When netbooks first came out from Acer and Asus, they came with a Linux operating system from a (then unknown) small Linux vendor called Linpus. Linux on netbooks is now more common and there are other Linux distribution choices (and Windows too), but Linpus remains and is now gearing up for a new release based on the Moblin v2 standard for Intel Atom processors.
Among the new enhancements that Moblin v2 will bring to Linpus is a 26 percent speed boost for the boot time, according to Linpus. There is also a new user interface based on the Clutter framework. The goal of Clutter is to make it easier to build and deliver better graphics and user interfaces to Moblin users.
Linpus will be showing off its new Moblin v2 based Linpus distribution at the Computex trade show in Taiwan next week. It’s not yet clear when the first netbooks with the new operating system will be shipped. The new distro (when available) may well also be a big boost to existing netbook users too. Linpus Lite is a freely available and downloadable system, so I strongly suspect that existing Acer and Asus Linpus users will be able to upgrade.
Certainly, Ubuntu with its netbook remix has made a lot of noise in the marketplace, and Dell offers Ubuntu to its customers too. Linpus did however have the early head start and it will be interesting to see if the new Moblin v2 features give it any new early edge over other Linux distributions for netbooks.
