Intel Moblin 2.1 Preview

A few hours ago we talked about the Moblin 2.0 release, the launch of the Moblin Garage and Moblin Application Installer, and the next Moblin 2.1 release. Intel has provided an early development preview of the Moblin 2.1 operating system, which we briefly tested out on a Samsung NC10 netbook. Here are the screenshots and a few more details.

The Clutter user-interface is not very different from that of Moblin 2.0, at least not yet, but that is not too surprising considering this will be an incremental update due out in just a few months. Moblin 2.1 will be prominent in this Intel-sponsored Linux distribution that just started out to be optimized for netbooks and nettops is now coming to mobile Internet devices, mobile phones, in-vehicle computer systems, and other more compact devices. The interface on these smaller screens will likely be different from that of the netbook version.

Moblin 2.1 will also be bringing support for greater nettop screen resolutions, MyZone improvements, instant messaging improvements, better language support, and an updated kernel. When it comes to network connectivity, the 3G data support and Bluetooth should be better off too.

The Moblin Application Installer is already integrated into this 2.1 developer snapshot, where in another Clutter-based interface the user can search for different packages or browse for packages by category. To install an application, the user simply needs to click on the application. Removing an application can also be done through this interface. As we mentioned in the earlier article, the Moblin Garage / Application Installer will not only feature open-source / free packages, but closed-source software too as long as they are provided at no cost.

Moblin 2.1 is expected for release in the fourth quarter of this year, which should place it in time for the next round of new Intel-powered mobile devices to hit the market and ahead of what we will see next January at the Consumer Electronic Show. Moblin 2.1 will hopefully be a nice Linux-based operating system for mobile phones and handheld devices while continuing to excel on Atom-powered netbooks and nettops.