
Ubuntu for Android - dave1010uk
http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android
======
bguthrie
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 tempt me back onto those platforms.

~~~
bambax
> _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?

~~~
rickmb
If you think your data "in the cloud" (which is just a way of saying "on other
people's physical systems") is safe from theft, breakage or some foreign
government agency pulling the plug, you haven't been paying much attention to
reality lately.

And by "lately" I mean the past decade.

Don't get me wrong, I like the convenience of "the cloud". It's especially
helpful in synchronizing all the data that I have on cheap and abundant
storage on various devices.

We can have both. Why advocate giving up the one option that makes you
independent from third party interference (or simply a lack of connectivity)?

~~~
Lewisham
Backup device manufaturers are really missing out on big bucks by not making a
small NAS that downloads all you cloud data. Give it access to
Google/Dropbox/Flickr etc an have it silently back everything up.

I hope they've thought of this and I've just missed it. They won't be able to
sell USB based backup drives for much longer.

~~~
nodemaker
The device 'Time Machine' by Apple does exactly that.

~~~
Lewisham
No it doesn't, it backsup your Macs over wifi, and that's all it does. It
won't access web services, which is they key point I was trying to make. The
Time Capsule, and all home backup devices I can name, make the soon-to-be-
outdated assumption that your data exists on a hard drive you own.

~~~
nodemaker
Well more elaborately your mac can access all web services and download all
data which can then be wirelessly backed up by the time machine.

For example my Dropbox folder is automatically synced on my mac which is then
automatically backed up by the time machine.

------
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.

~~~
freehunter
But with all that running, you won't be working for longer than an hour or
two. I really like the Palm/HP Touchstone charger, and I wish wireless
charging would take off. It'd be nice to just sit in my cube while all my
devices charge in a 3' radius of my desk.

Why are there no wireless-charging mice?

~~~
mrb
True. Wireless HDMI is currently too power hungry for cellphones.

------
shapeshed
Canonical may not have the resources or funds of Apple or Microsoft but they
are innovating better than both at the moment. Unity is daring to be different
on the desktop, and Ubuntu on Android is a simple idea that could really
change the way people think about the PC. The ideas might not all work out in
the long term but for sheer creative thinking you have got to applaud what
they are doing.

------
strags
I know it's immature of me to note this, but what's up with the logo to the
left of "Ready to talk?". Is it just me, or is it faintly reminiscent of...
well, something else?

~~~
untog
Ha. Maybe we're both immature, but you're not alone. I'm surprised none of the
techies at Ubuntu picked up on it. Or maybe they did...

~~~
jpdoctor
> _Or maybe they did..._

... which would explain why the "Get In Touch" button is in close proximity.

------
lifeisstillgood
We have struggled to get a BIOS that is Free / Libre And where does this leave
us now? Just because Ubuntu is free, if the phone manufacturers start to get
trusted mobile computing (tm) disease, we are still in trouble.

"Curated" is still not free

And there are some obvious holes - you cant carry a monitor around with you.
So you need docking stations to plug into. Do you trust the keyboard in the
Public library not to watch your keystrokes?

------
dave1010uk
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>

~~~
nextparadigms
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.

~~~
benologist
If they did that all that happens is you're stuck with a crap tablet os and
apps, the goal is a full-fledged workstation you can work on _without
compromise_.

------
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.

~~~
freehunter
I use a chroot on my Touchpad to run Ubuntu with LXDE. It's... workable, but
no where near "desktop" quality. The lack of a mouse kills it, and LXDE isn't
really touch optimized. It's really nice to have around when there are apps
you need to use that are run better (or easier) from a GUI, and the dual core
1.5Ghz processor with 1GB of RAM is sufficient to keep it running without
hiccup (until I load Eclipse).

With some low-end (or ARM) optimization, Ubuntu would rock the mobile
productivity world.

~~~
orbitingpluto
Have you tried eclim for 'mobile' development?

<http://eclim.org/>

Having a decent soft/hard keyboard is highly recommended. I played with this
after having to push out an update connecting with VNC through an SSH tunnel
to use Eclipse using the n810. It took ten times as long as it should have to
fix two lines of code and build.

~~~
freehunter
That's interesting, hadn't seen it before. I do use Vim on my laptop, but the
HP webOS keyboard has some funky modifier keys. I'm not sure if it would work
properly. Oh well that's the beauty of free software, I'll download and give
it a shot.

Thanks!

------
xpaulbettsx
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.

