PicUntu 4.5 installer loads Ubuntu onto Rockchip RK3188 devices




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PicUntu is a custom version of Ubuntu Linux designed to run on TV boxes and other devices with Rockchip’s ARM-based processors. Now it’s easier to install than ever, offering a way to turn a cheap Android TV box into a full-fledged Linux computer.
The developer has released a new build called PicUntu 4.5, along with a GUI installer that lets you load Ubuntu onto an MK802 IV or similar device with an RK3188 processor. I took it for a spin on an T518 Android TV stick, and aside from having trouble getting WiFi to work, the process was pretty quick and painless.
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PicUntu 4.5 is based on Ubuntu 13.04 and uses the light-weight Xfce desktop environment. It has some basic apps including a web browser, text editor, and terminal app pre-loaded, but the default installation is pretty sparse. That’s good, since it means the software doesn’t take up a lot of storage space. You can always install GIMP, LibreOffice, or other apps yourself using the Synaptic Package Manager.
At this point there’s no support for hardware-accelerated video or Bluetooth. But the RK3188 quad-core processor is zippy enough to handle 720p HD video playback on CPU-power alone.
Without a working internet connection I haven’t been able to thoroughly test PicUntu 4.5 on the T518 stick, but it seems to load apps pretty quickly, have no problem with multitasking, and boots pretty quickly. It probably doesn’t hurt that this particular stick has 2GB of RAM as well as a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor.
Overall, running PicUntu on this devices feels a lot like running Ubuntu on a machine with an Intel or AMD processors. The biggest difference is that the T518 sells for just $78, and some RK3188 boxes are available for even lower prices.
The installer is designed to run on a Windows PC, and it will wipe the data on your device and install Ubuntu on the internal storage. If you think you might want to go back to Android, make sure you have a factory image or custom ROM handy.
Step-by-step instructions for using the installer are available at the PicUntu website and the FreakTab forum.
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Note that those instructions will be useless if you don’t know how to boot into the bootloader on your device.
On the T518 you do this by holding the Fn button while plugging in a microUSB cable to power up the device. I believe this only works if you connect to the microUSB port on the end of the device. If you use the one on the side you’re likely to boot to recovery, not the bootloader.
With an MK802 IV I believe you do something similar, but instead of holding a button you need to poke a pin or paperclip at the reset button hidden inside the air vent while you plug in the device.

Linux 3D graphics support for Rockchip RK3188 devices
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Developers have been porting Ubuntu and other operating systems to run on tablets and TV boxes with Rockchip RK3188 quad-core chips since mid-2013. The RK3188 chip is one of the fastest ARM Cortex-A9 processors around, and Ubuntu is surprisingly snappy on devices with the processor… but up until now there’s been no Linux support for hardware-accelerate graphics.
That means that while web browsers, office apps, and other basic software run well on a device like the MK802 IV LE, up until now it’s been tough to play 3D games or run some other apps using Linux on this type of device.
Now a group of developers have added initial support for hardware-accelerated graphics.
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The RK3188 processor uses an ARM Mali 400 graphics processor, and there’s an unofficial open source driver for that technology.
Developer Omegamoon has posted a few pictures showing that it’s now working on devices with RK3188 chips, while developer Naoki FUKAIMI has gone a little further by posting instructions for building a working graphics driver for a Radxa Rock developer board with the RK3188 CPU.
Right now it takes a bit of technical know-how to get everything up and running. Hopefully in the future there will be easy-to-install builds of Ubuntu and other operating systems available for download, making it easier for novices to load a much more functional desktop operating system on a cheap Android TV device.
At this point hardware-accelerated graphics should enable support for 3D graphics and games, but not necessarily for hardware-accelerated HD video playback. Fortunately the processor is fast enough to handle some HD video duties using the CPU alone.
Android TV sticks and TV boxes with the processor sell for around $40 to $100 at AliExpress.

Ubuntu for Android is on hold indefinitely

Ubuntu for Android is on hold indefinitely - Liliputing - [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]



Remember Ubuntu for Android? More than two years ago the developers at Canonical introduced a new software platform that would let you use an Android smartphone as an Ubuntu desktop. But we haven’t heard much about Ubuntu for Android since early 2012.
This week a redditor noticed a bug report that suggested Ubuntu for Android was no longer in development, so the website should be removed.
PC World dug a little deeper and discovered that while Ubuntu for Android isn’t exactly dead, it’s also not coming to market anytime soon.
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So here’s the concept behind Ubuntu for Android: Your phone would essentially have two operating systems: Ubuntu and Android. During day-to-day, on-the-go use, you’d interact with Android. But connect your phone to a docking station and hook up a mouse, keyboard and monitor and it would switch over to Ubuntu.
That way you could access any of the million or so mobile apps available for Android when you’re out and about. But your phone would become your PC and let you run full desktop apps like Thunderbird, Firefox, GIMP, or LibreOffice when you’re at your desk. You wouldn’t have to sync your files between your phone and your PC (or home and work PCs), because your phone and your PC would both fit in your pocket… in the same device.
Canonical says the development of Ubuntu for Android is pretty much complete and the software could be implemented… with the support of a hardware partner. But so far no smartphone makers have expressed any real interest in using Ubuntu for Android software, and a Canonical rep tells PC World that the company isn’t “currently in concrete discussions with launch partners.”
That said, Canonical’s still open to the idea… so if you happen to be a phone maker and you want to partner with Canonical, you can find contact info on the team’s website.
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For now, Canonical seems more focused on bringing Ubuntu Touch to smartphones and tablets as an alternative to Android instead of a compliment to it. The first Ubuntu phone should begin shipping later in 2014.

Now it’s easier to boot Linux on an RK3188 Mini PC (with a microSD card)




Want to run Android apps on your TV but don’t want to wait for the official Android TV launch? No problem — Chinese companies have been offering pocket-sized sticks with HDMI ports and ARM processors that lets you run Android on a TV for the past few years.

But for just about as long as these Android sticks have been available, folks have been figuring out how to run Ubuntu or other desktop Linux distributions on them — turning these little devices into cheap, low-power desktop computers.
Some of the most popular models feature Rockchip RK3188 quad-core processor and price tags ranging from about $50 to $100. Up until now it’s taken a bit of elbow grease to load Linux on these systems — but Ian Morrison has just made things a lot simpler.
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If you have a supported device all you have to do is download a disk image, plug a microSD card into your Windows PC and use the Win32 Disk Imager app to load the software onto the SD card.
Once that’s done, stick the microSD card into your ARM mini PC, turn on the power, and you should boot into Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Linux. Since the operating system is loading from the removable disk you won’t be writing anything to internal storage — that means you can power down the device, take out the microSD card and the next time you turn the machine on it’ll boot into Android again.
If you’re using a Linux desktop to prepare the card, you can use dd to load the disk image instead of Win32 Disk Imager.
At this point disk images are available for the Rikomagic MK802 IV, Tronsmart T428, MK809 III, CX919 II, PQ Labs A350-SSD, Minix Neo X7, and Radxa Rock.
You can find more details in Morrison’s post on Google+.
While there are a handful of ARM-based mini PCs that come with Linux pre-installed, it’s generally a lot cheaper to buy an Android model and load Linux yourself. Amazon has [url=http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=rk3188 mini]a number of RK3188-based models[/url] for prices as low as $52, although not all will work with Morrison’s disk images.


via CNX Software