In Depth: Canonical's long road to the Ubuntu Phone

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Back in 2004, Linux was a considerably more technical world than it is today.

Even the more novice desktop flavours involved installation procedures, choosing tools, limited documentation and, at times, complex configuration. Though many of us dreamed of the power of Linux simplified for all, it was, by definition, a geeky domain.

Back in 2004 Canonical's distro came in one form: Ubuntu for the desktop. Nine years and 19 releases later, Ubuntu is overseeing a far more ambitious mission: to create a single converged operating system that runs across the desktop, phone, tablet and TV, as well as the cloud and the server. Of all of these platforms, right now the focus is very much on building the first version of the Ubuntu Phone.

• Hands on: Ubuntu for smartphones review

Fortunately, due to the convergent nature of this business, the majority of this work benefits each of the other devices too. Ubuntu has always been a traditional Linux distro that pulled together a collection of open source projects and integrated them to make them work well together.

Although Ubuntu's core code was sourced in other projects - the Linux kernel, Gnome, X Window System and Libre Office - the integration work was complex. It involved bringing together all those disparate components, user interfaces, dependencies and more into a single consistent system.

Ubuntu quickly became the most popular desktop Linux distro and it attracted attention not just from the Ubuntu community, but from the mainstream media as well. The decisions Ubuntu made impacted on the wider Linux world almost as much as they did on the distro. The growth in Ubuntu also generated commercial interest. Before long, the four largest OEMs in the world were shipping Ubuntu pre-installed on their systems, and the introduction of Ubuntu Server was generating interest from server hardware manufacturers and service providers too.

Remember, this was back, largely, in the days when most hardware came in the form of desktops, laptops and servers. But then the market changed. With the arrival of increasingly powerful smartphones - largely driven by companies wanting a piece of Apple's pie - the hardware world started to evolve.

Before long, we had a new generation of netbooks, mobile internet devices and tablets. The mobile industry was hotting up and the hardware industry was exploring new avenues; it became obvious to Canonical that in order for Ubuntu to stay competitive, it needed to harness this new revolution, not merely dig its heels into the desktop and refuse to acknowledge change.

Promoting Unity

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The start of Ubuntu's evolution into a new converged world was the introduction of the Unity desktop environment in late 2009. Shortly before it introduced Unity, Canonical had been exploring refinements and improvements to Ubuntu in the form of the messaging menu and new notifications. These changes were not merely engineering ideas promoted to shippable state, they were design-driven, user-tested features that solved many of the problems the developers had witnessed users experiencing.

These early refinements transitioned into a wider plan in the form of Unity, so named to deliver a unifying experience. Unity was intended to simplify the desktop, maximise screen real estate, and challenge many of the presumptions people had about the traditional Linux desktop world. Canonical continued to share work that contributed to the vision of one familiar interface that would work on multiple platforms.

Ubuntu for Android enabled a docked Android phone to boot a full Ubuntu desktop. Much of this work was possible due to Canonical's close relationship with Linaro, an organisation that consolidates and optimises open source Linux software, ensuring that the Ubuntu archive could run on ARM devices.

Ubuntu TV demonstrated the design principles of Unity applied to television, but the convergence story really kicked off in January, when Canonical announced Ubuntu for phones, quickly followed by Ubuntu for tablets. With Ubuntu available side-by-side for comparison on a desktop, phone, tablet and TV, the convergence was visible and intriguing for onlookers, particularly at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), where the entire vision was exhibited.

Phones 4 Ubuntu

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One of the unique features of the Ubuntu phone is that it doesn't require any buttons on the front. Instead, you swipe the edge of the screen to access different features. After pressing the Power button, a swipe of the left edge of the screen brings up the familiar Unity launcher with a stacked collection of icons to load different applications. As with the desktop, these icons collapse as you slide up and down to provide space for as many of your favourite applications as you like.

At the bottom of the launcher is an Ubuntu button, which unlocks the phone and takes you to the Home view. In much the same way as the Dash works on the desktop, there are different views (called Master Scopes) for Home, Apps, Music and Video. Each of these scopes provides access to content either on your devices, in the cloud, or available to purchase. Sliding left and right jumps between these different content types and you can then slide up and down to browse, tap an item to view more information or view/buy/download.

This functionality is subtle but important: it integrates content right into the phone. You no longer need to load an application to access your music, videos or apps - they're all right there at the core of the phone. If you load an application, such as Gallery which shows your photos and videos, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access that app's functionality. For example, if you're viewing a photo, an upwards swipe will show options such as Edit or Share.

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The HUD works in much the same way as it does on the desktop, except instead of pressing Alt, a long upwards slide brings up a small search icon that you can use to see the phone's equivalent HUD functionality. If you now open a variety of applications, such as the browser, gallery and camera app, the right edge comes into play.

