
Ubuntu on tablets - jrgifford
http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/tablet
======
newishuser
Heres why this is awesome:

    
    
      - The name Unity finally makes perfect sense
      - Phone can expand into a tablet can expand into a desktop
      - larger form factor can run smaller form factor apps
      - app switcher is slick
      - Canonical finally learned how to use all the bull shit 
        motivational words that apple uses to inspire people
      - OS level tie ins to social services
      - Still open source
    

I'm excited to use it, and I'm excited to help. Personally I think this could
be a big win for user rights and an awesome mobile OS.

~~~
mtgx
Yes, it's great for all the reasons you said and more. But I wouldn't say it's
a big win for user rights _yet_. It might end up even more locked down by
carriers and OEM's _because_ it's open source (and of course because Canonical
will _allow_ that to happen to gain some market share):

[http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/19/4005514/ubuntu-
phones-2014...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/19/4005514/ubuntu-
phones-2014-might-be-locked-down-by-mobile)

Plus, don't forget all the deep Amazon integration, and who knows what else in
the future, so they can monetize it. It might be that the whole OS will watch
your behavior to target better content at you or something. I don't know how
that will end up versus privacy there, so we'll see.

I hope Google implements Samsung dual-view idea in stock Android, though, as
it would solve 90% of Android's "tablet app problem", as you can use two
"phone apps" side by side, so scalability is not such a problem anymore as it
looks like the app on a 6" or 7" device, which isn't too bad, and it also
gives you the ability to use 2 apps at once, which should be better than just
using one in most cases.

~~~
vibrunazo
Usually I would agree. But as long as it's open source and you can install it
yourself on any nexus device. Then you can solve that yourself.

~~~
rpgmaker
That is no excuse. Using that logic why don't you modify android to behave
like ubuntu phone does and be done with it? After all android is open source
too.

~~~
keithnoizu
I'm not sure if that sentence means what you think it does. I do think android
following a similar route with android for the pc would be a nice move on
their part and add a little more competitiveness to the osx/windows/linux
wars.

------
pajju
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, who can make in-expensive
devices, otherwise its not going anywhere. Get those chinese manufacturers.

2\. Please NO device fragmentation and open strict standards among OEM's.

3\. Nokia backing up this project?

Isn't this the best time for Nokia to make Ubuntu powered devices? I think so.

Under the current circumstances, Ubuntu and Nokia can make a good win-win fit.
Nokia maybe can now come back strongly, instead of believing in a closed
ecosystem like windows, which is not going anywhere.

3\. Get Funded.

4\. Apps. Quality and tested apps.

Can this happen with Open Source methodologies? Debatable. :)

All together this is great progress in a short span. Incredible team-work,
lets not forget this comes from _Open Source World_. Love this, Made my day.

~~~
mtgx
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 powerless when it comes to the devices they sell. They
should be no more than retailers. Who has ever heard of retailers messing with
the products? No one, because that's a crazy idea. Yet that's what the
carriers are doing, and will probably do even more with these new operating
systems desperate for market share.

3\. Why should Nokia back this project up? I mean why specifically them, and
not Samsung, HTC, Sony or Huawei? Also there's _zero_ chance they will do it.
They didn't back Meego, they killed Meltemi, they aren't backing Sailfish, and
they will back Ubuntu? Why? Microsoft would never allow it. And we all know
Nokia is just a subsidiary of Microsoft now.

4\. One of my biggest problems with Linux in general looking at it from a
"consumer" point of view, has always been how _ugly_ the programs look on
Linux. They are cringe worthy, and I hate the font, too. I don't know what
they're doing here, but I really hope Canonical is serious about design
guidelines and resources for developers, much like Apple, Google and Microsoft
have done it. They need to make it dead-easy for just about any developer to
create beautiful Ubuntu apps at least with the stock resources.

This should be one of their top priorities with Ubuntu, not only on mobile,
but on the desktop, too. So I hope they're using resources and design
guidelines that will scale well to the desktop, too. And I still think they
need to rethink the Unity UI to make it more user-friendly and less
frustrating.

~~~
stcredzero
_> The carriers should be powerless when it comes to the devices they sell.
They should be no more than retailers. Who has ever heard of retailers messing
with the products? No one, because that's a crazy idea._

It's even a doofy idea for car dealers to tack their own logo plaques on the
back of your car. Annoying.

~~~
tcdent
One of the first things I do with a new car is get rid of the branded license
plate frames. I seem to be a minority though, as most people either don't seem
to care, or can't wield a screwdriver.

------
andmarios
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 up to be able to adapt to various form factors.

Since most Linux applications run on many different architectures, with such
an approach you can keep your low power ARM based tablet and run all your
desktop software -albeit a bit or more slower.

