Pandora Ubuntu Pabuntu

[paddy]

I am very interested in running Ubuntu on the Pandora as I am currently running Ubuntu 9.10
on my dell mini 9 via an 8gb usb 2.0 flash drive and even with the read / write speed being slow
the actual desktop enviroment is fast enough to be very usable ,generaly one task at a time
runs perfectly fine with only the open close speed of the app in question of being slower.

Typical Operation allows msn client ,online radio stream or stored mp3 playback along with
web browsing all at an acceptable speed with no choppyness ,compiz fusion desktop fully
enabled at the same time and 6.5GB of the 7.8GB full with data.

There are other distros and i have try'd many including moblin 2.0 but Ubuntu is still the way
to go ,the one drawback on the dell mini 9 is that flash playback is no good on fullscreen
but this is an intel chipset issue for thedell mini ,so it makes me wonder if the Pandora
version of Ubuntu would have an open source display driver that can be fully accessed
as this could actuly make Ubuntu on the Pandora better than the del mini.

I understand that the dell mini has an atom 1.8 cpu but i really dont think this would
be as much an issue for general desktop use but the 1gb of memory could be a deciding
factor ,but then again mabe not ?

The question i have is to do with the current build of Ubuntu running on the Pandora
and future ports ,this will prolly sound stupid but i wanted to know if when using a Pandora
version of linux Ubuntu or otherwise then does this also mean that all apps/programs and games
would also need to be recompiled to run on Ubuntu Pandora or would the user be able to install
all the apps programs games and other goodies from the main repo as with the desktop version
of Ubuntu meaning that as long as Ubuntu has been ported for Pandora then we will have a huge
software base for direct install that will work.


If its the case that software needs to be recompiled ported for arm to run on the Pandora Ubuntu
then i would want to know if this is currently being done and also if i could help in any way so that
we can build a great Pandora repo for ubuntu.

Paddy

 

[dflemstr]

Ubuntu does already work on the Pandora. There is an Ubuntu repository of software for the ARM platform (just like there's a repository of software for x86 Ubuntu), so no porting needed. You can take a look at some projects at https://launchpad.net/ to see if they work on ARM; you can also check some of the Debian ARM repositories, or the Ubuntu main repositories.

Compiz will NOT work on the Pandora as it requires full desktop OpenGL 2.0. GNOME will probably not work very well either, but that shouldn't be a huge problem. There will be lots of people trying out Ubuntu on the Pandora when it comes out, so you should wait until it's released in order to tell for sure how well it will perform.

 

[Grench]

The primary answer is to try out the Angstrom install it's coming with and see if you're missing anything. I'm going to give it a shot - but have some concerns that may or may not be legitimate. I understand it has been optimized for the platform, so give it a shot.

I remember seeing a screen shot where someone had Ubuntu running on a Beagle board. So, it should be possible. Ubuntu normally has a lot of overhead though, so RAM may be an issue for doing things other than just running the OS - I don't know.

In fact, I think it is probably inevitable that many flavors of Linux will wind up being made to run on OpenPandora hardware. I'm betting someone already has their sights set on making Android work. Who knows, someone might even push the OS from a Jailbroken iPhone over to it.

Until the actual hardware is in people's hands though... it all winds up being speculation.

 

[second exodous]

I don't think Ubuntu will really be ready for the Pandora until it's next release, 10.4, which comes out April (the 4th month of the year). It already runs, but oofficially it doesn't support the OMAP3 chip, whatever that means. I'll give it a go on my Pandora, but for a while Ångström is what I'll be using. Maybe Gentoo if that gets some push behind it.

 

[Yoyobuae]

*snip*
Who knows, someone might even push the OS from a Jailbroken iPhone over to it.
*snip*

AHEM!! There is the not so little obstacle of it being propietary and therefore closed source. And the probability of the iPhone firmware being binary compatible with Pandora is next to nil. Oh don't you just love the advantages of propietary software.

 

[borgqueenx]

im not sure, there seem to be alot of OS's and gui's for pandora.

Im searching for the most linux-noob friendly OS, and for some nice windows-like looking theme/gui/desktop.

 

[zhasha]

Im searching for the most linux-noob friendly OS, and for some nice windows-like looking theme/gui/desktop.

Then stick with the stock OS. Except for the Windows-like part, they've got it nailed pretty well.

 

[dflemstr]

nice windows-like

Sorry, but you'll be looking for a long time if that's your criterium

 

[gruso]

I don't think borgqueen means the Luna theme For most people, Windows-like is simply having an intuitive point & click interface, with easy to find apps for all the usual tasks. Which is what most distros offer these days.

