Intel's Linux-Powered Mobile Internet Device
An anonymous reader writes "Intel is set to launch an ultra-mobile PC dubbed Mobile Internet Device or MID which will run on Linux. The PDA-sized devices will target 'consumers and prosumers' instead of mobile professionals. From the story: 'MID tablets will run a simplified finger-friendly user interface optimized for the small screens, based on the Gnome desktop but with an Intel-developed master user interface layer to serve as an equivalent to the desktop. Developers will next month see the first MID-specific OS -- a tweak of China's RedFlag Linux known as RedFlag MIDINUX -- while the IDF schedule itself includes a stream of ultra mobile sessions including one on Designing for Linux-based mobile Internet devices.'"
Linux powered? What happenned to Microsoft's origami.
HAHAHAHAHA! I guess intel saw how craptacular MS's other embedded devices were (think mobile phones) and decided to go their own way....
Oh - and what you all came to the comments to get (wtf link to a zdnet blog anyway?) a link to a gallery of pics. It looks surprisingly nice.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
If it doesn't have the horsepower, bandwidth, battery life and mic/speaker (Bluetooth) to function as a VoIP terminal, then no one will want to learn any new skills to use it, or carry around something that smartphones already beat. But if it does, then the entry of Intel into both the PDA and Linux markets, even just as a reference platform, will be very welcome. Even if it just gives Intel the feedback it needs to better tailor components for other vendors into those markets.
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make install -not war
What about those psycho people who spend all their lives getting Linux installed on their XBox/router/phone/wrist-watch? It's bit dull if it already runs Linux.
Maybe they'll try and install Windows on it instead.
Peter
anyone who's just as tired as I am of "words" like 'prosumer', please tag this article marketingspeech.
It's also using the Hildon GTK+-based libraries for a user interface which form the most user-visible part of Maemo - the Linux base which Nokia is using in their 770 and N800 Internet Tablets. Those have the advantage of using ARM processors, rather than chunky x86 ones meaning standby/resume is not something you need as the power consumption is that much lower. Interesting times.
I wonder how locked-down the device will be? Since it's using Linux, I hope they'd be smart enough to only lock it down enough that the non-tech consumers don't hurt themselves. I'd love to have a version of Ubuntu on it, instead of the Midinux that they've developed.
Truly, though, as long as I can write my own programs for it, I'd run whatever linux variant that I had to.
A 6" screen and dual-core 800Mhz? Very nice.
The bad part? "next year's release of the products." NOW. WANT NOW.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
All these screenshots look strikenly similar to those from the Nokia N800 built with the Maemo platform.
I hope maemo catches up and that they get some more developpers working on that framewaork
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
"prosumers"... oh... WTFOMGBBQ... what kind of new buzzword is that now?
consumers that are less stupid than the rest are "prosumers"?
If getting older means getting out of touch with stuff you use buzzwords for then I need to get older very fast...
This thing seems to be simply an intel iteration of the 770. I love mine and with the right apps is very finger navigable.
If they hit the $199 pricepoint they will be a success. If they aim for the current pricing of the new N800 they will lose big time.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"finger-friendly"... heheheh... uh.. heheheheheheheh!
Unless they charge out the ass for this thing, I can't see how they'd be able to sell enough units to even cover the R&D costs.
Are you MAD? Have you seen what Ultra Mobile Computing can do? (for maximum comic effect, check out the UI in the lastish sequence with the two girls going to the party).
But seriously, I suspect from red flag being the software partner that the target market is Chinese - not you.
That said tho', I'd love to have one if they're anything near as nice as they look....
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
I don't see much R&D going into it, just engineering improvements (i.e. smaller stuff) of existing technology. Most of the real work will be creating a good UI.
So, it seems to be competing in the iPhone space. Except it isn't a phone. And in the "entertainment" category, it can't connect to the most popular music site. It's got "web-based office applications", but consumers don't care about that. Which consumer is supposed to want this device?
Lies about crimes
Personally, I will be purchasing the Neo-1973 mobile device that is currently in development. It will be built on the new OpenMoko open-source platform and is scheduled to hit the market in September this year.
ilovegeorgebush
My Son has a PSP and it is really nice. But I would not dream of buying one for myself due to its closed nature. But a Linux device to carry around, to avoid lugging the laptop is a great concept. Playing games, reading books, and viewing media. Reading cooking recipes in the kitchen etc. There are so many uses for a device like that.
... if the price is right.
I want one
Max M - IT's Mad Science
But what is a Prosumer?
Support your local school shooter, give them your firearms.
Here is my list of features:
Ability to play audio and video is optional — as is the ability to make phone calls. If they figure out, how to make reasonably fast IP-over-cellular, I'll buy it — and for a good price (not that of a phone/player, but for that of a laptop)...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiPhone !!!!!
Accepta no subs.
Some how I think its fairly unlikely that this is a vanilla PC platform running a standard set of hardware for which Ubuntu has all of the device drivers available. The finger interface for instance is liable to be fairly specific.
