Ubuntu for tablets announced [LWN.net]

Canonical has announced an upcoming version of its distribution for tablets; it seems to have come a long way since we reviewed an early release last November. "Take calls in Skype while you work in a document, make notes on the side while you surf the web, tweet while you watch a movie. Or use apps collaboratively – drag content from one app to another for a super-productive day. We’ve reinvented the tablet as a bridge between phone and PC."

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Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 16:44 UTC (Tue) by dowdle (subscriber, #659) [Link] (7 responses)

Ok, looking at the video posted to YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h384z7Ph0gU) ...is it just me or does the tablet use in the video seem uber simulated? It is so smooth and fast and fake looking you have to wonder how much they actually had working when they made the promo video.

So this is the fourth thing they've tried to build hype behind, yet so far as I know, we are still waiting on the first thing.

The video starts with some quotes about Ubuntu Phone... and then he makes the claim: "It is clear that Ubuntu is going to have a huge impact on the phone industry." Really, is that clear? But hey, I guess huge impact could have a number of different means, eh? :)

Some other companies might be faulted for not having a vision. At least Mr. S has one. I hope they do well... but I'm skeptical.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 16:52 UTC (Tue) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link] (2 responses)

I have to say that the whole Jony Ive / Steve Jobs impersonation of Shuttleworth looks incredibly cheap.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 17:57 UTC (Tue) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link]

Forgot to add: if they can deliver what's shown in that video, I am very impressed, it looks like a really nice interface!

The flip side

Posted Feb 20, 2013 0:15 UTC (Wed) by man_ls (guest, #15091) [Link]

That is one way of looking at it. I would rather say: not bad for a Debian Developer. Of course he cannot compare with the master deceivers. And the video is very very fake. But hey, it's clean-looking and shows what they want to show.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 16:57 UTC (Tue) by ssam (guest, #46587) [Link] (1 responses)

it is very hard to film a screen and make it look nice. You have worry about screen refreshes (not quite so bad on LCD), aliasing/moire, reflections etc. Its much simpler to composite in what the screen should be showing on top. (if you ever work on a film set you will learn that there are many tricks and hacks to get things looking right)

That does not necessarily mean the video is not representative of the real interface.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 18:13 UTC (Tue) by dowdle (subscriber, #659) [Link]

Oh, so what you are saying is that the people who produced the simulated experience just did a bad job of making it look real or they were doing exactly what they were told... which might have been... make it look twice as fast as whats currently out there. Gotcha. :)

So near the end Mr. S. tells us about the future of Ubuntu... which is taking your phone and docking it with a larger touch display... then it morphing into a television set... as well as a gaming console... and then a completely functional desktop system... implying that there is one code-base powering it all. That has, at least for now, already been shown to be false: http://www.muktware.com/5225/if-you-are-buying-ubuntu-pho...

Comparing the Ubuntu for Phones video with the Ubuntu for Tablets video it is obvious that there is quite a bit of footage shared between the two. What other promotional videos can we expect to show up in another month... and the month after that... that uses the same footage? Ubuntu for Automobiles? Ubuntu for Space Satellites? Ubuntu for microwave ovens? Show us more of that vision please!

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 21, 2013 19:59 UTC (Thu) by zlynx (guest, #2285) [Link] (1 responses)

I know that tablet and phone hardware these days is *capable* of being that smooth.

If the programmers locked the GUI into RAM, use dedicated UI update threads set to real-time, avoid doing any IO to the storage or the network, then the UI could easily be that smooth.

If they do those things, I don't know.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 22, 2013 14:04 UTC (Fri) by simosx (guest, #24338) [Link]

The hardware requirements are quite beefed up, requiring at least a Cortex A15 CPU. At the end of the year, the quad-core Cortex A15s will probably be the norm for tablets.

So, the smoothness and the nice user experience should be there.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 17:04 UTC (Tue) by ewan (guest, #5533) [Link] (3 responses)

So, where's the download link, or is this yet more Canonical vapourware?

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 17:10 UTC (Tue) by dholbach (guest, #53300) [Link] (2 responses)

You'll find links for the Touch Developer Preview here on Thursday: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Install

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 18:44 UTC (Tue) by ersi (guest, #64521) [Link]

Sweet, I'll keep a eye out for that.

I'm psyced! This is actually the first time I'm kind of interested in the whole "Unified Computing" hoo-hah.

I just hope the monetizing is pretty clear and not sneaky. Especially for us who donate and use other services - like Ubuntu One.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 19, 2013 21:12 UTC (Tue) by sharms (guest, #57357) [Link]

That is great I can't wait to try this on my Nexus 7

Userspace

Posted Feb 19, 2013 17:44 UTC (Tue) by Zero_Dogg (subscriber, #31310) [Link] (2 responses)

This looks rather interesting. At least I'd not mind having a system with a normal GNU/Linux userspace on my Nexus 7. I'm wondering a bit how «normal» it is though and can't seem to find any information on it. Ie. if it's running X (with the huge number of possibilities that brings), or something home-grown at Canonical (given their recent hints that they /may/ not go with Wayland).

Userspace

Posted Feb 21, 2013 0:26 UTC (Thu) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link] (1 responses)

X or Wayland, doubt they will have choose the ugly hack of running a server on top of another server.

Userspace

Posted Feb 21, 2013 8:27 UTC (Thu) by Zero_Dogg (subscriber, #31310) [Link]

I doubt they'd run two servers as well - I just hope they're not rolling their own server.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 20, 2013 3:36 UTC (Wed) by ccchips (subscriber, #3222) [Link]

The tablet hardware world is so fragmented - how is he going to deal with that?

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 21, 2013 5:08 UTC (Thu) by jimmyj (guest, #89388) [Link] (2 responses)

Looks like the advertising/marketing ladies win again? I bet the Windoze marketing ladies are freaking right now? Maybe the Apple marketing ladies are freaking also? How much hype and cluelessness can you create? This is dumb and non-technical. I'm building a new PC right now.

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 21, 2013 16:41 UTC (Thu) by cry_regarder (subscriber, #50545) [Link]

Intentionally sexist remark?

Ubuntu for tablets announced

Posted Feb 25, 2013 11:18 UTC (Mon) by stefon (guest, #27441) [Link]

so maybe you care to explain why LADIES are pushing this kind of marketing strategy?