Moblin V2.0 Released for Intel Atom Netbooks

30 September 2009 Geoff Zeiss

Over a year and a half ago I blogged about buying an ASUS EEE, the first netbook, even though the term netbook had not been coined yet.  Since then a whole new industry segment has been created, with just about every major laptop manufacturer participating. Netbooks and similar mobile devices have become such a big market that Google created a new operating system Chrome OS for these devices.  Some folks are expecting that Android will also be a player on these devices. Now there is a Linux distribution specifically for netbooks and mobile internet devices.  The Moblin steering committee has announced the release of Moblin v2.0 for Intel Atom Processor based netbooks.  Moblin is an open source Linux-based platform optimised for mobile devices including netbooks, mobile internet devices, and in-vehicle information systems. A key aspect of the architecture is that it provides a uniform way to develop applications for these devices. The Moblin Core is layered on top of the Linux kernel and h/w device drivers, and above the Moblin Core is the user interface for the target device. The Moblin user interface was developed from scratch for mobile devices.

At IDF 2009 Intel, Microsoft, Adobe, and Dell announced support for Moblin.  Dell asked Canonical (of Ubuntu fame) to create a Moblin developer edition for one of its netbooks, which you can buy from Dell with Moblin pre-installed.  Intel has demonstrated the next version of the OS, Moblin 2.1, running on a smartphone and from early next year, Moblin will be supported by Microsoft’s Silverlight and Adobe’s Air platforms as part of Intel’s Atom Developer Program.  You can download Moblin v2.0 here.

The mobile space is seeing a tremendous amount of innovation including ultra low-powered ARM processors, that are in the Palm Pre, in some Dell laptops and in the just released AlwaysInnovating netbook called Touchbook, which I am expecting to arrive at my door any week now.
Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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