4 ms·

The New Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition

86 points by reddotX 11y ago

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- rlpb 11y ago
  > Can I SSH into the phone, run aptitude, and install whatever package I want? Yes, but you have to switch away from read-only mode, and then image based updates won't work. So it isn't really recommended. On the other hand if you just want the hardware to hack on and customize, then sure, you can do that.
cturner 11y ago
The usage that would make devices like these attractive to me is if they allowed me to carry my data around, doing most of my work by ssh, but with ability to access/edit data while I was mobile. Then I wouldn't need to carry a bag around. I doubt I'm in major market segment, but I'll ask all the same: can you ssh into these devices and run standard unix tools? Can you plug a USB-to-ethernet adapter into them?
- rlpb 11y ago
  > can you ssh into these devices Yes: http://askubuntu.com/q/348714/7808 http://askubuntu.com/q/348714/7808 > run standard unix tools Yes. What you get is a shell prompt that pretty much matches what you'd expect. bash and readline, GNU coreutils, tab completion, etc. The ssh client is available. > Can you plug a USB-to-ethernet adapter into them? No idea. This might be tougher as it would involve some level of interfacing with the kernel (which is a bit special as it's Android-based) and perhaps interference with the phone's network management UI (Network Manager based). Also, you don't get working apt-get unless you remount the root filesystem read-write, in which case you lose image-based updates (the only supported update mechanism). But your home directory is read-write and you can do what you like in there.
- edent 11y ago
  FWIW using USB-OTG I can plug keyboard, mouse, & Ethernet into my Android phone - no special software needed.
- lucb1e 11y ago
  > can you ssh into these devices and run standard unix tools? If you currently run Android, you can do this with apps such as Linux Deploy as well. I really love being able to browse my phone's filesystem over sftp (ssh ftp) from my GNU/Linux laptop, being able to back stuff up using rsync, etc.
ubuntuphoneuser 11y ago
I have a Aquaris BQ E4.5 This phone, which I assume is not too different than the E5: * ships with openssh (not enabled by default). * ships with the phablet user account as a sudoer * has a terminal app in the Ubuntu App Store * BQ publishes all their source on their github repo You will need to change the rootfs to rw or else apt-get fails. This breaks the OS image diff update mechanism. It comes with the ubuntu-touch repo, which is accessed via the standard dpkg apt-get and aptitude tools. Strangely, there is no git in this repo, which I built from source. Ships with a standard toolchain in the repo also. From this I was able to compile nmap and other tools I needed. The OS is in its very early days. Overall its a great platform and hope that it becomes a major player. It won't replace my iphone just yet (it lacks any kind of block based encryption to protect the phone contents).
- bnastic 11y ago
  I have a 4.5 as well. Not yet had a chance to look at the dev side of things, but for a typical phone user Ubuntu is very far from being ready for primetime. (Which I don't particularly mind, as I bought the phone for its hacking potential; for everything else there is iPhone).
  - ipedrazas 11y ago
    I think you're extremely kind saying "far from being ready for primetime". Let's face it, as a phone is pretty useless. As a hacking mobile platform... it's a nice toy :)
- mtw 11y ago
  How does it compare to say a Nexus 5 or an iPhone 6? In terms of tech specs
Buetol 11y ago
Sorry for sidetracking but: I'm really interrested in how the "NearBy" feature works. Anyone knows how to find the source code ?
- Buetol 11y ago
  For history: Looks like it's closed-source. Makes me a bit sad.
tfb 11y ago
This is very cool. I wonder if I could put this on my old prepaid Android. I'm sure I could but how easy would it be?
wodenokoto 11y ago
Not to be confused with Sharps smartphone brand "Aquos"
frik 11y ago
1 GB RAM? 2012 is calling. Why not 3+GB RAM?
- Sanddancer 11y ago
  Because it's using a bargain-level chip from 2013 that doesn't even have support for LTE, let alone a decent amount of memory.
zyrthofar 11y ago
> Only available in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland Is there a reason for this, or is this simply to slow down the demand until they make it available in other countries? It seems to me the "official" Ubuntu phones (from Meizu and BQ) are reluctant to come to the North American market.
- Htsthbjig 11y ago
  Probably it has something to do with software patents. The cost of litigation in the US is very expensive, and players like Microsoft and Apple have legal teams that could litigate forever into destroying any small competitor.
realusername 11y ago
I don't know how it looks in other languages in the list (my basic German is not good enough to assess this) but the French version of the website is quite atrocious. It looks like someone ran everything to Google Translate and put it on the website after. (it's just barely understandable). I hope they will come up with a better website if they want to sell to non-english markets...