[edit] There was a good article in some Linux mag last year, where the writer switched his girlfriend to Linux for a few days to see how she went with everyday tasks. Without any assistance she was soon browsing the web, IMing, ripping CDs, using OO and editing images in GIMP. That's Windows-like enough for most people I reckon.

 

[second exodous]

Linux desktop is really easy to use now. The only reason people think it's hard is because they are used to Windows, so even though Linux isn't hard to use it's still different. The same can be said moving to OSX from Windows, there is just a learning curve.

As far as point and click and basic computer use Linux is at the same level as Microsoft and I don't think anyone could sit down in front of a Linux computer and argue against that. I notice that most people that say it's so hard have never even tried it or they couldn't find an .exe file for a program and give up. It's really easy to mock something you have never used or give up.

 

[lulzfish]

That's the biggest difference, that the applications are stored in a totally ridiculous manner.
But if you're using the built-in package manager and desktop environment, it's not a problem. It's easier than Windows that way.

 

[VRAndy]

Im searching for the most linux-noob friendly OS,

In general, the most noob-friendly operating system is whatever is already on your computer.

and for some nice windows-like looking theme/gui/desktop.

Depending on what you consider "windows-like", you might be happy with just about any modern distro. A lot of people who switch to Linux are half expecting some all-command-line-all-the-time ultra nerd-core experience, and are surprised that most everything is just point and click nowadays.

 

[VRAndy]

[edit] There was a good article in some Linux mag last year, where the writer switched his girlfriend to Linux for a few days to see how she went with everyday tasks. Without any assistance she was soon browsing the web, IMing, ripping CDs, using OO and editing images in GIMP. That's Windows-like enough for most people I reckon.

Maybe he was dating a software engineer, or a sysadmin?

 

[gruso]

Nah, she was a regular person, but reasonably computer literate. The only thing that caught her out was iPod synching. Her CDs were ripped to .ogg I think, but the software didn't point this out to her. So she didn't know why they wouldn't work on the iPod.

 

[borgqueenx]

With windows-like i mean a windows start button to start all dailyused apps like firefox, and a desktop with shortcuts to folders and apps/games and a nice background, and the easy pointclick system.

Some nice aero effects would be nice to. Especially ubuntu effects

 

[VRAndy]

With windows-like i mean a windows start button to start all dailyused apps like firefox, and a desktop with shortcuts to folders and apps/games and a nice background, and the easy pointclick system.

Does it have to say "START" on it? Because Gnome has had the footprint menu (Defaults to lower left corner) for a long time.
I think other shells have something similar, but I dunno, I've never really used them.

 

[zhasha]

Nah, she was a regular person, but reasonably computer literate. The only thing that caught her out was iPod synching. Her CDs were ripped to .ogg I think, but the software didn't point this out to her. So she didn't know why they wouldn't work on the iPod.

Linux distros can't be blamed for the iPod being a piece of shit.

 

[shadow.8]

With windows-like i mean a windows start button to start all dailyused apps like firefox, and a desktop with shortcuts to folders and apps/games and a nice background, and the easy pointclick system.

Does it have to say "START" on it?  Because Gnome has had the footprint menu (Defaults to lower left corner) for a long time.
I think other shells have something similar, but I dunno, I've never really used them.

I think you mean upper left...  Or you're talking about KDE...  But either way, I agree, both KDE and Gnome are very easy to use if you are new to linux.

 

[Gilrad]

I will agree that Linux has gone a long way towards general usability over the years, though I still think there is this large chasm for the mid-ranged computer users.

If you stick within the point-and-click interface you can do just fine, and if you know the command line you are just peachy. But for those between it is still a frustrating as hell experience.

If you want a program that isn't on the repositories, then generally speaking your only solution is to compile it yourself, a process that is maddeningly unintuitive every time I have (quite unsuccessfully) tried.

If a problem arises that is not solved through the interface, you have to resort to looking up forums, entering safe mode, and fiddling with the unintuitive text options in config files.

I gave Ubuntu a try for a good nine months cold turkey (uninstalled Windows and everything), but sooner or later I just felt way too constricted by the fact that stepping out of "beginner user-land" always resulted in three full days of troubleshooting before giving up.

I only hope that the Pandora's build will circumvent these issues both due to its de-emphasization of NAND-installed applications, and it's PND packaging system.

 

[Pleng]

Does it have to say "START" on it? Because Gnome has had the footprint menu (Defaults to lower left corner) for a long time.
I think other shells have something similar, but I dunno, I've never really used them.

Even Windows ditched the 'Start' button in favour of the Windows logo.