Tag Archives: Moblin
Linux Chrome 5 Beta is a Go
Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
4 Comments
Although Chrome 5 Beta has been available for those using Windows and Mac for a little while already, Google held back its release of the Linux version of their beta browser. That’s no surprise, as the initial developer version of Chrome for Linux users has only been out since June and has a much smaller user base than the other two platforms. Regardless, Google announced yesterday that the 5.0.307.1 Beta for Linux is now available.
Some of the new features being released with this version include support for notifications, a different directory for loading plugins and improved text support for various languages.
It’s important that Google keeps the Chrome browser for Linux up to speed with Windows and Mac. An ever-increasing amount of users are turning to open source, and all of the solid OSs are based on Linux. In terms of netbook operating systems, platforms such as Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Moblin and Jolicloud are all based on Linux. This helps drive the cost of netbooks lower, as these OSs save money on the overall product price when compared to Microsoft’s licensing fees that are required for every device that ships with Windows.
At the same time, when Google eventually comes out with Chrome OS, it will be essentially competing with these machines, but will still have a leg up on overall browser competition because Linux does not support the closed-source Internet Explorer. Opera and Firefox currently are some of the most popular browsers for Linux. Safari is also available as well.
You can get Linux Chrome 5 Beta from the download page here.
Asus Mulling Options
Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Asus doesn’t know what to do. The company, which actually has its roots derived from Acer, has about 30% of the nascent netbook market. And although they showed off a sleek designed Eee PC that was loaded with an ARM processor at Taiwan’s Computex back in June, they showed off relatively nothing at the recent CES show.
That’s probably because although they are testing both Android and Chrome OS in their labs, they haven’t yet decided which one they want to back. It’s possible that Google has made hardware demands to Asus that they company simple does not want to fulfill – creating an Android phone such as the long-rumored Eee phone would be an easier task than being under the scrutiny of being the netbook version of the Nexus One.
Unfortunately, Android just doesn’t appear to have the meat to be able to be a network operating system like Chrome OS does. And with competition coming from Intel’s Moblin as well as Ubuntu, using an operating system that was designed for smartphone use on a netbook just doesn’t seem realistic right now. Rumor is that Android and Chrome OS will at some point merge, but it appears to me that the two platforms are getting further apart in technology.
If the Google netbook is going to have an ARM processor, it is very realistic that HTC could be a dark horse candidate to be the manufacturer. They are taking their lumps a bit with the Nexus One, but that experience along with the fact that they would be entering a new and profitable netbook/smartbook market would be enticing for them to compromise with Google. Besides, before HTC came out with the first Android phone, the G1, who had ever even heard of them before?
The Top 10 Questions For Chrome OS in 2010
Posted on 31. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
As we wrap up what has been an eventful 2009, I thought that now would be a great time for some reflection on where Chrome OS is going and some of the big questions that do not have concrete answers yet. An official release by Google is at least six months away for Chromium but even so that leaves a lot left to the imagination at this point. So here is a review what are the biggest issues relating to the Chrome operating system and my best attempt to try to explore them. Enjoy and here’s to a great 2010!
Who will manufacture the GoogleBook?
A look at the third quarter 2009 market share for netbook manufacturers puts Acer out in front with a 38.8% piece of the pie. But Asus is not far behind at around 30%. I don’t believe that a brand like HP or Dell would want to slap a Google logo on hardware that they’ve designed, so my bet right now is that Asus is Google’s HTC in the netbook market. However, a contract supplier such as Foxconn or Flextronics could offer a sweeter deal and have no qualms about branding issues.
Will it be subsidized?
As we’ve already seen with Google’s Nexus One Android Phone pricing, subsidizing and partnering with a wireless provider looks like the best path for the GoogleBook. It doesn’t look like Google wants to eat any cost trying to release this product, and why should they? There should be enough hype prior to an official launch. And don’t forget that open source developers will have had their hands on Chromium, release their own builds. This project is starting to mirror in some degree the path that Android took to completely blowing up this year, and I mean that in a good way.
Will it be secure?
It’s going to need to be. McAfee has already reported Chrome OS as a top vulnerability of 2010. In a hacker’s eyes, Microsoft is no longer the big daddy, since they have gotten their security up to snuff in the past couple of years. Now it’s time for the focus to be shifted onto software that is complementary to operating systems, such as Adobe’s Flash or Reader. Since Chrome OS will be both the OS and the applications, that’s where the concern is. Basically, cybercriminals are going to target the software that has the lowest level of protection in terms of security, and I think that McAfee has now put Google on alert with their report.
Will there be hardware options?
No, there won’t. Just kidding. But it’s interesting to see Google deciding what hardware is going to work with their operating system. I don’t blame them, because they want to make something that is simple and just works. Microsoft has spent so much time trying to be everthing to everyone in terms of hardware support, and although I don’t blame them, I am curious to see how creating specific standards for Chromium could potentially make this operating system so simple to use there’s no thinking about it.
What about the competition?
Amazingly, there are a lot of options out there for operating systems designed with netbooks in and mind that there too many for me to list here. We just did a review of Moblin, Intel’s open-source foray into the realm, and we plan on posting more soon. A little competition never hurt anyone, especially in the tech market since that is just going to make products that are better for us end users. This is especially true when you consider that sales for netbooks is expected to grow by 297% within the next three years.
Is Chrome OS a marketing ploy?
You have to start wondering if Chrome OS is supposed to be a conduit to everything Google. If you think about it, the operating system complements things that Google has been working on for years. Take Google Apps. While it has been out for 2006, and it did experience an outage this year, it appears that Apps is starting to gain some traction with large companies such as Genetech implementing it. Now give users a Google-branded device that doesn’t have Microsoft Office and what do you get? Instant adoption of Apps by a wide range if users. This method could potentially be used for an array of other Google offerings.