Swiping from the right switches between the different open applications. This makes multitasking as simple as a swiping from the right to the left of the screen. On the tablet, sliding out from the right edge shows the side stage, which enables you to run phone applications within a smaller window and be able to easily interact with tablet applications (such as dragging content from the tablet web browser and saving it in the note-taking app in the side stage).

The top and final edge of the screen is where you configure the phone's most common parts. In much the same way as you have the indicators in the top bar on the Ubuntu desktop, you have the same indicators on the phone; sliding down from the top screen lets you navigate between them and view controls for configuring those items. As an example, you can select a wireless network, change the volume, adjust power settings, and more.

As with the Ubuntu desktop the messaging menu is also present. This little envelope icon lights up when you receive a text message, Facebook/Twitter direct message, missed call, or other content. All of your messages are in one place and when you select a message you can respond from within the messaging menu. This means that you can reply to messages without having to load a separate app or even exit an existing one.

Another dimension

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The development of Ubuntu across these devices has not only involved producing a single and consistent design experience in Unity but also a great deal of convergence and unification at the software level too. Traditionally the Unity that has shipped on Ubuntu Desktop has been the Unity 7 codebase, written using Compiz and the Nux toolkit (the latter designed and built specifically for Unity).

The new converged Unity is being rewritten using the popular Qt QML framework. This codebase is known as Unity 8. Importantly though, there is not a different Unity for each device form-factor. Instead there's a single Unity codebase that displays the appropriate user interface depending on the screen size and configuration of the device. As an example, if you take Unity 8 and run it on a device with the dimensions of a phone, you will see the phone experience. If you then widen the same instance of Unity 8 to the dimensions of a tablet, you will see the tablet experience. Likewise, the same will happen for desktop dimensions.

This has a few notable benefits. Firstly, when a bug is fixed or performance is further improved in Unity 8 it instantly applies to all form-factors. Secondly, it means that Unity can easily and effectively switch between these user interfaces when required. As an example, you might want to take your Ubuntu phone and plug it into a monitor with an HDMI cable and then see the Ubuntu desktop experience. This means that although much of the work going on right now is getting Unity ready for the phone, all of that work ultimately benefits all of the different form-factors.

Another important piece in the stack is the Mir display server. Mir provides a next-generation replacement for the ageing X Window System that has been in commission for the past 25 years or so. Although some were disappointed that Unity didn't move to Wayland, the choice of building Mir was born out of creating something lighter than Wayland in terms of breadth of features and more orientated towards these multiple devices.

Taking it for a test drive

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If you have a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4 phone and want to give Ubuntu for phones a whirl, you first need to understand that it is unfinished software. You should back up any data and applications you need as Ubuntu is going to replace it with a new operating system. Fortunately, you can revert to Android if you need to later (albeit, without your original data, hence the back-up!).

First install the software from the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools

Now do the following:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb androidtools-fastboot

You now need to unlock the device (if your device is unlocked you can skip this). With the device powered off, power on the device by holding the Power button + volume up + volume down. The device will boot into the bootloader.

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Now plug the device into your computer via the USB cable. On your computer, press Ctrl+Alt+T to start a terminal and type:

sudo fastboot oem unlock

Now on the device screen, accept the terms of unlocking. Your device is now unlocked!

Now boot the device by pressing the Power button (pointed by an arrow with Start on the screen). Next, you need to enable USB debugging. This varies depending on which version of Android you are running:

Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0): Go to Settings and turn on USB Debugging (Settings > System > Developer options > USB debugging).

Jelly Bean (versions 4.1 and 4.2): Enter Settings, About [Phone|Tablet] and tap the Build number 7 times to see the Developer Options.

On either Android version you must then enable USB debugging via Settings > Developer options > USB debugging. You should now accept a host key on the device. On the computer type:

adb kill-server adb start-server

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Depending on the installed Android version, a pop-up will appear on the device with the host key that needs to be accepted for the device to communicate with the computer. Now save the version of the current image on the device as a reference to revert back to. The version can be found by going to Settings > About Phone > Build Number. Fortunately you only need to run through that unlocking process once.

Now you can install the Ubuntu phone image to the device easily by just running phablet-flash. The latest version of Ubuntu phone will now be downloaded and automatically installed to the device. When it is complete the phone will automatically boot into Ubuntu phone.

If you have your SIM card in the phone you should be able to make calls, receive text messages, and use the other features of the phone. As the engineering team works hard to have a first cut of Ubuntu for phones ready by October, this is a story you are sure to want to keep an eye on - you might even want to grab a spare phone so you can have a play about with it.

Although there is a long road ahead, the journey has already been rewarding... who knows what the future holds?

• Now why not read our Hands on: Ubuntu for smartphones review

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