Kubuntu and Xubuntu are mistakes?

**aysiu** · October 2nd, 2006

I have hardware that's only a couple of years old, and no DVD burner.

**ComplexNumber** · October 2nd, 2006

I'm sure you will find that both in Europe and even the ever advanced Japan CD burners greatly outnumber DVD burners.

yes, thats still the case here, although i'm not so sure about japan. it seems to be that, starting from japan, the further west one goes in the northern hemisphere, the more backward technology becomes. take mobile phones for instance, japan are years ahead of britain. they have tv and 5/6megapixel cameras on their phones as standard. britian/europe only as 2/3 megapixel cameras as standard, with no tv. america still has vga cameras as standard.

**Sushi** · October 3rd, 2006

Originally Posted by prizrak

It seems like you have never used a tablet with Ubuntu on it. It is not served just fine that is the issue.

And that is the reason we should create a specific version for tablets? IMO, no. If Ubuntu and it's subversions do not work optimally with tablets, it does NOT mean we should make a specific version for tablets. What we SHOULD be doing is to fix the issues in Ubuntu that prevent it from working optimally on tablets. THAT'S what I'm saying!

I own an Acer TravelMate C310 and despite the fact that all the hardware (save for bluetooth) was working out of the box it didn't function all that well. When putting it in tablet mode the screen did not change orientation (as it does on Windows). There was no calibration option that I could find to make the stylus more precise (there is one on Windows, as part of the standard install too, not with 3rd party drivers). There is NO handwriting recognition whatsoever available on Ubuntu. There is xstroke that is a fine gesture recognition tool but is pretty week for handwriting. The Gnome OSK is the worst piece of software I have ever seen and I have used Windows since 95 was out. Perhaps the latter could be addressed by Kubuntu but I've had issues with it on my systems.

Those are not reasons to create a new version of Ubuntu for tablets. Those are reasons to fix bugs and shortcomings in Ubuntu itself.

While it would be great if a standard install worked just fine on the tablets this is a one CD distro (something that you don't seem to take into account).

The "one CD"-argument is crap. A bugfix in X/GNOME/KDE that makes the screen rotate properly (something that is already supported by the desktops) does not require that much space. An improved on-screen keyboard does not tame that much space.

Additionally there is an issue of defaults. Even if Ubuntu comes with some good handwriting recognition tools as well as an OSK (should be integrated anyway) they won't be enabled by default since it is general purpose (same way as the Wacom tablet will not work until xorg.conf is edited in a way to allow it) making it more of a hassle to the end user.

And that couldn't be fixed, because....?

**prizrak** · October 3rd, 2006

Originally Posted by Sushi

And that is the reason we should create a specific version for tablets? IMO, no. If Ubuntu and it's subversions do not work optimally with tablets, it does NOT mean we should make a specific version for tablets. What we SHOULD be doing is to fix the issues in Ubuntu that prevent it from working optimally on tablets. THAT'S what I'm saying!

Those are not reasons to create a new version of Ubuntu for tablets. Those are reasons to fix bugs and shortcomings in Ubuntu itself.

The "one CD"-argument is crap. A bugfix in X/GNOME/KDE that makes the screen rotate properly (something that is already supported by the desktops) does not require that much space. An improved on-screen keyboard does not tame that much space.

And that couldn't be fixed, because....?

Yes Ubuntu could include all the needed fixes and software on one CD most likely. You are right that a decent OSK shouldn't take much room (although XP Tablet Edition comes on two CD's while XP Pro comes on one, so something is taking up the extra 200MB). The problem as I put it is defaults, on XP Tablet the OSK is on at the login prompt, the utilities that listen for tablet events are up and running at startup. Why would a regular Ubuntu have those on as defaults? There is no point in an always available OSK on Ubuntu that won't be run on a tablet, there is no point in daemons listening for tablet events and such.

With the current installer in order to have out of the box tablet functionality there needs to be a different version of Ubuntu for tablets. If the installer gets improved to the point where it will be able to detect whether it is a tablet or a regular PC (and be able to tell whether it's a desktop/laptop with a standalone Wacom or a real tablet) and dynamically install modules based on the results of the test then I will be the first one to say that tehre is no need for a separate tablet variant. However you have to agree that it's quite a bit easier to make a separate version that has all the tablet goodies turned on.

**slimdog360** · October 3rd, 2006

Originally Posted by prizrak

Penetration

ahahahhaaaahahhhahahahaaa

, guess how old I am

**henriquemaia** · October 4th, 2006

Originally Posted by prizrak

I don't understand which part is hard for you

Freedom
of
Speech

A.K.A. This is my opinion, take as you like.

They are interconnected. It's good to have them both. My commentary concerns what the founders of these projects may think and not you having voiced your opinion - which you did well in doing it so.

**prizrak** · October 4th, 2006

Originally Posted by henriquemaia

They are interconnected. It's good to have them both. My commentary concerns what the founders of these projects may think and not you having voiced your opinion - which you did well in doing it so.

Glad got that cleared up

It seems that the conclusion that has been drawn so far is that Canonical should work on a more intellegent installer that would mostly eliminate the need for different variants outside of things that would not fit on one CD.