Based on a Linux kernel, Moblin has a sleek shell that was clearly designed for the novice Linux user and internet social butterfly. The images below give you the best look at what it is like to use Moblin. At the core of the interface are a series of tabs that line the top of the screen. They are all pretty basic and include a web browser, applications, etc.
I’ve got to say I like the communications aspect of the OS the best. I logged into my AIM and Google Talk accounts right from the interface and then all my buddies showed up on the People tab. You can also log into Twitter; updates show up on the home screen and you can tweet from the Status tab.
Moblin 2.0 came out of beta just about two weeks ago, which was around the same time that the next version (2.1) was released. The interface in 2.1 is unchanged, but added is an app store. Instead of having to dig through a Linux repository, Moblin has its Garage for easy access and installation of applications. Loading programs from Garage is so easy Kylie could do it. I had no problem selecting Abi Word from the store; as soon as you install it from Garage it appears on the applications tab.
You don’t have to wait for someone like Dell to sell Moblin 2.1 pre-installed on a netbook or MID. Try it now and share your thoughts. I warn you that there may not be full support for your Intel Atom powered netbook — some drivers may not be compatible. I tried it on an HP Mini 5101 and there was no Wi-Fi support. I never said the install was the easy part! [Moblin]
Shan
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 12:14 PMMoblin seems kinda designless and brainless – in a bad way. Try Easy Peasy for a bit more gusto. It’s Ubuntu 9 with the Netbook remix interface. GetEasyPeasy.com I have it running on my Asus EEE 701 with no problems oninstall. Performance is OK and it comes with a bunch of aps pre-installed.
SirMuffinMan
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 3:11 PMI installed Moblin late last night, uninstalled it the next morning. Here’s my experience, but note that your mileage may vary.
Easy Peasy is like a LEGO structure, where you start with an OS with a bunch of features and can easily add or remove more at the cost of easily falling apart if you do something wrong.
Moblin is like Duplo, and all the pieces are superglued together before you even get it. Sure you can pry it apart, but you completely ruin the structure in the process, and the only pieces you have are LEGO pieces anyway, which don’t connect so well with Duplo. And instead of breaking if you drop it, Moblin incessantly crashed and complained. Just try and get Pidgin to use the People feature of Moblin, or to install any kind of codec. Instant headache.
/rant
Bennish
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 5:03 PMWow, this sounds familiar…
EeePC OS, anyone?
You know, the one that was simple, easy to use, and… people kept returning them to exchange them for windows xp models?
Yeah. That.
Anonymous
Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 2:35 AMeee xandros is unusable, whereas moblin still gets some gripe from linux users in terms of configurablity, that said it has made many great achievements on the technical side of tings. Id say give it a try if you have a netbook. You might aswell go for regular ubuntu instead of easy peasy if you want something configurable not geared towards netbooks. Moblin is a netbook OS, and is meant to be used as such.
David
Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 8:00 PMI am using Jolicloud, ok it’s a remaster of Ubuntus but on my Lenovo it really does work and adding (or removing) applications is very easy. They call it an alpha but in my experience it is an RC.