Hi Devs and OUYA-Team, I'm Lukas Reitze from ouya-news.net, a german news-blog about the OUYA. I'm a big Linux and Open Source fan which leads directly to my question:How about running Ubuntu on OUYA? Sounds nice, eh? :)
I asked the support the following: >>[...] Is (or will) there any partnership with Canonical? I think many guys would love to see Ubuntu running on the OUYA! Also I think it would push the OUYA to the top, because together with a lightly modified version of Ubuntu for Android ( http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android ) you could run Ubuntu without rooting your device and maybe just start it right from the OUYA Launcher and do some office stuff. The OUYA would transform the TV to a 'real' smart-TV: OUYA -> games XBMC -> media Ubuntu -> office [...]
Lukas<<
And who was on the other side? The CEO it self! :O >>[...] Regarding, Canonical, I don't believe so...not yet. But I love the idea. Will talk to the team about it. It would be great if you could mention it in our forums as well (devs.ouya.tv) -- all my tech guys are on it.
Julie<<
Well, and here I am! ;)
What do you guys think about my idea? Wouldn't it be great to launch Ubuntu right out of the Launcher? Would it be possible?
After creating this post, I also send out an Email to the guys of Canonical to call attention to this topic. Hopefully someone of them will stop by.
It sounds like a great idea! Just hook up a mouse and keyboard, launch ubuntu and you have a computer! But it has to be ubuntu for android cuz restarting the console to switch to ubuntu would not be nice.
That would be awesome. i have been using ubuntu, xubuntu, and lubuntu since 10.04 and have loved every release since. i am already getting the ouya but this would definitely seal the deal.
Thanks
so far! It would be great if some of the OUYA tech guys would say
something about it. As I wrote in my 1st post I send out an Email
to the guys of Canonical to call attention to this topic. Sadly no
response till today :( Do you know any way to get in touch with them?
I send an mail to the press-section with the appeal to pass through
to the right
person. Maybe not the greatest idea ... So
what to do? Should I use askubuntu.com
and spread my 'question' to world via our blog, forums, Facebook and
Twitter, or should I contact the community? If so, which way is the
best to get in touch with the right persons of the community, there
is a bunch of options given: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community
Thanks for the
information, I wasn't aware of that. I thought I read something like
Q1/Q2 2013 a while ago, but maybe you are rite. Well, it's never to
early to announce a partnership ;) ...
well its ok, since ouya is still in the process. and so when ubuntu android comes out a newer ouya with 2ghz tegra 4 will come out too, possibly having 2gb of ram and 16 or 32gb option of internal memory as well. so from here to there will happen lots of things for both ouya and ubuntu android as well. I mean. like all apps and games. the v1.0 will have lots of bugs, and ouya is still evolving their hardware and software. will just have to wait and see what happens.
There is one extremely buggy tech demo of Ubuntu, which you can run on any random non-rooted Android 4.X hardware, so it should run on Ouya without many problems, "right out of the Launcher", as you said.
It won't run LibreOffice, KDE or Gnome, so if you need to do any serious work, you'll need to root your Ouya, create a separate Ubuntu partition, chroot into it etc., there are numerous instructions available across 'net.
Disclaimer: I happen to be the unfortunate author of this app, and I've abandoned any development, because users downvoted it into oblivion (they want everything working out of the box), and Canonical won't help with development (they've replied me on forums), so now I'm porting Linux games, which is proven to be much easier way to satisfy my lust for those shiny sweet 5-star ratings on Google Play.
Okay, thanks for the
informations. Q4 is indeed a little bit late for being an launch feature, thats right. The "right out
of the Launcher" was pointed on the fact, that Ubuntu for
Android will switch the device into Ubuntu-Mode after plug-in the
Smartphone on a monitor via HDMI. Before it will run normally
Android. The OUYA is always connected via HDMI, thats what I meant
with starting it out of the Launcher.
For the
future I'm hoping see some partnership between OUYA and Canonical.
