Ubuntu Linux: Android's 2012 killer app?

[Bateluer]

http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

Originally promised by Moto with the Atrix, which they completely screwed the pooch on. Canonical might actually be the ones to deliver it.

Your next desktop could be a phone

Why carry two devices, when you could carry only one? Your next high-end smartphone has far more horsepower than you’ll need on a phone, and more than enough for a laptop. So we’ve brought Android together with Ubuntu, the world’s favourite free operating system, to give you a full productivity desktop that fits in your pocket. Android for the phone experience, Ubuntu for the desktop, all on one device, running at the same time.

So forget the office PC. Just dock your corporate phone and enjoy Ubuntu. Anywhere. One address book. One set of bookmarks. One place for your text messages and email. No more typing on a tiny screen when all you want is a keyboard and a mouse. Seamless integration of your desktop and mobile worlds. Brilliant.

 

[Deeko]

It sounds very cool - but I have a hard time believing this ever extends being the extreme enthusiast market.

 

[pm]

I downloaded the latest Ubuntu and was a bit dismayed by the new user interface. I can now see what they are thinking and why they went with those decisions. I will likely try it out. Although I agree with Deeko. But it is ironic that I switched my desktop Linux over to Mint because I didn't like the new tablet/smartphone UI.

 

[Red Storm]

Cool stuff.

 

[silverpig]

Fast forward to the future and we will be carrying a phone/computer (phomputer?) which will be exactly like a smartphone with a smartphone/tablet OS on it, and there will be a dock that you connect it to when you are at home/work and it will turn into a full desktop computer.

Apple is slowly getting there, with their whole "back to the Mac" thing. And on the macbook side, you now just bring it home and plug in a power cable and a thunderbolt connection and you have a full desktop (sorta) on your hands.

Imagine if the iPhone was powerful enough to run a full desktop.

 

[Bateluer]

Apple is slowly getting there, with their whole "back to the Mac" thing. And on the macbook side, you now just bring it home and plug in a power cable and a thunderbolt connection and you have a full desktop (sorta) on your hands.

Eh? You can plug nearly any laptop into a desktop monitor and connect USB mice & keyboards to make it a 'full desktop'.

 

[Red Storm]

Fast forward to the future and we will be carrying a phone/computer (phomputer?) which will be exactly like a smartphone with a smartphone/tablet OS on it, and there will be a dock that you connect it to when you are at home/work and it will turn into a full desktop computer.

Apple is slowly getting there, with their whole "back to the Mac" thing. And on the macbook side, you now just bring it home and plug in a power cable and a thunderbolt connection and you have a full desktop (sorta) on your hands.

Imagine if the iPhone was powerful enough to run a full desktop.

Take it one step further. We already have wireless display tech from Intel. We won't need to plug our phone into anything, just launch an app/switch and you're on your desktop. The only real need to connect the phone is for charging.

 

[Bateluer]

Take it one step further. We already have wireless display tech from Intel. We won't need to plug our phone into anything, just launch an app/switch and you're on your desktop. The only real need to connect the phone is for charging.

Whats its called, when you use the special battery cover and the matte . . .inductive charging?

 

[theeedude]

This is the future. MHL will charge the phone and do HDMI duty, 1 cable is all you'll need.

 

[Red Storm]

Whats its called, when you use the special battery cover and the matte . . .inductive charging?

Yep forgot about that. We're almost there.

 

[MrX8503]

The future is your smartphone will also be your computer. When you get to your desk you dock it to a dummy screen and it powers a full OS.

I think Ubuntu would be Android's killer app, if it worked in the real world. I think we're still a few years out from something like this to be adopted mainstream. I'm willing to bet that MS/Apple has plans for this in the future and you can already see bits/pieces of it in Win8/Mountain Lion.

Android is kind of the odd one out as Google is the only one of the three without a desktop OS. The future will probably be smartphone desktop computing and maybe Google will use Ubuntu or even Chrome OS for that kind of extension.

 

[Jodell88]

I wonder how Gnome 3 will work on this, as it targets touch devices as well as desktops.