~~~
JosephRedfern
It doesn't seem anywhere near as slick as Ubuntu's offerings, though - and I
think for a portable device like a tablet, that is very important.

~~~
andmarios
When it comes to notifications, easy sharing and usability features in
general, it has them all and they are touch optimized.

I guess you mean that it doesn't look like Android or iOS. This can be changed
easily through a theme. Conveniently you can download new themes from the
theme settings screen, you don't need extra software nor you have to search in
random places.

On the other hand, certain programs, like its text editor which can highlight
code in almost every known computer language, does regular expression
searches, support vi input mode etc, can't get much eye-pleasing. But you do
get something you can actually work on.

I love the touch drived interface of tablets, but I don't think there is a
reason to hide that a tablet device is a computer in different form and when
you need it, it can perform as thus.

~~~
fumar
>I don't think there is a reason to hide that a tablet device is a computer in
different form and when you need it, it can perform as thus

Sort of like the Surface tablets...

~~~
andmarios
Exactly! But the Surface family has imo 2 problems.

1\. Windows applications doesn't run on ARM, so you can't run your desktop
software.

2\. Microsoft has to differentiate its products, to assign them to different
target price groups and to make them distinctive from competitive products.
Same goes for Apple and Android tablet makers of course. They accomplish this
by limiting what you can do with your tablet. One may not let you open 2 apps
aside, another may not let you have multitasking, all in the name of branding
and price-features ratio. In the end you get something you have to adjust to,
instead of something that adjusts to you.

------
bitsoda
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/table surface. The tablet holds your hands
and/or your legs hostage as you need to get into that special tablet-viewing
position to prop the thing up on your thighs. I don't mean to come across as a
cranky person who bemoans tablet use, I just feel the process is cumbersome
not being able to have your hands free and wonder if people really think this
is the form factor to usher in the "post-pc" era, whatever that is.

~~~
firefoxman1
Right now they're pretty useless, I agree.

But watch a couple clips for me:

<http://youtu.be/Jx7VNP5UO2k?t=5m9s> (at 5:09)
<http://youtu.be/5jzAAPccBaU?t=2m27s> (at 2:27)

That's the future. That's when the tablet becomes extremely useful.
Productive-yet-portable in a way a laptop can't be. What I think the Microsoft
guys really nailed is that the tablet is ultimately _just another tool_. The
"post-pc" era still has plenty of PC's in it; they just work alongside tablets
and phones.

~~~
riffraff
I'm not sure what is supposed to be noticed in the second video, but the first
one is basically already possible with current tablets, other than the
"everything is transparent".

I mean, there is no deep conceptual difference between something like leafsnap
and what is shown there.

But even looking at that, it still doesn't show why a tablet form factor
(thinking >9" diagonal) is better for this things than something sized like a
larger phone, or a foldable thingy like the (sadly dead) MS Courier.

~~~
firefoxman1
The main difference I was getting at is thickness/weight. Tablets now are too
heavy to carry around like a legal pad for long periods of time. When they
become paper thin and aerogel-light, they'll be killer.

Other than that, it's not so much the form factor that's different from now,
it's the software. As awesome as Ubuntu Tablet is, I think all of our tablet
OSes carry too many PC relics with them. The OS in those videos looks nothing
like software now.

------
rufugee
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 probably different from the average
Unity user.

~~~
kombine
I tried to use Cinnamon and it was a very poor experience. It is very
immature, simple things that are the norm on existing desktop environments are
not there. I can't say I use Unity too much, I'm more of a KDE user, but Unity
is a lot more stable.

~~~
null_ptr
What simple things was Cinammon lacking? I actualy enjoy using it more than
any other DE I ever used. It keeps the traditional things I want and has a
clean modern feel, and is easy to customize without overwhelming you with
choices.

~~~
pekk
You are fully entitled to use whatever you want and enjoy it. However, the
interface design of Windows 98 is 15 years away from being "modern." The best
way you can sell this kind of design is to call it timeless, or say that one
shouldn't fix what isn't broken.

~~~
vacri
There is absolutely nothing of content in your comment, it's all empty hand-
waving. Why not specify something as the parent comment asked?

I mean, the GP said that cinnamon was too simple and immature, and when asked
why, your response is that this design is, essentially, overly mature.

~~~
woah
Not to be pedantic, but it looks to me like they are both talking about the
same thing. The GP sounds like he is missing things in Cinnamon that are taken
for granted in modern DE's, that it is simple and at the level that modern
DE's were when they were less mature.

One might say that Windows 98 is "less mature" than today's OS's, and if
Cinnamon has features comparable to Windows 98, one might think of it being
less mature as well.

