Steve Paine wrote:
> I've been impressed with what Oliver has done with Ubuntu Mobile in such
> a short time and I see an opportunity. We, the mobile community, finally
> have a project that we can get behind with confidence. Ubuntu-MID is
> great but there's a feeling that Intel, Canonical and others are tied up
> with OEMs and that the project is not so accessible. Not least becuase
> there isn't a single instance of it in the wild yet!
As much as I am a huge fan of Ubuntu Mobile, and expect it to be the
default environment for my 7" laptop, I would like to note that there
*are* a few devices on which Ubuntu MID works now, so I'm not sure that
it can't be said to be in the wild (although only a few people install
it). I've been running it on the Kohjinsha SR series (for which Mobile
is a better choice), and on the Sharp D4. I know some users have been
using it on the Aigo MID. While there's not a lot of hardware out
there, it should be usable on an increasing set of hardware over time
(as more is produced in the appropriate form factor with supported
processors).
> My proposal is that UMPCPortal officially supports the Ubuntu Mobile
> project and tries to rally dev support for it. My feeling is that the
> project could really benefit from more dev and community support, and
> that we are in a position to help seed that. This project could capture
> a big chunk of netbook, umpc and mid owner support.
Despite the above,it would be wonderful to have more people
involved. Most of the discussions happen on #ubuntu-mobile in freenode
and on this list. More users, testers, and developers are *always* welcome.
> My question is, can we do this in some semi-formal way? I want to post
> an article (today if possble), place a promotional ad button and donate
> some equipment to Oliver. Can someone from Canonical informally
> 'approve' and 'recieve' our support such that the community sees that
> it's a two-way link?
I can't speak on behalf of Canonical, but speaking from my
experience in Ubuntu, it's generally better to get more people who each
have their own hardware involved than to send lots of hardware to some
specific person. More developers with more hardware would help get
Ubuntu Mobile from being something that a couple people fiddle with to
something rich, robust, and widely supported. While Oliver would likely
enjoy being drowned in hardware, it's unlikely that such a model would
result in the significant ongoing testing that is required to ensure
that the releases meet the desired level of polish.
Also, I think that rather than creating a link between a "UMPC
Portal Ubuntu Mobile Community" and a "Canonical Ubuntu Mobile
Developer", it may be more sensible to join both as part of an "Ubuntu
Mobile Community" using Ubuntu resources (forums, wiki), this mailing
list, and the IRC channel, to discuss items of interest. Such a group
may also pull other interested parties, from other sources, where all
can collaborate towards a common goal.
> One note - I also want to promote Ubuntu Mobile as
> a potential distro for the larger Poulsbo-based UMPCs and possibly MIDs.
> I know Ubuntu-MID is there for that but I see Ubuntu-MID more of a
> 'developer' or 'OEM' edition and as such, it doesnt connect with the
> community as well. This is the key element and advantage I see with
> Ubuntu Mobile.
Well, no, Ubuntu MID specifically isn't there for that. Ubuntu MID
is very much not ideal for use on the larger devices (speaking as
someone who used Ubuntu MID on a 7" laptop as a primary computing
platform all through Intrepid UDS). These larger devices are definitely
a target for Ubuntu Mobile, and if sufficiently large, may even be
better with Desktop than either MID or Mobile.
I think part of the problem with Ubuntu MID is that it's generally
been very hardware specific and uses special tools to construct test
environments. During the intrepid cycle, significant work has been done
to reduce the specialness of Ubuntu MID. While there's still some
packages that only work properly on the "lpia" architecture, the
majority is not architecture-specific. There are regular daily live
images available (1), based on a mix of GNOME, Xfce, Hildon, and Moblin,
as well as the standard Ubuntu base components. While I think it's only
the right choice for those with very small screens, I'd not like to see
it cast aside just because of the history of the project (and don't
think Ubuntu Mobile is the right choice for a 5" screen: I've tried it:
it's too small).
1: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mid/intrepid/current/
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