Canonical updated the Ubuntu wiki with a list of Android devices that are compatible with Ubuntu. The original four Nexus devices are still listed as running fine, but now there’s two more tables of compatibilty – “sort of working” and “work in progress.”

The “Sort of working” list contains the devices that are almost ready to welcome Ubuntu with open arms. Here are the devices that should be getting Ubuntu soon:

As for the Work in Progress, a much larger pool of devices are currently in the works:

The wiki contains links to unlocking instructions and Ubuntu install instructions for each device. Some are still a work in progress, however, so you might have to check back at a later date if your phone still doesn’t have a ROM available.

For links to the source code and instructions on how to install Ubuntu ROMs, hit up the Ubuntu Wiki.

Ubuntu mobile is already off to a great start if this list is any indication. The wide variety of devices receiving support should ensure that Ubuntu can operate any any number of mobile devices when it launches later this year.

[h/t: Droid Life]

Canonical announced today that its bringing Ubuntu to tablets. The Ubuntu tablet combines the best desktop and smartphone UIs have to offer and combines them into a cohesive interface that offers maximum usability. It’s the continuation of Canonical’s philosophy that Ubuntu should remain the same across all devices with only a changing interface to reflect the platform its currently on.

Check out a quick video tour of Ubuntu for tablets below:

The most interesting feature of Ubuntu for tablets is the new “side stage” feature that promises to improve multitasking on tablets. Here’s the breakdown:

Ubuntu’s unique side stage places a phone and a tablet app on the same screen at the same time for amazing tablet productivity. True multitasking comes to the tablet. Take calls in Skype while you work in a document, make notes on the side while you surf the web, tweet while you watch a movie. Or use apps collaboratively – drag content from one app to another for a super-productive day. We’ve reinvented the tablet as a bridge between phone and PC.

Ubuntu for smartphones will be out in October of this year, but it’s still unknown which territories it will be initially launching in. I would presume that Ubuntu for tablets would be on a similar schedule, but it’s still up in the air at this point.

That being said, Canonical is inviting developers to start making apps for Ubuntu on phones and tablets for when they become available. You can grab the preview mobile SDK here.

The Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview will be launched on February 21, and will initially support Google’s Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphones. The preview is intended for enthusiasts and developers who want to get a sneak peek at what Ubuntu has in store for mobile devices later this year. It will also be advantageous for developers who want to test Ubuntu Mobile apps on a real smartphone instead of an emulator.

There will be two ways for developers to get a hold of the Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview next week. The first will be a set of tools that Canonical will release on its Web site next Thursday that will allow you to flash your Nexus phone to Ubuntu. The other will involve meeting up with Canonical team members at Mobile World Congress on February 25. They will flash your phone to the latest version of the Developer Preview at their booth.

Those who don’t own a Nexus smartphone will be understandably saddened by the limited breadth of the first developer preview, but worry not, as new devices will be continuously added to the list of supported devices. There’s also a pretty big chance that developers will just build support for their own devices once the ROM is released. You can keep on top of developments at the Ubuntu Wiki.

[h/t: engadget]

Valve announced today that Steam for Linux is officially out of beta. It’s available as a free download from the Ubuntu Software Center. Steam coming to Linux, as well as the efforts of many indie developers, may finally make Linux a viable gaming platform. That’s what the folks at Canonical think at least:

“The introduction of Steam to Ubuntu demonstrates growing demand for open systems from gamers and game developers,” said David Pitkin, Director of Consumer Applications at Canonical. “We expect a growing number of game developers to include Ubuntu among their target platforms. We’re looking forward to seeing AAA games developed with Ubuntu in mind as part of a multi-platform day and date release on Steam.”

All games purchased through Steam for Linux will also be playable on Windows and Mac through Steam Play. That’s great for those who already own hundreds of games on Steam for Windows, but perhaps want to start experimenting in Linux.

For long time Linux users new to Steam, Valve has a treat for you guys as well. Team Fortress 2, Valve’s hugely popular team-based shooter, is available day one in all its free-to-play glory. For a limited time, Team Fortress 2 players on Linux will also receive a free exclusive in-game Tux item. Other Valve titles available today include Half-Life, Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike: Source.

To celebrate the launch of Steam for Linux, all the currently available Linux titles on Steam are on sale until February 21. There’s over 50 titles to choose from, and a lot of them are pretty fantastic. You can check out the full list of games on sale here.

