Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions, with a relatively large user base and a mature ecosystem.

Canonical, the chaps behind Ubuntu, have been eyeing the mobile market for a while now, with overtures in partnership with the likes of Motorola to bring smartphones and desktop computing together (“WebTop” hasn’t really exploded yet but I reckon it’s only a matter of time before people expect to be able to plug monitors, mice and keyboards into their phones).

The Ubuntu bods have just made an announcement about their latest mobile project – Ubuntu: the Phone OS.

While it’s still early days, the tech specs are being bandied about the interent, and essentially Ubuntu will ride somewhat on the coat tails of that other Linux-based OS, Android, by borrowing drivers and suchlike in order to reach current hardware compatibility. Canonical have said though that they won’t be using a Virtual Machine like Android’s Dalvik VM, but allowing code to run directly on the hardware which could potentially give an extra kick of speed.

While Android apps won’t natively run on Ubuntu for Phones, word is that it should be relatively painless to create for existing Linux software using QML which could give the new phone platform a huge wealth of apps, right out the gates.

I’m certainly looking forward to giving this a whirl once flashable ROMs appear, and it will be very interesting to see which phone manufacturors partner up with Canonical to produce brand new handsets designed to make the most of Ubuntu’s capabilities.

Scribbled by Tom