Maybe on „OUYA V1“ but maybe for later Versions. Hopefully
OUYA and Ubuntu as well will become more important on the market and
will bring more open source into our life.
Hey there! Great thing you brought up this discussion. I am also very interested in having a fully supported Ubuntu on my (hopefully soon arriving) OUYA, so I also would like to add my two cents on this topic. Hopefully, the OUYA team really reads all of our ideas and perspectives. I would like to bring a rather objective approach to this topic which, of course, is open for discussion :).
The economical perspective:
Nevertheless if launch feature or not... this idea surely is awesome FOR BOTH: THE OUYA TEAM AND USERS. Why? Because this can be the ultimate (and therefore inevitable) killer feature having a full usable desktop beside OUYA's gaming component.
Despite the fact that other (more or less) comparable ARM systems (like the Raspberry Pi, Gamestick and so forth) either do not provide that much performance as the OUYA or lack the strong knowledge/backup of its SoC vendors in this area, having Ubuntu running on the OUYA surely can be a competitive advantage with a vast impact on the market.
Existing and future competitors in this ARM hardware segment (potential competitors) will obviously get more and more. Open source platform, OK... But doesn't the OUYA platform have to be financially successful too? If it is not, the OUYA's journey might be over before it even really started.
The technological perspective:
1) Ubuntu for Android DOES EXIST (means: Ubuntu as an App inside a running Android) and Cannonical surely is looking for partners to spread this version of Ubuntu. As far as it seems, Cannonical did not get the response for this App from smartphone vendors they actually expected. So why not taking this as an opportunity for a strong partnership witch Cannonical from the start? Because of the wide certification of Ubuntu (Adobe, Citrix, VMware,...), home office users can also profit from Ubuntu on the OUYA (a circumstance that would also attract the OUYA to the home office interest group).
2) OUYA is based on the Tegra 3 platform. Nvidia strongly forces development and improvement of driver packages for Linux and Android. Furthermore, Nvidia and OUYA already ARE strong partners, so why not widening the field of development? Based on this facts, there already should exist at least enough resources and knowledge to create a dedicated Ubuntu installation as an alternative to the UfA app too (official OMAP Ubuntu Versions already do exist). Again, a cooperation with Cannonical would be a valuable partnership.
Good points GianniMuretto! I'm actually not that good at English, so thanks for the great wording.
A partnership with Cannonical would push both projects forward I think.
Also Ubuntu is also very flexible, so maybe it would be possible to equip an Ubuntu-OUYA with both interfaces, the standard Unity and the UbuntuTV-interface, because it obviously will be displayed on a TV :)
Honestly, I think this would be a better idea in 2 years. (which doesn't mean R&D can't happen now since Cannonical wants to get in on mobile hardware)
This generation is becoming like a Commodore 64. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But changes Ouya's classification from a console to a portable PC. This is the very definition of scope creep in my opinion. But a cool idea, none the less.
I may get a beating over this, but I think a modified Ubuntu would make an excellent choice as the OS backing Ouya 2 hardware instead of Android.
Hi, I would like to see OUYA booting some native Linux like Debian or Ubuntu. This would make this console even more useful for many people. I am also willing to pay for a tested Ubuntu Release for the OUYA, say 10 Euro or so. So come one Developers and look what can be done. There is already a Ubuntu Version running on other Tegra3 devices like the Nexus 7. So it should not be that complicated to get it running on the OUYA.
If I'm correct, this one only makes it possible to start some games on Android. But I'm in search of a way to boot Ubuntu on the OUYA, so I can use programms like LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox (I know about the OUYA-Version) and Skype.
REALLY looking forward to further development of this. Sadly I'm not a Linux dev :( Wish I could help somehow. Really looking forward to a good cheap desktop computer for the family to poke at... or play games on :)
From what I understand though if Debian will boot and run then so will Ubuntu...
I'll take any. The idea of having a desktop computer this size makes me giggle. AND then boot into OUYA and play games? YES please.