Before you ask, PC and Mac gamers can get in on the sale too.

While we don’t know when Firefox OS will launch, but the Wall Street Journal reports that Canonical will launch the Ubuntu smartphone in October. Canonical says that it will launch the new smartphone in two geographic areas at that time. It’s unknown at this point if the U.S. is one of those launch markets so hardcore Linux fans may not want to get their hopes up.

Leading up to the October launch, Canonical has to make sure developers are on board building apps for the new mobile Ubuntu platform. To that end, the OS will be going out to developers in late February. The WSJ report says that the current developer OS is optimized for the Galaxy Nexus hardware.

There may be concern among developers, however, that building applications for an untested platform would not be a wise decision. That’s where the real magic of Ubuntu mobile comes in. Canonical says that any application built for Ubuntu will work across both desktop and mobile. Even if Ubuntu smartphones don’t immediately take off, developers still might earn a following on desktop.

Of course, it doesn’t look like Ubuntu will have any trouble finding acceptance among carriers at least. Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth told the WSJ that carriers are liking what they’re seeing from Ubuntu smartphones.

All of this leads up to a potential growth spurt for Linux adoption. Desktop Linux is getting more and more support everyday from major players like Valve and maybe even Microsoft. The addition of a mobile ecosystem that shares applications between itself and its desktop counterpart is all kinds of genius. It may just be what Ubuntu, and Linux, needs to become a mainstream player in personal computing.

Phoronix, the site that broke the news of Steam coming to Linux, has heard from an anonymous source that Microsoft is taking a “meaningful look” at bringing Office to Linux in 2014. This recent change of heart is apparently due to Microsoft finding that Linux may just a profitable platform now.

The past few months have been good to the Linux community as more developers start to see the platform as a viable alternative to Windows and Mac OS X. We’ve already mentioned Valve making a native Linux version of Steam available, but other companies like Nvidia have also been working to bring better software drivers to Linux.

Microsoft may see Linux as being even more financially viable as Valve plans to launch its Steambox later this year. The mini-computers will run Ubuntu thus increasing the marketshare for Linux even more. The upcoming Ubuntu smartphones and Ubuntu for Android may also serve to get Linux into the hands of even more people.

Truth be told, Linux doesn’t necessarily need Microsoft Office as there are already some great open source alternatives. It’s more about the principle than anything else as it means Linux is finally starting to get some recognition. Games are one thing, but getting official support from Microsoft would hopefully make Linux far more mainstream than it already is.

Canonical announced that it’s currently working on bringing Ubuntu to smartphones in the next year. The phones will be on hand at CES next week, and will be released before the end of the year. Much like Firefox OS, Ubuntu for smartphones will be available across a wide array of devices, including cheaper entry level devices. Canonical promises, however, that the experience will offer a great experience on any hardware.

As for developers, they can look forward to being able to develop Ubuntu apps for both desktop and smartphones. Here’s the details from the Canonical Blog:

By using the new QML-based Ubuntu SDK, it’s possible to develop a native app in such a way that makes it available for both the desktop and the phone – not to mention any further form factors we address in the future. As long as you create the right interfaces, you can deliver an app for all Ubuntu form factors, but build once and upload once to the same single store, the Ubuntu Software Centre. It’s this point that I hope really enthuses the developers in the Ubuntu community – not to mention all those developers around the world who work on the web or in mobile and who already use Ubuntu on their desktops.

Ubuntu for smartphones has the potential to do what Mozilla is attempting to do with Firefox OS and then some. The entry level smartphone market needs a shakeup as iPhones are still too expensive for some territories and Android OEMs seem to be abandoning that market for the high end device spectrum dominated by the Galaxy S III and Nexus 4. There’s room for Ubuntu to grow on these lower end devices if the price is right.

On high end devices, the potential is even greater. Canonical is promising that Ubuntu for high end smartphones will double as a portable PC. All you have to do is plug the device into a monitor and you’ll have a fully functional Ubuntu PC in seconds. Ubuntu for Android can do the same thing, but a native Ubuntu smartphone will most assuredly offer some bonus perks for those using its desktop application.

There’s no word on which OEMs will back Ubuntu, but Canonical says that any OEM that currently makes Android phones will have no problem in bringing an Ubuntu phone to market. The mobile OS runs on both ARM and Intel x86 architectures so there’s no need to design new hardware for it.