 

[sciwizam]

Here's a video of it running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gUXUjjg9qQ0

 

[RavenSEAL]

Here's a video of it running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gUXUjjg9qQ0

 

[WelshBloke]

Here's a video of it running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gUXUjjg9qQ0

Wow, that was pretty slick. :thumbsup:

 

[sciwizam]

I want to see how smooth the desktop functions, need moar videos.

 

[poofyhairguy]

This has basically been a long term dream of mine, the idea of a desktop being my phone and only having one comp in life with many adaptors.

With that said, Moto showed me why my old friend Ubuntu won't be a part of that dream. The Atrix basically was what I thought I wanted, until I found running a whole nother OS on the phone sucks. Unless Ubuntu is going to make a dialer and do phone calls, it will feel like a separate device.

Why do that when Android can give me everything and do touch much much better? As a hardcore Xorg fanboy for years I hate to admit it but Android kinda made other user versions of Linux obsolete in the long run, mostly by replacing X.

 

[soccerballtux]

We've been trying to get xda-dev forums to give the Atrix community its own Webtop forum but for whatever stupid reason they won't. There's a big group of us that need some way to collaborate better than just random threads that fall off the first page in 2 hours.
If you run an unlocked Atrix you can throw on whatever custom modified Linux you want, but it's usually based on Motorola's, just heavily modified into a "normal" Linux desktop. In fact, this is something all Motorola phones support.

This is definitely the future of cellphones, and (seeing as I don't use my PC for much these days anymore than posting on ATF and reading the web) probably most home desktops too.

 

[soccerballtux]

This has basically been a long term dream of mine, the idea of a desktop being my phone and only having one comp in life with many adaptors.

With that said, Moto showed me why my old friend Ubuntu won't be a part of that dream. The Atrix basically was what I thought I wanted, until I found running a whole nother OS on the phone sucks. Unless Ubuntu is going to make a dialer and do phone calls, it will feel like a separate device.

Why do that when Android can give me everything and do touch much much better? As a hardcore Xorg fanboy for years I hate to admit it but Android kinda made other user versions of Linux obsolete in the long run, mostly by replacing X.

it's also the nightmare of Intel. I'm very bearish on Intel long term (>5 years away)

 

[soccerballtux]

Fast forward to the future and we will be carrying a phone/computer (phomputer?) which will be exactly like a smartphone with a smartphone/tablet OS on it, and there will be a dock that you connect it to when you are at home/work and it will turn into a full desktop computer.

Apple is slowly getting there, with their whole "back to the Mac" thing. And on the macbook side, you now just bring it home and plug in a power cable and a thunderbolt connection and you have a full desktop (sorta) on your hands.

Imagine if the iPhone was powerful enough to run a full desktop.

Apple is in an interesting position because doing that would cannibalize their other sales. My read is they're going to delay doing this as long as possible.

 

[BoberFett]

I'm sold. I saw this coming long ago, cool to see it happening.

 

[sciwizam]

Also, keep in mind that the demo is running on Tegra 2 of the Atrix. Should be much smoother on the next gen SoCs.

 

[MrX8503]

Apple is in an interesting position because doing that would cannibalize their other sales. My read is they're going to delay doing this as long as possible.

Apple makes way way more money on their iPhones and iPads than off their Macs. If the world moved onto mobile computing, I don't think Apple would mind at all as long they were able to retain their sales.

 

[atrus.eoa]

Whats its called, when you use the special battery cover and the matte . . .inductive charging?

And wasn't there some big thing a couple of years ago where you could just set your phone down on this table that was a controller thing and kind of control it...play music, send files to and from it etc?

 

[_Aurel_]

Apple is in an interesting position because doing that would cannibalize their other sales. My read is they're going to delay doing this as long as possible.

Apple's business is mostly iPhones, and every iteration of OSX they try to bring more iOS features onto it. My feeling is that Apple will continue to sell OSX machines as long as it makes them money, but I doubt they're going to delay it's funeral, when the time comes.