Ubuntu Mobile

Ubuntu Mobile (MID)

Company / developer	Canonical Ltd.
OS family	Unix-like (Linux)
Working state	Discontinued. Succeeded by Ubuntu Phone
Source model	Open source
Latest stable release	8.04.1 / 30 July 2008 (2008-07-30)
Latest unstable release	9.10 Alpha 6 (final release) / 17 September 2009 (2009-09-17)
Available language(s)	English
Supported platforms	Intel Mobile Internet Device (Expected)
License	Mainly GNU GPL / Various others
Official website	www.ubuntu.com

Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device Edition was an Ubuntu distribution planned to run on the Intel Mobile Internet Device platform, x86 mobile computers based on the Intel Atom processor. It was planned to use the GNOME framework Hildon as the basis for its GUI.

Equipment producers would have been able to customize their distributions, including options such as Flash, Java, or custom interfaces.^[1]

Ubuntu Mobile has stopped development in 2009 and the successor Ubuntu for phones was announced on January 2, 2013.^[2][3]

Functionality [edit]

According to Canonical, it would provide an uncompromised Web 2.0 experience: Web browsing, email, media, camera, VoIP, instant messaging, GPS, blogging, digital TV, games, contacts, dates/calendar, simple software updates will be available periodically.^[1] Ubuntu Mobile Edition will only need a touchscreen device and a finger for navigation.

Release history [edit]

In June 2008, Ubuntu MID Edition 8.04 was released.^[4][5] Ubuntu MID Edition ended active development after 9.10 Alpha 6.^[6]

The development of MID has stopped, but Ubuntu continues to work on mobile distributions such as Kubuntu Mobile^[7] or the ARM version of Ubuntu.

Since the October 2011 Ubuntu Development Summit (UDS), there is new mobile interface in active development. In 2014, Canonical plans to release Ubuntu for mobiles, tablets and televisions alongside already existing Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server. This means creating a universal interface, that would adapt its shape according to the device it runs on. Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Canonical, said the interface is going to be based on Unity (actual desktop environment, developed by Canonical in 2010).^{[citation needed]}

Kubuntu Mobile [edit]

Kubuntu Mobile is available for i386 and ARM platforms and uses the KDE Plasma Mobile.^[8] Plasma Mobile is targeted at smartphones and small tablet devices that are mainly used via touch input. It is still being developed with the first stable release expected to be due in 2011, although individual KDE applications may be released earlier as part of the porting effort to MeeGo. Preview releases of the Kontact applications and a document viewer based on Calligra are already available.

Upcoming mobile version [edit]

Ubuntu has initially released an idea about a new mobile platform which would be competing with its fellow rivals Windows Phone, iOS and Android.^[9][10]

See also [edit]

Free software portal

• Ubuntu Netbook Edition
• Ubuntu for Android
• KDE_Plasma_Workspaces#Mobile
• MeeGo
• Mer
• Tizen

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Ubuntu MobileAndEmbedded wiki(English)
• Ubuntu Mobile Guide 7.10(English)
• Ubuntu Mobile released(English)
• Mobile & Internet Linux Project by Intel (English)
• Kubuntu-Mobile 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) preview mobile image (English)