12-year-old revives Unity desktop, develops software repo client, builds gaming environment for Ubuntu...
- Reference: 1643976908
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/04/rudra_sarsawat_ubuntu_projects/
- Source link:
He announced [2]Una on [3]1 February . It's a client to simplify installing software from the [4]MPR , or Makedeb Package Repository, a new home for community-contributed software analogous to Arch Linux's [5]AUR .
He also created [6]Gamebuntu , which he describes as "an app that helps to set up a complete environment for gaming on Ubuntu without any other tweaks."
[7]
Saraswat's presenting a talk on it at the Ubuntu [8]stand at this weekend's virtual [9]FOSDEM conference.
[10]
[11]
In addition, he built several Ubuntu remixes: [12]Ubuntu Unity , which puts back the Unity desktop that [13]Canonical launched back in 2011 , and [14]Ubuntu Web , which is a ChromeOS-like remix based around web apps from [15]the /e/ Foundation and has the ability to run Android apps.
If you fancy trying to remix Ubuntu yourself, he maintains an [16]Ubuntu Remixes repo that you can fork to get started.
[17]
Ubuntu used to offer an official remix called Edubuntu, which bundled various educational apps for kids. Since that was discontinued a while back, Saraswat has started [18]UbuntuEd to replace it.
[19]Ubuntu-on-a-phone crowd fix Google account issues in new Touch update
[20]Technology can sometimes go from east to west: Ubuntu DDE 21.10 remix ships in 22.01
[21]Hot not-Spot-bot spot: The code behind Xiaomi's CyberDog? Ubuntu
[22]Ubuntu desktop team teases 'proof of concept' systemd on Windows Subsystem for Linux
The UBPorts community is still developing Unity 8, the descendant of Unity aimed at mobile devices, but sadly the desktop equivalent, YUnit, has gone quiet and its domain is for sale. In an effort to rectify this, Saraswat is also working on [23]UnityX .
As [24]we discussed recently , a source of concern regarding Ubuntu's Snap format is that there's only one Snap Store. As a proof of concept, Saraswat has [25]built one of his own, called [26]lol .
The software is quite new, and the mind behind it is relatively new, too. Your reporter was very fond of Unity and is glad to see it return, but Saraswat built it because he liked it rather than out of nostalgia – because [27]back when Ubuntu released Unity , he was two, and he is still at school now. But in between homework, he keeps remarkably busy.
The Reg asked him how he found the time.
[28]
He told us: "I'm in Grade 7 and my mom is quite serious about my studies, so as long as I get good grades… she doesn't mind me working on these projects. In fact, she supports me."
We suspect you won't be surprised to learn that he does indeed get top grades. But you might be surprised by how much time he spends on some of the software development.
"In fact, I remember I had made Ubuntu Unity just before my school exams and my mom allowed me just about two hours or so, because I told her that I wanted to make something really cool. But I had to study for my exams which were starting three days later.
"So I made and released the first beta of Ubuntu Unity in those two hours, and two days later it got [29]featured on Forbes. That's when she realised that I had done something big."
She's not wrong. ®
Get our [30]Tech Resources
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/rs2009
[2] https://github.com/AFK-OS/una/blob/main/README.md
[3] https://twitter.com/RudraSaraswat1/status/1488423685807828996
[4] https://mpr.makedeb.org/
[5] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository
[6] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/gamebuntu/25544
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yf1buP5ccUiKeIDtxedXnwAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://fosdem.org/2022/schedule/event/welcome_ubuntu/
[9] https://fosdem.org/2022/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yf1buP5ccUiKeIDtxedXnwAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yf1buP5ccUiKeIDtxedXnwAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://ubuntuunity.org/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2011/04/21/ubuntu_11_04_windows_android_users/
[14] https://ubuntu-web.org/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/android_without_google_e_smartphone/
[16] https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubuntu-remixes/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yf1buP5ccUiKeIDtxedXnwAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-education-ubuntued/17063
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/07/ut_ota_21/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/07/ubuntu_dde_2110/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/03/ubuntu_cyberdog/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/17/ubuntu_team_systemd_windows_wsl2/
[23] https://unityx.org/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/26/linux_software_installation/
[25] https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/lol-an-open-source-snap-server-implementation/27109
[26] https://repo.lolsnap.org/lol-snap
[27] https://www.theregister.com/2011/04/21/ubuntu_11_04_windows_android_users/
[28] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yf1buP5ccUiKeIDtxedXnwAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[29] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2020/05/12/a-surprising-new-remix-of-ubuntu-2004-revives-the-unity-desktop/
[30] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: What is there to say?