~~~
vacri
I find that the Sun is not up to par with more modern stars, and the features
it has are archaic and not in tune with the needs of today's users.

Oh, what, you want some examples of what I mean by that? Why? Can't you just
accept it when I say that it's obsolete and we really should be looking for a
new solution?

(I don't think you're being pedantic, just missing my point :)

------
kaolinite
Yet another announcement by Canonical that isn't backed by a "Buy" button. I
understand that it's not exactly easy for them, but it's becoming a bit boring
how they keep announcing new "products" with no way of actually purchasing
them. Couldn't they have waited for a year or so for this to be ready to ship
and _then_ launch it? At the very least it'd be good to have "Available to buy
in July, 2013" or whatever.

~~~
donniezazen
It's been picked by all major media outlets. Canonical is trying to create a
buzz so major vendors start paying attention to it. I think they have been
really successful in doing that. If Ubuntu comes with 10 basic apps that I use
let's say Chrome browser and an ePUB reader. I would totally switch.

~~~
fusiongyro
Why should major vendors take this more seriously than consumers? It's not
like they can buy the product either. If I were Google or Apple, I'd be a lot
more worried about a cool Kickstarter than a vaporous brochure site. Three
kids with passion trying to get funding are worth more to me than a dozen
graphic artists at Canonical with no idea how electricity works. I'm happy for
them to prove me wrong, but this is what, the third or fourth thing they've
"announced" with absolutely no idea how they're going to produce? Saying "I
don't know how to build this, but I intend to" is a lot better than "If you
call me with hardware, I'd love to art direct you." Why would anybody capable
of manufacturing a device bother calling them rather than just making a shitty
Android device on their own?

~~~
donniezazen
Major vendors have capability to make hardware and not consumers. Consumers
are end goal but not where it begins.

How preposterous of you! They are going to release images in 2 days. What do
you expect them to do come to your house and give you a lecture on
electricity. You seem to know everything about manufacturers and Canonical and
their internal communication. Of course Canonical is talking to all parties.
Do you want them to include you in the discussion? I like your negative
attitude.

~~~
fusiongyro
> Consumers are end goal but not where it begins.

That's exactly why I don't understand why they continue to produce marketing
material rather than actually getting the work done to make a product.

> Of course Canonical is talking to all parties. Do you want them to include
> you in the discussion?

No, but they seem to be _mainly_ interested in including me, rather than
people who might get it done. Is it so hard for a company to call another
company? How many years before there was a Nexus tablet did Google tell us
they were going to make one? Did their marketing ever send you the message
"hey, we don't know anybody at Asus, but if you do, would you mind sending
them by our booth at the next convention? Thanks!"

------
apawloski
Ironically, it might be the walled-garden ecosystem of tablets that ultimately
leads to mass end-user adoption of Linux. The desktop introduces too many
complications -- there is a much larger set of use cases, and thus a larger
set of situations where a Windows-convert can get confused, discouraged, or
frustrated. Tablets, on the other hand, with their relatively fewer ubiquitous
uses, can be fine-tuned in way that requires little-to-no end-user servicing.
If Canonical can employ the Apple/Android software store model with enough
flexibility that power users can still make meaningful modifications, then
this could be the biggest thing to happen for end-user Linux in a long time.

~~~
imissmyjuno
What about iOS and Android? One is a Unix, the other a Linux. If you mean in
the "truly open-source" fashion, then it's entirely up to the UI when it comes
to the masses. I've personally never liked Unity due to very inconsistent
buggy UI, and enjoyed Gnome 3 much more. The more competition the merrier,
though.

~~~
lukifer
> One is a Unix, the other a Linux.

That's a little like saying an omelette is an egg. :) Both make heavy use of
*nix and OSS components, but they also add their own proprietary ingredients.
I don't see anything wrong with that, but I'd prefer that full-stack open-
source wasn't limited just to technorati. You're right that the masses define
their experience by the UI: both what's delivered directly to users, and
indirectly via the UI tools/ecosystem/culture available to developers.

------
orofino
This looks really promising and I think I'll give it a try, once there is
something to buy...

The multitasking looks really good, it is an interesting way to solve this
problem. If their implementation is as good as it is presented, we'll see
Apple and Google copying this on their platforms.