~~~
hollerith
I don't get it: what advantage do they have over Apple here?

~~~
Lewisham
Because Apple had said multiple times that they fundamentally don't believe in
a one device world. Tablets are tablets, desktops are desktops. Mixing the two
bastardizes both.

Microsoft doesn't agree, and Win8 is a hybrid that supports both interactions.
Ubuntu is showing it will do the same.

Personally, I think Apple are seriously short-sighted in their approach. The
other possibility I they are being very long sighted and waiting for the
desktops' inevitable death in the consumer market. However, they've shown
nothing that indicates they know how Mum and Dad are going to write their
Christmas letters, or edit that important work document that has to get done
_tonight_ but they're home sick.

~~~
r00fus
> Microsoft doesn't agree, and Win8 is a hybrid that supports both
> interactions. Ubuntu is showing it will do the same.

Yes, why do one thing _well_ when you can do two things _adequately_?

I think this fundamental difference separates Apple from nearly everyone else
in the markets in which they compete.

Apple's vision is similar to Sun's: one ID that allows you to transport your
data (incl. apps for appropriate platform) to all your Apple devices... Have
you ever used a Sun-Ray[1]? It's like that, except for apps/data, not
sessions.

Personally, I don't think Win8 is anything like Ubuntu for Android. Microsoft
has the same problem as Apple: they don't want you to stop buying desktops, as
both companies make a lot of money on continued sales of traditional
computers. Whereas Apple created a whole new device platform in the iPad and
iPhone, Microsoft is trying to merge the two markets back together... while at
the same time relying on the computing profits to keep their overall margins
up. Meanwhile Google and Canonical would happily cannibalize any revenue from
desktops for the much greater potential in mobile.

~~~
Lewisham
I think it's a little early to say that Windows 8 will only make for an
adequate tablet interface. Windows Phone shows they know what they're doing
when they put their heart into it.

I don't think Apple wants to sell desktops at all. I think they'd like OS X
gone in 5-10 years.

~~~
chrisballinger
How would you write your iOS apps?

------
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.

------
schpet
Video of ubuntu for android in use:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUXUjjg9qQ0>

------
lnanek
I admit, this would get me to bite the bullet if integrated with one of the
existing laptop dock solutions for Android phones such as the Motorola Atrix
4G Lapdock or the ASUS Transformer Prime. Ubuntu is enough for me to do
everything I need a computer for, except for some rare book keeping that has
to be done over a VPN only supported on Windows/Mac. Instead of bringing my
phone and laptop on all trips I'd just have my phone and laptop dock. The
laptop docks seem much lighter and having the same stored data and same
wireless data connection without tethering would be handy.

------
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.

------
verelo
I think this is a great step in the right direction, and we've already
observed a compression of devices recently. Consider the Laptop, Desktop &
phone. Who still uses a desktop? Its really just a matter of time until we
compress the laptop and phone, we're a long way off in my opinion (in terms of
actually usable hardware) but once we have the power and portable input
devices (i think one could already structure an argument to say we have them)
i don't know what would hold it back.

Good to see we're headed in a sensible direction.

------
mitakas
There is a video, showing the functionality. [0]

Now I begin to understand why Canonical made those recent changes. The Ubuntu
part of it seems kinda slow, but smartphones are going to get faster. [1]

[0] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUXUjjg9qQ0> [1]
[http://www.anandtech.com/show/5559/qualcomm-
snapdragon-s4-kr...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/5559/qualcomm-
snapdragon-s4-krait-performance-preview-msm8960-adreno-225-benchmarks)

------
fredsted
Is this the way Apple is headed? Just dock your iPhone, boom, OS X on the
monitor.

~~~
tylerritchie
That's where the whole world is headed. As a general consumer, why have a
desktop when you can dock your phone/tablet and playback or stream videos,
edit content and browse the web?

~~~
morsch
Well, because it's annoying to constantly have to dock your phone in order to
use the desktop, for one thing.

What are the upsides here?

Synchronised calendar, user accounts, data, everything? You can do that
without sharing the hardware. (Much harder to do it without relying on the
internet, admittedly.)

Less maintenance because you don't have to worry about two devices?

Cost efficiency because you don't have to pay for a standalone computer? I
suppose that's the big one, and I guess it's good enough. Then again, you
could just get something like a Raspberry Pi for not much money. And if you
need a dock, that won't be free, either.

Don't get me wrong, I see the potential, but I'm not sure it's where the world
is headed. I guess it will be one of a large number of modes in which people
use computers with displays larger than tablets.

~~~
hollerith
Hmm. 12 to 15 years ago most laptop owners also had a desktop machine. Since
then most of those users have gone laptop-only despite the fact that many
(most?) of them face a similar annoyance to the one you give: they either dock
their laptop when at their desk or they plug in an external monitor.

You can point out (correctly, IMO) that there were no truly satisfactory ways
to sync laptop and desktop back when laptop-desktop owners went laptop-only,
and I suppose you would claim that sync will work better this time because
vendors and users "get the cloud" now. Hmm. Any laptop users who also run a
desktop care to chime in on how annoying it is in the age of Dropbox to keep
data on the two devices in sync?

------
tnorthcutt
_"Ubuntu is the killer app for multi-core phones in 2012"_

This text is displayed as if it's a quote, but as far as I can tell, it's not:
<http://goo.gl/vKHOI> (link is to a Google search for the above text). If
there's anyone from Canonical here, can you comment on why that is presented
as a quote, or what/where it's a quote from, if it is in fact a quote?

~~~
stroboskop
As far as I see, this is the text of reference: _Newer multi-core processors
are up to the job, and Ubuntu is the killer app for that hot hardware. It’s
the must-have feature for late-2012 high-end Android phones._

The quote itself is outside the text body and refers to the text body. For a
marketing text like this, I don't think that kind of quoting is difficult to
understand or swallow.

~~~
aeontech
Yup, it's a pull quote.

~~~
etomer
Ya.

------
gjmveloso
It's the official debut of PC Plus Era. This will be huge if Canonical and
Google works together. Outstanding!

~~~
notatoad
i don't see canonical and google working too closely together on this, as
google has a competing OS that they're trying to push: chrome. and now with
the introduction of chrome for android, there's no reason why your cell phone
couldn't turn into a chromebox when it gets plugged into a similar dock.

------
spiralpolitik
Its the obvious extension of the current model. Kudos to Canonical for giving
it a go.

I was expecting Apple or MS to move in this direction and I seem to recall a
POC/patent application/Mock up from a few years back showing an iMac with a
removable iPhone/iPod as the home directory. Maybe I'm misremembering.

------
ajasmin
Can I only use Ubuntu when the phone is connected to a large monitor?

Even having access to some command line packages on the phone would be a big
improvement over the minimal busybox stuff that comes with Android.

------
JoelSutherland
I know this is Ubuntu on Android, but all I can think of is Windows 8. Doesn't
this seem like an inevitability for Microsoft? Intel even has x86 mobile chips
on the way.

------
tmzt
This is pretty cool, but it's an OEM-driven product, dependent on the phone
maker to enable it. For over a year I 've been working on a port of X to
Android as an application, running as a non-privileged user, displaying to a
surface allocated through the Android Java API. The port is at
<http://github.com/tmzt/androix> along with build instructions. (see the
readme)

------
corysama
And, with the "Cotton Candy" Android-on-a-thumbdrive, your next desktop could
hang on your key chain.

[http://www.tomshardware.com/news/fxi-tech-cotton-candy-
usb-e...](http://www.tomshardware.com/news/fxi-tech-cotton-candy-usb-exynos-
computer,14471.html)

[http://www.tomshardware.com/news/fxi-android-ubuntu-arm-
angr...](http://www.tomshardware.com/news/fxi-android-ubuntu-arm-angry-
birds,14035.html)

------
sl4yerr
Does anyone have any real-world experience with this? It looks amazing, but
I'd like to hear from someone who's lived with it (if you're out there)...

~~~
Droopy
The motorola Atrix had demos of this concept. There was no ubuntu- it just was
moto's skinning of android & a $200 docking station for your
phone/keyboard/monitor.

It wasn't particularly successful.

------
rodolphoarruda
Look at the place I live:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvUXFav7aDk>

You do not want to "have everything" with you in your mobile while you are in
a public place. I have a notebook and an iPad, and, of course, my 4 year old
shitty Compaq laptop I take outside when I have meetings. I keep my files
inside a truecrypt file vault just in case.

------
ilaksh
Yesterday on reddit headline was something like "I can't believe you can play
Grand Theft Auto on a _phone_" and my response was "I can't believe we call
them phones, they are powerful pocket computers that just happen to have the
ability to send and receive phone calls"

I wonder when they are going to come out with portable OLED display sheets and
ultralight paper-based keyboards.

------
thechut
I am so excited about this idea, being able to dock and have a full desktop
with full applications and keyboard would be awesome. I have BusyBox on my
Android phone but it usually isn't enough to make it function like a real
Linux desktop. However, I hope that Canonical will stay true to itself and
develop and release this as truly open software.

Edited for clarity.

------
LnxPrgr3
Did I just come out of a 40-day coma? What month is this?

"Android was designed for touch only, and has its hands full winning the
tablet wars."

Be careful. I think Steve Jobs might've patented the reality distortion field.

"The Ubuntu desktop sets the standard for ease of use." Compared to what?