Here;s what I'd say to the kid:
a) get your GED, and apply for college. forget degrees, just improve the skills you need to...
b) start a business based on what you have already done
(how many millionaires dropped out of college to run a business? Yeah, that)
Rapid path to success. School is ONLY valuable if it helps you get a good paying job. And last I checked, Jr. High was about dealing with bullies and talking to girls. I didn't really learn anything else, and someone THAT smart is probably not going to learn anything either, except "do what we tell you" and "the nail that sticks out gets the hammer", and also get HELD BACK unnecessarily so un-achievers won't *FEEL* bad about NOT achieving. And even back THEN, it STILL had WAY too much liberal indoctrination shoehorned in... (I cannot imagine how bad it is THESE days).
(so circumvent the "normal" process, because if you are already good, all that schooling is JUST IN YOUR WAY - kinda like hacking it)
my 12 year old...
self feels a bit overwhelmed at the memory.
I did learn to tweak Autoexec.bat and Config.sys (+ dismantle and eventually reinstall Win 3.11) at that age, but I probably still preferred playing Wacky Wheels at that age. It may have been the year I learned about TurboPascal, though.
Can't imagine contributing any code whatsoever to a project like that as a 7th grader.
Re: my 12 year old...
When I was 12, I discovered 6502 code on a BBC Micro. Can I name any of the great things I programmed? No... Because the lure of Chuckie Egg was just too tempting.
Re: my 12 year old...
Back when I was that age we were still swimming around the Primordial Soup hunting for things to eat, trying not to get ourselves eaten, & considering what to morph into when we grew up.
I ate a lot, got eaten a few times, got barfed back up when they realized I'm too strange to digest, and still haven't figured out what I might become if I ever grow up.
Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. =-)p
Kudos to the kid for what he's done, but I agree with other posters that he needs to take time as a kid to be a kid lest he burn out too soon.
What Motivation and free time to explore do for people.
The world would be a better place if we weren't busy adulting for the rent all the time.
Doogie Howser
Of the IT World.
May be if Linus were to retire tomorrow...
burn out
In the past this happened with maths rather than programming. Some very smart kid (usually boys but there's at least one famous girl) would do their A-levels at age 10, compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad and want to go to university at age 12.
They they would burn out.
One such student whom I knew was told to wait a year before starting university at 15, and then skipped the first year. He started a PhD but never finished it. He became a programmer and died of liver cancer at the age of 41.
There are other things to learn when you're 12 besides maths or programming.
Re: burn out
Very true. I started teaching my 10 yr old daughter programming (Go) and she loved it. But when I thought about it more I realized she should be doing child things, like learning to read and write, for starters, and generally playing. Thankfully I was spared the difficult task of telling her that she should be doing other things because she got bored after a couple of sessions.
At least she tried it and I’d be more than happy if she comes back to it later when she’s a bit older.
Re: burn out
Imho with kids at that age it's more about planting the seeds. Let them experience different things, see if they like it. If they do they'll come back to it of their own free will. Plenty of time for them to make up their mind on which direction they want to take with their lives later.
Re: burn out
Ruth Lawrence
Re: burn out
Burnout or puberty judging by the coinciding age...
On the bright side
If he's only allowed two hours of programming a day, he's unlikely to burn out anytime soon.
(*checks logged work hours for today in despair*)
Re: burn out
They they would burn out.
if you look at the reasons BEHIND burn-out you may find that holding a kid's self-motivating ambitions BACK "for his own good" to "prevent burnout" is the OPPOSITE of what needs to be done.
I bet the kid does it because it is FUN.
I bet if he had to do "the 'normal' path" he'd be BORED, and *THAT* would cause the burnout!
This was college, for me. BORING classes that were REQUIRED for a degree. I go in the military and learn much harder stuff in a way shorter time (nuclear engineering and power plant operation) and it's ALL relevant, NO B.S., NO liberal indoctrination or "feeliness" or any of the OTHER nauseating CRAP, and I thought it was AWESOME and was near the top of my class (because being AT the top took too much work and I was busy playing my guitar and building electronic things with my spare time).
Let the kid do what makes him happy, and he will turn that into a MONEY MAKING SKILL, and THAT is all that is important. Money gets you everything else. And if doing something that EARNS A PILE OF MONEY makes you happy, the MONEY will make you EVEN HAPPIER.
(too many forces in the world try to stop this, probably out of envy)
Thankfully, my son was just
a normal teenage brat.
If I was a virtue signaller I would worry about how about how much his mother was doing the "you will do well so I can bask in your glory and take all the credit for it and one up other parents" thing.
But I am not a virtue signaller so I don't care
Your reporter was very fond of Unity
Kudos to the young fellah, but he's reincarnated the very reason I moved to Mint and have been there ever since.
Re: Your reporter was very fond of Unity
yeah maybe he hasn't learned the evils of systemd and flatty interfaces yet... we should teach 'im
Mint+Cinammon, or my favorite Linux desktop, Devuan+Mate. But for a REAL hacker, there's FreeBSD!
Re: Your reporter was very fond of Unity
Personally I like OpenBSD better, but Linux has the largest selection of hardware drivers. FreeBSD is an acceptable compromise.
What is there to say?
Well done, keep at it.