Ubuntu On Pandora

[Chip]

"Yeah, but does it run Ubuntu?" is the new "Yeah, but does it run Doom?"

It's good that we can now put a check in that box, even if Ubuntu may not be the best UI / distro / whatever-you-want-to-call-it for a handheld. If Craig is still looking for votes, I'd say don't put too much effort into Ubuntu just now. That it runs is enough to check the box, we can worry about making it run well later.

 

[Babrios]

I hope you're kidding. From what I've heard symbian is horrible to dev for. Worse than WinMo.

Yes and this is only because each manufacturer takes slices from the base OS and creates another flavour.
Often devs have to make changes for every particular phone model and even keep up with revisions of the same model. It's hard for a developer keeping up with all the differences. Another thing are bad SDK's.
IF the whole base Symbian gets open source this will change. With the actual base Symbian as the standard, development could take a much more generalized route. That's why Nokia wants to go open source with it. It could be the next big thing. It's not bloated and with it's background in the mobile device market it is highly efficient right from the start.

 

[greendots]

Just add a couple of Ubuntu driver scripts, add the word ubuntu all over a verbose boot screen, make a pandora/ubuntu themed wallpaper and say that Pandora's OS is based on Ubuntu.

Really, I think thats a good idea

 

[emil10001]

I hope you're kidding. From what I've heard symbian is horrible to dev for. Worse than WinMo.

Yes and this is only because each manufacturer takes slices from the base OS and creates another flavour.
Often devs have to make changes for every particular phone model and even keep up with revisions of the same model. It's hard for a developer keeping up with all the differences. Another thing are bad SDK's.
IF the whole base Symbian gets open source this will change. With the actual base Symbian as the standard, development could take a much more generalized route. That's why Nokia wants to go open source with it. It could be the next big thing. It's not bloated and with it's background in the mobile device market it is highly efficient right from the start.


I have zero interest in owning a Symbian handheld. It doesn't carry the same usefulness to me that Linux would. My most used app on my n800 is xterm.

 

[Frank Grimes]

http://www.openpandora.org/blog.php

Looks friggin' awesome
Even had Gimp running!


I'm hoping this means that a lot of Ubuntu apps will be usable on the Pandora without too much hassle?

 

[PoisonedV]

erm, bit late bud

 

[Frank Grimes]

Haha sorry, my bad
Just got excited at seeing it.

 

[Chip]

Haha sorry, my bad
Just got excited at seeing it.

Merged with existing thread.

 

[valhalla]

I'm hoping this means that a lot of Ubuntu apps will be usable on the Pandora without too much hassle?

no, this means that ubuntu apps that have been recompiled for ARM may work on pandora, if they fit on the low res screen and if they manage to be usable even with the small (high dpi) screen. Also, I don't think they would be optimized.

 

[Mjlink]

QUOTE


Um there's no VGA output so the best you'll get is S-Video so it can't really *quite* be classed as a computer!

Impressive video, nonetheless!


My first computer monitor was a black and white television, T/I in like 83, cassette tape for memory!

My 2nd computer had a CGA monitor, 8088XT, 20MB HD!

I think S video qualifies as a computer monitor.

Mono?

No

Peace

Link

 

[MilanC]

C'mon. Who'd want to recompile ubuntu when there's an ARM port of debian.

 

[Pleng]

QUOTE

Um there's no VGA output so the best you'll get is S-Video so it can't really *quite* be classed as a computer!

Impressive video, nonetheless!


My first computer monitor was a black and white television, T/I in like 83, cassette tape for memory!

My 2nd computer had a CGA monitor, 8088XT, 20MB HD!

I think S video qualifies as a computer monitor.


Sorry. I forgot we were still in the 80's and all running desktops in far lower resolutions than 800*600!

 

[notaz]

I might have missed this in the video, but Notaz - what input methods were you using to move the mouse and type? Did you use USB devices or inputs from the devboard itself?

Some generic USB keyboard and mouse connected through USB hub.

[...]The ARM architecture isn't officially supported by Ubuntu, so you wouldn't be able to download from Synaptic and you'd have to compile programs yourself, and you'd barely be able to get any support from Canonical or the Ubuntu forums.

Most packages are already recompiled and can be downloaded using standard package managers like aptitude and Synaptic from Mojo repository, you don't need to recompile anything. Some packages are missing, though.

The default GUI is running on KDrive IIRC, which is a very small X server, often used for low-memory or embedded devices.

Full-blown Xorg was running in the video you've seen.

Personally, I'd rather like to see Ubuntu (or, indeed, Xubuntu, or Kubuntu if possible - the latter of which is the OS I use personally and really rather like :lol: ) available pre-set-up - and persistent - on bootable SD Cards, purchasable as an optional extra.

You could prepare such card yourself from downloadable disk image. No need to purchase anything.

