. Had to hack (or more precisely, hack the hacks in) ConnectBot[0] a bit to make it recognize modifier keys normally on BT keyboards, but not too bad overall.

[0] https://github.com/ConstantineXVI/connectbot

levesque2• 14 years ago

Yeah, this is about the only reason I'd be interested in such an OS (the switch to a linux workstation with just a mouse/keyboard). I don't think Canonical has the manpower to produce a polished OS like Android Jellybean. Oh well, it'll be interesting to follow.

jiggy20116• 14 years ago

Any idea if this can be dual booted with Android/Ubuntu?

I've been wanting a lightweight notebook and a tablet computer for a while now and I'm on a limited budget. This could do that perfectly.

ovi256• 14 years ago

You mention HDMI out. $100 chinese tablets have it [1]. Arguably they don't have the same screen and quality battery as the Nexus 7.

1. http://www.ainolstore.com/ainol-novo-7-mars-cortex-a9-androi...

nickpresta• 14 years ago

HDMI out is done via MHL adapter: http://www.amazon.com/Menotek-Adapter-IMPROVED-Protocol-Sens...

james-skemp2• 14 years ago

For what it is, I personally think the Nexus 7's OS is perfect for the device. It's been years since I've played with Ubuntu, and this potential announcement probably isn't going to change that.

And is Ubuntu now going into touch devices? Honest question: How is this different than throwing Windows onto something like this?

ConstantineXVI4• 14 years ago

AFAIK; an eventual move into touchscreens has been one of the justifications for Unity. And since you mentioned it, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw WinRT get hacked up on the N7 at some point, given that it and the Surface are packing the same chipset.

james-skemp2• 14 years ago

Thanks. Like I said, I haven't kept track of Ubuntu, so I wasn't aware of the change of focus.

Given the possible pricing of Surface devices, it would be interesting to see WinRT on the Nexus 7. But I doubt Microsoft would let it last.

Breakthrough2• 14 years ago

I love how you say "the Nexus 7's OS" when clearly, Android is used on a wide variety of devices (who calls the software on their phone the Droid Razr's OS or the Galaxy SII's OS? just saying...).

Oh, and honest answer: It's a full-suited desktop OS, so you're right - it's not different than throwing Windows on it (aside from the obvious differences in the Windows/Linux software architecture and distribution models). You still get all the benefits of a full desktop OS :)

lloeki• 14 years ago

I bet he meant the "Nexus 7's OS" as opposed to TouchWiz or Sense or whatever UI has been bolted on top of the Android innards.

> You still get all the benefits of a full desktop OS

like hunt-and-pecking in the smallish menus on a 7" screen? this is just ridiculous, and (given their UI plans) way too early to be useful.

bookwormAT• 14 years ago

"who calls the software on their phone the Droid Razr's OS or the Galaxy SII's OS?"

I do. "operating system" is a very ambiguous term. Depending on who you ask, Linux, GNU, Gnome and Ubuntu are all called an "operating systems".

Android is not a operating system in the sense the term is used for Windows 7 or iOS. The comparable OS to those systems is what Samsung, HTC, Google etc. ship with their devices. Different operating systems based on a common platform.

maxaf• 14 years ago

If MS Surface hardware isn't complete garbage, I'd be much more excited to see Android running on it. In the same vein, wouldn't it be nice if we could run Android on a iPad 3?

jiggy20116• 14 years ago

"Normal" Windows won't run on ARM afaik. So you'd be looking at running WinRT which is stripped down version of Windows that doesn't allow things like sideloading or desktop apps.

Ubuntu will be a better bet for people who want to run desktop type applications on their tablet. Quite how popular a use case that really is remains to be seen.

ConstantineXVI4• 14 years ago

If someone "broke" WinRT enough to get it running on the N7, I'd be very surprised if it wouldn't also be possible to get a compiler going and build normal desktop apps. It's still capable of running at least a significant subset of "classic" Windows (at minimum, however much it takes for Office to run); so once it's been convinced to disregard security, it should theoretically be possible to get many other Windows apps compiled for and running on ARM as well.

That said, if you want to run desktop-style applications, you're far better off just buying one.

dewiz• 14 years ago

when I access that page I can't help but being distracted by animated ads to cut down my belly.

keithpeter7• 14 years ago

http://www.readability.com/articles/hlfovpcf

using the readability bookmarklet or simply add noscript to your Firefox instance.

