ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Ted Gould <ted@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The reason to use the Android drivers is that in many cases they're the
only drivers that exist for many of the chips phones are using today.
The drivers are (generally speaking) owned by the chip manufacturers,
not by Android/Google, they're just using the Android interfaces for
writing them. Those interfaces are GPLv2 as they're in the kernel.
So generally speaking I don't think anyone wants to use the Android
drivers, but they're a means to an end. Hopefully one day chip
manufacturers will target Ubuntu as a platform and provide drivers in
the kernel directly instead of only the Android ones. That would
improve many things including allowing us to use newer kernel features
generally on the devices. Considering that the popularity of IoT is
largely driven by cheap connected chips coming from cell phones, as IoT
devices choose Ubuntu that might also play favorably into us getting
better drivers for phones.
I would say the current situation is not ideal, but workable and
manageable. There is reasonable hope that the situation will get
better.
Ted
On Sat, 2016-07-30 at 22:26 +0900, Marcos Alonso wrote:
> Hi to all.
> 
> Let me ask a basic question. Might be due to some misunderstanding of
> the messages I have been reading.
> 
> It seems UT is getting benefit from Android drivers. I guess to
> reduce the development cost and time.
> 
> If so, I assume it means that UT will somehow depend on Android? At
> least some functionalities? Unfortunately, like Aethercast.
> 
> I'm not a businessman and I understand that somebody decided this
> direction as the best (or the only feasible?). But, isn't risky that
> advanced functionalities depend on a competitor system?
> 
> Would it mean that the development schedule depends in Android's
> development?
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Regards.
> Marcos
> 
> El viernes, 29 de julio de 2016, francisco mulas caracuel 
> tmail.es> escribió:
> > El viernes, 29 de julio de 2016 16:26:48 (CEST), Jim Hodapp
> > <jim.hodapp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> escribió:
> >> From my understanding, unless this has changed, certain existing
> phones
> >> will never move to Android 6 or even Android 5 (mako for example).
> There
> >> are newer phones that will require Android 6 and those will be the
> ones to
> >> support it. We have back ported something from Android 6 though,
> such as
> >> the Android 6 linker to Android 5.
> >>
> >> On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 4:47 AM, Krzysztof Tataradziński <
> >> ktatar156@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi,
> >>>
> >>> I've read here
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-touch-ota-13-update-to-rena
> me-the-libertine-scope-to-desktop-apps-506743.shtml
> >>>
> >>> that
> >>>
> >>> "(...) but considering that Ubuntu Touch OTA-13 will finally move
> to
> >>> the Android 6.0 Marshmallow BSP (Board Support Package), it
> should
> >>> also support new devices."
> >>>
> >>> so whole UT (for all supported devices) will move to Android 6.0
> BSP?
> >>> Does that mean we can get wireless external support for i. e. MX4
> or
> >>> E4.5?
> >>>
> >>> Best regards,
> >>> Krzysztof Tataradziński
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
> >>> Post to     : ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
> >>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> >>>
> >>
> >
> > That great joy we give to the users of the nexus 4.
> > This phone has most features.
> > And it has android 6 for part of cyanogenmod.
> > Thanks to you we can enjoy aethercast.Many thanks for your
> contribution.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Enviado con Dekko desde mi dispositivo Ubuntu
> > --
> > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
> > Post to     : ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
> > More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> >
> -- 
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
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