If that ASUS 1215P is running Ubuntu 10.10 netbook remix, it only has official support until next April. And reading the certified hardware database for this model its only certified for special OEM vendor pre-install images of 10.10. So come April people who purchase this unit have an interesting choice to make. Stay with the end of life 10.10 with no vendor support or do an upgrade to a version that is not certified for the hardware and will most likely see hardware support regressions of some nature. Is this unit going to be certified for 12.04 LTS stock Ubuntu? And isn’t the netbook remix interface officially no longer supported? If the upgrade to 12.04 LTS even if it is certified for their hardware aren’t the forced to move to a completely new interface? Is that really a good thing for a retail electronics product?
That sure appears to be the Ubuntu 10.04 UNR to me (as opposed to the Ubuntu 10.10 UNE which looks more like unity and runs on mutter.) Although the company has officially announced EOL on the 10.04 UNR, it seems at bit disingenuous and mostly inaccurate to me.
It seems to me that how security and stability maintenance updates are provided is by replacing a given package in the repository with a newer version which is then downloaded and installed by the end users in the normal update process (likely using update-manager or apt-get.) Since the UNR 32-bit (i386) shares the repositories with the Desktop edition which will be kept updated through April of 2013, it will indeed share the general 32-bit Ubuntu 10.04 maintenance updates with the exception of the packages unique to the UNR.
In order words, if a user is fine with the fact that no furthers updates will be provided to those uniquely UNR packages (of which there are not many), s/he can merely let it ride and keep receiving all the other updates (such as linux kernel, xorg, OpenOffice, rhythmbox, etc.) through the Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop EOL?
Maybe this machine does ship with 10.10 but that does not seem to be what the video shows. I know of several netbooks which are holding on to 10.04 UNR (and will at least until 12.04.1 is released in July 2012.
Victor,
As a business that is competing with Android, the consumer device story has to get tighter than it is right now. A year to qualify a retail shelf product leaving it with a 6 month usable lifetime before the OS itself is no longer supported by the vendor isn’t going to cut it….not with the general consumer electronics crowd.
I’m not saying you have to go to a completely open ended support lifecycle like Android uses…but something has to change if Canonical is serious about moving past the desktop form factor and into retail store shelves.
Victor Tuson Palau 
translation:
– simplified interface
– connect yourself easily
– virus free
– microsoft office compatible
– automatic software updates
– thousands of free applications available to download
It looks this is some old version of Ubuntu on netbooks, isn’t it?
If that ASUS 1215P is running Ubuntu 10.10 netbook remix, it only has official support until next April. And reading the certified hardware database for this model its only certified for special OEM vendor pre-install images of 10.10. So come April people who purchase this unit have an interesting choice to make. Stay with the end of life 10.10 with no vendor support or do an upgrade to a version that is not certified for the hardware and will most likely see hardware support regressions of some nature. Is this unit going to be certified for 12.04 LTS stock Ubuntu? And isn’t the netbook remix interface officially no longer supported? If the upgrade to 12.04 LTS even if it is certified for their hardware aren’t the forced to move to a completely new interface? Is that really a good thing for a retail electronics product?
That sure appears to be the Ubuntu 10.04 UNR to me (as opposed to the Ubuntu 10.10 UNE which looks more like unity and runs on mutter.) Although the company has officially announced EOL on the 10.04 UNR, it seems at bit disingenuous and mostly inaccurate to me.
It seems to me that how security and stability maintenance updates are provided is by replacing a given package in the repository with a newer version which is then downloaded and installed by the end users in the normal update process (likely using update-manager or apt-get.) Since the UNR 32-bit (i386) shares the repositories with the Desktop edition which will be kept updated through April of 2013, it will indeed share the general 32-bit Ubuntu 10.04 maintenance updates with the exception of the packages unique to the UNR.
In order words, if a user is fine with the fact that no furthers updates will be provided to those uniquely UNR packages (of which there are not many), s/he can merely let it ride and keep receiving all the other updates (such as linux kernel, xorg, OpenOffice, rhythmbox, etc.) through the Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop EOL?
I am pretty sure that systems ships with 10.10
If I could respectfully point out that the desktop on the video matches 10.04 UNR, and a screenshot of 10.10 UNE looks more like unity:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/31664/ubuntu-10.10-gives-netbooks-an-innovative-new-look/
Maybe this machine does ship with 10.10 but that does not seem to be what the video shows. I know of several netbooks which are holding on to 10.04 UNR (and will at least until 12.04.1 is released in July 2012.
Hi Jef,
The plan is alway to certify pre-installed systems with stock Ubuntu. Currently this systems is being held by the following bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/883396
IMHO, as I user I always appreciate UI improvements.
of course it is – it’s really rare to find hardware without ms-windows oem on shops – and i hope this one will be very successful here
Victor,
As a business that is competing with Android, the consumer device story has to get tighter than it is right now. A year to qualify a retail shelf product leaving it with a 6 month usable lifetime before the OS itself is no longer supported by the vendor isn’t going to cut it….not with the general consumer electronics crowd.
I’m not saying you have to go to a completely open ended support lifecycle like Android uses…but something has to change if Canonical is serious about moving past the desktop form factor and into retail store shelves.
-jef
We agree and we have plans to address this from 12.04LTS forward
It sold out…