Ubuntu for Tablets

[usmanasim]

Hello folks,

Since the computer is now turning into pads.... what future direction do you think that ubuntu will take in this tablet era.

Ofcourse it's different quesiton for the enterprise user... but for the average user......

[kaldor]

Typing this on my Android tablet right now, which has replaced my laptop 100%.

Ubuntu is planning on going into the tablet market. I would love to see a more open alternative to Android, but I don't have high hopes for Ubuntu breaking into this market. It's been WAY too much of a head start for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows. From an average user point of view, I don't see much of a reason to use Ubuntu over Android on tablets. It also isn't well optimized for tablet use (apps?)... it'd end up in the same mess that Windows 7 is on tablets right now.

I'd be much more optimistic if this were 2009 or 2010. Android and iOS have solidified the market way too much.

[usmanasim]

Darn Rite...

People who like ubuntu should have the option to atleast run it on their tablets...(most tech savy people here do ofcourse)..

Gaining popularity in the market is another thing.

[kaldor]

Yeah, that's something that I wish were much easier. On a regular PC, I can simply boot up a live USB (or CD) and try out another OS, and easily install it if I wish. On my tablet, I need to do stuff like rooting, flashing ROMs, etc.

Honestly, I'd probably prefer using a GNOME Shell tablet over Ubuntu's Unity. With some minor tweaks to the Shell UI it seems much more tablet-ready than Ubuntu is. Big buttons, no mouse-over menus, etc. Also the new appmenus (more in 3.6) are great for touch screens.

Overall, I'm not sure what to do about the lack of ease for installing alternative operating systems, etc. Hopefully in time, it'll catch on. I'd love to be able to run live sessions on my tab :P

[robtygart]

Yeah, that's something that I wish were much easier. On a regular PC, I can simply boot up a live USB (or CD) and try out another OS, and easily install it if I wish. On my tablet, I need to do stuff like rooting, flashing ROMs, etc.

Honestly, I'd probably prefer using a GNOME Shell tablet over Ubuntu's Unity. With some minor tweaks to the Shell UI it seems much more tablet-ready than Ubuntu is. Big buttons, no mouse-over menus, etc. Also the new appmenus (more in 3.6) are great for touch screens.

Overall, I'm not sure what to do about the lack of ease for installing alternative operating systems, etc. Hopefully in time, it'll catch on. I'd love to be able to run live sessions on my tab :P

Can you install a dock like "Cairo dock" or "Docky" to the tablets? They look like they would make it easy to navigate.

[kaldor]

Can you install a dock like "Cairo dock" or "Docky" to the tablets? They look like they would make it easy to navigate.

Haven't actually tried, but there are a lot of custom launchers available. That said, I like the Android UI on a screen this small because it largely stays out of the way. A dock would take up way too much space... another reason why I'd probably rather GNOME over Unity for a tablet device.

[cariboo]

I'm running Android ICS on my tablet, and I don't really feel the need to try anything else yet. I have a few doubts about running either gnome-shell, or Unity on it. One concern I have is battery life, and another is that both user interfaces look like they would be a bit clunky, as neither is specifically designed to run on a tablet.

[Paqman]

They'd have to come up with a version of Unity that was suitable for tablets, the current one wouldn't work well at all. My understanding is however that the underlying framework that it's built on is quite flexible, so building a new interface on the same code base needn't necessarily be a massive job.

I'd be surprised if there weren't prototypes kicking around Canonical now.

The bigger job would be the community adapting the apps in the repos for touch. Recompiling for ARM is one thing, but IMO simply releasing a tablet with the standard Ubuntu repos in ARM would make for an awful user experience. Much better to create a seperate repo for touch-optimised apps, and/or ship it with Dalvik and access to one of the Android repos.