Alpha Version of Moblin for Netbooks Now Available

Well maybe people do care about Linux, and not just anyone but Intel. Earlier this week Moblin, a mobile Linux platform that Intel has been supporting, released its Moblin Alpha build for Netbooks. While initially Intel was backing this lightweight platform for its Atom powered mobile Internet device (MIDs) category, a very early Linux distro is now available for Atom based netbooks. Moblin is pushing its MID version off until 2010. Moblin is now offering an ISO file for installing the OS and is encouraging netbook owners to try it out. Their site reports that it works successfully on the ASUS Eee PC 901, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the Acer Aspire one. Our buds at JKOntheRun loaded Moblin up on a MSI Wind. The interface looks pretty bare bones but the transparencies and the ability to shrink the menu panel is neat. Kevin reports that it doesn’t support Wi-Fi and the trackpad on the Wind; there are similar rumblings about the Wi-Fi on the Eee PC 901. It will be interesting to see if any of the netbook OEMs embrace the Moblin offering, especially with many of them, such as Dell and HP, putting so much time and effort into customizing Ubuntu and other distros.