It seems to me that this offers many of the benefits that I see with OS X, an
interface that lets me just do what I want without a bunch of pain, but if I
need more power I can drop down to the shell and really get at what I need.
Additionally, if using MS Office on the device is possible in a non-shitty
way, it will be amazing. They talked very little about this, so I'm skeptical,
but it would be absolutely killer if this worked well. US business lives in MS
office and a way to easily use it is REQUIRED before tablets can begin
supplanting desktops in the enterprise.

The rip off of Apple's styling for the promo video is distracting and
unnecessary. Come up with your own styling for this, the offering looks
appealing, you've got capabilities that other competitors lack, there isn't a
reason for you to copy someone else's presentation style.

------
ixnu
Engadget is reporting that Canonical will make a Nexus 7 build available. If
so, this will rival the RasPi as a play toy and sandbox.

GPU acceleration might be a significant hurdle on the nVidia.

[http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/19/ubuntu-for-tablets-
reveal...](http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/19/ubuntu-for-tablets-revealed/)

~~~
fluidcruft
W00t! Can't wait... my N7 has been collecting dust. Writing special-purpose
scientific tools that work on the linux desktop and on N7 seems a much better
answer than porting to Android.

------
chx
I still don't get it. This emphasises on "productivity". Tablets, lacking any
efficient ways of input are not productivity devices. They are great at
consuming content, of course. There is a reason the iPad and the Kindle Fire
rules the field.

~~~
potatolicious
There is more to productivity than fast, accurate text input.

Touch is inferior for text input, but superior for other types of input. I
know many designers who are salivating at the prospect of being able to do
their work with a stylus that's also a screen (as opposed to the Wacom way of
doing it).

~~~
pekk
Wacom's stuff has been the gold standard for ages. A portable Wacom with the
display behind the drawing area would be perfect.

~~~
wmf
That was called Microsoft Tablet PC...

------
clebio
>> Your Ubuntu tablet has multiple secure user accounts...

Thank goodness. The absence of this makes every tablet OS out there today
pretty weak sauce. If I can't lock the screen, or inhibit another person in
the house from opening my email, Dropbox folder, etc., let alone allow them to
'switch user', then no one else can borrow the device. An-ipad-per-child isn't
terribly economical, in my book.

~~~
aw3c2
Android 4.2 has multiple user accounts.

~~~
clebio
Good to know, thanks!

------
georgemcbay
As a developer, having read through all of their site I can't tell if this
thing actually supports native development. If it did, that would be great, my
main issue with Android is the way so much of the OS is tied to Java with the
NDK and such as barely supported afterthoughts.

Google doesn't seem to have any particularly good plan (at least not in
public) for dealing with the Java anchor, even after the Oracle lawsuit, which
I find very concerning as an Android developer -- like, when, if ever, are
they going to support Java 1.7 or Java 1.8 features? Seems like they are
content to be stuck at Java 1.6 forever. So not only are you practically stuck
with Java if writing non-game "native" Android apps, but you're stuck with an
old and increasingly obsolete Java.

The fact that I can't read past the weasel wording here though suggests to me
that when Canonical says "native" they mean "QML running on top of Qt", which
isn't really native at all (if I can't hook into it at the C/C++ level). I'd
love to be wrong though.

~~~
achiang
App developers will be able to use C++ if they like.

/ac, speaking on behalf of self, not employer

~~~
georgemcbay
That's great! You might want to press whoever is in charge of the developer-
related pages to make this more clear.

~~~
JasonFruit
It's made quite clear here: <http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/tablet/app-
ecosystem>

------
habosa
This is a really great step. I previously though Ubuntu was going to ruin
itself by getting into the mobile game so late but it seems like their
solution might be unified enough (as a result of the time they spent watching
others) to actually gain some foothold. I have a Nexus 7 and if they can allow
me to dual boot somehow I will be all over this. I'd love to have a little
touchscreen Ubuntu PC in my backpack. I'm still not convinced I want it on my
phone but they have my attention on the other three screens.

~~~
nsoun
One of the benefits of entering late is they're able to learn from the
competitions missteps.

------
bjustin
I love their solution to run apps side by side, by using the phone version for
the smaller app. Android is the only other platform that could really do it,
with both widescreen tablets and apps where the same binary can run on phones
and tablets.

------
aortega
You need balls to take on Google, Apple and Microsoft tablets, being a small
business that started giving away Linux CDs. And actually doing a very decent
try at it.