@notaz
Can you tell us, please, how much RAM is left for user after you logged in? And have you tried opening something more serious in GIMP.. like a picture of medium size (3Mb)?

I think I can. Post a link to an image you want me to open.

Also, what was the speed of the SD used for the booting? Class 2, 4, 6 or higher? This will also greatly effect the bootup time, and even more when the memory was swap'ing already.

I used an old Kingston 2GB non-SDHC card. No class numbers for those.

 

[Babrios]

I have zero interest in owning a Symbian handheld. It doesn't carry the same usefulness to me that Linux would. My most used app on my n800 is xterm.

Oh I'm so so sorry your highness, if thy interest is zero, then of course it must be utterly useless. What was I thinking?
Don't want to slide further off topic in that thread. An Open source Symbian can offer a lot, which can be discussed later on, some other time, some other thread.

 

[hch]

wow, this is great! now i am *really* looking forward to holing one of these in my hand

and about if ubuntu should be pushed: are you kidding? YES!! please!

i personally don't care so much about which distro, but one working 'mainline' distro would be really great (and i would think could attract a lot of potential customers). and ubuntu doesn't seem to be a bad choice. just about 2 weeks ago, ubuntu for the eeepc was released. that one is supposed to run on a 800*480 screen too and as far as i understand, it does so very well. and nokia people have essentially ported it to arm, right?

anyways, thanks a lot

 

[mazza558]

Go for either Netbook Remix or the Mobile Edition of Ubuntu. Much more friendly for small screens and less RAM.

 

[emil10001]

I have zero interest in owning a Symbian handheld. It doesn't carry the same usefulness to me that Linux would. My most used app on my n800 is xterm.

Oh I'm so so sorry your highness, if thy interest is zero, then of course it must be utterly useless. What was I thinking?
Don't want to slide further off topic in that thread. An Open source Symbian can offer a lot, which can be discussed later on, some other time, some other thread.


I was just stating my opinion. I also think that since this has been positioned for a long time as a linux handheld, that a lot of people here might feel similarly.

Edit:
By the way, this is exactly what I was talking about:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/29/ubuntu-...ing-on-pandora/

 

[God Ginrai]

I originally looked at this video just because I wanted to see more Pandora videos. (because I wasn't interested in ubuntu) But I about freaked when I saw the Gimp load. That made me happy.

Great work on this, notaz!

A lot of people appear to think that you'll be able to use Ubuntu on Pandora like anywhere else. This isn't the case. The rest of the post after this might be a little negative, but I wouldn't want any of you to base your decision to spend $330 on a Pandora on this.

Using Ubuntu on the Pandora is kinda stupid in a lot of aspects. The thing that seperates Ubuntu from other distros is its usability and support. The ARM architecture isn't officially supported by Ubuntu, so you wouldn't be able to download from Synaptic and you'd have to compile programs yourself, and you'd barely be able to get any support from Canonical or the Ubuntu forums. You would just be stuck with a bloated Linux environment without most of the things that make Ubuntu shine.

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with using the Linux that will come with the console. Maybe it'll be possible to install an X server on top of that so people could use a more traditional desktop environment?

Also, I'm not bashing this at all. I think this is a great project and it totally deserves the enthusiasm it's getting. I just have the quirkiest hunch lingering in the back of my head that some people think that people will be able to use like Ubuntu on a PC.

If people really want Ubuntu, and I know that there will be people who do, we would work towards getting it running really well.

Ubuntu could be what pushes the Pandora from our community in to the bigger computer world, we are aware of this and it's been a topic of conversation many times.

What do you guys think?


I understand that some people will want it, but I think that you should hold back on the development on that for now, and look more to the development of the more core Pandora utilities and apps and such.

-God Ginrai

 

[DynaMight]

I think Ubuntu should be optimized for the Pandora, it will be a big selling point.

Most will know its a linux based device but somehow it just running Ubuntu will make it much more appealing to a larger community of people, it'll make it seem more like a proper computer, if that makes sense.

I have used Ubuntu on my old EeePC 701, which has a bigger screen but the same resolution and its quite usable at that res, not all windows fit but most do. You can do quite a few adjustments with font sizes, menu bars etc too.

Netbook remix it quite nice too, similar interface as Gmenux in a way so it maybe quite similar to the stock Pandora interface - besides, a lot of people will want a full desktop.

It is true most people will only use it because they can but thats just the way humans are, if we didnt do stuff we didnt exactly need to do we wouldnt had got where the human race is today.

 

[cb88]

@Dynamight you post was pretty pointless it has already been said and argued over also pointlessly ubuntu port fun to look at crap to use was the general direction the argument took since is has been discussed a billion times you shouldn't have any trouble finding the thread it is in

on a side note gimp loaded much faster than on my dual PII 300mhz so from what i can see it looks decently fast for desktop apps

ok... strip out ALL the background ubuntu services and even remove the option to use them and then i just might be worth it but wait it wouldn't be ubuntu anymore would it