Open-source addicts have been eagerly awaiting Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop Edition and Netbook Edition, and Canonical has confirmed they won't have long to wait for it; both versions will go up for download on October 10 2010. Meanwhile, DigiTimes's sources reckon Dell will be the first to out an Ubunto 10.10 based netbook.
Friday's news that open-source tinkerers had managed to get Ubuntu 10.10 up and running on Toshiba's hitherto-Android AC100 smartbook raised a few eyebrows, but the usability of the hack was significantly scuppered by the fact it wouldn't load past the boot screen. That's been ironed out over the weekend, and Carrypad now has video of the AC100 doing its Ubuntu thing.
Video demo after the cut
Toshiba's AC100 is certainly an interesting notebook on the face of it: Tegra 2 processor, full QWERTY and plenty of battery life, but the Android OS does mean it's definitely a companion device and not your sole ultraportable. That could all change, however, now a hack for loading Ubuntu onto the AC100 has been developed; Carrypad pulled together the instructions and files from tosh-ac100.wetpaint.org, ac100.gudinna.com and the official Toshiba forums and managed to get his AC100 up and running with Ubuntu 10.10.
![Ubuntu Prototype Showcases Face Recognition to Manipulate User Interface [Video]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Ubuntu-Face.png)
For now, our computers are still generally accessed by the soon-to-be-old-fashioned keyboard and mouse. Even as touchscreens grow in popularity, we're still not losing our main points of input quite yet. But, that doesn't mean the PC has to stay in the "now" forever. Thanks to Christian Giordano, it's been revealed at the Canonical design blog that Ubuntu is currently in the process of creating a prototype that uses facial recognition, plus other sensors, to allow users all new ways to interact with their PC.
![Dual-booting Ubuntu Nexus One tutorial released [Video]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/nexus_one_ubuntu.jpg)
Servers are getting smaller, but they're still not quite as compact as your cellphone; now, thanks to a new tutorial, your Google Nexus One can double up as your test web server. NexusOneHacks has persuaded Ubuntu to live in harmony with Android 2.2 on the Google smartphone, producing a dual-boot device that allows you to run regular Ubuntu/Linux code.
Video demo after the cut
SurfaceInk may not be a name you're familiar with, but the product development firm may well have a tablet you want. They've been showing off their latest prototype, a 12.1-inch 1280 x 1024 capacitive slate running Ubuntu on Freescale's i.MX51 800MHz Cortex A8 chipset, and which they're currently trying to persuade manufacturing partners to adopt. ARMDevices caught up with the company recently, grabbed some footage of the unnamed reference design, and also found out about SurfaceInk's future plans for smaller versions.
Video demo after the cut
Ubuntu seems to have a nice road map for their updates schedule, and sure enough, here's another one. Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" has just hit the market, available for download right now. There's plenty of changes to be had, along with the standard fixes and adjustments to the OS, there's surprises to be had by the latest edition of Ubuntu. Plus, "Lucid Lynx" is almost as cool as "Karmic Koala," so that's worth it.
It looks like Dell is diversifying their operating system options for people that buy the Studio XPS 13.3-inch notebook in that the notebooks now come with Ubuntu, a Linux-based operating system. So for those that want to avoid Vista, this might be a good option for you.
More new images of the SmartQ 7 MID have emerged from China, including unboxing photos (which you can see in the gallery after the cut) and this comparison shot between the 7 and the SmartQ 5 with its 4.8-inch touchscreen. Both MIDs are ARM-based and run Ubuntu
With AMD set to announced their netbook chipset strategy today, they're not the only three-letter company looking to take a bit out of Intel's Atom. ARM have released details of their own plans, collaborating with Canonical - the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu - to optimize the Linux distro for the ARMv7 architecture. ARM chips, such as the Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9, are already found in multimedia and internet enabled devices like Archos' recent Internet Media Tablets, and the company believes that this - together with the chipsets' low power demands - will make them a force to be reckoned with in netbooks.