MobileAndEmbedded

Revision 12 as of 2007-05-16 12:48:15

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Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded

The Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project aims to derive an operating system for mobile internet devices using Ubuntu as a base. Sponsored by [http://www.canonical.com Canonical] and Intel, the project has been launched at [:UDS-Sevilla] following a [https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2007-May/000289.html preliminary announcement] to the Ubuntu community.

Work in Progress

Preliminary Roadmap

We're here to build a complete mobile OS based on Ubuntu, with all of the necessary components integrated into the Ubuntu package archive, ready to install and run, or to tailor for custom mobile applications.

Applications

We will be using existing open source applications where it is feasible to do so, packaging them for Ubuntu where necessary. We will fill in some of the gaps by developing new applications if nothing suitable exists. Our goal is to have a basic set of applications needed to have a useful mobile system, such as a browser, media player, system utilities, etc.

Kernel

The Ubuntu kernel team will be providing us with a suitable kernel build, and incorporating additional drivers where necessary. This development will take place in our kernel git tree in concert with the other kernel activity underway for Ubuntu 7.10.

Platforms

There are some Intel-based systems on the market which we will be using for testing; specific information will be posted when it becomes available.

It's worth noting, though, that everything we produce will be available for the standard Ubuntu i386 platform as well, and anyone can play along on an Ubuntu desktop or laptop running Gutsy.

Development

We'll create a metapackage which will provide a suitable development environment: no awkward chroots should be necessary, and it should be possible to do most development directly within a GNOME environment, or with Xnest. All of the necessary development packages will be available directly from the official Ubuntu repositories.

UI Framework

We're bootstrapping Hildon into the Gutsy repository, using a combination of packages from the maemo repository and some snapshots from Subversion. Where we need to modify the packages, we're importing Subversion into Bazaar and maintaining a branch there, to simplify tracking upstream changes.

Several engineers from Nokia are joining in to help with this effort.

Build infrastructure

We'll be using a modified toolchain in order to use different optimizations during compilation. This means we will need a new "architecture" in dpkg and friends, as well as in Launchpad.

We will also need to produce a generic preinstalled filesystem image suitable for flashing onto a mobile device for testing, or for customization for a specific platform or application.

Schedule

We are targeting our first stable release in conjunction with Ubuntu 7.10, following similar release milestones.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GutsyReleaseSchedule

CategoryDevelopment