INSTALL GUIDE - Ubuntu Mobile GUI on existing Hardy Install

[danmiddle2]

Ubuntu mobile GUI installation guide.

This guide will explain how to install the Ubuntu mobile GUI onto an existing Ubuntu 8.04 installation without having to re-install with the dedicated Ubuntu-mobile image (which currently erases everything on your system when you install it)

The Ubuntu mobile image is really for anyone who wants to install a nice, slick, finger friendly GUI that is specifically designed to be optimised for smaller displays such as the one on the UX.

If you follow this guide you will be able to login to either your current GUI (KDE or Gnome or whatever) or login to the mobile GUI...so you get the best of both worlds.

Now the ordering of these instructions may be seem a little strange, but I tried other quicker ways and hit problems, so just bear with it;

Firstly; install the Ubuntu mobile package.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-mobile xserver-xephyr

Once that completes, edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the following repositories

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ubuntu hardy main restricted universe
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ubuntu hardy main restricted universe

Now do

sudo apt-get update

followed by

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Amongst the updates this installs is an updated evtouch driver for the touchscreen which makes it behave differently. By all means reboot and give it a try, but for me personally I didn't like the way it behaves so I will show you how to roll that back in a second.

If you want to roll back the old touchscreen driver do the following steps, this can be done at any time really if you want to try the new version first

Open Synaptic Package Manager (under System>Administration) and scroll down to;

xserver-xorg-input-evtouch

Then from the menu select

Package>Force Version

and from the drop-down menu select the other version

0.8.7-3ubuntu1 (Hardy)

then click 'Force Version' followed by 'Apply'

It should now downgrade to the previous version.

Now to stop it constantly offering to update it back to the other version, scroll back down to the

xserver-xorg-input-evtouch

package and select from the menu

Package>Lock Version

Thats it – it is now installed and ready to use.
To setup a separate X-session which will be available at login, here is how you could do it;

Create a file called;

/usr/share/xsessions/hildon.desktop

And populate it with the following;

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Hildon
Exec=/usr/local/bin/start-hildon-session
Type=Application

Then copy the hildon startup script:

cp `which start-hildon` /usr/local/bin/start-hildon-session

Finally edit the copy of the script that you've just made

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/start-hildon-session

and hash out the line

#export DISPLAY=:1

Now you should be able to choose the mobile interface as an option from the login screen. Enjoy!

P.S.
For anyone wondering how to get other displays such as the green one shown in one of the videos that I made... its this

sudo apt-get install moblin-clutter-home

[kiz]

will this work with 9.04

[danmiddle2]

Originally Posted by kiz

will this work with 9.04

No idea, I haven't switched to 9.04. I prefer to stick with an LTS build where possible.

[cinlacsqui]

Originally Posted by danmiddle2

No idea, I haven't switched to 9.04. I prefer to stick with an LTS build where possible.

this looks great and really easy to follow - thanks a lot for posting and sharing it

[danmiddle2]

Originally Posted by cinlacsqui

this looks great and really easy to follow - thanks a lot for posting and sharing it

Which bit are you confused about?

[wuyu]

i have it installed on my machine but it runs like crap. the screen just flashes to white on and off, and is essentially unusable.

I followed your instructions, and I do instrctions as follows to meet clutter desktop:

1. create a new desktop file named clutter:
sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/clutter.desktop

2. enter the following into this new file:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Hildon
Exec=/usr/local/bin/desktop-launcher
Type=Application

3. save the file

4. now copy the clutter script:
sudo cp `which desktop-launcher` /usr/local/bin/desktop-launcher

Is there anything wrong?
Thank you very much for helping!

[wuyu]

if I install Ubuntu-mobile image in virtualbox, how can I change to clutter desktop?
thank you for your help!

[danmiddle2]

Originally Posted by wuyu

i have it installed on my machine but it runs like crap. the screen just flashes to white on and off, and is essentially unusable.

I followed your instructions, and I do instrctions as follows to meet clutter desktop:

1. create a new desktop file named clutter:
sudo nano /usr/share/xsessions/clutter.desktop

2. enter the following into this new file:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Hildon
Exec=/usr/local/bin/desktop-launcher
Type=Application

3. save the file

4. now copy the clutter script:
sudo cp `which desktop-launcher` /usr/local/bin/desktop-launcher

Is there anything wrong?
Thank you very much for helping!

Which version of Ubuntu are you using?

Thanks

Dan

[wuyu]

Originally Posted by danmiddle2

Which version of Ubuntu are you using?

Thanks

Dan

ubuntu-8.04.3-alternate

[randall]

Hi
thanks for giving this information it was really appreciable