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 Ubuntu and Android Dual Boot 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. Images credit: Ubuntu Developer More at Ubuntu Developer 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. Is Debian for new linux users? There’s an interesting thread on Reddit about Debian and new Linux users. Should they try to install it? I am currently on Windows and am looking to install Linux. After some quick searching around, I’ve concluded that Mint and KUbuntu (not Ubuntu because of Unity, now) are the best for beginners. Debian seems to be a distro of choice for the folks here at /r/linux, but I don’t see it recommended to noobs. Should I still give it a go? I should say I’ve never installed an OS before, and I have no clue what partitioning is. More at Reddit Debian has gotten a lot easier to install over the years. The only onion in the ointment I can see for this particular user is partitioning. That can be confusing to some folks who are new to Linux. But it’s important to remember that everyone was new to partitioning at some point. So this will be a good learning experience for him. I’d recommend installing it in VirtualBox first so that any partitioning mistakes can be easily fixed without risking an actual install to his hard disk. Screenshot tour of Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 Alpha 1 Softpedia has a screenshot tour of Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 Alpha 1. Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 LTS Alpha 1 (Trusty Tahr) has been released and is now available for download and testing. We prepared a screenshot tour to get a sneak peek at the new operating system. Also, the GNOME Classic session has been included. To try it, users just have to choose it from the Sessions option on the login screen. Image credit: Softpedia More at Softpedia Obviously it’s still very early since this is an alpha 1 release, but it might be worth giving it a go in VirtualBox just to check it out if you are a distrohopper. What’s your take on all this? Tell me in the comments below. Software DevelopmentOpen Source