------
firefoxman1
Wow. This is what Unity is for. I'm still on Gnome on my desktop because I'm
not a Unity fan, but this is really incredible. Android better watch its back.

~~~
Alterlife
The choice of name "Unity" finally makes sense to me.

------
WickyNilliams
I must say, this looks pretty slick. Wonder how well the multitasking stuff
will hold up in practice?

Here's hoping some clever bods will get this working on a HP Touchpad, would
love to resurrect my touchpad from it's dusty grave. Can't imagine there would
be much problem given that it's had no problems running Android. Bring it on!

Does anybody know if this will give access to bash etc? Could I develop on
this with a bluetooth keyboard?

EDIT: full desktop with mouse and keyboard! Should have finished watching the
video before commenting. I'm interested in this thin client for windows also -
is this standard in the regular Ubuntu distros?

~~~
pedalpete
A few weeks ago I put Ubuntu 12.04 on my touchpad. I was hoping to run a full
rails stack and actually do some dev on the device, or at least use it for
testing.

I think I'm getting close. But unfortunately, the UX is difficult to work with
without a mouse and keyboard (which I am yet to hook-up).

I'm sure we'll see this on the touchpad before too long.

------
ZeroGravitas
When they mentioned "sharing" I was hoping for something like Android's share
which would take whatever I'm looking at and give it to another app. Instead
it's just social networks. Better than Apple's lame lock-in to Twitter and
Facebook but sharing between apps in Android's a killer-app.

------
AlexanderDhoore
The fact that it runs Qt is the biggest win in my opinion. Must - learn - Qt !

------
josteink
Looking at this (which looks very nice and impressive), the one thing which
strikes me is how all the actors in this market seems to want/need a their-
platform-only deployment to truly work.

Ubuntu on the phone, tablet, PC and TV looks nice. I'd love to try it. But for
me to be able to do so, the devices I buy needs to be open enough for me to be
able to _install that_.

If all I buy is locked down devices, you can be sure I'll never have a home
where every device was bought when the next big thing(tm) was released. I'll
need a way to bring the platform of my choice to all my devices.

Like PCs had and allowed before Apple went ahead and ruined it all.

Either that or better open protocols and specifications created, implemented
and deployed across the line, but we can see how well _that_ is going these
days.

~~~
pedalpete
If I understand you correctly, you're wondering if you'll be able to install
Ubuntu on all of your devices?

I don't think that is the model they are going for, and it really doesn't suit
the mass market anyway. As I understand it, they are trying to provide the
best experience so that manufacturers decide to use them as the OS platform
for their devices. Then you'll just go out and buy Ubuntu devices. You don't
actually install and select your OS.

~~~
josteink
But as a techie I know that's not really needed.

It feels entirely pointless (and environmentally irresponsible) to buy new
hardware just to get new software.

It's all software these days so are we not embracing that yet?

------
ivzar
The seamless phone => tablet => desktop transition make the Ubuntu family a
winner. Now to see if it picks up any enterprise traction...

------
RaphiePS
Seems a little disingenuous to claim they're the first tablet to have side-by-
side multitasking when the Surface lets you do just that.

------
itry
Nobody mentions root access. Do I get it by default? This would be the only
differentiating factor for me.

For example, I hate it that I cannot edit /etc/hosts on my iOS devices.

------
jplmelanson
You have to give them credit for UX innovation, they don't just try to mimic
iOS.

------
tosseraccount
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.

~~~
pekk
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.

~~~
tosseraccount
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.

------
vilgax
A recent critical post by KDE developer Aaron Seigo on Canonical claiming
"same Ubuntu code will deliver a mobile, tablet, desktop or TV experiences"
[https://plus.google.com/107555540696571114069/posts/HSL2C21D...](https://plus.google.com/107555540696571114069/posts/HSL2C21DJt7)

~~~
pekk
What is with KDE and its angry rearguard actions? Let them make better
partnerships if they want their product to be promoted, it isn't necessary to
spend so much time downing other people's efforts.

------
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.

~~~
varjag
Without Android API the skills of existing Android developers (well, the
platform-specific part) are irrelevant.

Java otherwise is a lackluster language with VM that still has 64K bytecode
segments in 21st century, owned by a particular corporation seemingly intent
on driving it into the ground. There is no reason using it with a clean start.