PS: I know what you mean.

mtgx2• 14 years ago

This is my problem with Ubuntu and Unity, and why I much prefer Linux Mint as a "Windows replacement" OS. They say they made that side bar to "work well with touchscreen devices, too", but as we can see Unity on a touchscreen devices offers a pretty poor experience, and the sidebar is just about the only thing that is meant for touchscreens in Ubuntu. The global menu and everything else is clearly meant for a PC and a mouse.

So why annoy the PC users with the sidebar, when it's not even that good of a UI for tablets? They're much better off designing a tablet-first UI for tablets, if they want to get into that, and stick with designing a well optimized PC UI for PC's.

I've never been a believer of one UI for all form factors and sizes, because you usually end up with the UI being optimized just for one form factor and size, and mediocre or downright terrible for others. You need to optimize the UI for its own form factor and size. It's the only way to make it work well.

levesque2• 14 years ago

I'm going to argue that the real tablet UI elements developed by the guys at Canonical are the lenses (aka the dash), not the side menu. They are full screen, display large icons, allow you to implement a lot of features (e.g., see Music/video, Documents and Shopping lenses) while using the same UI.

The top bar is only important for its notification icons - the global menu is slowly going to fade out, replaced by in-app icons (see for example google chrome).

I agree with you that one UI for all form factors and sizes is probably a bad idea, but I think I see where they are going for tablets. I pretty much hate Unity for the desktop, but I think for tablets it will make sense.

itry2• 14 years ago

I was an Ubuntu user for years. When tablets became famous, I was thinking: Wow, if I only could have Ubuntu on these devices. Then they lost me because of Unity. I tried several days, but it was simply not geared toward my workflow. Thank God I discovered Mint. Mint is awesome.

Then they introduced this new find-something-thing that sends everything you type to their servers. A privacy nightmare. And a usability nightmare. Thats just the wrong philosophy. So I also dont want them on my tablets.

Its surprising, how quick things can change. I was a huge Ubuntu supporter from 2005 to 2012. And now I warn people to not use it.

Riesling2• 14 years ago

> I was a huge Ubuntu supporter from 2005 to 2012. And now I warn people to not use it.

Wow, this is sad. Especially since it is so easy to install a different window manager on ubuntu.

    sudo aptitude install xubuntu-desktop

will install xfce for example.

jiggy20116• 14 years ago

Unity is a long way from perfect on tablet or PC. Having said that the sidebar has grown on me. Since almost every monitor out there is 16:9; vertical space is precious and another 50 pixels gives me another 2-3 lines of code on the screen.

The best way to use the sidebar is to put your most commonly used program at the top and then launch them with Logo+<Number>.

If you spend some time setting up your shortcut keys you can actually use much of your system mouse free.

So I'm not really sure that it is targeted towards tablets. It could however be adapted to be tablet friendly a lot more easily than the MS Windows interface or older Window managers could be.

So rather than having this jarring difference between Metro and Desktop like you do in Windows 8 they could have a much more subtle transition of the same interface depending on whether a mouse/keyboard was plugged in or not.

seanl• 14 years ago

I just wish that Logo+<Number> didn't require you to hold the Logo key for a second or so before you press the number. I want quicker switching between apps than that.

vondur• 14 years ago

I just install Synapse, which is very similar to the Quicksilver app on the Mac. Control+Space and you can type the name of the application that you wish to launch.

Peaker• 14 years ago

Unity randomly loses focus of the active window for me, making it pretty annoying to use with the keyboard.

Additionally, it is hard to remember which number activates which program in the side-bar, and unfortunately it waits a long time before showing the numbers when pressing Winkey.

The old shortcuts to maximize/minimize windows (Alt-F10, Alt-F9) were replaced with more clunky shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+5, Ctrl+Alt+0).

All in all, Unity was a pretty big regression over Gnome 2, when it comes to keyboard operability.

andrewaylett• 14 years ago

Not all PC users are annoyed by the side-bar -- I really like it, despite thinking I'd hate it when I first upgraded. I actually have my Windows 7 PC at work set up in a very similar way -- task bar at the side. In both, Win-[1-9] will switch to the respective application. Most applications I use are pinned, so I don't have to interact with either start panel very often.

My Unity task bar auto-hides, and with maximised windows losing their title bars and menus (until I disabled that feature as I like focus-follows-mouse) living in the panel, full-screen applications take up pretty much the whole screen.

wazoox• 14 years ago

What's so new with this side bar? It seems to me that I've been using my PC this way thanks to Windowmaker for the past 15 years already.

dysoco• 14 years ago

I like the sidebar, just reduce the icon size to something normal and you have something similar to Windows 7's panel.

keithpeter7• 14 years ago

Yup, I saw the original article and thought 'good look with LibreOffice on that'

Then I checked the specifications of the tablet: headphone socket, built in microphone, and so I could get puredata running on it with (perhaps) jack audio.

