Simulating a "Ubports" 16.04 on x86 hardware (or VM) - work in progress
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Last time I heard, Yunit was only running on 64-bit machines. I presume Touch runs on 32-bit processors. As a non-techie with old hardware, this prompts some questions:
17.10 is very chuggy on my 2GB RAM 32-bit machine. I am sadly going to have to look at alternatives at some point - could Touch be ported to a laptop? [Oddly, as unpolished as it was, I used to quite like using Unity 8.]
Increasingly phones are going 64-bit... Will Touch be portable onto those devices? Could one Core and Snap Ubuntu onto a 64-bit phone now?
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@doniks thx for asking, studying is taking up most of my time but once in a while i have a few minutes to test a few things.
Regarding this topic: I have made little progress that is notable, however i could successfully compile and run a few UT apps on an 16.04 x86-64 system (whitout packaging them as clicks/snaps/debs) but have run into some trouble with mir when doing this with yunit installed (with Unity 7 + X11 it works very well). I have to work up the docs a little in here and maybe next weekend or so i can give you some more usefull info
@3arn0wl the problem is not that Yunit is not running on 32-bit hardware but that it is not packaged by the Yunit team (or any other team i know) so theoretically for you there is a possibility to just compile all packages inside the official Yunit deb repo for 16.04 but for 32-bit instead of 64-bit. (No coding work necessary, you just have to use the exact same sources and compile it on a PC near you)
About your tablet: i don't know whether Yunit will be a big improvement for speed since it has not seen many performance enhancements (AFAIK). Can you give more specific info about your device (Manufacturer, Name, ID)?
64-bit should be no problem for UBports (they/we even got a 64 and 32-bit servers so that both architectures are being build for by the native architecture) and in the end of the canonicel days they even said they will only focus on 64-bit (arm64 for ARM btw) which is why only BQ M10 and Meizu Pro 5 were supposed to receive Ubuntu 16.04
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@demokrit said in Simulating a "Ubports" 16.04 on x86 hardware (or VM) - work in progress:
@doniks thx for asking, studying is taking up most of my time but once in a while i have a few minutes to test a few things.
good for you!
Regarding this topic: I have made little progress that is notable, however i could successfully compile and run a few UT apps
oh nice! good for us
maybe I should give it a shot. I was a bit intimidated by the length and complexity of the instructions. do you think it would work on 17.10 on x86 hw? I guess the sdk and mir would be significant challenges.
on an 16.04 x86-64 system (whitout packaging them as clicks/snaps/debs) but have run into some trouble with mir when doing this with yunit installed (with Unity 7 + X11 it works very well).
mhhmm ... when you say Unity 7 + X11 you mean .... without mir .... so which UT apps run without mir .... maybe I'm not understanding you right.
I have to work up the docs a little in here and maybe next weekend or so i can give you some more usefull info
looking forward ... whenever your study permits
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Hi @demokrit
I have a 10 year old MacBook!
"... to just compile..." how easy is that? What steps would I need to follow?
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@demokrit Lubuntu will release a 32-bit LTS version in April - could Yunit be compiled on that?
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@demokrit
awesome work ! -
@doniks sorry i didn't really have the time to work any further but i think i can at least respind
maybe I should give it a shot. I was a bit intimidated by the length and complexity of the instructions. do you think it would work on 17.10 on x86 hw? I guess the sdk and mir would be significant challenges.
I wouldn't really recommend following these instructions yet since it seems to be a path with some serious problems: 1. Using virtualisation for running clicks like the 15.04 armhf container will result in drastical performance loss from what i've read in the meantime and 2. the armhf virtualisation seems to break on a regular basis (qemu-static) and the length is because also failed attempts are included. This is only true for the container stuff above because a PPA with yunit/mir is in the works here so 17.10 should not be a problem. (it's however 64-bit AFAIK so no 32-bit yet)
mhhmm ... when you say Unity 7 + X11 you mean .... without mir .... so which UT apps run without mir .... maybe I'm not understanding you right.
I meant that i build some apps that are currently only packaged as clicks for the phone from source in an 16.04.3 x86_64 on unity7 atop X11 which you can read about in detail here and also a short overview which apps seem to work or at least start is being set up here (btw, sorry for the confusing docu style in that repos, at some day i will fuse all those documents which talk about the same stuff into one xD). As of yet i could successfully build and start OpenStore, Clock-App and InstantFX, but i have only tested starting, resizing windows and clicking one or two buttons which is my definition of "working" ;-P. I guess they work since they rely on Qt which also works on X11 not only on mir but i don't really know that stuff.
Ah one more thing; i tried building locally with Yunit installed and interestingly there seems to be a Problem with mir so i cannot start the OpenStore (the irony is somewhat bugging me). Haven't tried with another App, i will report as soon as there is more news.
@3arn0wl
"... to just compile..." how easy is that? What steps would I need to follow?
There is a guide what to do in the offical yunit repos, however the first line says something about "only working on 17.04" but that is no imminant problem since 17.04 is supported until January and available for 32-bit PCs here.
Lubuntu will release a 32-bit LTS version in April - could Yunit be compiled on that?
I am almost 100% sure that compiling on Lubuntu 18.04 will work but i don't know how hard it will be.
@mike thanks
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Thanks for the pointer, @demokrit -
@3arn0wl if you try this, please tell us how it went (the good, the bad and the ugly) so we can file a bug report if necessary. However i have asked John Salatas from Yunit whether this should work on 32-bits or other Ubuntu derivatives than 17.04 and he thinks it should work so go ahead and try it. If i find my old laptop + some spare time i will try as well but don't wait for me, i'm having a todo list the size of a mountain ;-D
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Of course, @demokrit. It might be a while before I give it a go too. -
@demokrit said in Simulating a "Ubports" 16.04 on x86 hardware (or VM) - work in progress:
mhhmm ... when you say Unity 7 + X11 you mean .... without mir .... so which UT apps run without mir .... maybe I'm not understanding you right.
I meant that i build some apps that are currently only packaged as clicks for the phone from source in an 16.04.3 x86_64 on unity7 atop X11
As of yet i could successfully build and start OpenStore, Clock-App and InstantFX
I'm really surprised! I was quite convinced that a UT "phone" app, ie, an app developed and built against the ubuntu sdk would require mir. But you the way you describe it you have these apps running on 16.04, unity 7, ie, X! This is really blowing my mind.
I guess they work since they rely on Qt which also works on X11 not only on mir but i don't really know that stuff.
Seems like. I'm really, really surprised.
Ah one more thing; i tried building locally with Yunit installed and interestingly there seems to be a Problem with mir so i cannot start the OpenStore (the irony is somewhat bugging me). Haven't tried with another App, i will report as soon as there is more news.
Strange indeed. Do you have the error still at hand?