ARM teams up with Ubuntu for new Netbook OS

[philinux]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7729978.stm

[eternalnewbee]

This is really great for Ubuntu. Excellent news.

[aysiu]

I didn't realize Arm was a company. I thought these would involve some kind of hand crank.

[chucky chuckaluck]

I didn't realize Arm was a company. I thought these would involve some kind of hand crank.

i'm glad i'm not the only one.

[Sirkey]

Only yesterday was I talking to my dad about Ubuntu for the first time. Today he comes home and hands me a printed version of that article!! What a coincidence!

It's great to see Ubuntu doing something like this, what's even better is, it's not Google, Microsoft, or Apple that are doing it...instead Ubuntu...(which aren't even an official money-making company (correct me if I'm wrong...)) I'm probably more inclined to get my hands on one of those devices now there's Ubuntu on it! =D

I must confess, I've never heard of Arm in my life! But then again, I know nothing about mobile phones...

There's a bit more information you can get on it here (http://www.arm.com/news/23761.html)!

~ Sirk

[philinux]

I didn't realize Arm was a company. I thought these would involve some kind of hand crank.

:lolflag: I thought that might get a laugh.

[Ub1476]

How good is actually ARM? Power, speed, energy, battery?

Also does this mean that Ubuntu netbooks will "outperform" Windows netbooks by far?

[samjh]

How good is actually ARM? Power, speed, energy, battery?

Also does this mean that Ubuntu netbooks will "outperform" Windows netbooks by far?

ARM architecture CPU's are usually used for embedded and/or mobile devices. They have very low power consumption compared to normal CPU's. Like most RISC processors, they also have lower clock cycles.

In terms of processing power, you're looking at between Intel 80386-like speed for low-end designs, to Pentium III-like speeds for higher-end designs.

[Swagman]

ARM used to be the cpu in Acorn machines and iinm used to be an acronym for Acorn Risc Machine.

Iirc ARM was on a roll (upswing) and was spun off as Advanced Risc Machines but got sold off to Intel

It's certainly good news for Ubuntu = bad news for Microsoft.

why ?

Microsoft doesn't want Joe Public to get used to Linux. Thats why you are seeing XP on eeepc/Laptots etc.

[klange]

Beagle Boards with Ubuntu are in our future.

[Mazza558]

Indeed, ARM looks like it really is the future. It's used in the Open Pandora (see signature), and the cpu being used is very powerful for its size, offering 10 hours of battery life (and staying cool) for general web browsing/normal usage, whereas an X86 processor would overheat and have a battery life closer to 3-4 hours.

I'm really looking forward to the Pandora as an example of what ARM can do for small PCs. It's actually the most-used architecture in the world (think how many mobiles there are!), but has never really been considered before now for normal computing. X86's only benefit is the enormous and unnaturally large amount of support it has had (due to Windows).

When I get my Pandora, I'll review it here, so people can see what an ARM notebook is really like.

[Swagman]

I think it also raises the question of Ubuntu development re-continuing for PowerPC as Both are RISC

[PetePete]

netbooks are a fad for geeks. give it a year or two and smartphones will have destroyed their market.

heres a very interesting/good read article about it .
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/17/dziuba_netbooks_and_smartphones/

[aysiu]

netbooks are a fad for geeks. give it a year or two and smartphones will have destroyed their market.

heres a very interesting/good read article about it .
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/17/dziuba_netbooks_and_smartphones/
Unfortunately, I think you may be right.

The problem is that netbooks never had a good implementation or marketing scheme.

The supposed $100 laptop never actually came to fruition. After years of hype, the OLPC project is still charging US$199 per laptop.

Rather than making netbooks cheaper, manufacturers have kept the price and just made the screen size bigger and the SSD drives slightly larger in capacity. So the US$399 you would have spent last year for a 900 MHz Celeron processor with 512 MB of RAM, 7" screen, and a 4 GB SSD drive will now get you a 1.6 GHz Atom processor with 1 GB of RAM, 8.9" screen, and an 8 GB SSD drive.

But US$399 isn't quite the sweet spot for a portable.

My wife's iPhone was only US$199. Yes, she bought accessories for it. Yes, her two-year contract with AT&T is going to get end up costing us hundreds and hundreds of dollars in the long run just to have her iPhone functional. But the entry point is what people care most about.

A $199 phone that has constant internet access and "cool" applications and a monthly fee is more attractive to the non-geeks than a $399 crippled computer that needs to manually connect to available wireless access points.

Not to mention that no netbook has really been spectacular, based on the reviews I've read. Which netbook has Ubuntu with the normal Ubuntu repositories, a battery life of over 6 hours, a 90%-size keyboard with normal key placement, and is less than US$300? None. That's what would really sell. If you had a netbook that was US$150 or US$200 that had an "easy mode" that easily switched to a full mode with Ubuntu, it'd take off.

But, as the article you linked to says, right now the price of netbooks invites too many comparisons to "real" laptops that are only slightly more expensive.

[dusted]

The Nintendo DS uses ARM7 and ARM9 proccessors in it. Just another example of where ARM is used. So this could very well mean an easy port of Ubuntu to the DS. That would be awesome, since the DS has built-in Wi-fi, it's a portable netbook for you.

[smoker]

not everyone wants a 'smartphone,' i believe. mines makes phone calls, and not much else. but then again that is all i want of a phone!

i think netbooks will have their niche, and as hardware prices fall, then so will prices, the market seems to be big enough for all sectors.