That would open up the prospect of sound generation by touch. Puredata allows you to make your own interfaces so large buttons to hit.

Also http://dinisnoise.org/

I could almost justify a ton and a half in UK money for that alone.

What I'm saying here is that a cheap touch tablet is not for me a general purpose device, but could fulfill a specific purpose.

jordanthoms• 14 years ago

That would be cool, but keep in mind that the headphone output is (unfortunately) not so great.

YokoZar• 14 years ago

Global menubar is not exclusive to mice: it saves considerable screen space. This is a major feature on mobile.

notatoad• 14 years ago

>They say they made that side bar to "work well with touchscreen devices, too"

did they say that? People said that when ubuntu released unity, mostly critics, but i don't remember any official statement saying that unity was designed as a touch-friendly interface. Bigger targets are better for mouse users as well.

s_baby• 14 years ago

The sidebar is meant to work with keyboard shortcuts.

Super + position of sidebar icon: launch application

Super + W: layout all applications in workspace

Super + S: layout all workspaces

Unity is still quirky but the productivity I gain from the shortcuts is worth it.

zurn• 14 years ago

Can you expand on how Mint is superior on tablets?

I agree it Ubuntu isn't very good on tablets. But the sidebar works OK on PC, like it does on Macs.

mtgx2• 14 years ago

I meant I like Mint more on PC's, not tablets.

napoleoncomplex3• 14 years ago

Hopefully this means Ubuntu for Android[0] is getting ready for primetime. I'm stoked about the future with this. A phone which boots into Ubuntu when docked, and allows me to get rid of all other devices is the stuff of dreams for me.

[0]http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

keithpeter7• 14 years ago

Yes, I could use that approach as well, especially if rdp was supported when docked.

achiang5• 14 years ago

freerdp runs well in Ubuntu today. Additionally, we've baked thin client support into Ubuntu Desktop starting with the most recent release (12.10).

Ubuntu for Android is positioned as a fully functional desktop on your phone. I'll leave it up to you to connect the rest of the dots.

For some more details, my blog:

http://www.chizang.net/alex/blog/2012/09/27/ubuntu-12-10-rem...

[speaking individually, not for Canonical]

achiang5• 14 years ago

Ubuntu for Android is a separate, but related effort.

Again, quoting Mark: "We have two short cycles before we’re into the LTS, and by then we want to have the phone, tablet and TV all lined up."

[speaking individually, not representing Canonical]

napoleoncomplex3• 14 years ago

So there will be Ubuntu for Android and a separate Ubuntu Mobile? You probably can't answer that, but doesn't hurt to try :).

Are you able to say anything about Ubuntu for Android? It's been pretty quiet ever since it got announced, though there was a video in August showing it off.

achiang5• 14 years ago

The people making comments about Unity on this device have some valid points, but are missing the forest for the trees. One of the major themes of 13.04 and the entire point of this demo is to fix the core of Ubuntu, as was referenced in Mark's blog:

"I think it’s time to look at the core of Ubuntu and review it through a mobile lens: let’s measure our core platform by mobile metrics, things like battery life, number of running processes, memory footprint, and polish the rough edges that we find when we do that."

Don't expect the Unity UI experience to be optimized for this device in the 13.04 time frame. That's not the goal.

Not speaking officially here, just trying to help people connect the dots of what Canonical have publicly revealed thus far.

keithpeter7• 14 years ago

If the core includes sound drivers and a sensible structure to sound then bring it on...

...I know this is a niche area but the application of cheap touch tablets to sound synthesis software could open up a huge realm of activity.

Then there is the use of a stylus for accurate work...

achiang5• 14 years ago

I wouldn't expect any huge departure from the existing sound architecture (PulseAudio, ALSA).

georgemcbay• 14 years ago

I've got no interest in Ubuntu on a Nexus 7 but this gives me some hope they might do a semi-official port to those new $250 Chromebooks (assuming they are as open to hacking as the old chromebooks).

ARM based Linux ultrabook-alike on a high powered chip for $250? Now that would get me using Ubuntu again.

steevdave• 14 years ago

They probably won't officially support it because it is a consumer device. If you want Ubuntu on it, it will be community supported, or ask Samsung to do the work/pay them to port and support it.

Ubuntu ported to the Nexus 7

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