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Ubuntu Open Week - Ubuntu Mobile Edition - An introduction and Q+A - Adilson Oliveira - Tue, Apr 28, 2008

[18:00] <agoliveira> Thanks. Hello all, thanks for attending and for having me.
=== Mez changed the topic of #ubuntu-classroom to: Ubuntu Open Week | Information and Logs: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek | How to ask questions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek/Rules | Ask questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat, prefaced with "QUESTION:" | See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek/JoiningIn to filter out channel noise | Current session: "Ubuntu Mobile Edition - An introduction and Q+A - Adilson Oliveira

[18:01] <agoliveira> My name is Adilson Oliveira and I'm part of the core team developing UME.

[18:01] <agoliveira> My objective here is to explain a bit about the project and try to clear the doubts you may have.

[18:01] <agoliveira> I ask you to be forgiven as English is not my first language, it's my first time in this spot and 
I must say I'm kind of nervous right now :)

[18:01] <agoliveira> Ok, let's start with: what is UME?

[18:02] <agoliveira> - The Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project aims to derive an operating system for mobile internet 
devices using Ubuntu as a base and the Moblin project from Intel as upstream to parts of the project, mostly hardware 
support.

[18:02] <agoliveira> - It's sponsored by Canonical and Intel.

[18:03] <agoliveira> - It's extending Ubuntu by providing infrastructure for mobile development.

[18:03] <agoliveira> All of the necessary components are being integrated into the Ubuntu package archive, ready to 
install and run, or to tailor for custom mobile applications.

[18:03] <agoliveira> - The project is focused on x86 processors, using architectures created by Intel's LPIA platform. 
http://www.intel.com/technology/systems/lpia/. In the future, different processors may be supported. ARM is one we 
have in mind.

[18:03] <agoliveira> and what isn't? (for those who never cared to look at the FAQ) :)

[18:04] <agoliveira> - A ready to run, consumer-type platform. UME is more a technology base than a product on itself. 
It's aimed to help developers and manufacturers to create a product.

[18:05] <agoliveira> - It is not for cellphones or PDAs. UME is created with MID and UMPC platforms. These are about 
communications (audio, video, IM), rich web experience, full-blown applications. They have more like a very small PC 
with touchscreen.

[18:05] <agoliveira> So far so good?

[18:05] <agoliveira> Great

[18:06] <agoliveira> Are we there yet?

[18:06] <agoliveira> - We are in the process to deliver the first release in the next few weeks. This is the 
engineering point of view and there's a lot other considerations so watch for the release announcement! :)

[18:07] <agoliveira> Ok, now that we have the basic bits, let's start the fun part: How can I try/test it?

[18:07] <agoliveira> First, bare in mind that there's very little hardware available that can run UME right now.

[18:07] <agoliveira> The only piece of commercial hardware easily found that you can run UME out of the box is the 
Samsung Q1 Ultra but as this is a matter of hardware support,

[18:07] <agoliveira> it's not hard to add other platforms.

[18:08] <agoliveira> If you have any questions, dont' for get to ask then in #ubuntu-classroom-chat making as 
QUESTIONS:

[18:09] <agoliveira> Meanwhile I'll keep bombarding you :)

[18:09] <agoliveira> Talking about testing:

[18:09] <agoliveira> There's basically 2 ways to test it: using a supported hardware (which is kind of hard to find as 
I said) and simulating it.

[18:10] <agoliveira> Using the hardware is a no-brainer, just create the image (we're going to talk about this in a 
minute) and transfer for it.

[18:10] <agoliveira> To simulate, you can use Xephyr on your desktop. Very pratical but... there's aways a "but":

[18:10] <agoliveira> The advantage of simulation is that you can run tests more quickly and can easily test things 
like different resolutions but you loose hardware support like touchscreen and some things like DPI can change a lot 
from one device to another so text appearance, for instance, may not be accurate.

[18:11] <agoliveira> bugslayr: QUESTION: is it theoretically possible to build UME for a low end intel PC?

[18:11] <agoliveira> bugslayr: Yes, it is. I'll talk about this a bit later

[18:11] <agoliveira> gnomonic: QUESTION: Other platforms? Such as the Nokia N810?

[18:12] <agoliveira> gnomonic: As I said, the project aims x86/UMPCs only for now. Things like ARM support is possible 
but Nokia devices carry some aditional problems:

[18:12] <agoliveira> Parts of the hardtawre are proprietary so no open support for them.

[18:13] <agoliveira>  F30: QUESTION: Why not building a ready-t-run platform such as Ubuntu Desktop or Server edition? 
Do you think that companies like a technology base more? As Microsoft currently doesn't have a MID OS in my opinion it 
could be a great chance for Ubutu if users see that "Ubuntu" works fine on their MID they may also give it a chance 
for their PC too - but that could only work with ONE UME version.

[18:14] <agoliveira> F30: This project is about buildoing a platform, not a ready to run system. As for the reason to 
do it, I'll have to ask someone upper the food chain, I'm just a humble enginner ;)

[18:14] <agoliveira> Flyser__: QUESTION: So UME will not run (well) on full blown notebooks?

[18:15] <agoliveira> Flyser__: It can but it's aim is for devices with touchscreen, not very common on notebooks.

