IDF: Dell launches Mini 10v netbook running Moblin

Dell's Inspiron Mini 10v running Ubuntu Moblin Remix. At this years annual Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Dell announced the release of its Inspiron Mini 10v netbook running Canonical's Ubuntu Moblin Remix (UMR) based on Moblin 2.0 and Ubuntu Linux 9.04. The new UMR Mini 10v is now available on Dell's US site for $299 and features an Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz processor, a 160 GB Hard Drive and 1 GB of memory.

Canonical founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth said “Moblin keeps on getting more exciting as a project with new applications and improved user experiences. It's great to be delivering this release with Dell to developers wanting to participate in Moblin”. According to the UMR Mini 10v page, Dell's Moblin offering is currently running "Ubuntu Moblin Remix Developer Edition", which it says is aimed exclusively at "Linux enthusiasts, developers, and Early Adopters". Although not confirmed by Dell, this likely means that its release is based on the Moblin 2.0 Beta, not the recently released final 2.0 version. The page also notes that while Dell will provide warranty hardware support, software support is not provided and says that its customers "must rely upon the open source community".

An installation image file is also available to download and can be used to install the Ubuntu Moblin Remix Developer Edition on other Dell Mini 10v netbooks. More details, including a link to installation instructions, are available on Dell's Moblin wiki.

See also:

• Intel's Moblin initiative at the IDF, a report from The H.
• Intel announces Moblin 2.1 for smartphones, a report from The H.

(crve)