14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical has a Raspberry Pi 2 image based on Ubuntu Snappy Core, but it's still in the early stages of development. The truth is that it still needs a lot of work, and the developers are looking for people who are willing to test it.
The Ubuntu Snappy Core distro is getting implemented in all sorts of platforms, and it actually feels like a natural choice for Raspberry Pi 2. It's not your average distribution, and it's not what you would expect to see from Canonical, but there are plenty of operating systems out there that can act as a regular desktop. Ubuntu Snappy Core opens up Raspberry Pi 2 to the world of IoT (Internet for Things).
The first version of Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi 2 landed all the way back in February, and we haven't heard too much about it since then, with the exception of the awesome Canonical's Orange Match Box. This has been designed specifically to work with clouds and various embedded devices, but it's a safe bet that the community will find new ways of using it that didn't cross the developer's imagination.
Raspberry Pi 2 Ubuntu image needs further testing
There is no doubt that Raspberry Pi 2 is a very hot item right now, and everyone is trying to get on board, including Canonical. That means that the company needs to have the best OS on the platform, and that can only be achieved by some proper testing.
"I have put some time into improving the RPi2 image over the last days, the bootloader now properly initializes all RAM (instead of the 128M it enabled before) and snappy install for all snaps in the store works. There is still one issue with upgrading ubuntu-core that I plan to fix tomorrow. In between I would like to ask people that are willing to install and test the image to find any potential bugs I did not catch yet," wrote Oliver Grawert on the mailing list.
Users can download the image and the installation instructions from the official website. Happy testing!