[18:15] <agoliveira> Ok, going on...

[18:15] <agoliveira> How to install UME?

[18:15] <agoliveira> There's basically 2 ways:

[18:16] <agoliveira> You can download a ready to run image from here http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/moblin/hardy/ or you 
can build your own image.

[18:16] <agoliveira> Again: the hardware support for now, specially in those images, is very restricted. I only 
recommend to try on a Samsung Q1 using the images found in the links with "samsung" on it.

[18:16] <agoliveira> The others are designed to run on development boards but, again, it's more a matter of kernel 
changes so it's quite hackable.

[18:17] <agoliveira> The preferend method it to use the image creator (more about in a minute) to generate your own 
image and test it on your desktop or put it into a device. I recommend this method as it's easier to test and hack to 
adapt to a different platform.

[18:17] <agoliveira> Any questions up to this point?

[18:18] <agoliveira> Well, or I'm doing very well or I'm boring as hell :)

[18:18] <agoliveira> QUESTION : Could directly take an image from the given link and test it using Xephyr ?

[18:19] <agoliveira> Raseel: No. The image is designed to run directly from the device. In theory one could hack it to 
do it but it's not pratical.

[18:19] <agoliveira> leftyfb: QUESTION: What other devices are next on the list for compatibility going forward? I'm 
personally concerned about the EEEpc

[18:20] <agoliveira> leftyfb: There's nothing defined yet but we are sure aware of this kind of device (I have one 
myself) and as it's easy to hack UME to work on it, I guess you can expect news on this field, from us or from the 
communit

[18:22] <agoliveira> Ok, so let's talk a bit about how to build an image. The only problem in doing this right now is 
that due the time it takes, specially the first time, we won't be able to do it in real time but feel free to contact 
the gang later.

[18:23] <agoliveira> There's this tool used to create the images, the moblin-image-creator. Install it the usual way, 
sudo apt-get install moblin-image-creator

[18:23] <agoliveira> Run it: sudo image-creator (yes, it has to run sudoed)

[18:24] <agoliveira> You will see a simple interface with 3 basic parts: the platform projects, targets and target 
images.

[18:24] <agoliveira> There's some (old) visual here: 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MobileAndEmbedded/CreatingAnImageForUMEDevice

[18:25] <agoliveira>  bugslayr: QUESTION: does "apt-get install moblin-image-creator" install all required packages or 
is there something else I have to take care of?
[18:25] <agoliveira> bugslayr: the iamge creator will download and install all the necessary packages into a chroot.

[18:26] <agoliveira> image

[18:26] <agoliveira> First, let's create a platform project. Click on Add and you will see a dialog asking for some 
data, all self-explanatory but the platform selection.

[18:26] <agoliveira> The platform indicates to what hardware the image will be created (currently mccaslin and menlow 
only) and from where the packages will be retrieved.

[18:27] <agoliveira> Let me explain that the project is the base from your targets will be created (more on this in a 
minute)

[18:27] <agoliveira> Mccaslin is the platform of the Samsung Q1 and others around and menlow is the current platform 
provided by intel for the new generation devices.

[18:27] <agoliveira> I'm not aware of any commercial solution using it right now. Let's select as if it would be 
created for a Q1 so, let's use mccaslin-lpia-ubuntu-hardy-ppa which will assure you get the latest packages.

[18:28] <agoliveira> Be aware that the project is running very fast so things tend to break at this moment so don't be 
alarmed or frunstrated if your image don't work pronto :)

[18:29] <agoliveira> After you select you platform, press add target and your base system will be created. It can take 
a long time.

[18:29] <agoliveira> I mean, even hours deppending on your link.

[18:29]  * agoliveira simulates having a coffee...

[18:29] <agoliveira> After it's done, you will now create a target which is what's actually going into the device.

[18:30] <agoliveira> Again, more waiting...

[18:30] <agoliveira> At first, just the bare minimal will be installed and now you can add a bunch of packages called 
fsets.

[18:30] <agoliveira> Click in Add Funcional Sets and you will see a list of groups you can add to your basic image.

[18:31] <agoliveira> Those fsets are basically a group of packages and dependencies to give you something functional 
in the end.

[18:31] <agoliveira> Try samsung-full-mobile-stack-with-proprietary for a very complete one. Note that by selecting it 
several other ones are selected automatically.

[18:31] <agoliveira> After that, wait until the packages are downloaded and installed.

[18:31] <agoliveira> BTW, if you're planing working on this in a regular basis, I strongly recommend to add a squid 
cache in your network.

[18:32] <agoliveira> Even without it, after the initial setup things tend to go faster.

[18:32] <agoliveira> After that you can create a several different kinds of images that can be transfered to a USB 
stick and installed on your device or you can test it live using Xephyr.

[18:33] <agoliveira> For testing on the device I recomend the install USB one which will prepare the image to 
automatically install in your device.

[18:33] <agoliveira> BIG FAT WARNING: this will wipeout your device storage!

[18:33] <agoliveira> Raseel: QUESTION: How much time would it take , approx, for the base system to be created ?

[18:34] <agoliveira> Raseel: As I said, deppends on how fast you can downlaod stuff. For the first time it can take 
hours.

[18:34] <agoliveira> Don't tell that I didn't warn you all :)