------
RyanMcGreal
> Ubuntu is predicted to ship on almost 10% of the world’s new branded PCs by
> 2014

I'm interested to hear more about this.

~~~
networked
This stood out to me, too. Apparently [1] this is what their own internal
estimate is.

On an semi-unrelated note, the effect the dynamic controls in some of the
mock-ups have is interesting to observe. While I liked how play controls came
up when I moved my mouse cursor over the image of the tablet playing a video
(<http://i50.tinypic.com/5b1bms.png>) it almost made me feel disappointed when
I clicked on "play" and nothing happened. I wonder if as a user persuasion
tool this is better or worse than a static image.

Edit: it is also strange how they show mouse over effects in a mock up of a
_touch_ interface.

[1] [http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/02/canonical-
idUSnBw1...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/02/canonical-
idUSnBw1R6hb6a+120+BSW20130102) ("Canonical estimates that...")

------
rattray
I wonder how feasible it would be to build iOS and Android emulators for a
linux tablet? Assuming people have tried for purposes of building/testing, but
this seems a little different to me.

Being able to run all iOS _and_ android apps on a single device would be
pretty revolutionary.

------
taeric
So, I have to confess this has me sorely tempted to try on my convertible
laptop. "Touch" is effectively non-existent in this space for linux.

Unless there are any other suggestions? (I have a lenovo x220 tablet. I like
the computer. The touch aspect is just basically ignored.)

------
methodin
There is one completely awesome thing here - the fact that the phone itself
can/will drive all form factors via docking etc... tablet, TV and computer all
driven off the phone. That's incredible if it comes to fruition.

------
hereonbusiness
The good: You get a full linux distro on a mobile device. This is the best
thing that happened to modern mobile devices since ... well ever. Modern
mobile devices being smartphones and tablets.

The bad: Like every other "mobile OS" out there it is strongly biased toward
native apps. But in this case it's at least understandable as there is an
actual linux distribution under the hood. Also i have a feeling that they'll
probably lack behind in the mobile department for years when compared to
Android especially if they can't get some big OEM partners on board as has
already been said in some comments.

~~~
Shorel
Android does not have native apps. They all run in the Dalvik JVM.

iOS has native apps. They let the Apple devices do the same stuff with a
slower processor, and have longer battery life, and providing a more fluid and
smoother operation.

What do you want? An OS full of JavaScript apps that burns its battery in 6
hours?

I for one, welcome Ubuntu and its upcoming native and open applications as the
best thing to happen in the mobile space.

------
BenoitEssiambre
I'm a heavy Ubuntu user and what I want to know is can it run all the existing
Ubuntu/Linux apps?

Also what is the multitasking model? I can't imagine full desktop multitasking
would work on a tablet. That would kill the battery.

~~~
noahl
Yes, it can run all of the standard desktop apps. The video talks about adding
a keyboard and mouse and using it like a desktop.

I don't think it mentions whether it can run those apps _while being a tablet_
, though. It's not clear if it'll let you do that or not. (I would guess it
will, or at least it will if GTK and Qt add support for whatever windowing
system this uses.)

~~~
BenoitEssiambre
"The video talks about adding a keyboard and mouse and using it like a
desktop"

A mouse and a keyboard doesn't mean it can run anything. I can use a mouse and
keyboard with Android currently and it still won't support my development
environments. Heck Android doesn't even fully support its own development
environment.

------
polshaw
That a quad core A15 is required to run the desktop convergence is a bit
disappointing to me, although with the rate of progress in the ARM world i
suppose it won't be an issue for long (ie. requiring expensive cutting edge
devices with poor battery life), and no doubt lower devices will be 'hacked'
to allow it being open source.

I really have to congratulate ubuntu on staying strong for so long on their
unity vision; this is clearly the realisation of that. I hope that they manage
to get some OEM support (hello Asus?), the momentum does seem to be there now
IMO.

------
orangethirty
If they would just sell the damn thing and not have advertisements built into
it. I have been using (a paying) Ubuntu user since v.7. It just angers me that
they just wont outright charge for it.

------
wcchandler
Why stop here? Why not make the application switching fully ubiquitous between
multiple devices via app "off-loading" to the cloud?

There's many different ways they can approach this: a hobbyist hosting an
ubuntu server running whatever's necessary to facilitate this; a hosted
solution -- possibly by Canonical (ala Ubuntu One or competitors); and a
corporate solution (your IT staff managing Ubuntu servers and environment).

I feel like this might be the next step, especially with app/desktop
virtualization becoming more popular.

