ubuntu mobile

**amin11** · January 5th, 2015

hi

Ubuntu Mobile can run Ubuntu Desktop app with out Desktop Convergence?
Can I Install Ubuntu Mobile on Asus Fonepad devices [fonepad7(fe375cg) or fonepad8(fe380cg)]?

Thanks.

**grahammechanical** · January 6th, 2015

What?????

There is no such thing as Ubuntu Mobile. What was called Ubuntu Touch is now called Ubuntu for Devices and once convergence is complete will most likely simply be called Ubuntu. If your device is one of those listed here then maybe Ubuntu for Devices can be installed on it but it should be considered an experiment. You really need either a Nexus 4, a Nexus 7 2013 or a Nexus 10 for it to become less of an experiment.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Devices

Desktop applications do not run on Ubuntu for Devices because they have not been written to scale to the phone and tablet form factors and do not run on the new compositor that is used on Ubuntu phones and tablets. It is called Mir.

There is an ISO image called Ubuntu Desktop Next that we can install on our desktop or laptop machines like any other Ubuntu ISO image. It is the code branch where convergence takes place. At the moment the OS loads to a normal Ubuntu login screen and after logging in it will switch from running on the Xserver to running on MIr and we are able to login to the Ubuntu phone user interface but there is no facility to run the normal desktop applications even though this Ubuntu OS is running on a desktop with a desktop monitor.

Until recently all the phone type apps ran full screen but the other week work was done to get them running in their own windows which could be resized. It is a step forward but there is a long way to go before the normal Ubuntu applications will be running on Mir. And this is not taking into account the great difficulty any user will have in working with a desktop application on a mobile phone size screen.

Will the Libreoffice developers re-write Libreoffice so that it is usable on a mobile phone size screen? Unlikely, but they are the ones that will have to do it. The same will apply to every desktop application.

Regards.