Eduardo.otubo

Google’s Nexus 7 tablet is, as Mark Shuttleworth revealed last week, to be Ubuntu’s ‘reference’ device on which the ‘core’ of Ubuntu will be tweaked.

By ‘viewing Ubuntu through a mobile lens’ developers will be able to address CPU, RAM and power usage issues, making them better. The net result is that all devices running Ubuntu – tablet, desktop or other, will benefit.

To aid developers in getting Ubuntu up and running on the Nexus 7 a special tool has been made – the ‘Ubuntu Nexus 7 Installer‘.

The tool provides ‘a desktop one-click solution for installing Ubuntu on your Nexus 7′, offering a GUI through which the latest Ubuntu test image is downloaded and flashed onto the Nexus 7.

Before the installer can be used the Nexus 7 boot-loader has to be unlocked. Doing this will wipe all data, so do be careful if you’re planning on attempting the hack already, and do pay attention to the known issues, currently listed here..

All (current) models of the Nexus 7 tablet work (so 8GB owners, you’re not left out).

Full details, including on how to unlock the bootloader and install the Ubuntu Nexus7 Installer app, can be found behind the link below.

[How To] Install Ubuntu 12.10 on the Nexus 7 

Being a tester is as easy as following the above and then reporting bugs as and when you encounter them. Don’t know how to do that? This wiki page will help:

How to Report a Bug in Ubuntu

To get actively involved in the development of Ubuntu Core on Nexus see this post by Victor Palau, and keep your ear to ground during next weeks Ubuntu Developer Summit.

Bear In Mind Why

Ubuntu 13.04 won’t see any major changes made to Unity with regards to how it looks on tablets – at least not that we know about yet.

Don’t expect to boot up 13.04 in April and find a prettified, super-touch friendly interface waiting for you.

Instead, purpose of getting Ubuntu up and running on the Nexus 7 this cycle is simply to make Ubuntu work better, as Mark Shuttleoworth explains:

“We’ve said that the driver of Unity was to build an experience that spans phones, tablets, desktops and tv. I think we can do that by 14.04.

So in 13.04 we’re focused on tuning the performance of the base system in mobile settings - memory footprint, boot performance, battery life, etc.

We’ve ported Ubuntu to the nexus 7 (it’s just the desktop) and will all be focused on that for 13.04.”

Image Credit: Matt Fischer

Related Posts

• This Ubuntu Tablet Design Could Almost Pass As Real
• Valve to Launch ‘Steam Linux Beta’ at UDS?
• ‘Ubuntu For Android’ Demoed on Video at FISL

Here’s a challenge for you: try to imagine what the offspring of 80s classic Pong and modern-day Guitar Hero would look like. 

Got a picture in your head? Nice. Now let’s see if looks anything like this…

Beat Trip Beat

Bit.TRIP.Beat is a genre-melding mash-mash of gaming styles. It fuses the the feel-good fun of retro gaming with the frustration and patience-sapping of modern puzzle titles.

So whilst it’s nice to look at it is by no means a walk in the 8bit park…

Bit.TRIPPY

Bit.TRIP.Beat (BTB hereon-in  is made by Gaijin games, a company whose other title ‘Bit.TRIP.Runner’ is also available from the Ubuntu Software Center. Both titles have featured in previous Humble Indie Bundle sales.

The game mechanics sound simple enough on paper: you control a bat on the left-hand side of the screen and must use it to deflect ‘beats’ that come along from the right, with each successful deflection adding to an overal ‘rhythm’ that you can use to aid you as you go on.

So far, so simple.

But, as someone who once threw a Gameboy at the wall in frustration over the ‘fast’ levels in Tetris, I did find that as the game progressed so did my level of frustration. Things get relentless. Relentless to the point of insanity, in fact. And that’s without mentioning the (often weird) boss levels.

See, the little ‘pong’ pixels you bat away don’t all behave the same way. To make the game more challenging different pixels have different behaviours, so you need to be able to adapt fast. And as this game is, on Linux at least, played using a mouse or trackpad you will need to ensure your sensitivity levels are very finely tuned.

Difficulty aside (note: there are three varying degrees of this, so do try each to find your comfort zone) my only major in-game complaint centers around the degree of animation in its backgrounds. When there are incoming beats moving in the foreground the last thing I want my reflexes to be responding to are twirly-swirly cubey-woobies doing a dance in the background.

More often than not I needed to pause, shake my head and steady myself before going back for another pixel-smashing onslaught. If you’re susceptible to motion sickness do have a sick bag ready.

Summary

The retro vibe, chip-tune soundtrack, and easy-to-grasp gameplay gives BTB a relatively low entry level, making it ideal for casual gamers, bored students, or anyone stuck in a call-center queue for 20 minutes and in need of entertaining.

It woos you with its fun, glossy exterior, and the savages you inside with ferociously fiendish gameplay waiting to feed on your frustration.

Whilst it won’t win over the Crysis contingent, a sub-group rarely satisfied by anything, a thriving gaming ecosystem relies just as much on variety as it does top-tier graphics and triple AAA titles.

And with those aforementioned set of games on the way with Valve’s Steam for Linux, Bit.TRIP.Beat proves to have perfect timing.

Buy Bit.TRIP.Beat Linux

Price wise Bit.TRIP.Beat (Linux) is a little more expensive than I’d want, being sold in the Ubuntu Software Center for $9.99.

Buy Bit.Trip.Beat on Ubuntu

Related Posts

• Indie Game Bit.Trip.Runner Added to Ubuntu Software Center

Avise pros amigos: quem estiver fora da sua cidade no dia da eleição e for justificar (“justificar o voto”, como dizem, mas na verdade é justificar a ausência…) pode ganhar tempo levando o requerimento de justificativa (abaixo, vale para todo o Brasil, clique para obter o PDF) já completamente preenchido.

Clique para baixar o PDF em tamanho real de um site da Justiça Eleitoral

Leve também um documento oficial de identidade QUE TENHA FOTO (obrigatório), e o título, se tiver.

Em geral pode-se justificar em qualquer local de votação, mas o site do TRE do estado em que você estiver deve ter uma lista dos locais específicos pra isso, que podem ter menos fila e andar mais rápido.

Vale a pena consultar o site do TRE do estado em que você estiver, mesmo se você souber onde justificar, porque ele pode ter instruções específicas para a sua jurisdição.