Ubuntu Touch prepped for 20+ smartphones and tablets

The Ubuntu Touch operating system is being ported to more than 20 types of smartphone and tablet.

The developer preview of the Linux-based OS was released for the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphones and Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets last week.

And developers are working to port the OS to a far greater range of devices, including the Asus Transformer series, HTC One handsets, the LG Optimus 4x HD, the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Note and S series and Sony Xperia phones. They are also working on ports for the Nexus S and Nexus One devices.

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The work to adapt the OS is being carried out as part of the Ubuntu port-a-thon initiative to get the developer community to bring Ubuntu Touch to a wider range of hardware.

"We want to port Ubuntu Touch to all kinds of devices," says the porting guide for Ubuntu Touch.

"If you have experience in porting code to Android devices or are generally knowledgeable in terms of porting, working with the kernel and other core bits and pieces of a distribution, this might be interesting to you."

The ports are at various stages of progress and although the OS reuses some of drivers and other hardware compatibility code used by Android, it will likely take some time to get each port in working order.

Users have been warned not to use the developer preview as their primary OS, and the preview's release notes highlight various issues when running on Nexus devices.

These included problems when using the OS with some 3G and 4G networks, such as CDMA and LTE, and the possibility that the Nexus 4 would refuse to boot if the battery was drained.