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Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica)
Ryan Paul reports
on Moblin devices unveiled at CES. "The GW990 will be
Moblin's first real test running on a smartphone form factor, but the
platform is becoming an increasingly desirable choice on netbooks. Samsung
had a large number of netbooks on display at CES, but its N127—running
Novell's SUSE-based variant of Moblin—really stood out. Moblin's
snappy and visually refined user interface is impressive and demonstrates
the value that Linux can bring to the netbook market."
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Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 9, 2010 18:31 UTC (Sat) by xav (subscriber, #18536) [Link]
I like it. I prefer Moblin to Maemo or Android.
Just the featured phone looks too bulky. It's more of a small tablet.
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 2:50 UTC (Sun) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Yeah. The thing is a monster. There is no way in hell a device like that
could hope to survive in my pocket. The first time I'd try to sit down fast I'd just twist the display enough to crack it easily.
Probably designed to make it fit whatever battery is needed to keep the Atom
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 8:15 UTC (Sun) by Tuna-Fish (subscriber, #61751) [Link]
... Yes. Let's have another look at atom a few process cycles from now when
it can actually compete with cheap arm chips on power efficiency.
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 8:28 UTC (Sun) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]
Stupid question: what's wrong with running Moblin on an ARM system?
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 12:00 UTC (Sun) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Well Maemo is using the same stuff as Moblin. Clutter, GTK, etc etc. But the
trouble with doing it yourself is the OpenGL acceleration. So your probably stuck with the default kernel on the device due to the proprietary drivers. But if you can get past that it'll probably work.
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 12:24 UTC (Sun) by jreiser (subscriber, #11027) [Link] So your [are] probably stuck with the default kernel on the device due to the proprietary drivers. Various forms of binary patching can be utilized to construct other kernels which have the same OpenGL but different other pieces. As long as a replacement kernel can be booted at all, then the process is just tedious. (It helps to keep the subroutine interfaces constant.)
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 2:46 UTC (Mon) by jebba (✭ supporter ✭, #4439) [Link]
The Maemo/N900 stock 2.6.28 kernel doesn't have proprietary (closed) drivers. Lots of userspace components are proprietary though (including GL bits, telephony and battery).
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 6:10 UTC (Mon) by johill (subscriber, #25196) [Link]
"Lots" would seem to be stretching it, wouldn't you rather say "some" considering the number of components such a device starts out with?
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 9:02 UTC (Mon) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266) [Link]
The meaning of "lots" here probably is "a lot more than I think would be the ideal number" (i.e. comparing to the expected number of proprietary components instead of comparing to the total number of components).
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 12:01 UTC (Mon) by jebba (✭ supporter ✭, #4439) [Link]
s/lots/some/ # ...
Though not being able to *recharge the battery* without proprietary software may push it in to "lots" just for that. Though perhaps you may point out external chargers can be used. ;)
I have hit the proprietary wall quite a few times though, as I'm also booting Mer and Fedora 12 on the device. Here's a list of what is closed:
OT: I've written up quite a bit in their wiki which may be of interest to LWNers:
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 23:52 UTC (Mon) by jebba (✭ supporter ✭, #4439) [Link]
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 12:46 UTC (Sun) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Why do you think Intel will get there? I am not so sure. They didn't do it with two generations of Atom specifically designed for saving power, and this chip only promises "5 hours of 3G browsing" -- pitiful.A veritable monster indeed. And I complain about the Nokia 5230 I got at work -- my SmartQ 5 must look like a dwarf in comparison. This device should enter history in the "What were they thinking" category.
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 12:54 UTC (Sun) by Los__D (subscriber, #15263) [Link]
"...and this chip only promises "5 hours of 3G browsing" -- pitiful."
And that's with a battery almost 1.5 times bigger than the N900, which is doing around double the time.
- And N900 is definitely no powersaver.
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 10, 2010 20:31 UTC (Sun) by Janne (guest, #40891) [Link]
Arm is not going to stand still either. It too will migrate to newer processes and they will introduce
new processors. Fact is that x86 is a baggage that Arm does not have.
Atom after it has been through few process-cycles might be able to compete with Arm-processors
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 6:02 UTC (Mon) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
One of the nice things is that AMD's foundry (now called Globalfoundries) is
now under contract making ARM systems. And they recently broke ground on a new plant for doing 28nm manufacturing process..
This should at least give the ARM folks the ability to keep up with Intel's
Too bad AMD/ATI abandoned it's embedded graphics stuff.
Moblin Linux on x86 smartphone: Intel's small step forward (ars technica) Posted Jan 11, 2010 13:57 UTC (Mon) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239) [Link]
It wasn't abandoned, as such - the group was sold to Qualcomm and it forms the basis of the GPU
on their ARM hardware. The downside is that Qualcomm is verging on hostile to open source support, but I'd have been surprised if AMD's commitment to free drivers had extended as far as their embedded code.
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