Re:Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones
by mtgx on Wednesday January 02, 2013 @03:08PM
(#4998942)
But that doesn't say anything about being related in any way with Android code, does it?
Also I think since kernel 3.3 Android uses the exact same kernel as other Linux distros. The Android kernel got merged with the normal Linux kernel. So I don't see why it would be a problem for them to use the same kernel.
Re:Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones
by steevdave on Wednesday January 02, 2013 @04:37PM
(#4999468)
Not everything from Android is in the mainline kernels. There are still a few bits that are Android specific that would need to be reworked to even be accepted into staging.
There has been a lot of great ARM work lately in mainline too but there are still quite a few drivers missing that you can't even get docs for (even with signing NDAs) so the drivers for mainline get written based on the BSP-ish kernel drivers which aren't always written the best.
> Ubuntu has already been adapted to run on chipsets using the ARM and Intel x86 architectures relevant for mobile devices, with the core system based around a typical Android Board Support Package (BSP). So chipset vendors and hardware manufacturers do not need to invest in or maintain new hardware support packages for Ubuntu on smartphones. In short, if you already make handsets that run Android, the work needed to adopt Ubuntu will be trivial.