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maniacmusician
September 19th, 2007, 06:02 PM
I recently read an article on Ars Technica that mentioned off-hand how the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) form factor is somewhat neglected. This is, the article reasons, because Microsoft hasn't really made huge efforts to take advantage of it, and so Mac or Linux should step up and take the opportunity.

This really struck a chord with me, so now I'm wondering, are there any current Linux projects that aim to capitalize on the small form factor and ultra-scalable CPU's of the UMPC? If not, that's a shame, because I think there's really a lot to be gained by it.

Extremely small computers don't work well with standard interfaces, which is why Microsoft hasn't really been able to innovate in that area yet. Out of the current contenders for the Desktop right now, I think that the open source community has the most versatile and flexible view towards UI design and implementation.

We have various toolkits and window managers that seem to coexist fairly successfully, and it's a lot easier for us to come up with new design elements because we're not tied down to a system like Aero or Quartz.

I think it would be a great project to initiate if it doesn't exist already. Do I have the resources and time to put it together? Not at all, but I hope that someone else does. This isn't really a project to be taken lightly; I think if it's not going to be done right, then there's no point in trying. By "right", I mean gathering people who have experience in HIG and UI Design, and competent artists, as well as coders and all the normal stuff.

I don't know. Just what I was thinking at the moment. [shrug]

reyfer
September 19th, 2007, 06:07 PM
Check these:

http://www.pocketables.net/2007/02/new_h9_umpc_run.html
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/16/intels-mid-umpcs-so-long-xp-vista-hello-linux/

maniacmusician
September 19th, 2007, 06:17 PM
yeah, I saw those as well, I should've mentioned that. I couldn't really find many details on the H9 at all, or the website of the project that's overseeing it. Because of that, I'm assuming it's just another closed source project based on Linux. I guess I really meant an open source project, because that's where our greatest advantage lies.

The same thing with Intel's project, I couldn't really find the team that was working on it. Maybe I'm just really bad at searches...

:::
September 19th, 2007, 07:02 PM
These are the ones I know of:

http://maemo.org/ - Nokia's Internet Tablets
http://moblin.org/ - Intel's MID-Devices
http://openmoko.org/ - Openmoko
Ubuntu has (or will have) a mobile edition, which seems to be closely connected to MIDs...
there's a mobile version of QT
http://www.gnome.org/mobile/


Some of them are more geared towards PDAs/Smartphones. But I believe that ultimately the ditinction between those Devices and UMPCs/MIDs will vanish.

maniacmusician
September 19th, 2007, 07:13 PM
These are the ones I know of:

http://maemo.org/ - Nokia's Internet Tablets
http://moblin.org/ - Intel's MID-Devices
http://openmoko.org/ - Openmoko
Ubuntu has (or will have) a mobile edition, which seems to be closely connected to MIDs...
there's a mobile version of QT
http://www.gnome.org/mobile/


Some of them are more geared towards PDAs/Smartphones. But I believe that ultimately the ditinction between those Devices and UMPCs/MIDs will vanish.
Perhaps, but the major distinction right now between simple tablets like N800 and UMPC's is the hardware. UMPC's are generally equipped with considerable amounts of space, fast processors, plenty of RAM, etc. Tablets are usually running on slower hardware, which helps to keep costs down, whereas the UMPC can be seen as somewhat of a laptop replacement.

But those are all cool projects.

Bigbluecat
September 19th, 2007, 07:57 PM
There is an Intel reference platfrom under development called Menlow. It is UMPC and MID based and will use their new Silverthorne processor.

The project was announced at the IDF in China in April this year.

Ubuntu is one of the OS's that will be on this platform.

First devices some time next year.

Look for updates from the IDF running this week.

Kowalski_GT-R
September 19th, 2007, 08:01 PM
Ubuntu is one of the OS's that will be on this platform.


yummy....

Bigbluecat
September 19th, 2007, 08:23 PM
There is some more info here on Menlow:

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14533/53/
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/09/19/Intel-shows-AIR-Ubuntu-running-on-ultramobile-PC_1.html

Looks like UMPC with Ubuntu will be shown at IDF on Wednesday.

and something interesting here:

http://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-mobile@lists.ubuntu.com/msg00300.html