Sure the Motorola XOOM is the first tablet to ship with Android 3.0 Honeycomb — Google’s first attempt at a truly tablet-friendly operating system. But if Honeycomb isn’t enough OS for you, how about Ubuntu Linux? Thomas Sohmers figured out how to get Ubuntu up and running on the XOOM, and he’s posted instructions and a demo video on his web site.

The process doesn’t actually replace Android on the tablet, but instead installs Ubuntu alongside it. To access Ubuntu from Linux, you actually run a VNC client. That means you can actually run Ubuntu inside a program window on your Android tablet — and you can flip between native Android apps and Ubuntu apps.

between operating systems and remove Ubuntu if you decide it’s not for you, without losing the Android software that came with your device.

In the demo video below you can see that Ubuntu 9.10 supports touch and offers a virtual mouse. The operating system is a bit sluggish, but it does allow you to run a full versions of Firefox, OpenOffice.org, and other desktop apps.

via Android Central and XOOM Forums

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8 replies on “How to run Ubuntu Linux on the Motorola XOOM tablet”

  1. This is almost a fake: accesing an Ubunto server using a VNC cient is at the same level that accesing a windoze server using a remote desktop client.

    1. The difference is that this isn’t a remote server. Ubuntu is running on the
      xoom and you’re using the VNC client to access it from android.
      On Apr 4, 2011 7:05 AM, “Disqus”

  2. The video uploader should have presented the Ubuntu desktop with an attached USB keyboard and mouse.

    Obviously, Ubuntu is hard to access using the touchscreen.

    1. Well, yeah, I also believe the Xoom beats the first-generation iPad in certain respects, but I will stick with the iPad and believe the iPad 2 will do much better!
      And what’s more the most expected for flash support still arenot actually have anything of the sort, I believe Apple could make Flash work if it wanted to, and even work great!
      So why not as well buy an iPad then, the iPad is released:
      https://www.ifunia.com/news/apple-ipad-2-faster-thinner-same-price/

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