[Baggers]

@aysiu: "Rather than making netbooks cheaper, manufacturers have kept the price and just made the screen size bigger and the SSD drives slightly larger in capacity."

Thats spot on sir!...it is funny how Asus really fluked the success of the eeepc and hasn't really realized that it was the price that made the little blighter so appealing!

Back on track though the ARM thing is great can't wait to have a slightly simpler way to get into the beagle-board scene. Bring on the 2watt PC!

[Dr Small]

I didn't realize Arm was a company. I thought these would involve some kind of hand crank.
Me too :D I was hoping to see a hand-cranked, battery powered, notebook!

[Changturkey]

Unfortunately, I think you may be right.

The problem is that netbooks never had a good implementation or marketing scheme.

The supposed $100 laptop never actually came to fruition. After years of hype, the OLPC project is still charging US$199 per laptop.

Rather than making netbooks cheaper, manufacturers have kept the price and just made the screen size bigger and the SSD drives slightly larger in capacity. So the US$399 you would have spent last year for a 900 MHz Celeron processor with 512 MB of RAM, 7" screen, and a 4 GB SSD drive will now get you a 1.6 GHz Atom processor with 1 GB of RAM, 8.9" screen, and an 8 GB SSD drive.

But US$399 isn't quite the sweet spot for a portable.

My wife's iPhone was only US$199. Yes, she bought accessories for it. Yes, her two-year contract with AT&T is going to get end up costing us hundreds and hundreds of dollars in the long run just to have her iPhone functional. But the entry point is what people care most about.

A $199 phone that has constant internet access and "cool" applications and a monthly fee is more attractive to the non-geeks than a $399 crippled computer that needs to manually connect to available wireless access points.

Not to mention that no netbook has really been spectacular, based on the reviews I've read. Which netbook has Ubuntu with the normal Ubuntu repositories, a battery life of over 6 hours, a 90%-size keyboard with normal key placement, and is less than US$300? None. That's what would really sell. If you had a netbook that was US$150 or US$200 that had an "easy mode" that easily switched to a full mode with Ubuntu, it'd take off.

But, as the article you linked to says, right now the price of netbooks invites too many comparisons to "real" laptops that are only slightly more expensive.
Yeah I don't think a 500 dollar netbook can compare with a 600 dollar fully featured laptop.

[Capt. Mac]

The supposed $100 laptop never actually came to fruition. After years of hype, the OLPC project is still charging US$199 per laptop.

Worth noting is that it's $199 to 'buy one give one;' you're paying for two of them, but only getting one. The OLPC is only $100.
Edit: I was incorrect, it is actually $399 to 'give one get one.'


My wife's iPhone was only US$199. Yes, she bought accessories for it. Yes, her two-year contract with AT&T is going to get end up costing us hundreds and hundreds of dollars in the long run just to have her iPhone functional. But the entry point is what people care most about.

A $199 phone that has constant internet access and "cool" applications and a monthly fee is more attractive to the non-geeks than a $399 crippled computer that needs to manually connect to available wireless access points.


http://www.laptopical.com/hp-possibly-bringing-netbookwireless-service-bundle-to-us-7053.html

HP is considering a model in the US similar to cell phone sales, where the netbook is heavily discounted if you sign up for a wireless contract. This invalidates both the steep initial cost and the need to manually connect to wireless access points. This is already done in Europe.

Personally, I like small form factor of 'netbooks,' but I'm not a fan of the what's inside. That's why I paid more to get a 12" 'ultraportable': essentially just a small, lightweight, full function laptop.

[aysiu]

Worth noting is that it's $199 to 'buy one give one;' you're paying for two of them, but only getting one. The OLPC is only $100. I don't know what country you're in, but in the United States, it's US$399 to give one and get one, so it's US$199 per laptop, not US$100.

[Capt. Mac]

I don't know what country you're in, but in the United States, it's US$399 to give one and get one, so it's US$199 per laptop, not US$100.

I'm sorry, that was my mistake. I failed to check my sources before posting that. I thought I recalled seeing it at that price, but I was obviously wrong.

[smartboyathome]

I would love to try one of these if I knew where to buy one which could be used with a computer (more specifically an older laptop). How expensive would this be?

[smoker]

Me too :D I was hoping to see a hand-cranked, battery powered, notebook!


this is probably more for a 'tired ARM!'
http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/power_supply/

well, it was for the OLPC, don't know if they followed through with it though!

[gn2]

Ubuntu is already on two netbooks, the Dell 910 and the Toshiba NB100.

[I-75]

ARM teams up with Ubuntu for new Netbook OS
By James • Nov 19th, 2008 • Category: Features, Mobile Computer News

http://www.mobile-computing-news.co.uk/mobile-computer-news/706/arm-teams-up-with-ubuntu-for-new-netbook-os.html

ARM, the world leader in mobile phone chip designing has recently teamed up with the world’s most popular open source software developer, Ubuntu, to develop a new operating system for small computers or netbooks.

The new operating system will be infused in the ARM powered machines and the first unit will be launched in 2009.

These will be the first computing devices running on the Ubuntu platform and will be based on ARM7 architecture and contain the Cortex A8 and A9 processors.

[DieB]

great news!

[Mark76]

Anyone else looking forward to them?

[aysiu]

Anyone else looking forward to them?
Yes. I think several people are.