I'm not sure of the technical limitations here but "I think" they're probably not too hard to overcome. Only the potential to brick the OUYA being a problem BUT with the current Debian solution it appears nothing like that will happen and I'm totally fine with booting off of USB. In fact, I think THAT might be the real computing revolution right there, where everyone carries there own OS with them on key and just boots into whatever console happens to be around where you are... I don't know :) A cyber-cafe full of OUYA and you can boot your own OS on it? There we go again, getting all science-fictiony
I like the idea. Although not a linux user myself I really can see the appeal. Imagine also having the android dev tools on your Ubuntu partition .usb stick/ whatever. You could easily develop OUYA games using only the OUYA, no PC or Mac.
lukasONnet
Posts: 11Member
Comments
Thanks so far!
It would be great if some of the OUYA tech guys would say something about it.
As I wrote in my 1st post I send out an Email to the guys of Canonical to call attention to this topic. Sadly no response till today :( Do you know any way to get in touch with them? I send an mail to the press-section with the appeal to pass through to the right person. Maybe not the greatest idea ...
So what to do? Should I use askubuntu.com and spread my 'question' to world via our blog, forums, Facebook and Twitter, or should I contact the community? If so, which way is the best to get in touch with the right persons of the community, there is a bunch of options given: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community
Thanks for the information, I wasn't aware of that. I thought I read something like Q1/Q2 2013 a while ago, but maybe you are rite.
Well, it's never to early to announce a partnership ;) ...
Google Play page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cuntubuntu
.apk file for download: https://github.com/pelya/cuntubuntu/blob/master/Ubuntu.apk?raw=true
It won't run LibreOffice, KDE or Gnome, so if you need to do any serious work, you'll need to root your Ouya, create a separate Ubuntu partition, chroot into it etc., there are numerous instructions available across 'net.
Disclaimer: I happen to be the unfortunate author of this app, and I've abandoned any development, because users downvoted it into oblivion (they want everything working out of the box), and Canonical won't help with development (they've replied me on forums), so now I'm porting Linux games, which is proven to be much easier way to satisfy my lust for those shiny sweet 5-star ratings on Google Play.
Okay, thanks for the informations. Q4 is indeed a little bit late for being an launch feature, thats right.
The "right out of the Launcher" was pointed on the fact, that Ubuntu for Android will switch the device into Ubuntu-Mode after plug-in the Smartphone on a monitor via HDMI. Before it will run normally Android. The OUYA is always connected via HDMI, thats what I meant with starting it out of the Launcher.
For the future I'm hoping see some partnership between OUYA and Canonical. Maybe on „OUYA V1“ but maybe for later Versions. Hopefully OUYA and Ubuntu as well will become more important on the market and will bring more open source into our life.
We'll see what happens. Keep the topic up! ;)
Nevertheless if launch feature or not... this idea surely is awesome FOR BOTH: THE OUYA TEAM AND USERS. Why? Because this can be the ultimate (and therefore inevitable) killer feature having a full usable desktop beside OUYA's gaming component.
A partnership with Cannonical would push both projects forward I think.
Also Ubuntu is also very flexible, so maybe it would be possible to equip an Ubuntu-OUYA with both interfaces, the standard Unity and the UbuntuTV-interface, because it obviously will be displayed on a TV :)
Also "nick" postet something here and he is member of the team.
I would like to see OUYA booting some native Linux like Debian or Ubuntu.
This would make this console even more useful for many people.
I am also willing to pay for a tested Ubuntu Release for the OUYA, say 10 Euro or so.
So come one Developers and look what can be done.
There is already a Ubuntu Version running on other Tegra3 devices like the Nexus 7.
So it should not be that complicated to get it running on the OUYA.
Regards,
Peter Bauer
http://bitkistl.blogspot.com
http://sourceforge.net/projects/libsdl-android/files/ubuntu/
http://tuomas.kulve.fi/blog/2013/09/12/debian-on-ouya-all-systems-go/
If you not gonna' do it, someone will anyway.