40 
Motorola couldn’t make it work with its Atrix, but apparently London-based Canonical thinks it can do better. You’ll soon be able to get Ubuntu on a phone, which you can then dock and get a full Ubuntu desktop experience. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Canonical has been smart though, and instead of yet another fully-fledged OS, Ubuntu for smartphones will actually be installed over the top of Android. Of course, that begs the question, what will the performance be like, if Ubuntu is essentially an overdeveloped skin? We’ll just have to wait and see for that one.
Basically, as Ubuntu is just a flavour of Linux, and Android is too, it’ll provide all the drivers necessary to power the phone and interface with Ubuntu. The idea is that devs will punt some sort of mobile-friendly interface for when its limited to the phone screen, which then sprawl out into the full-blown thing once you hook your phone up to a monitor and mouse.
The Ubuntu image will be available shortly to install over the top of Android on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, so you’ll be able to try it out for yourself if you’re so inclined. I just can’t help thinking that if Motorola couldn’t do it with bespoke hardware, then Canonical will have a seriously tough time of it.
Mind you, it is the holy grail of one device to power all your computing needs, the UMPC tried it and failed, but maybe smartphones can do it. I’m not holding my breath, but good luck to the Linux-loving Brits. Maybe a Ubuntu tablet install might be a good way about going about it? Would anyone actually use a Ubuntu slate though? [Ubuntu]
This Mouse-Keyboard Combo Is Smaller Than Your Smartphone
Do You Care About Ubuntu?
Ubuntu Mobile Hands-Off: Stripped Down and Sleek
The way I took it was that Ubuntu Phone will early next year be available pre-installed on handsets and until then the OS will be available to run on top of Android. I imagine it will have access to the kernel in order to run if you put it on your phone, so not exactly a skin.
A full Ubuntu desktop on a phone is the best idea since Meamo (debian) was made for the Nokia N800.
This is well over a day late. Gizmodo used to be the first place to turn to for information … now its one of the last. What has happened? Even the BBC (not particularly technologically focused) got in before you.
Where does it say Ubuntu will run on top of Android? I can’t see it saying that anywhere or am I going nuts? The FAQ talks about Ubuntu OS competing with Android and after watching that 20 minute long video on the Ubuntu homepage the only mention of Android is that both Ubuntu and Android can share drivers for phones since Android is based on the Linux kernel. But I don’t see it explicitly say anywhere that it’ll run on top of Android.