86 points by reddotX 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

rlpb 11y ago
> Can I SSH into the phone, run aptitude, and install whatever package I want? Yes, but you have to switch away from read-only mode, and then image based updates won't work. So it isn't really recommended. On the other hand if you just want the hardware to hack on and customize, then sure, you can do that.

cturner 11y ago

The usage that would make devices like these attractive to me is if they allowed me to carry my data around, doing most of my work by ssh, but with ability to access/edit data while I was mobile. Then I wouldn't need to carry a bag around. I doubt I'm in major market segment, but I'll ask all the same: can you ssh into these devices and run standard unix tools? Can you plug a USB-to-ethernet adapter into them?

rlpb 11y ago
> can you ssh into these devices Yes: http://askubuntu.com/q/348714/7808 http://askubuntu.com/q/348714/7808 > run standard unix tools Yes. What you get is a shell prompt that pretty much matches what you'd expect. bash and readline, GNU coreutils, tab completion, etc. The ssh client is available. > Can you plug a USB-to-ethernet adapter into them? No idea. This might be tougher as it would involve some level of interfacing with the kernel (which is a bit special as it's Android-based) and perhaps interference with the phone's network management UI (Network Manager based). Also, you don't get working apt-get unless you remount the root filesystem read-write, in which case you lose image-based updates (the only supported update mechanism). But your home directory is read-write and you can do what you like in there.
edent 11y ago
FWIW using USB-OTG I can plug keyboard, mouse, & Ethernet into my Android phone - no special software needed.
lucb1e 11y ago
> can you ssh into these devices and run standard unix tools? If you currently run Android, you can do this with apps such as Linux Deploy as well. I really love being able to browse my phone's filesystem over sftp (ssh ftp) from my GNU/Linux laptop, being able to back stuff up using rsync, etc.

ubuntuphoneuser 11y ago

I have a Aquaris BQ E4.5 This phone, which I assume is not too different than the E5: * ships with openssh (not enabled by default). * ships with the phablet user account as a sudoer * has a terminal app in the Ubuntu App Store * BQ publishes all their source on their github repo You will need to change the rootfs to rw or else apt-get fails. This breaks the OS image diff update mechanism. It comes with the ubuntu-touch repo, which is accessed via the standard dpkg apt-get and aptitude tools. Strangely, there is no git in this repo, which I built from source. Ships with a standard toolchain in the repo also. From this I was able to compile nmap and other tools I needed. The OS is in its very early days. Overall its a great platform and hope that it becomes a major player. It won't replace my iphone just yet (it lacks any kind of block based encryption to protect the phone contents).

bnastic 11y ago
I have a 4.5 as well. Not yet had a chance to look at the dev side of things, but for a typical phone user Ubuntu is very far from being ready for primetime. (Which I don't particularly mind, as I bought the phone for its hacking potential; for everything else there is iPhone).
- ipedrazas 11y ago
  I think you're extremely kind saying "far from being ready for primetime". Let's face it, as a phone is pretty useless. As a hacking mobile platform... it's a nice toy :)
mtw 11y ago
How does it compare to say a Nexus 5 or an iPhone 6? In terms of tech specs

Buetol 11y ago

Sorry for sidetracking but: I'm really interrested in how the "NearBy" feature works. Anyone knows how to find the source code ?

Buetol 11y ago
For history: Looks like it's closed-source. Makes me a bit sad.

tfb 11y ago

This is very cool. I wonder if I could put this on my old prepaid Android. I'm sure I could but how easy would it be?

wodenokoto 11y ago

Not to be confused with Sharps smartphone brand "Aquos"

frik 11y ago

1 GB RAM? 2012 is calling. Why not 3+GB RAM?

Sanddancer 11y ago
Because it's using a bargain-level chip from 2013 that doesn't even have support for LTE, let alone a decent amount of memory.

zyrthofar 11y ago

> Only available in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland Is there a reason for this, or is this simply to slow down the demand until they make it available in other countries? It seems to me the "official" Ubuntu phones (from Meizu and BQ) are reluctant to come to the North American market.

Htsthbjig 11y ago
Probably it has something to do with software patents. The cost of litigation in the US is very expensive, and players like Microsoft and Apple have legal teams that could litigate forever into destroying any small competitor.

realusername 11y ago

I don't know how it looks in other languages in the list (my basic German is not good enough to assess this) but the French version of the website is quite atrocious. It looks like someone ran everything to Google Translate and put it on the website after. (it's just barely understandable). I hope they will come up with a better website if they want to sell to non-english markets...