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Ubuntu Reveals One Linux OS for Phones, PCs, and TVs

Jan 2, 2013, 6:37 PM by Eric M. Zeman

Canonical today announced a new version of its Ubuntu Linux operating system for smartphones, tablets, PCs, and TVs. Ubuntu is one of the more popular desktop versions of Linux available, and the new version can work on both high-end and entry-level smartphones, as well as other computing devices. According to Canonical, Ubuntu for smartphones uses all four edges of the phone's display for unique, gesture-based actions. The user interface allows for fast app switching and hides control panels unless called upon by the user. Some of the features called out by Canonical include support for voice and text commands in most applications, support for both native and HTML5 apps, and support for highly customized and personal home screens. It uses the same drivers that Google's Android does, but doesn't incude the Java runtime for the user interface and applications. Canonical says this, along with its SDK, will make developing or porting apps for Ubuntu quick and easy. It supports both the ARM and x86 architectures, which covers a large portion of chipsets. Canonical's ultimate vision sees the platform running on smartphones that are then docked into other devices for expanded functionality. For example, the smartphone OS can serve as a full computer when docked with a keyboard, mouse, and larger display. Ubuntu is pitching the platform to smartphone, tablet, and PC makers, as well as mobile network operators as a fully converged and ready-to-go computing platform.

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About the author, Eric M. Zeman:

Eric has been covering the mobile telecommunications industry for 17 years at various print and online publications. He studied at Rutgers Newark and University of Kentucky, and has a degree in writing. He likes playing guitar, attending concerts, listening to music, and driving sports cars.

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This forum is closed.

bluecoyote

Jan 2, 2013, 10:56 PM

Gesture-based UI's are terrible

Although the screenshots look pretty, the preview on the Verge looks like this is going to be a complete disaster to use in real life. Canonical simply spent too much time paying Photoshop jockeys and not enough time engineering their UI.

A real world problem- under heavy processor strain, the phone has to simultaneously handle cellular background data, the application task, any background/os tasks, and track enough points on something like a swipe (while checking it against the accidental input prevention heuristics) before it can execute an action. When an OS bogs down, it becomes plagued with unwanted stutters, hiccups, and misread input. Making that your entire OS navigation method means you're betting the farm on hyper-responsivenes...
(continues)

fatclue

bluecoyote said:
Although the screenshots look pretty, the preview on the Verge looks like this is going to be a complete disaster to use in real life. Canonical simply spent too much time paying Photoshop jockeys and not enough ti

...
(continues)

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KOL4420

Jan 2, 2013, 6:43 PM

Incredible!

Cant wait to get my hands on it. I use Ubuntu on my PC desktop its great! But wow complete computing device on any device Tablet and smart phone alike. I want to flash my old phone first to see how it goes then I can play with it on my Note 2 😛.

dabbler

It almost sounds too good to be true.

...

Riot_Act

will be reduced of course on ARM platforms.
It's been a few years since the first time ubuntu was able to run on ARM based systems, some functionality of the OS of course is crippled due to the limited capabilities of ARM.
Now-days; plenty of tools ...
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