Ubuntu Core on Nexus 7

The core of the Ubuntu Desktop has been enabled on the Nexus 7 tablet to serve as a developer reference platform. As Mark writes on his blog:

So I think it’s time to look at the core of Ubuntu and review it through a mobile lens: let’s measure our core platform by mobile metrics, things like battery life, number of running processes, memory footprint, and polish the rough edges that we find when we do that. The tighter we can get the core, the better we will do on laptops and the cloud, too.

Ubuntu is getting back to basics and we'll use the 13.04 cycle to get Ubuntu Core leaner and meaner. Note that this means that in 13.04 we will not be attempting to make a tablet specific experience. We will run the stock Ubuntu Desktop on the Nexus 7 while we focus on the core of Ubuntu. Below, you'll find a collection of resources to help you get started. We'd love your contributions!

Get Involved

Ubuntu on the Nexus 7 is a unique opportunity for Ubuntu. The Nexus 7 is an inexpensive device which allows us to make sure that Ubuntu Core runs great on a tablet device. Together we can focus on one device, one chipset, one hardware configuration and get Ubuntu Core to just run great on it.

You can help us out! No matter if you just want to test, debug, profile or hack on the device.

Start Here

Even if you are not a developer or not interested in hacking on the device, you can still help out:

Questions? If you have questions about testing out Ubuntu on the Nexus 7, please post them on http://askubuntu.com/questions/ask?tags=mobile - you can see a list of these tagged questions at http://askubuntu.com/questions/tagged/mobile - also if you want to help out by answering questions, that's much appreciated.

Bugs? Please file bugs with ubuntu-bug (instructions for how to do this are at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs) and tag your bugs with 'mobile' (list of Ubuntu bugs tagged 'mobile'). Find a lists of bugs to start working on in the developers section.

Testing? Apart from running Ubuntu Core on your Nexus 7 and filing bugs you can help us out by measuring memory usage and measuring power consumption. These are two things we definitely want to improve.

Status? you can check out the work items status for the Nexus 7 in the Raring (13.04) cycle.