moblin

Moblin is a Linux distribution designed for netbooks and MIDs or Mobile Internet Devices. The project is backed by Intel, and the goal is to create a light weight and speedy Linux environment for low power computers.

The Moblin team released a second public beta version of the operating system today. And unlike the build that was released in January, Moblin v2 Alpha 2 is actually pretty usable as a netbook operating system. The latest update includes support for MSI Wind netbooks and updates to the kernel and XFCE and Gnome desktop environments. There are also a ton of bug fixes and updates to the user interface.

Moblin v2 Alpha 2 has been tested on the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9, MSI Wind, and Asus Eee PC 901. I also gave it a try on an Eee PC 1000HE and found it ran smoothly and detected the wireless network card without any difficulty.

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5 replies on “Moblin Linux distro for netbooks and MIDs hits Alpha 2”

  1. It is backed by Intel so I expect it will be offered to manufacturers who buy the Intel Atom and their chipsets. Manufacturers have taken heat from users of linux based netbooks in the past and a distro offered by the hardware maker might make them less shy about trying linux again. I hope the best for this distro and will try it out as soon as they add support for the NC10.

  2. I hate being Mr. Cranky-Pants but if a mother, father or an uncle went to the Moblin website they would be confused.

    What do I download?
    Why should I use this destro of Linux?
    What do I get?
    Where is there help?

    Yes, this is a project whose goal is to create a light weight and speedy Linux environment for low power computers. But, who is there audience? It doesn’t appear to be techie proper heads, but it also doesn’t appear the website is made for people to download this distribution with any confidence.

    1. It’s in Alpha, I think worrying about the website and if “mother, father, or uncle” can find how and what to do at this point is of little to no concern. I don’t think those people should be using an alpha build anyway, and if they were to use it I expect them to be smart enough to navigate the moblin site to the “download” section and click on the “live image” link. Actually, come to think of it, for something still being in alpha stage I’m pretty darn impressed at the simple layout of the website and the clear instructions on what to do.

      Who this targets is pretty simple. It is targeted at netbook users, and in the future MIDI users, that want a OS that will boot in 5-10 seconds (SSD/HDD) and still have all the typical stuff you get with any other Linux distro. If you don’t think that the work going into Moblin is interesting or robust enough for “techie” heads than I think you are really mistaken. I see nothing but praise from all the linux guys out there.

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