I have been using some Ubuntu variant for 15 years, of which the last 13 years have been spent writing articles and even a book on the Canonical distribution. Despite that, the guys at Mark Shuttleworth manage to surprise me.
I recently coined a phrase to express my expectations about the future of the new versions. "A Debian-based Fedora with Snap Packages". With this I wanted to indicate that more and more Ubuntu tends to look more like a traditional GNOME-based distribution, without any of the original features that I like so much.
Like so many other times, it seems that I was wrong.
Using Flutter by default
Un tweet Posted on the account of the distribution says:
Flutter is the default option for future Ubuntu applications.
@kenvandine ¿, Engineering Manager, is here to tell you about some of Canonical's contributions to Flutter on #FlutterEngage.
And includes a linkcome to the talk.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a set of tools for creating user interfaces. Developed by Google, its objective is that with a single code base it is possible to create interfaces for native explanations for desktop, mobile devices and websites.
According to Google, the advantages of Flutter are:
- Fast charge: Flutter hot reload speeds development times by reloading the modified interface in less than a second in emulators, simulators, and live environments.
- Easy interface creation: Flutter comes with a series of Widget Material Design and Cupertino (Ideal for iOS), Api's of movement and scrolling and multiple controls.
- Native behavior on all supported platforms: Its different components take into account the differences to work on each of the platforms.
Canonical and Flutter
At the time, my partner Pablinux spoke to them of the agreement that Canonical and Google had made to make Flutter "official part of Linux". It was a move that suited both companies. On the Google side, it has another company that pays developers to make Flutter desktop-friendly. Canonical, for its part, positions Ubuntu as the gateway for many Android applications (written in Dart) to be ported to Linux or that developers of mobile programs decide to switch to another platform.
To take a hypothetical example. Creating a WhatsAPP client for Linux in Python and using GTK or QT for the graphical interface is not the same as modifying the code in Dart and the interface created with Flutter. Note: I have no idea what language the WhatsApp app is written in, it is probably Java, but the example is understandable.
By Dart I mean a language for creating cross-platform applications also created by Google.
When will we see the new applications?
From the looks of it, the first official app to use a Flutter-based interface is going to be the installer that replaces Ubiquity. that will be able to be used in a trial version in the next Ubuntu 21.10 (October of this year) In case everything goes well, the official debut will be in April 2022 with the launch of the next extended support version.
Note that I found a button and I am sewing a jacket on it. Except for the tweet that talks about using Flutter by default, I have no idea if there is a decision to replace GNOME applications like the video player or calculator with others based on Flutter.
Installing Flutter on Ubuntu
To encourage the use of Flutter by default for new applications, Ubuntu decided to make it easier to install the necessary tools by using Snap packages.
It is done with the command:
sudo snap install flutter --classic
We install the integrated development environment with:
sudo snap install android-studio --classic
We join the pieces with the following command
flutter config --android-studio-dir /snap/android-studio/current/android-studio
If you want to find more complete instructions on the installation in Ubuntu you can find them here. To learn more about Flutter follow el next link.