Any developers wishing to get started on developing mobile apps for Ubuntu smartphones will want to check out the support site. Ubuntu Mobile will support both native and HTML5 apps.

Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions available, will soon be available on Android phones sporting multi-core processors. The application allows the Android phone to perform normally when it’s a phone, but it transforms into an Ubuntu PC when connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

To be honest, it’s pretty cool. With it coming pre-loaded on Android devices, it might also drive the use of Ubuntu up. People are becoming more reliant on mobile devices, and being able to integrate the desktop experience into a mobile device just might push some people into the open source side of life.

The folks at Ubuntu aren’t only thinking about increasing the user base. Their hope is that handset manufacturers will continue to push the limits of how far the processing power in Android devices can go. Ubuntu for Android doesn’t require a lot of power, but more power would be appreciated if users want to get the full Ubuntu desktop experience out of their phone.

The Ubuntu team isn’t just looking at the already existing Android markets in the US, Europe and Asia to push Ubuntu for Android. Emerging markets, which Android has performed well in, will also benefit from the inclusion of Ubuntu. The team even thinks that some families will finally own a PC thanks to Ubuntu for Android.

Ubuntu for Android isn’t available just yet, but the folks at Canonical are working hard to get handset manufacturers to include Ubuntu in future Android hardware releases. Current phones with USB and HDMI-outs will hopefully get Ubuntu support in the near future as well.

With the humorous title, “Steam’d Penguins,” Valve officially revealed the existence of Steam for Linux. The official Valve Linux blog promises to be a source of information on not only their efforts to port Steam to Linux, but to also discuss open source game development.

As many assumed, Gabe Newell was the one who kickstarted the idea of porting Steam and the Source engine to Linux. The company was already running Linux-based servers for their Source-based games so it was only a matter of time before they jumped into actual Linux game development. The team began in earnest in 2011 with a team 11 people who are porting Steam and Left 4 Dead to Ubuntu.

So far, the team has successfully ported Left 4 Dead 2 to Ubuntu. After that success, the team is now focused on three things:

For now, the team has Steam up and running on Ubuntu 12.04 with most major features in tact. They’ll be adding some minor features shortly and then run an internal beta to see how well it works. They also have Left 4 Dead 2 running on Ubuntu 12.04, but it needs a bit more optimization before its ready.

Once both Steam and Left 4 Dead 2 are ready, Valve will release them simultaneously on Linux. Considering that many indie games on the service already have Linux ports, the Steam store should at least have more than just Left 4 Dead 2 available. After that, the potential for more Linux ports and original Linux projects showing up on Steam is unlimited.

Matt Cutts directed us to a talk by Google developer Thomas Bushnell at the Ubuntu Developer Conference. Ubuntu Vibes reports that Bushnell went over the Goobuntu operating system and how Google is using the Ubuntu operating system.

It probably comes as no surprise, but a lot of people at Google use Ubuntu. This is what led to the creation of Goobuntu, their own personalized version of the operating system. It’s not so different from regular Ubuntu as Bushnell says the UI is essentially the same. The difference comes in the form of changes to security authentication and other background operations that make their version more stable and secure.

Goobuntu is based on the LTS releases of Ubuntu and is upgraded every release. This upgrade process can take up to four months and could even cost them anywhere around $1 million if something were to go wrong. It’s nice to see a company taking upgrades so seriously, even if the potential cost is quite high.

It also appears that many Google employees can’t wait until they get to upgrade to the new LTS release – Precise. Google won’t be upgrading until next year, but Googlers are already suggesting changes with the next upgrade like using xmonad instead of Gnome 3.

While we knew Google and other developers used Linux Ubuntu, it’s still nice to see such an active core community based around it at a major company like Google. As made obvious during Hangouts and other meetings, we see a lot of Google employees on Macbooks or Chromebooks. I’m sure they go back to using Ubuntu on their work desktops.

As Linux becomes bigger and bigger, companies are going to want to be proficient with the operating system. You don’t have to make your own version of Ubuntu like Google has, but it’s a good idea to start working with the operating system now. As found in a study earlier this year, more and more jobs require prospective employees to be fluent with Linux, and by extension Ubuntu.

Here’s the video of Bushnell’s talk. It’s a fascinating look into how Google appropriates Ubuntu for their own needs. Linux fans are going to want to check it out.