This truly is the proof however that the Slashdot crowd will never be truly happy. No more is it "I'll just rip OSX/Windows/etc and replace it with Linux"... no the Slashdot folks aren't even happy when it is ALREADY RUNNING LINUX, they want their own favourite distro. I can almost imagine if they'd said Ubuntu that people would have been arguing about the version number.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Yeah, but will it run Lin... eh nevermind.
This sounds like butter to me, especially since most manufacturers are running away very fast from the PDA market and just building stupid smartphones and crippled pieces of garbage instead of real PDA's. Dell quit making the x50v and x51v, HP/Compaq are producing nothing but crap QVGA "media companions," and nobody else makes a decent PDA that doesn't have a damn cell phone built into it. But first we have to see if this gizmo ever makes it to market.
Sure, to be a success in the market it needs some of the stuff you write about.
But success or not if it looks like the picture I'll buy several. Especially if it can command USB peripherals.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
It can not succeed as "just another tech-toy" it has to meet a need. That is where the linked articl was very thin. Will it replace my Pocket PC and is it better? Just running Linux is not enough.
Curved white and red plastic? Why can't they release a sleek looking metallic or carbon fiber one?
I think we're finally getting closer to what I have been wanting all along: A PDA-like device with a decent screen. I'm a long-time proponent of PDA's, having owned numerous models since the Pilot 1000 over a decade ago, and the one thing that has annoyed me about the latest offerings is the limited screen size. The form factors are slick and usable, specifically noting the old Palm Vx, the Palm Z22, and the Palm TX, but they all share one thing in common: The screen displays only a small fraction of a "regular" page.
My dream device is one that uses a thin rugged design, has LONG battery life, provides effective finger or stylus input, has a screen that is readable in bright sunlight, provides a large enough screen to provide really productive information access, and is small enough to fit in a typical cargo-pants pocket. Front-pocketable or shirt-pocketable sizes are nice, but really make the viewing area too small. Go larger than a cargo-pants pocket size, and you can't easily take it with you everywhere.
Let's hope that the larger tablet form factor catches on.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Anonymous fuckup Coward has nothing to teach about getting a life when they have nothing better to do than wasting time posting fake concern. You're a jocksniffer.
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make install -not war
Did anyone find any hint why they, over all, chose RedFlag Linux to derivate their Software from?
Feel the power of the Sun!
Why did the "intel" part of "wintel" choose to release such a device running Linux?
What is the real reason behind not putting Windows CE?
Is it because of cost? If so I'm very worried for MS.
Is it because of perfs (and hence battery life)?
Is it because of security issues?
In all the threads we've got to endlessly read about how much MS is a player to fear, about how it will illegaly abuse its monopoly to enter new market etc. Now, how comes that Intel device shall run Linux?
Does Linux exist after all?
On one side there's Sun that recently bought SavaJe (an minimal "JavaOS", where apps cannot be "native"... only Java apps) and Java (Micro edition) is installed of hundreds of millions of devices (and the game and app market is booming, with mobile game sales representing nearly 20% of all games sold), on the other side we now have got Intel releasing a Linux device. Where the f*ck is MS and do they plan to fight: Google, Sun, IBM, Nokia, etc. ?
All R&D could be summarized as either:
"Just the hardware" or
"Just the software"
Hardware engineering isn't trivial, particularly in portable electronics where you have to weigh up battery life, form factor, robustness...
I love my Nokia N800, and I really think there is going to be a huge market for these types of devices. Especially if WiMAX ever takes off. I think typical cell phones are worthless for general internet usage, but the Nokia N800 is very usable for normal web pages. I can watch videos from YouTube on it (although not quite flawlessly, it needs just a bit more speed), and use all my favorite websites quite well. I can ssh into my home machine and with VNC I get my entire desktop from my Linux box right on the Nokia screen and it looks fantastic (and is usable). Skype is supposed to be released for it in a couple of months, which will really be great since it will then become a mobile video phone. Once WiMAX is put into use, these types of devices are going to really take off since it will mean internet access everywhere. No need to hunt down a hotspot.
would like to welcome our new, improved, prosumer-friendly, linux-powered, intel-device sort-of-pda-thingy, finger-friendly overlords.
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
I'm not so sure I agree. Look at how the Nokia N800 is being marketed. It's being marketed as a portable internet device.
That said, there are developers out there putting out things like GPE for PIM functionality, which is good. It's nice to see developers write software otherwise not found, but I would look at it more as something made for a primary purpose, much like the Archos PMPs... there are other apps you can load on the devices, but their primary use is to play media.
or, will it be like the TiVo, and prevent the end user from replacing the kernel?
:(
If you can recompile and replace all the important parts of the OS (kernel, X, Gnome, touchscreen drivers...), then it's a viable competitor to the FIC Neo in my book. Otherwise, I'm worried the phone companies will get their hands on this thing and cripple it.
Also, why is some of the bundled software proprietary? That's so 1999...
Still, if it lets you install your own C software, it's a huge step forward. I'll be paying attention to this one.
I guess hell has frozen over. Mao is ice-skating.
I really like the look of the Neo 1973, but the fact it doesn't have Wifi is a dealbreaker for me, and i'd guess for a lot of the enthusiast market they are after.
Abort, Retry, Ignore?