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Moblin V2.0 Beta For Netbooks and Nettops

Posted by kdawson on from the get-your-mobility-on dept.

superbubba writes "The Moblin steering committee is happy to release the Moblin v2.0 beta for netbooks and nettops for developer testing. With this release, developers can begin to experience and work with the source code of the visually rich, interactive user interface designed for Intel Atom based netbooks."

7 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. nice one kdawson by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

    Leave it to kdawson to post a story where the only link goes to digg....

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    This guy's the limit!
  2. Digg? by jginspace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So kdawson's attempting to Slashdot Digg huh? What's wrong with the actual link?

  3. Significance? by jginspace · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why is this blog posting worthy of the Slashdot front page? The Moblin beta was reported 6 weeks ago (it wasn't actually a beta, the quality was shoddy). Since then they've decided they're having something called a 'beta refresh' program, with new releases to play with on May 29, Jun 07, Jun 16, and a new one today. That latter build is not actually linked from the download page yet so it's probably not what this breathless press-release is referring to. So, what's the significance of this "It's here" report>

    1. Re:Significance? by Sounder40 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I think Intel backing a Windows alternative is very significant for all the reasons as cited by Bob Cringely. I counted on Linux and even Apple to push Windows out, but Linux is too vague of a platform (Ubuntu? Fedora? SuSE? KDE? Gnome?) and Apple turns out to be every bit as evil as Microsoft. Of course, you could argue that Intel's anti-competitive past doesn't bode well for Moblin, and I think you would be right.

      So I will choose to disagree with you that a Moblin beta release is a minor thing. I hope that we get more choices and not fewer. Something needs to do it for the sake of freedom.

      --
      A clever person solves a problem, A wise person avoids it. -Einstein
  4. Re:kdawson by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    That would be cannibalism.

  5. Re:What the fuck is a moblin? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe it's a cross between a moose and a goblin.

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    This guy's the limit!
  6. Moblin and Ubuntu Netbook Remix by Taxman415a · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So after reading both Wikipedia pages for Moblin and Ubuntu Netbook Remix I can't really tell what the difference is. Are they just two different attempts at the same thing? As I recall Netbook remix came first, then Moblin came out, but that may just be what I recall being anounced.

    Either way it certainly is a big deal that Intel is supporting the development of a Microsoft competitor. Mobile computing is an area where Microsoft is very weak. The big problem with Moblin is that it is focused on Atom and the Atom requires an order of magnitude more power than current ARM solutions. It's no wonder that Intel based MID's haven't been able to come up with any decent battery life, the chip plus the chipset and graphics drawing multiple tens of watts is simply never going to be compelling for a mobile device. But when you can put in something that uses milliwatts, then it becomes possible. Of course, it's no surprise that Intel doesn't want to help the competition, but not that Moblin is at the Linux foundation, they really should seriously look at an ARM port.