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posted by martyb on Tuesday February 12 2019, @07:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the will-it-run-Lotus-1-2-3? dept.

Back in December 2017, Microsoft and Qualcomm announced a partnership to pair Windows 10 and Snapdragon Arm processors for ultra-thin LTE-connected netbooks with a 20+ hour battery life. This Windows-on-Arm initiative has faced several stumbling blocks, with the the first-generation HP Envy x2 and Asus NovaGo criticized for poor performance and app compatibility in Windows 10, due in large part to an inline x86 emulator for apps written for Windows on Intel or AMD processors.

Now, a group of programmers and device hackers are working to bring proper support for Ubuntu to Arm-powered Windows laptops, starting with first-generation Snapdragon 835 systems, like the HP Envy x2 and Asus NovaGo. The aarch64-laptops project on GitHub provides prebuilt images for the aforementioned notebook PCs, as well as the Lenovo Miix 630.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/open-source-project-aims-to-make-ubuntu-usable-on-arm-powered-windows-laptops/


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @07:50AM (12 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @07:50AM (#799984)

    Shouldn't they focus on making Ubuntu usable on x86-64 desktop and notebook computers first?

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday February 12 2019, @08:43AM (9 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 12 2019, @08:43AM (#799987) Journal

    Well, in what way do you think it isn't usable? Thousands of people have chosen Ubuntu and it seems to meet their needs. Perhaps you have a specific complaint that doesn't affect the majority of users?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:18AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:18AM (#799994)

      Yes.
      I have a list.
      And a link to https://askubuntu.com/ [askubuntu.com]
      This is not the appropriate forum for this conversion.

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:21PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:21PM (#800050) Journal

        I have a list of problems with using Windows on ANYTHING: just ask the ENTIRE FECKING INTERNET!

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:40PM

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:40PM (#800087) Journal

        In what way is a Firefox problem the responsibility of Ubuntu?

        Likewise:

        1. "How to select the first line from each file in a directory and print it into a new text file"
        2. "How to Convert H265 (go pro, 4K, 60) to DnxHQx (DnxHD 4k, 60) using FFMPEG?"

        Many of the 'problems' in your selected list are nothing at all to do with Ubuntu.

    • (Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:20AM (4 children)

      by Dr Spin (5239) on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:20AM (#800009)

      I and most of my family have been using Ubuntu for about 10 years, and since systemd usability has gone down so badly that some have stopped using it while others are still running a five year old version. Systemd is particularly prone to overwriting config settings on a reboot leaving the machine useless.

      What most users want is a system that does not fuck with your settings when you do an update - this should be No 1 priority in an consumer system. (Or maybe No 2 - after printing that actually works every time!)

      NetworkManager is another crime against humanity - I call for cruel and inhuman punishments for this one.

      I have moved two of my own machines to FreeBSD (not without problems) so I can access the internet when an Ubuntu upgrade has trashed the settings - to find out how to fix Ubuntu. One day, I might never go back.

      The advantages claimed for systemd relate to people running multiple servers, and are of no value to end users - even if they do work. (Personally, I would not want to try that kind of instability on a server).

      Ubuntu without systemd is a far more useful goal than Ubuntu on Arm.

      --
      Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
      • (Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:30PM (1 child)

        by shrewdsheep (5215) on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:30PM (#800055)

        I am not sure it is systemd's fault. I have never heard about the problems you describe (opensuse here). Maybe it is just Ubuntu having bad defaults.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:02PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:02PM (#800071)

          I have. Discovered a new one two days ago.
          Simple solution is to never update it and never reboot.
          If it takes a dive then reinstall.

      • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:06PM

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:06PM (#800107) Journal

        I and most of my family have been using Ubuntu for about 10 years, and since systemd usability has gone down...

        "You and most of your family" do not account for the majority of Ubuntu users. I'm not doubting that you are experiencing problems, but it could be any number of things that are causing them. For most people, Network Manager does exactly what they expect it to do. And most Ubuntu users don't even know what systemd is, let alone worry about it replacing SysVInit/initd. For most users Ubuntu just keeps on working. True, you can search the internet a find many who have problems, but you can't search for those for whom Ubuntu just works. They don't bother going online to post about the fact that everything is working, they are too busy just using it to do whatever they want to do. If you want to blame systemd, then surely the same problem would be seen on Debian etc? But there again, systemd for most users is a non-issue. Things just work the way they expect.

        Ubuntu without systemd is a far more useful goal than Ubuntu on Arm.

        So install initd - it is still possible to remove systemd from Ubuntu. Search the web for help on how to do it.

        And so we go back to the discussion that was on here a few days back. For the vast majority of users systemd isn't a problem. They don't even know that they are using it. They want a computer that they can do all the things that they used to do on Windows: managing photographs, emails, browsing the web, downloading their porn, writing letters, playing games. They never get involved with what is happening behind the GUI - they simply don't care.

        Now I also don't like the latest offerings for the Ubuntu desktop, so I have installed MATE. Not just on Ubuntu, but also on Fedora and, yes, on FreeBSD too! It just lets me get on with whatever task I want to do. But changing the desktop is a trivial task. If you don't like the vanilla offerings from your distro of choice there are usually plenty of alternatives available.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @04:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @04:00PM (#800136)

        I really really really want to like FreeBSD, but every time I try it I think "I wish OpenBSD had ZFS and better hardware support". So, I'm using linux with root on encrypted ZFS. FreeBSD would be OK for a desktop, but on my daily-driver laptop it just sucks too hard in all the useability factors.

    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:30PM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:30PM (#800368)

      I was setting up Ubuntu to my tastes a couple of weeks ago, complaining in my head that the defaults were really stupid, and it struck me that I have been doing exactly that for the last 25 years.

      I have never installed an operating system and used it as it came out of the box and I suspect that's pretty common.

      Having said that, I understand that in the standard Gnome desktop it is not possible to create a directory on the desktop, which just seems like madness to me.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by mendax on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:29AM (1 child)

    by mendax (2840) on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:29AM (#799997)

    It is quite usable in the x86-64 desktop world (for the most part). I made use of it for quite on my iMac a while before being thrust back into the macOS world. To get the sound to work on my iMac I had to use a hack and I couldn't put it to sleep without causing video problems. But it works splendidly on my ten-year-old iBook with no issues whatsoever. Ubuntu (like all desktop Linux distributions) require a little TLC on some systems to work. No doubt some of this TLC will have to be done with these new ARM notebook computers.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @06:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @06:08PM (#800201)

      "some systems" evidently means "the most closed shit you can buy".