Archive for 'Open-Source'

Linux-based Moblin 2 platform is now available for download

Intel has announced the availability of the first Moblin 2 alpha release. Moblin is an open source Linux-based platform that Intel is developing for Atom-based mobile devices. The company hopes to attract a community of third-party developers to contribute to the platform and target it with their applications. Moblin has already been adopted by several Linux distributors, including Linpus, GoS, and Mandriva. These distributors plan to build custom derivatives on top of the Moblin core. It includes Pimlico, an open source suite of lightweight PIM applications that were created by OpenedHand. Xfce will eventually be dropped in favor of a richer and more mobile-friendly user interface that is built with OpenedHand’s Clutter framework. Intel acquired OpenedHand last year.

Android-based Movit tablet displayed at CES

Movit tablet is a WiFi-enabled device which allows watching streaming videos, browse the web and share content on  social networks like Facebook and MySpace.  Movit device presented at Las Vegas was running the Cupcake development branch of Android or whether the Giinii developers had backported the Cupcake keyboard into a more stable Android release.

Is Google looking at the netbook market

Given how flexibly Android has been developed and how well it adapts to new platforms without needing specific adjustments, Google would be foolish to not at least consider this avenue as an active development path. Google has the strength, the influence, and now it seems the technology, to take Linux-based netbooks and notebooks to a newer, more polished, and friendlier place. With Android and its overall consumer ready interface, netbooks could appeal to a wider group of customers and to a possibly revenue-rich market.

Linux system on mobile devices

As smart phones continue to grow in market share and importance, here is the list of the latest and most exiting products:

Google Android Dev Phone 1 — Dec. 08, 2008 — The Android Dev Phone 1 is a version of the HTC G1 offered by Google with the SIM- and other hardware unlocked. The Android Dev Phone 1 aims to provide Android developers with real hardware on which to test their applications, and is sold for $400 (or $425 with network member fee).

Ubuntu on mobile devices

Ubuntu open source software foundation has announced an alliance with Mobile phone chip designer. Both companies agreed to work on the operating system for netbooks. So far Arm has been best known for designing the chips inside smartphones and feature phones. The new operating system for Arm-powered machines looks set to be available in April 2009.

Rob Coombs, director of mobile marketing at Arm, said he expected to see the first devices running the version of Ubuntu by the time of the Computex show in June. Small form-factor notebooks have proved hugely popular with many people looking for a small device that they can use to go online while out and about. The interest in the market sector is being driven by devices such as the XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project and the Eee machine from Asus.