Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users (ComputerWorld)
A key difference with the Remix from the standard desktop Ubuntu Linux is the inclusion of a "launcher" that allows users to start the machines and get online quickly, Carr said. "There are also lots of tweaks for the Intel Atom chips, and optimization, too, for the flash drive [rather than disk-based spinning hard drives] and for other underlying technologies. Probably the major difference ... is that this is very much a device-tied OS" aimed specifically at netbook architectures."
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Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users (ComputerWorld)
Hmm..a light weight Linux distribution won't be available for free download? Did I have too
many beers? It's been awhile since I've read the GPL but I believe if you offer it to the
public, you must provide source to the public. I guess they will only provide it to the one
who will buy the laptop that has Remix?
Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users (ComputerWorld)
Ubuntu Mobile is all there in the archives, including the LPIA port. One thing is that it's
not really completely ready yet (as seen in the article's estimated shipping times), and I
think that the main point is that this is meant for the vendors to customize heavily (UI look
and feel) so it's not "include this Ubuntu on your netbook and it will look the same as
everyone else's".
One can install ordinary Ubuntu, or some default mobile combination of packages on these
netbooks also, if one wants and the vendor is not somehow restricting it. But I'd see that
this Remix is simply not meant for end users, so a ready made freely (gratis) downloadable
_product_ is not made available at this point, unless of course the community does so.
Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users (ComputerWorld)
This is just my guess: It seems that the Netbook Remix isn't meant to be used on general
devices, but rather it will be tailored to specific ones. It will ship on those models, and
will come with source or a link to the source, as per the GPL (and other relevant licenses).
Consequently, the Ubuntu website will contain the source, but not a pre-built version that
users can just download and run. I presume this is what the article means by 'will not be
available'. Note that the GPL never said you must provide pre-built binaries, just source,
although one might speculate about a FOSS license that does include such a provision (I am
unaware of such).
Anyhow, if I'm right, then people will be free to download the source and try to get it
running on other devices, which might be easy or hard to do. For example, Ubuntu is
collaborating with Intel here, and Atom is very prominent in all of this, so perhaps
Atom-specific code will be utilized, which might make it hard to run the Netbook Remix on
non-Atom devices. That said, this is Linux, so I'm willing to bet we'll see community-made
versions of the Netbook Remix for popular devices like the (non-Atom) Asus Eee, etc.
In this case, "Remix" means customised derivative; "Netbook" is the flavour of that remix (derivative). In the future there will be many remixes as an attempt to avoid diluting the main *buntu brand and trademark too heavily:
Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users (ComputerWorld)
Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users (ComputerWorld)
Indeed - the title of the ComputerWorld article is wrong (and its contents), as the new distro
is Ubuntu Netbook Remix, which makes a lot more sense. Confirmed by press release:
http://www.ubuntu.com/news/netbook-remix
Maybe LWN could fix its article by saying "Ubuntu [Netbook] Remix" to make it clear they've
added the Netbook where needed.