[14:44] <virtouni> Hey, folks. Do I get access to software repositories with ARM images, the same way I get apt-get on x86?
[14:47] <infinity> virtouni: Yes.
[14:48] <virtouni> infinity: All three architectures listed on the Ubuntu Wiki ARM page?
[14:49] <infinity> virtouni: I'm not sure which wiki page or arches you're referring to, to be honest.
[14:50] <virtouni> infinity: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM
[14:51] <infinity> virtouni: We support two architectures (armhf, which is ARMv7 hard float, and arm64, which is the 64-bit ARMv8)
[14:51] <virtouni> No forget that, tell me where I can read more about it.
[14:51] <infinity> You mean subarches, or platforms, I guess, if you're referring to that page, though it's 2 years out of date.
[14:52] <virtouni> Apparently so. Where can I get newer info?
[14:53] <infinity> To be fair, I'm not sure if anyone's been updating the wiki docs, so the answer might be "nowhere".
[14:53] <virtouni> Eh, well, let me describe the situation, if it can be of help to help me.
[14:54] <infinity> The d-i netboot images are sort of self-documenting in the "which boards can you boot without putting a bunch of time into it" way.
[14:54] <infinity> http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty/main/installer-armhf/current/images/generic/netboot/
[14:54] <virtouni> My friend wants a tablet for general purpose computing. Of course Android or Windows RT is out of the question. So we'd like to know what devices we can get so that we may flash it and have our way with.
[14:54] <infinity> Oh.
[14:55] <infinity> I think you'll find that pretty much no tablet works "out of the box" with any general purpose Linux.
[14:55] <infinity> There's going to be a lot of hacking on your end.
[14:55] <virtouni> That's a given.
[14:55] <virtouni> But we need a starting point.
[14:55] <infinity> Well, by which I mean there won't be disrto provided kernels, which extends to not having distro images or installers either.
[14:56] <virtouni> The main issue, as I see it, are GPU driver and the ability to flash, going beyond arch compatibility.
[14:56] <infinity> You'll get to hack up a kernel on your own, then build a distro root on there (using a rootfs tarball like Ubuntu Core can help a bit)
[14:56] <virtouni> Ugh...
[14:56] <virtouni> I thought at least some Ubuntu release would be able to be used.
[14:56] <virtouni> What of the Nexus devices?
[14:56] <infinity> Granted, if it's an Android device, it already has a Linux kernel. :P
[14:57] <virtouni> Can I flash a Nexus device with standard Ubuntu instead of Touch?
[14:57] <infinity> We ship unsupported kernels for some Nexus devices.  Still no installers or "images", though, you get to put the bits together yourself.
[14:57] <infinity> Unless, as you note, you install Ubuntu Touch instead.
[14:58] <infinity> But, spoiler alert, those are all still Android kernels and Android drivers, just with a regular Linux userspace stuffed on top. :)
[14:58] <virtouni> Can't I strip Touch packages from the image and introduce desktop packages?
[14:58] <infinity> Sure, if you put the image in read-write mode, it's just a normal Ubuntuish thing you can apt-get install and remove with.
[14:59] <infinity> Except for the weird container setup required to make the android/linux hybrid work.
[14:59] <virtouni> Well, that's quite straight-forward isn't it?
[14:59] <virtouni> Can I get repo though?
[14:59] <infinity> Yeah.  It all uses the same repositories.
[14:59] <virtouni> YEAH!
[14:59] <infinity> And most everything is built on all 6 architectures.
[15:00] <virtouni> Which six?
[15:00] <infinity> i386, amd64, armhf, arm64, powerpc, ppc64el
[15:00] <infinity> My point being that there's no "Ubuntu ARM" product, per se, it's all just Ubuntu, once you manage to get a userspace going on some device, it's all the same thing.
[15:01] <virtouni> So, we need to mount the image, and the chroot? And what's the weird container? (I need to know so that I don't mess with it accidentally)
[15:01] <infinity> Just that kernel, bootloader, and installer support on ARM devices sucks, because ARM device OEMs suck. :P
[15:01] <infinity> I actually know shockingly little about how Touch devices are laid out.
[15:02] <infinity> You might be better off asking ogra_ for more details if/when he's around.
[15:02] <virtouni> I'm just concerned that ARM packages available though they might be, they won't work on some devices due to the clusterfuck of of implementations
[15:02] <infinity> But, in theory, it should be simple to install touch on a Nexus device, flip to read-write, and remove all the bits you don't like.
[15:02] <infinity> And add the bits you want.
[15:03] <virtouni> Yes, now I only need to know how to get to the point of apt-geting them. chroot, as I suggested?
[15:04] <infinity> A chroot tarball on a working Android system is a simple way to go.  But that's not the same as "installing a touch image", which should be covered here: http://developer.ubuntu.com/start/ubuntu-for-devices/installing-ubuntu-for-devices/
[15:06]  * infinity wanders off to start his weekend.
[15:06] <virtouni> By chroot, I meant chrooting into the mounted Ubuntu Touch. Mounted on a desktop PC or something. Before flashing the device with it.
[15:08] <virtouni> I don't see where the image comes in in the instructions. :(
[15:08] <virtouni> Well, I'll be back later, thanks a lot infinity.