"And imagine TVs that become home PCs when you dock your phone: perfect for
the emerging market where LTE will be the normal way for new users to connect
to the Internet."

Great. My home connection's going to come with a 4GB monthly cap now too?

In a lot of ways this is actually a neat idea, and I could see something close
to this catching on. I see a few problems though:

* As fast as my laptop is, I still sometimes wish it had a faster CPU, a better GPU, and more RAM. Modern phones are still around an order of magnitude slower and have a fraction of the RAM. They're not exactly desktop replacements.

* 64GB is an impressive amount of storage for a cell phone. It's pretty weak for a laptop.

* "The Cloud" is an order of magnitude or two slower than my local disk, and my local disk doesn't have a monthly data transfer limit.

* Normal people have no clue what Ubuntu is, and they're not exactly adopting it in droves, even without having to buy new hardware to support it.

So… neat idea, but I don't see this getting off the ground. If it does,
though, I see a lot more idle sword fighting in my future.

------
headbiznatch
I never got my jet pack, but I DID get my handheld supercomputer. I love this.
I love the idea of it and the 7 year old in me who had his world rocked by
that TI-99/4A is stoked. I just can't be upset at any aspect of this - our
computing dreams just keep coming true.

------
bane
Reminds me of this from 2011 [http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/motorola-
atrix-4g-hd-mult...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/motorola-atrix-4g-hd-
multimedia-dock-and-laptop-dock-hands-on/).

Which I think is _awesome_.

------
dfc
Does anyone know who coined the "inside of every X there is a Y trying to come
out"?

------
CWIZO
So this isn't something I can actually buy if I understand this correctly,
right?

------
raarky
Just curious. What happens if the phone rings and you rip it out of the dock?

------
charlieok
So it doesn't seem like I can actually run this right now. Am I missing the
link to actually get it and set it up? If there isn't one, why are they making
an announcement?

------
ez77
It sounds great, but I'm confused: Are they planning to give this away as a
free download? They seem to be targeting manufacturers only.

------
aremie
Finally an OS company has seen and grasped this big business opportunity. This
could mean a big boom in Ubuntu users. A win for linux.

------
reactor
To see in action, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUXUjjg9qQ0>

------
tambourine_man
I always find it odd that people call the hardware and OS by the same name.

My first impression was a virtualized Ubuntu on top of Android (the OS).

------
chj
Ubuntu is the future of open computing. Look what apple does to their OS X and
what Microsoft is going to do with their windows.

------
joejohnson
I don't understand what you use for input devices? Bluetooth keyboard and
mouse paired with the phone?

~~~
morsch
Maybe the dock has a few USB ports? Otherwise, I'm not sure what exactly the
dock does. You don't need a dock to connect a display to a phone with HDMI-
out, which are the only phones supported.

~~~
cgranade
I think the idea is so that you can just drop in a dock to connect USB, HDMI
and power, rather than plugging and unplugging three different cables each
time. That is, the dock wouldn't offer new kinds of ports, so much as collect
them together for the user.

~~~
keithpeter
So instead of my company phone and company locked down desktop PC, I get one
device which I can then plug into any dock in the building. IT Support only
have to worry about one device instead of two.

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

~~~
cbr
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.

~~~
papalalu
that doesn't seem ideal if the phonecall is about what you're doing on the
desktop.

------
modev
I'll love to test this out as soon as possible. Getting my Android phone to
try it out. ;)

------
rhygar
This is cool from a gee whiz/novelty standpoint, but in practice this will
have very poor usability. Why? Good touch apps have terrible UI for keyboard &
mouse interaction.

For example swiping, pinch to zoom, etc. Many apps use a swipe to the left or
right to perform and action. How would this work with a mouse?

~~~
Lewisham
This isn't what they're proposing. What they're saying is that Android will be
on the touchscreen, and Ubuntu will available on the main screen.

Presumably, Ubuntu apps will be given access to Android's data store and
events, but Ubuntu apps won't run on the touchscreen, and vice versa.

------
erikpukinskis
I could've done without the goatse reference, Canonical.

------
translated
Linux for human beings for Android?

------
arisAlexis
still waiting for ubuntu car what taking them so long...

------
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).

~~~
diminish
feel the same. i am using an ubuntu laptop for a long time, and my 2 android
phones tablets running ubuntu is like a mobility dream... i am excited.

------
vijayanands
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-...](http://www.vijayanand.name/2008/10/the-future-of-living-how-3g-could-
help/)

... in a nokia centric world, be it.

~~~
movingahead
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.

~~~
vijayanands
Not "if", thats precisely what they will do. :)

