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How long until I'm able to have my Ubuntu environment on a phone and plug it directly into my monitor, keyboard, and mouse? We already have the OS and periphera

How long until I'm able to have my Ubuntu environment on a phone and plug it directly into my monitor, keyboard, and mouse? We already have the OS and peripherals, what's missing? It's not storage on the phone; Apple is selling 256GB iPhones. Is it the processing power?

Operyl 9y ago
Just somebody to do it, and convince the hardware manufacturers it's a good idea. See the now defunct Ubuntu Phone project: https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/devices/ https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/devices/
dbmikus 9y ago
Didn't Ubuntu give up on making their OS support mobile? What's missing is the demand for a desktop OS on a phone.
validationerror 9y ago
No. It's the willingness of manufacturers to make it possible. We could have had this many years ago already. The technology was there, the performance was there, it's just that the willingness of phone manufacturers to enable users to do it was lacking and still is for the most part. Probably because there's not that much demand for it either, outside of techie circles.
olegkikin 9y ago
It's definitely not the processing power, modern phones are beasts, they can compete with 10-year old PCs.
mcrae 9y ago
It's being worked on: https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/19/samsung-introduces-linux-on-galaxy/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/19/samsung-introduces-linux... You can sign up for updates here: https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy
Skunkleton 9y ago
Samsung is currently working on Linux for Galaxy which is exactly this. Also, the processors in your phone are closer to desktop performance that you might think. If you put any weight in GeekBench scores, single core scores for the new A11 are about the same as the single core scores for the Ryzen 1800x.
- revelation 9y ago
  For all of 5 minutes until it's thermally throttled. They never tell you that on the "GeekBench". But yes, for those 5 minutes, it has somewhat the same performance as one of the eight processors on the 1800x. Frankly, 1/8th 1800x and a whole A11 is about the same power budget, so that's not entirely surprising.
  - ksk 9y ago
    Yeah, also even if you could get rid of the thermal throttling, you're still dumping all that heat into the phone's body which could overheat/damage other components.
    - revelation 9y ago
      Most notably you're dumping it into the battery, which is already heating up itself just fine having to supply the extra current for your full CPU power burst. And sustained high temperatures are a surefire way to rapidly diminish the capacity of LiIon batteries. So I guess it's a good thing they have external power and a fan, even though it's dubious how much that does given the battery isn't seeing any of that airflow and is in the usual protective sleeve that doesn't exactly help thermal conductivity. There is a reason Tesla watercool every individual metal 18650 cell.
    - petecox 9y ago
      The DeX product page explicitly says Built-in cooling fan, so they're definitely aware of overheating.
  - Skunkleton 9y ago
schappim 9y ago
You can already do this today. I was doing it on my Samsung Galaxy S3 back in the day. Essentially you install Ubuntu on top of Android. You then VNC to the Ubuntu Desktop from Android. Android (using USB on the go) out of the box supports keyboard and mouse. Not all devices support MicroHDMI, but the S3 did.
- DennisAleynikov 9y ago
  Yeah, suprisingly samsung has been sleeper developing something like DeX since the s3, and MHL was pretty dope for the time. Excited that samsung believes in the vision of the one device life.
nambit 9y ago
It's the processor which isn't x86 because of power consumption, etc. This means that even if you get a full blown linux distro, you'll need to compile a lot of shit for it before you can have a full cross platform dev experience. Ubuntu phone was a step in the right direction. But the phone experience wasn't great so they gave up.
fsiefken 9y ago
You can already do this (for at least two years) with Linux Deploy on Android and VNC to localhost. You start an Ubuntu image within Android and connect to it through an Android VNC client. Keyboard, monitor and mouse can be done through cabling or wireless. I use VR in Samsung GearVR. https://www.androidauthority.com/install-ubuntu-on-your-android-smartphone-765408/ https://www.androidauthority.com/install-ubuntu-on-your-andr...
- asciimo 9y ago
  By "use VR..." do you mean that use a VNC client in VR mode? How is the resolution?
  - fsiefken 9y ago
    It's good enough for basic use of apps. I can read my e-books fine, browsing works as well. Yes, the letters are a bit dotty, but that's not an impediment. It's less comfortable as using a high res physical screen in front of you, but for terminal work it doesn't matter that much. I'm not sure about the resolution 1024x768 or higher depending on how close you are to the virtual screen. Do you remember working with 1024x768 screens? It's like that
- DennisAleynikov 9y ago
  if only phonecast would support running the dex environment. I would literally not leave gear vr ever again.
dekobon 9y ago
Samsung is trying to figure out the market interest on running Ubuntu directly on the phone. I saw it working at a convention and they directed me to sign up here to beta: https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy

Operyl 9y ago

Just somebody to do it, and convince the hardware manufacturers it's a good idea. See the now defunct Ubuntu Phone project: https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/devices/ https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/devices/

dbmikus 9y ago

Didn't Ubuntu give up on making their OS support mobile? What's missing is the demand for a desktop OS on a phone.

validationerror 9y ago

No. It's the willingness of manufacturers to make it possible. We could have had this many years ago already. The technology was there, the performance was there, it's just that the willingness of phone manufacturers to enable users to do it was lacking and still is for the most part. Probably because there's not that much demand for it either, outside of techie circles.

olegkikin 9y ago

It's definitely not the processing power, modern phones are beasts, they can compete with 10-year old PCs.

mcrae 9y ago

It's being worked on: https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/19/samsung-introduces-linux-on-galaxy/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/19/samsung-introduces-linux... You can sign up for updates here: https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy

Skunkleton 9y ago

Samsung is currently working on Linux for Galaxy which is exactly this. Also, the processors in your phone are closer to desktop performance that you might think. If you put any weight in GeekBench scores, single core scores for the new A11 are about the same as the single core scores for the Ryzen 1800x.

revelation 9y ago
For all of 5 minutes until it's thermally throttled. They never tell you that on the "GeekBench". But yes, for those 5 minutes, it has somewhat the same performance as one of the eight processors on the 1800x. Frankly, 1/8th 1800x and a whole A11 is about the same power budget, so that's not entirely surprising.
- ksk 9y ago
  Yeah, also even if you could get rid of the thermal throttling, you're still dumping all that heat into the phone's body which could overheat/damage other components.
  - revelation 9y ago
    Most notably you're dumping it into the battery, which is already heating up itself just fine having to supply the extra current for your full CPU power burst. And sustained high temperatures are a surefire way to rapidly diminish the capacity of LiIon batteries. So I guess it's a good thing they have external power and a fan, even though it's dubious how much that does given the battery isn't seeing any of that airflow and is in the usual protective sleeve that doesn't exactly help thermal conductivity. There is a reason Tesla watercool every individual metal 18650 cell.
  - petecox 9y ago
    The DeX product page explicitly says Built-in cooling fan, so they're definitely aware of overheating.
- Skunkleton 9y ago

schappim 9y ago

You can already do this today. I was doing it on my Samsung Galaxy S3 back in the day. Essentially you install Ubuntu on top of Android. You then VNC to the Ubuntu Desktop from Android. Android (using USB on the go) out of the box supports keyboard and mouse. Not all devices support MicroHDMI, but the S3 did.

DennisAleynikov 9y ago
Yeah, suprisingly samsung has been sleeper developing something like DeX since the s3, and MHL was pretty dope for the time. Excited that samsung believes in the vision of the one device life.

nambit 9y ago

It's the processor which isn't x86 because of power consumption, etc. This means that even if you get a full blown linux distro, you'll need to compile a lot of shit for it before you can have a full cross platform dev experience. Ubuntu phone was a step in the right direction. But the phone experience wasn't great so they gave up.

fsiefken 9y ago

You can already do this (for at least two years) with Linux Deploy on Android and VNC to localhost. You start an Ubuntu image within Android and connect to it through an Android VNC client. Keyboard, monitor and mouse can be done through cabling or wireless. I use VR in Samsung GearVR. https://www.androidauthority.com/install-ubuntu-on-your-android-smartphone-765408/ https://www.androidauthority.com/install-ubuntu-on-your-andr...

asciimo 9y ago
By "use VR..." do you mean that use a VNC client in VR mode? How is the resolution?
- fsiefken 9y ago
  It's good enough for basic use of apps. I can read my e-books fine, browsing works as well. Yes, the letters are a bit dotty, but that's not an impediment. It's less comfortable as using a high res physical screen in front of you, but for terminal work it doesn't matter that much. I'm not sure about the resolution 1024x768 or higher depending on how close you are to the virtual screen. Do you remember working with 1024x768 screens? It's like that
DennisAleynikov 9y ago
if only phonecast would support running the dex environment. I would literally not leave gear vr ever again.

dekobon 9y ago

Samsung is trying to figure out the market interest on running Ubuntu directly on the phone. I saw it working at a convention and they directed me to sign up here to beta: https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy