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My specific device is a Sony Vaio Duo 13, which is a slider model (the keyboard doesn't detach, it simply slides under the screen to make a tablet). The processor is an Intel Haswell Core i5-- only mentioned because it might help answers in some small way.

Right now, shifting from laptop form to tablet mode still sticks me with the Desktop PC version of Unity, which is nigh-unusable with finger input, even if the layout remains more touch-friendly than most.

One of the things that interested me in installing Unity-enabled Ubuntu (as opposed to Kubuntu or Mint) was the promise that the Unity interface could shift if, say, you plugged in a mouse and keyboard to a tablet.

Is there any way to reach the tablet interface in Ubuntu 14.10 on a 2-in-1 slider model or yogalike PC (as opposed to the advertised "plug in a mouse and keyboard and get the desktop interface" deal), as the keyboard on these models merely deactivates or is covered up as opposed to being physically detached?

I imagine that any answers would also benefit anyone with a yoga-like PC running Ubuntu, as it's the same basic principle at work there too.

Addendum, 03-23-2015:

Does anyone know specifically how Unity 8 will handle that alternate means of tablet-to-pc conversion? When it's simply docking a tablet, it seems simple enough, but not all 2-in-1's are made equal. Would we have to rely on manufacturers to write specific drivers for a "shapeshifter" laptop?

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As you are using the stable desktop version, you are using Unity 7. Next Unity experience: phone, tablet and desktop is being developed as Unity 8. You have to wait until Unity 8 is officially released for desktops.

  • Thanks for the specific names. I haven't used Ubuntu since before Unity was implemented, so I definitely qualify as "rusty", and I have no clue what anything's called anymore. I've been spoiled on the Windows 8.1 vine. – Arnþórr Ørnström Mar 24 '15 at 04:24
  • Now that 15.10 has been released, which supposedly is Unity 8, can we please have an update to this answer? – tudor -Reinstate Monica- Oct 27 '15 at 00:30