------
tekromancr
I would really like to see Canonical take the initiative and produce versions
of Ubuntu Tablet that can be flashed onto popular devices. I was kind of
disappointed to see them put out another one of those "Hey, does anyone want
to build hardware for us?" requests. They seem to have a business model that
involves getting Ubuntu running on anything and everything, but they don't
have a clear path to mass market hardware.

~~~
tekromancr
Nevermind...
[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Install?action=show&redire...](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Install?action=show&redirect=TouchInstallProcess)

------
kriro
Once this gets released I'll likely buy a full set of phone+tablet

I don't currently own a tablet and my phone is some superold cell (dumbphone?)
so I'll be very easy to please.

Worst case scenario I'll pay whatever it costs to help consumer Linux into the
tornado a little quicker.

[I'm an Ubuntu user both at home and at work but I remain a tad sceptical
about this]

------
shurcooL
Apple dug themselves into a hole with such fixation on static screen
size/resolution. They can't do these multitasking innovations because of that.

It seems that Ubuntu has outdone even Windows 8 in that front.

Curious to see this running on some real hardware, because for now it's just a
design and software.

------
hobbyist
There is something visionary about these South Africans, first Elon Musk and
then Mark Shuttleworth.

------
Lennu
If Steam is now out on Ubuntu 12.04, they could make it work too on these
Ubuntu Tablets?

------
espadrine
Ubuntu people, I have but one question:

can I open a terminal window from that tablet? a text editor? get to Firefox'
developer tools?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

(That must be possible, they demo Gimp in the video. Yet, that's what I hated
in tablets: I couldn't _use_ them.)

------
joycer
When are we going to get the kind of options for window managers that we have
on the desktop on our mobile devices?

I do want my phone to look like my computer but my computer looks very much
different than Canonical's Unity.

------
cpressey
I do wish people would stop with the phrase "post-PC era"... and I thought
Canonical would be above that (consider me properly disillusioned.)

Can we at least start calling PCs "workstations" again, to compensate?

------
sigkill
This might be only tangentially relevant but I never took to liking the
Ubuntu's font. I would much rather Segoe UI (regular, not Lite) or even
Google's Roboto over Ubuntu's font.

------
curiousfiddler
This just so awesome. As an Ubuntu user, I was feeling left out :)

------
capex
Completely amazing in every sense. But the way he said "its the cleanest,
freshest, most beautiful tablet experience around" sounded like a borrowed
sentence.

------
codygman
In regards to everyone here talking about unity crashing:

xmonad+debian squeeze

My laptop has been up/plugged in for 72 days and I have no issues whatsoever
;) Sometimes stable is a good thing.

~~~
jff
i3 + debian stable

Debian supremacy.

------
BaconJuice
Please, could someone take this image and build it for the BlackBerry
Playbook? because that thing is collecting dust under my bed at home.

------
dreen
Most people installed Ubuntu because they could do it on their PC without
buying anything. Can I do the same with a semi-old tablet?

------
ohwp
Youtube promo: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h384z7Ph0gU>

------
mikecane
It looks like what Open webOS should have been.

------
trebor
When I can install it on my iPad I might give it a try. Till then, why should
I buy another tablet to play with Ubuntu?

------
cabbeer
Ubuntu uses KDE for their mobile apps and GTK on the desktop, this is going to
be a pain when porting apps.

~~~
noahl
They use Qt for mobile apps, but I don't think they use the whole KDE
environment. For instance, I really really doubt that the KDE daemons are
running, and they aren't using the K* apps either.

As for porting, I think they have a consistent story - use Qt everywhere. It's
clear that they're moving to Qt, and while I expect they will continue to run
other peoples' GTK apps on the desktop, I doubt they'll be writing many more
of their own.

------
shellehs
Anybody noticed the video showed windows apps Excel running on Ubuntu Tablet?
What is that?

------
baby
The video is so Apple-y that it bothers me (speaking really slowly like we are
retards).

------
raphinou
I hope it runs on Asus Transformer and is usable both in tablet mode as laptop
mode.

------
mixmastamyk
Looks pretty, but I've come to expect constant churn and regressions from
Ubuntu. My desktop is significantly worse than it was 5 years ago.

Still I hold a sliver of hope that I'll be able to write mobile apps in Python
one day. (I've heard of kivy, but worried it isn't direct enough).

------
lukejduncan
Does the Feb 25th date also mean you can download the source then?

------
trotsky
Cool, it'll look smart next to my Ubuntu TV and my Ubuntu phone.

------
nvk
Would love to hack my original iPad to install this.

------
tuananh
the OS itself looks decent and promising. Now the only problem is getting this
into a decent hardware and they're golden.

------
trumbitta2
I use unity for the fullscreen windows / mac-like menus. In fact, I:

\- use gnome-do instead of unity dash

\- use docky in panel mode as my beloved taskbar

\- keep the horrible unity sidebar well hidden on the left

And I am happy so far.