What about Android?
It’s difficult to figure out the strategy on this one, because although Sergey Brin says they’ll eventually converge, it feels like there is a chasm that is further separating these two especially as Android begins to take off in the mobile phone market. Along with a tepid review for the Acer One D250 netbook loaded with Android, it feels like for the time being these two are going to be very, very separate in terms of functionalities. Besides that, I keep wondering about the human-computer interaction element of the two that makes them fundamentally different: for a netbook to be really useful, it needs a full keyboard which is not a feature that is in any way desirable on a phone.
How does Chrome OS affect privacy?
It wouldn’t be surprising if Google CEO Eric Schmidt would like to take back his recent comments on privacy in terms of search, but he has not retracted them as far as I know. While it’s a great idea that cloud computing can allow someone to log onto a machine and get their data from wherever they are, let’s not forget that the logon you use is your Google account. The information from your account is currently used to target advertising while you search and use Gmail. If that is the case now, in the future who knows what else? Did I mention that the login to Chrome OS is your Google account as well?
What will open source developers’ impact be?
We’ve already seen iterations of Chrome OS developed by open source developers, and there is already a 64-bit version out there to try out. This leads one to wonder where this will go in the next six to eight months before there is an official release. Since Chrome OS is open source, it’s entirely possible that techies out there will run there own builds that allow them to do more than a commercial version would. Regardless, open source is the way to go. Developers outside of Google will make this a legitimate competitor in the netbook market, and we shall soon see if it will either quickly dominate or not.
How will Microsoft fight back?
Although Steve Ballmer doesn’t seem particularly concerned with Chromium, there are some indications that Microsoft is going to have embrace more open source projects in order to stay relevent in a market that is increasingly on the moving towards that direction. For example, Windows4all is a browser based version of Windows 7 that has been developed by Microsoft’s open source community called Codplex. Also, They are releasing Office 2010 with browser based versions. They are going to attempt to stay in the game, but really it seems like all they are doing is trying to not fall completely behind.
Review: Moblin Netbook OS
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
We’ll be taking a look in a series of features the different operating systems that are going to be competing with Chrome OS in an effort to evaluate how Google stacks up against the competition.
Moblin is a netbook-centric operating system that is based on the Linux open source kernel. It is spearheaded by Intel in a drive to have it used on hardware that features its Atom processors, which are for netbooks and other devices that they are calling Mobile Internet Devices (MID). It appears that the idea is to have Moblin used not only in netbooks but also devices used as entertainment hubs embedded in vehicles or other equipment that is networked.
Because of the backing of corporate interests that along with Intel also includes Novell, Moblin is certainly a conduit to compete with the already prevalent ARM processors, which are used in almost every mobile device and are expected to be used by the manufacturers that end up making Chrome OS netbooks.
I downloaded a copy of Moblin, which is still in beta from the official web site to check out its interface and how it stacks up against Chrome OS.
Just like the versions of Chrome OS that are floating around, you can image Moblin onto a USB drive and run it on your PC. When I booted Moblin, it brought up a menu asking me if I want to start the OS. While it was quick at 13 seconds, it wasn’t as fast as Chrome OS. I also noticed a popping sound coming from my speakers that I thought was the OS loading sound drivers, but it continued to happen when I used sound while in Moblin.
There is no login required for Moblin, and when it loads into its home screen called myzone. I had to admit that it looked a little childish like this was only something for kids to use. Navigation is controlled by a bar at the top of the screen that disappears depending on cursor position outside of the homepage screen. The interface doesn’t use a windowing system, you can come and go from the navigation bar for things that you can do.
Every time I started up Moblin, I had to manually connect to my wireless network. I know it’s in beta, but that’s not a positive for a netbook operating system.
Unlike Chrome OS the browser is not the main component here, the navigation bar is. Configuration options such as power settings are in the upper left hand corner like Chromium. One thing that was annoying was that clock was not in view unless I activated the navigation bar by moving the cursor to the top. At this point I realized that this nav bar appearing and disappearing would be a problem, especially while using the internet. Below you can see what I’m referring to. If you are browsing the internet and want to move the cursor to the browser toolbar, the navigation bar incidentally will come up from time to time:
The graphical interface in Moblin seems active, jumpy and energetic. Actually, it seemed overly energetic to me – when I was toggling between tasks simply too much was going on in terms of animations. Actions seem to happen a little too fast, almost as if Moblin is in a hurry. It seems strange to say this, but try it and I think you’ll get the same sense.
It’s pretty clear that Moblin is not focusing much on cloud computing. There is an extensive media and application component to the OS. There are apps that are already installed including a a terminal program and a few games. There is an application installer program which allows you to download and run programs. I was able to download and install Firefox for Moblin, and there were a nice selection of open source apps such as GIMP for image editing and Songbird for organizing and playing music. You are also able to save files.
There are interesting social networking components in Moblin as well. One of the features of the navigation bar is a status icon where you can easily update your goings-on. Another interesting concept that has been included here is called Empathy, which can connect to your AIM and Google Talk accounts along with a feature that picks up and lists other Moblin users around you along with their information and current status. Location social networking? I think I like that idea.
Pros:
- More polished feel than Chrome OS. Of course, this is in a later stage of development.
- Good social networking features.
- I like the application component of the OS – easy to install apps and it looks like there is going to be a good variety of options from developers
Cons:
- My speakers kept popping when playing sounds. This was just annoying.
- Wifi does not connect automatically. Grrr.
- GUI animations are really jumpy. Also the navigation bar hindering internet navigation. And the clock being hidden.
