| Ubuntu Mobile to target MIDs, not phones |
May 08, 2007
 Contrary to widespread rumors, Ubuntu Mobile will not target mobile phones. Instead, the "mobile and embedded" version of the popular desktop Linux distribution will be developed in partnership with Intel, and will target "mobile Internet devices" (MIDs), along the lines of Nokia's N800 web tablet.
Matt Zimmerman, CTO of Canonical (Ubuntu's commercial parent), announced Ubuntu's Mobile and Embedded Project on May 5, the first day of the Ubuntu Developer Summit, where the forthcoming 7.10 ("Gutsy Gibbon") release is being planned. Canonical hopes to ship the specialized distribution in August, when the desktop version of the Gibbon release is expected to take wing.
Canonical Software spokesperson Gerry Carr told LinuxDevices that Ubuntu Mobile initially will target "the emerging class of ultra mobile, small handheld devices which are Internet-enabled." He called Intel's MID concept "one example of this type of device."
Carr declined to specify whether Ubuntu Mobile will also be built on traditional embedded architectures, such as ARM and MIPS, or only for x86 processors such as Intel's recently announced Pentium M-based Tolapai SoC (system-on-chip). "We'll need to defer to Intel for any details on hardware," he said, adding, "This is very much a joint project with Intel."
However, Carr also noted that Intel "expects to see the first [MID] devices in 2008" -- up to a year after the initial release of Ubuntu Mobile.
What specific adaptations will the distribution feature? "These devices place new demands on open source software and require innovative graphical interfaces, improved power management and better responsiveness," Carr noted.
Carr said that Mobile Ubuntu will be licensed under the GPL and other open source licenses, "depending on upstream licensing." He added, "Our expectation is that this is will be another architecture for Ubuntu and follow the licensing policies of the rest of the Ubuntu project. As with other Ubuntu architectures, the resulting software will be freely distributed through the Ubuntu repositories."
More details about the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Project can be found in our earlier coverage, here.
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