Moblin Makes Its Move

Moblin is a Linux distro that's optimized for mobile devices -- particularly those running on Intel's Atom processor -- like those netbooks that are popping up everywhere. But it's not just for netbooks. You'll also be seeing all kinds of mobile Internet devices, in-vehicle information systems, and embedded systems running on Moblin.

What pushes Moblin into the cool zone is that, thanks to Moblin's common core of services and APIs, developers can code once to deliver applications to multiple devices, each with different form factors. This was a hit at the recent Intel Developer Forum where devices of all sizes and form factors -- desktop to hand-held -- were running the same apps across the board.

Moblin v2.0 was recently released, with v2.1 expected before the end of the year. Moblin v2.0 features fast boot times, speedy performance, and a netbook-focused Linux stack that integrates a Mozilla-based browser, media viewing, social networking, and support for Linux desktop applications via Gnome Mobile technologies. And like everyone else these days, Moblin will provide an app store -- the Moblin Garage, an online catalog for open source Moblin applications. The Moblin SDK includes development images, documentation, tools, and examples to get you started writing, debugging, and porting apps. Plus there are numerous third-party open-source tools.

The Moblin Core consists of the Application Services and UI Services layers and is a common set of packages and libraries -- many based on Linux and other open-source contributions -- but enhanced for the Atom processor, that apply to all devices. The UI services layer supports both legacy GTK- and Qt-based applications as well as new technology from the OpenGL-based Clutter open-source library for creating portable and animated GUIs.

The Platform-specific UI layer is where components for the unique I/O requirements of the devices reside. For example, a netbook typically has a 7x10-inch display with a keyboard and mouse as the primary input methods. A MID, however, typically has a much smaller display with touch-screen as the primary input method. Clearly, the user experience and apps need to be tailored to the unique requirements of these devices. These are just a few of the features Moblin delivers.

Linux vendors keen on capturing a share of the exploding netbook market are lining up behind Moblin: Linpus, Canonical, Wind River, Novell, MontaVista, and Asianux, to name a few. It should be interesting. It would seem that Windows Mobile and/or Windows 7 will be among the main competitors in the netbook market. However, the operating system license fees from Moblin/Linux vendors zeroing in on netbooks will put the pressure on Microsoft. Can $150 netbooks be far behind?

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 02:52 PM  Permalink