Whether you want an information kiosk, digital signage display, in-car entertainment stack, or home automation interface, Mir on Ubuntu is your fastest path to deployment.
Mir is a system-level component that can be used to unlock next-generation user experiences. It runs on a range of Linux powered devices including traditional desktops, IoT and embedded products. Mir is a replacement for the X window server system, commonly used on Linux desktop devices. It allows device makers and desktop users to have a well-defined, efficient, flexible, and secure platform for their graphical environment.
21 May 2018
A guide to creating graphical snaps for Ubuntu IoT devices on top of an Xwayland stack. Learn how to build a digital signage app for kiosks, advertising screens and other embedded displays.
17 May 2018
This is a guide on how to create graphical snaps for Ubuntu with a single GUI application running fullscreen on the display.
8 June 2018
Display servers solve a large and complex problem. Mir provides a broad and powerful library to solve those problems, but there is a learning curve to use Mir effectively.
Historically, graphical user interfaces Linux have been powered by the X windowing system. X has a long and successful history and it has served the purposes of both system level and application level UI well for more than 3 decades. However, users nowadays expect a more consistent, integrated and secure user experience than is possible to offer on top of the X windowing system.
The X11 protocol (used by X) was not designed with security in mind and a malicious application can obtain information from other running X11 applications. For instance, X11 servers do not protect sensitive information like keystrokes between applications using them.
Mir was designed from the ground-up with security in mind. To meet the needs of today's users Mir avoids the X11 protocol and uses Wayland for a more modern and secure approach to graphics. Each application talks exclusively to the Mir server through it’s own socket that is both secure and robust against attack. Wayland is the de facto successor to X11 and is designed to address the problems that have proved intractable with the X windowing system.
Like Ubuntu itself, Mir is free to use, and Canonical backs it up with support, consulting and management services. Canonical makes it easy to deploy your graphical solutions using the power of Ubuntu.
Mir uses Wayland as the primary protocol for connecting to applications. Not all graphical toolkits have native support for Wayland yet. So, depending on the toolkit an application uses, Xwayland may be required. Mir supports a range of “platform” plugins that allow it to work seamlessly across different hardware and graphics drivers.
How to build a kiosk-style device with Mir and Ubuntu Core ›
