Ubuntu And Android Dual Boot Developer Preview Released

Today in Open Source: Dual boot Android and Ubuntu. Plus: Is Debian suitable for new Linux users? And a screenshot tour of Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 Alpha 1.

Canonical has released an Ubuntu and Android dual boot preview for developers. This lets developers test the ability to easily boot back and forth between Android and Ubuntu on mobile devices.

“We are thrilled to announce a preview of a new feature for developers: Ubuntu on mobile devices can now run alongside Android on a single handset.

Dual boot is not a feature suitable for regular users. It is recommended to be installed only by developers who are comfortable with flashing devices and with their partition layout. Dual boot rewrites the Android recovery partition and those installing it should be intimately familiar with re-flashing it in case something goes wrong.”

 It seems like Canonical is following in Apple's footsteps. This dual boot tool reminds me of OS X's Boot Camp utility. Boot Camp has certainly been a big hit with Mac users, and the option to switch between Ubuntu and Android could work just as well if it's done properly.

It's good that Canonical is warning off non-developers right now since some of them might get themselves into trouble if they don't know how to deal with partitioning or flashing their devices. Still, I suspect there will be some adventurous users out there who will try it anyway.