By
We’ve seen it with countless phones and tablets before it, and here it is again – Ubuntu, running on a device that’s supposed to be running Android. Mind you, it’s not natively running the Linux distribution. Instead it’s running the installation inside of what we’d call something of a virtual machine. If you know how those work, you’ll know that these implementations aren’t always as pretty as the real deal. In any case, it’s great to see this thing booted up on what has to be one of the best Android tablets on the market this summer. Grab instructions over at GalaxyTabHacks after watching the video above. [Thanks, Max!]
How about on a Transformer instead?
This isn’t Galaxy Tab 10.1 spesific
gtfo troll
umm what? It would be great on the Transformer because this is Ubuntu running on a virtual machine on top of Android and the Transformer has it’s own keyboard which means you’d have native keyboard support. Even though that’s not an issue with the new GB update.
There are plenty of people who use Ubuntu.
I use it on my netbook. I would love to use it on an android tablet.
I’m thinking about how this could be packaged into an app that includes the vnc server built in and runs the ubuntu in the background as a service, with a notification bar icon. That way, you could easily switch back to Ubuntu from Android, or even hibernate your Ubuntu and bring it back later. Ideally this app would work on any Android device without requiring root.
I’m thinking that the implementation would involve running User Mode Linux (a kernel that is compiled as a user mode executable). That way you have “root”, but only under the UML kernel, and confine the entire Ubuntu filesystem within a subfolder that is part of the application’s data.
Since I only use Linux for servers, desktops and my netbook, I find the idea of Ubuntu on an Android tablet quite interesting. I could ditch the netbook. Carry a tablet that converts to a netbook, or carry accessories such as keyboard / mouse and a tablet stand that props up the display. Linux software I regularly use would now be available on my tablet. LibreOffice. Eclipse. Inkscape.
No one really cares about unbuntu here i guess ^_^
it is still cool.. there are many upsides to using ubuntu, but i wouldn’t necessarily toss the android OS (if it were an option) unless I would still be able to use the camera and such.
the awesome thing for me is that IT IS POSSIBLE.
Video shows promise.
This will only get better.
Why did my comment got deleted?
Quentyn, I’m not sure where you got the idea that “it’s not natively running the Linux distribution. Instead it’s running the installation inside of what we’d call something of a virtual machine”
This is WRONG. He says at the beginning that it’s running inside a chroot environment, which means it IS running natively on the Android kernel. Absolutely nothing was mentioned about virtual machines.
“If you know how those work, you’ll know that these implementations aren’t always as pretty as the real deal.”
I do know how these work, and obviously you don’t. They also have nothing to do with “prettiness”. The lag you’re seeing in the Ubuntu interface is because it is being displayed over an Android VNC app, which means it doesn’t have access to hardware acceleration. Once someone gets around to making an X server app for Android, it should be possible to run a Linux desktop at near native speed.