~~~
freehunter
Yeah this thread is totally not about Ubuntu or Unity on the desktop.

~~~
trumbitta2
Yep, I replied at the wrong level. Shame on me. Also should've not replied to
begin with, given that I don't really care about Ubuntu on devices other than
my laptop.

------
dharma1
proud to say I worked on the design for this :) Hope the community will
embrace it and help us make it better

~~~
Shorel
Thanks!

I went back to Linux just because Unity feels refreshing and different and
runs faster than Win7 in my hardware.

------
SCdF
Man this looks great my transformer prime _is_ getting kinda slow let me find
the download li--- oh.

Well nevermind then. Back to work.

------
claystu
Can you dual boot it to an Ipad?

~~~
yareally
Since porting Android to iOS is pretty much dead since the iphone 3g[1], I
would assume not.

[1] [http://0xdeadfa11.net/blog/2012/07/11/the-idroid-project-
whe...](http://0xdeadfa11.net/blog/2012/07/11/the-idroid-project-where-it-
presently-stands/)

~~~
claystu
That's too bad. I love the Ipad hardware, but I'm just not a fan of the Apple
interface. Being locked out of my own computer drives me nuts--especially
whenever I try to watch something in Flash.

~~~
yareally
Yeah, that's unfortunately the big hangup that keeps me from adopting Apple
(mobile) stuff past app development reasons. It's too limited really for
hacking and modding. Sure, there's some groups out there that mod with
jailbreaking to add features, but if you want to add an entire OS, you're just
kind of out of luck. There's a small part of me that likes seeing how I can
get around all that without source, but after a while, I rather stop fighting
it and just use a platform for modding/hacking that makes it easier. Even
custom ROMs for Android are usually a bit quirky and full of bugs if they're
running on anything other than Nexus devices, due to a mismatch in driver
versions and the OS version much of the time.

If you want something to just hack around on and mod stuff, I recommend
getting a Nexus 7 for that and use your ipad for your normal usage. They're
cheap, battery life is good (as far as Android goes, it's 7-8 hours for me
normally). Ubuntu for tablets is to be supported for it and there's an
unofficial webos port for it out as well. That plus the entire AOSP android
source and plenty of ROMs out there to take features from.

Unlocking + rooting Nexus devices is dead simple. Basically plug into USB, run
a few terminal commands and you're done. Granted it makes taking updates a bit
harder (if you mod past this), but if you're rooted and unlocked, you usually
do it yourself anyways versus taking a direct update.

------
PhilipA
It looks nice, but the name Linux, will stile scare a lot of traditional users
away...

------
Buzaga
All I want is a 8-10 hour battery life tablet that I can install a development
environment and plug a keyboard

I know Ubuntu won't be narrowing down to developers but if Ubuntu Tablets
solve this I'll get in line to get the one as fast as possible

------
mikemoka
This is great, I hope it will have the same success that Ubuntu for Mobile
Devices gathered, oh wait, it didn't succeed after all..

------
tinkmasterflash
I don't even use Ubuntu for the desktop or the laptop, what motivation do I
have to use it on a phone or tablet? How about making Unity less than an
unholy mess before branching out into other form-factors?

~~~
yareally
You're commenting (and just created an account) on a site called hacker news
and you cannot think of something to do with it?

\- build apps or port apps to work better on it. I can also do this without
having to resort to Java like Android if I want to do things the recommended
and supported way. I am also guessing that running su/sudo on it will not feel
like an ugly hack to do like it is on Android[1] since it should be built in.

\- run scripts (you can do that on Android with the Android Scripting layer
and the terminal emulator, but it still has its quirks).

\- easier access to things that are harder to deal with on Android or iOS
(development tools) via apt. Perhaps even something like Blender or Gimp will
run decent on it.

There are lots of possibilities. Perhaps not if all you want to do is browse
the web and check email. However, I consider it another way to hack around and
build things.

[1] <http://www.chainfire.eu/articles/125/_How-To_SU_published/>

~~~
tinkmasterflash
Thanks for your insights however the slight at my new account is not very
welcoming.

~~~
yareally
It wasn't meant to be a jab at your newness exactly. I just thought you're
rushing into commenting too quickly perhaps? I don't know, I didn't even make
an account on Hacker News for over a year after reading and didn't comment
much right away afterwards still. Everyone is different though in that regard
and just because it suited me does not mean it does for everyone, so take my
example at face value.

I just loved the comments and insight on here and felt I shouldn't post much
unless I really felt I had something to add to the conversation. If you
haven't yet, I recommend reading the FAQ area[1] about posting stories and
comments. It's really good information that seems to get skipped over
sometimes.

Also, welcome to HN :)

[1] <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

