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**Robtygart** · Sep 28, 2013, 06:25 PM

I am not a fan of cell phones but that would be really cool. It will not take much time, you will be able to use a different Window Manager, you might be able to do is allready. I don't like Unity at all.

Your link is broken...
http://phandroid.com/2013/09/23/ubun...se-october-17/

**claydoh** · Sep 28, 2013, 06:32 PM

Dunno, the number of devices officially and unofficially supported is growing but there are plenty not supported. The lack of cdma support (Verizon and Sprint users in the US) reduces the possible user size (again in the states). Porting to new devices seems to be completely poorly documented, despite the wiki pages etc out there. I wasted a day, literally a whole day just browsing for information and was amazed at the lack of how-to's, or even a level base place to begin learning what one needs to know in porting to a new device.

Now, I didn't actually ask anyone for help or advice as I was just looking to amass some starting point to help me find what I would need tom learn to port the images to my HTC DNA. Even on the venerable AskUbuntu site, there are almost literally ZERO answers to questions like "where do I start", or "what is the 'breakfast' tool mentioned in the porting wiki?" And on xda-developers, I could not find much more than "I have a port", "I want a port", "check out the crowdfunding site to help get my phone ported"

I so want to try this out on my DNA, but there is no port for it that isn't from January, assuming that it even worked. THEN I discovered that cdma is not (yet) supported. I think. lol

tl;dr :

Right now, I think this probably will bring more open apps to phones initially, but how long that will last, I don't know.

**Feathers McGraw** · Sep 28, 2013, 06:56 PM

@robytgart
Thanks for correcting the link, have updated my post. Double http :/

I agree about unity but if you're using a fat finger instead of a precision mouse it starts to look a lot better.

@claydoh
I take your point about support for phones, but tablets don't have that problem.

Might be worth asking Ubuntu devs to write a "how to" for porting devices. Might be worth their time if it gets other people expanding the list of supported hardware - after all, the success of Ubuntu Touch depends on users adopting it.

Fingers crossed it doesn't go the way of WebOS...

**claydoh** · Sep 28, 2013, 07:06 PM

Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View Post

@claydoh
I take your point about support for phones, but tablets don't have that problem.

Might be worth asking Ubuntu devs to write a "how to" for porting devices. Might be worth their time if it gets other people expanding the list of supported hardware - after all, the success of Ubuntu Touch depends on users adopting it.

Fingers crossed it doesn't go the way of WebOS...

It *is* about phones, as touch is as much a phone OS as it is a tablet one, maybe more so. And I am sure there are many tablet models that need porting as well.

As to the ubuntu documentation, it's constantly pointed to - and utterly useless unless you already know what you are doing at the moment. I even read the irc logs for the porting clinic from August - even more useless. Unfortunately this process is not for mere mortals yet, until ones finds the right Mr Miyagi

Though I bet once the OS is officially released, there will be a fresh spurt of updated builds for various devices.

**whatthefunk** · Sep 28, 2013, 07:21 PM

Are there any apps for Ubuntu touch? Without apps, a smartphone is worthless and you may as well save yourself loads of money and buy an old flip phone.

**Feathers McGraw** · Sep 28, 2013, 07:34 PM

Originally posted by whatthefunk View Post

Are there any apps for Ubuntu touch? Without apps, a smartphone is worthless and you may as well save yourself loads of money and buy an old flip phone.

I guess not a huge number ATM, but most people (from my generation, at least) already have a smartphone. If you can put Ubuntu Touch on it to try then it hasn't cost you anything but time & effort.

From what I've read, if it will run Android it will run Ubuntu Touch.

On another note, does anyone know how similar Ubuntu desktop and Ubuntu touch are? Is it just a matter of having apps optimised for small screens, or are things different under the bonnet?

**Feathers McGraw** · Sep 28, 2013, 07:35 PM

Perhaps more realistically, if it will run CyanogenMod then it'll run Ubuntu Touch, because it means the drivers are available, even if they aren't libre.

**claydoh** · Sep 28, 2013, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View Post

I guess not a huge number ATM, but most people (from my generation, at least) already have a smartphone. If you can put Ubuntu Touch on it to try then it hasn't cost you anything but time & effort.

From what I've read, if it will run Android it will run Ubuntu Touch.

On another note, does anyone know how similar Ubuntu desktop and Ubuntu touch are? Is it just a matter of having apps optimised for small screens, or are things different under the bonnet?

Right now, they are separate beasts, I don't think the convergence is there just yet from what I have seen.

**claydoh** · Sep 28, 2013, 07:49 PM

Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View Post

Perhaps more realistically, if it will run CyanogenMod then it'll run Ubuntu Touch, because it means the drivers are available, even if they aren't libre.

And CM 10.1 specifically right now. Many phones are a wip on this, plenty are officially supported (thus making porting a lot easier), and more are unofficially supported by CM, which adds some complexity to building it, assuming that radios, cameras, bluetooth, etc. are working. But the structure is there at least. There is the potential for a big number of users checking it out just from Nexus users. And a small but growing number of devices with dual boot capabilities sure might help things along.......

**Feathers McGraw** · Sep 28, 2013, 08:07 PM

Originally posted by claydoh View Post

Right now, they are separate beasts, I don't think the convergence is there just yet from what I have seen.

That's a shame, is this the direction the Ubuntu developers are taking though? I'm sure I read that somewhere. I think it would be a good way of introducing Ubuntu to a wider market if the phone/tablet and desktop OSes are basically the same, just scaled differently. It would certainly reduce the scare factor in trying a new desktop OS.

Something I've wanted for a while in Google Play is the ability to see (and sort by) licence type. If the Ubuntu app store did this and gave the ability to hide proprietary apps then I think it would be good for free software in general.

Feathers

**claydoh** · Sep 28, 2013, 08:13 PM

f-droid is an alternative market with open software for android. Some of it is quite good, a lot of it is, well, not so much (just like in the play store, lol!), and I think a lot of open source apps do not put their offerings there.

**Feathers McGraw** · Sep 28, 2013, 08:32 PM

Yeah I've used it. The problem for me is that when you know you'd like an app that does X but don't know which one to choose, reviews like on the play store are really useful.

**Robtygart** · Sep 28, 2013, 08:38 PM

Can this OS be used on a Nook? You can use an Android OS for it!

**Feathers McGraw** · Sep 28, 2013, 08:52 PM

Check if CyanogenMod has been ported to it, if so then the answer is it's not improbable someone will do it soon.

My girlfriend uses a Kindle Fire HD 7", and Amazon said the boot loader on that was "unhackable".

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Ubuntu Touch: Opinions Please

Ubuntu Touch: Opinions Please

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