Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu wanted to do this but it never went anywhere... and they didn't open source their code. What an absolute shame.

I really loved the idea of it. You had the whole Android / Java / Bionic runtime sharing the same kernel as your GNU stuff. They had a way that you could even access your Android stuff from within your desktop environment like apps, contacts, text messages, etc.

View on HN

It is open source and it is being continued at https://ubports.com/

I think he might be talking about Ubuntu for Android, which was classic Ubuntu running on an Android phone, predating Ubuntu Touch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_for_Android

It worked on Galaxy S4, and Samsung were really close to shipping it on every S4. It never did ship though, and the project was abandoned. A couple of people who worked on it tried to push for open sourcing it, but I don't think it ever was open sourced.

You could hook it up to an external monitor with an MHL-HDMI cable. Of course the SoC wasn't as beefy as ones we have now, but it was pretty OK.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com