Open Recall: Ubuntu on a Chromebook, a Linux Mint Store, help wanted

Open Recall is a space on The H for those things that are too small to package as news but are worth the linkage. This edition looks at Ubuntu on an ARM-based Chromebook, a new Linux Mint store, a request for a new Linux minion, a software upgrade for the OUYA games console, and the Tweetian Twitter app going open source.

• ChrUbuntu – Developer Jay Lee has released the first alpha version of ChrUbuntu 12.04, a customised version of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS that runs on Google's new ARM-based Chromebook notebook computer. As this is an an alpha release, not everything is functional yet: so far Lee says that he has been able to get Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the battery monitor and the USB and SD Card connections working. However, there are still problems getting sound to work, graphics acceleration has not been enabled and the touchpad is described as being "somewhat finicky to work with"; installation instructions for brave users interested in testing ChrUbuntu are provided. Ubuntu running on an ARM mobile device isn't that new, however. Recently, Canonical also released an application for developers to install its Linux distribution onto Google's 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet, which contains a quad-core ARM-based Tegra 3 processor.

• Linux Mint – In a blog post, Linux Mint founder Clement "Clem" Lefebvre has announced the launch of a new online store for his popular Linux distribution. The Linux Mint Store, available at linuxmint.com/store.php, sells computers with the operating system pre-installed, and LiveDVDs and USB flash drives for installing the OS, as well as shirts, stickers and badges. The store is being run through a partnership with CompuLab, ThinkPenguin, OSDisc and HELLOTUX, and profits will be used to support the project.

• Help Wanted – Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman is looking for a minion to help him with the release process for the stable Linux kernel. "Right now I'm drowning in trees and patches, and could use some one to help me sanity-check the releases I'm doing", said Kroah-Hartman. The developer is specifically looking for someone to help test boot the -rc stable kernels, look through the Linux kernel distro trees, and review patches before they go into the stable releases.

• OUYA to include Android 4.2 – The makers of the open source OUYA games console have announced that the device will ship with the latest version of Android, "Jelly Bean". When the device was launched on Kickstarter, they originally planned to include Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" when the OUYA was released, but they now say that they decided to make the jump to "ensure that we’re running on the most up-to-date software available". At the same time, they confirmed that the OUYA has now entered the Engineering Verification Testing (EVT) phase, in which the console and controller will be tested with the software to verify the design and refine its performance.

• Tweetian – Alongside the release of a new version of Tweetian, 1.6, its developer has made the mobile Twitter app for Symbian^3 and MeeGo available as open source. Developed using Qt and QML, Tweetian 1.6 includes a new Mute feature, can display both full name and user names in Tweets and direct messages, and improves the app's overall stability. It also adds auto scrolling for new tweets, pinch-to-zoom for images, an option to view nearby Tweets and improvements to its offline functionality. Licensed under the GPLv3 or later, source code for Tweetian is hosted on GitHub; the latest stable version is available from the Nokia Store.

(crve)