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Moblin 2.0 Released, Intel's Linux For Netbooks

eldavojohn writes "Yesterday, Moblin, the joint OS project between Novell and Intel, was released as V2.0 Beta for netbooks with the image available for download. We've talked about Moblin before, but Computer World has an article speculating this is Intel's direct affront to Microsoft's Windows 7 by pointing out that Moblin is designed to optimally use Intel's Atom Processor and smaller screens so popular with netbooks. Windows 7's netbook competition doesn't stop there, as GoodOS's gOS3 Gadgets and Canonical's Ubuntu Netbook Remix are being designed to also take advantage of Intel's Atom, especially from a UI perspective. Ars has a look at Moblin's rich new UI as well. Back in April, Intel said it would support Windows 7 on the Atom later this year, and Intel also says Windows 7 is a good choice for Intel's netbooks, so it doesn't look like they're intentionally burning any bridges between them and Redmond."

11 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Meh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm waiting for them to release GLADOS for Netbooks.

  2. My preecioooous! by Yvan256 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh wait, Moblin, not Goblin.

    Carry on.

    1. Re:My preecioooous! by neiras · · Score: 5, Funny

      "...an imaginary evil, crabby, and mischievous creature described as a grotesquely disfigured or gnome-like phantom..."

      What is it with you KDE fanbois and your personal attacks? We likes our desktop clean, simple, and brown.

      We also likes fisshesss, yes we does.

  3. Another typical Slashdot microsoft bash. by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about a summary that describes the new Moblin release (what the post is ostensibly about), rather than focusing on the competition against Win7? How about being FOR something (Moblin in this case), rather than always being against Microsoft?

    I'm no fan of Microsoft, but seriously, the one-note, constant Microsoft bashing on this site is getting old.

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    1. Re:Another typical Slashdot microsoft bash. by MBCook · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yep. I didn't upvote this in the FireHose because it seemed to be just a collection of "Intel makes something".

      Ars Technica has a descriptive hands-on preview. Much more useful.

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  4. Very promising by javacowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I looked at the screenshots, and this looks really cool. They've put a lot of thought into the GUI, which is not only designed for netbooks and small screens, but touch screens as well.

    Moblin is also totally open source, meaning that they won't charge for it and they'll get contributions from the larger open source community.

    Unless Microsoft has some secret feature in Windows 7 designed for netbooks that nobody's heard of, then Linux could reclaim the lead in netbook OS's. If somebody ports Moblin to ARM, then Microsoft is in even bigger trouble.

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  5. As the Unedited Submitter ... by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    How about a summary that describes the new Moblin release (what the post is ostensibly about), rather than focusing on the competition against Win7? How about being FOR something (Moblin in this case), rather than always being against Microsoft?

    I'm no fan of Microsoft, but seriously, the one-note, constant Microsoft bashing on this site is getting old.

    Well, it's edited pretty much how it's submitted so I'll take full responsibility for this one.

    I guess I'm confused though. I didn't seem to think my summary was pro or anti Microsoft--merely focusing on what else is out there besides Windows 7 for netbooks and pointing out that Intel may have an unfair advantage in this department. If anything, I was hoping for discourse containing thoughtful comments about Intel's upper hand in pointing Novell in the correct direction for optimally using the chips/chipset/gpu in these hardware devices surrounding the Atom process.

    When I looked for other stories to reference this one to, I found 10 or more talking about Windows 7 on the netbook and one talking about Moblin (the on linked in the story). I'm sorry for not continuing the trend of talking about Windows 7 and am disappointed you think my submission was a veiled attempt to attack Microsoft. I am anti-Microsoft but I try to keep that relegated to my posts down here instead of in the summary.

    Specifically what did I write that was offensive to you? I also found the title of the Computerworld article to be speculation but the actual text to have level headed statements from Intel (something I tried to reflect in the summary). I guess I failed and I apologize for making Slashdot seem so biased ... we really do need to shake that image at least a little bit to be taken seriously.

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  6. cooperation between Intel and linux?!? by je+ne+sais+quoi · · Score: 4, Informative
    Thanks for the link. I found this comment very interesting:

    Intel recently turned over control of the project to the Linux Foundation with the aim of making it even more open to other contributors. The long-term goal is to turn Moblin into the nexus of mobile Linux development and make it the de facto standard Linux platform for portable devices.

    So, it's more than just that Intel is releasing this. It's Intel, working with the Linux Foundation in an attempt to create a new standard. Isn't this pretty much the ideal case for we've been asking for in open source? A propietary hardware manufacturer working with an open source consortium to create and release open source software. I'll view this collaboration as successful if we start seeing netbooks for sale from major OEMs with this OS installed.

    Oh, and some other random stuff I saw that I liked:
    -standard X11 window server and can run most linux apps
    -the clutter organizational scheme looks intriguing but I'd have to use it for awhile before I could tell you if I liked it or not.
    -It's using the gecko HTML rendering engine. What's interesting here is it is not using webkit.
    -Lastly, I'd like to see something on how well the wireless network device works and changing networks. The article was a bit short on this aspect. Has anybody used it? How is it?

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  7. Re:Another typical Slashdot microsoft ksh. by Tetsujin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about a summary that describes the new Moblin release (what the post is ostensibly about), rather than focusing on the competition against Win7? How about being FOR something (Moblin in this case), rather than always being against Microsoft?

    I'm no fan of Microsoft, but seriously, the one-note, constant Microsoft bashing on this site is getting old.

    OK, what "Microsoft bashing"?

    These products (Moblin, Windows 7, etc.) are in competition with one another in the netbook market. If Moblin achieves some level of success in the netbook market, that reduces the number of netbooks sold with Windows 7. So, the summary states (quite correctly) that this system is a threat to Windows in the netbook market. Any well-packaged system optimized for the platform would be. It's just a fact.

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  8. Re:Download speed by ryanvm · · Score: 4, Informative
  9. Re:How, exactly by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Bypass all of the useless Web 2.0 Flash/Java/AJAX pushed by their marketing department:

    www.dilbert.com/fast/

    Seriously, if there's one website that should know better than to listen to their marketing department, it's Dilbert.com