The community-led Linux distribution project, which received commercial support from its sponsor Canonical, is working with Intel to ensure that its Linux distribution is capable of running on mobile and embedded devices.
Ubuntu’s chief technology officer, Matt Zimmerman, announced the plans on the Ubuntu developer mailing list, noting that new low-power processor and chipset technologies were expanding the opportunity for Linux in the mobile space.
It is clear that new types of device – small, handheld, graphical tablets which are internet-enabled – are going to change the way we communicate and collaborate, he wrote. In response to the technical challenges that these devices pose, we are announcing the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project.
More details of the new project are expected to be announced at the Ubuntu Developer Summit meeting of core Ubuntu developers this week in Seville, Spain.
The Summit will shape the development roadmap for the next version of Ubuntu, version 7.10 also known as Gutsy Gibbon, which is due for release in October and will see the release of the first fruits of the mobile and embedded project.
In the meantime, Zimmerman appealed for interested developers to step forward and join the project team and Intel developers working on the new version. Intel are working on specific contributions of technology, people and expertise to the project. We hope that others who are interested in producing an easy-to-use and open source environment for this class of device will join us, he noted.
The new Mobile and Embedded Edition will join a market teaming with existing alternatives. Alongside embedded Linux specialists such as Wind River, Trolltech and MontaVista, the market also features mobile specialists such as Access, Linux distributors Red Hat and Novell are also involved via real-time Linux projects.
Meanwhile, communications specialists Motorola, NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, and Vodafone having been working together via the LiMO project to create a single mobile phone software platform based on the Linux kernel.
