Mobile Tech Minutes: Moblin Alpha on a Netbook
Earlier this week, we mentioned the new Moblin Alpha build for Netbooks. This is the mobile Linux platform that Intel is backing for Atom-based MIDs, but they’ve pushed the MID version back to 2010. Although the build is bare-bones, we’ll take a quick video look at where it’s at. I’m simply running the build off of a CD on my netbook; optionally, I could run it from a USB drive or actually install it.
While we could tour the whole operating system, I wanted to keep this a short look that’s focused on usability and effectiveness on a small screen. No, those aren’t the sexiest of features, but I think they’re worth the look if this OS will be designed specifically for netbooks.
It’s nice that to see some coverage on Moblin. However, most things you show seem XFCE specific to me.. How about some differences with other XFCE distros? What about performance? Is the battery life better as it is Atom specific?
Thanks!
All good questions, but not possible to cover in our daily video series as we try to keep them to around 5 minutes or less. I can’t comment on performance or battery life for two reasons: I was running this as a LiveCD and it’s an unoptimized alpha build. When the final (or near-final) release hits, we’ll be sure to look at it in depth.