Moblin v2.0 beta refresh for Netbooks - June 16

Submitted by Tariq Shureih, updated on 9 Jul 2009 - 34 comments

A refresh of the Moblin v2.0 beta for Netbooks image is available for download and testing. This release fixes a number of bugs and adds new features.

Current download

Instructions

  • Load the image on your netbook or a PC with an Intel graphics chipset
  • Requires copying to a USB drive or burning to CD
  • Image size (img): ~680 MB
  • Detailed instructions (Est time: 30 minutes to download, install, and reboot)

Issues

System Requirements

  • CPU: Intel(r) Atom(tm) or Intel(r) Core(tm) 2 CPU (support for SSSE3)
       (Note: Moblin will not work on non-SSSE3 CPUs)
  • Graphics: Integrated Intel graphics (915/945/965)
  • Network Adaptors:
  • LAN/Wired:
    • Intel e100/e1000/e1000e/iXGB
    • PCNet32 (Vmware)
    • RealTek 8139/8169
    • SIS 900/190
    • Broadcom ATL1/ATL2
  • Wireless/Wifi:
    • Intel 3945/4965/5000
    • Atheros 5K/9K
    • Broadcom 4300
    • RealTek 8180/8187
    • Ralink 2400/2500/61/73

Moblin also supports various external, USB-based Wifi devices.

Tested Platforms

  • Acer Aspire*One
  • Asus eeePC* 901
  • Dell Mini 9
  • MSI Wind

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2009, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Atom and Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
This document contains information on products in the design phase of development.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Comments (34 total)

Oh, and maybe I'm just lost

Submitted by Tony Senerchia on 14 August 2009 - 10:30am.

Oh, and maybe I'm just lost in the little screen, but how does one log out/shutdown ?

Promising, but not there yet

Submitted by Tony Senerchia on 14 August 2009 - 10:02am.

First off, I am very impressed. This truly is a great little system for a great little netbook (EeePC 900HA)! There are a few integral things that are missing :

- NTFS (especially NTFS-3G) support : many of us have Windows alongside our system or we use external disks. I haven't tried to see if I can access shares on a network yet, but that is also a concern
- Integrated copy-paste : the pasteboard is nice, but clipboards in Linux are bad across the board. They are simply a nuisance.
- More browser features : chrome is a good browser, but it is simply not ready. There are far too few settings, simple things like ctrl+f for searching a page (or any method, for that matter) are needed. Integrated spell-checking in all apps (easily done with the like of aspell, etc).
- OOo install : I understand that it is a behemoth and wouldn't be as quick as one may like, but at least writer and calc are - in my opinion - necessary. Google Docs is good, but one can only do so much with it.
- More apps in general : the repositories are extremly thin. I don't see any reason why recompiling would be a problem nor why itwould be difficult to integrate other apps.
- Facebook integration : I don't know what would be involved, but it seems to me that - considering the apparent goals of this distro - it is necessary.

Some of these - such as Facebook, better copy-paste and the browser features, I believe, should be in the distro by default. Others, like OOo, NTFS support, etc shouldbe available in the repos for those who wish to install them. All, in my humble opinion, are necessary for a good, useable system.

I am really looking forward to the future of moblin! Keep up the good work!

Agree with this - more ideas on what should be rolled in

Submitted by GDH on 4 September 2009 - 1:20am.

Completely agree with Tony's points above - needs more out of the box to do what it promises to do.

I have just installed this on my Asus 901 yesterday (3/9/09) - will post learnings in the install forum - and loved it as a great example of "getting things done" UI philosophy.

If you think your average user is going to be doing their "home zone" (daily activities that they do day in & day out) work on this OS then it needs to do these out of the box:

  • Secure online banking
  • Facebook updates and posting
  • Integration with all Webmail & Office email services - how about RIM integration for all the 'crackberry' heads out there
  • Sync with both Work & Home calendars e.g. Exchange server, Gmail Calendar & Facebook
  • SEARCH - this should be central to the system as people do this all the time. Need to think about integrating the Search function possibly BING instead of Yahoo by default as it is becoming a viable alternative to Yahoo! and isn't Google (IF that is the way we want to go)
  • Work Apps - Open Office would be good as an option but is a bit clunky and can put people off compared to Office. Possibly do better having the likes of Google Docs (declared interest - my company is a Google apps reseller) & Zoho fully integrated by installing Google Gears etc by default so working offline comes naturally
  • Image editing - people do this all the time for things like Flickr & Facebook, how about a Moblin skin on GIMP making it really simple & fast to use

Generally I think this should be a "Cloud" OS with strong on device support for those systems. My thinking is on a long train journey you lose connections all the time even on 3G but is Moblin could aggregate all your "Cloud" feeds, let you work on them locally on your device - coping with the network disconnects, and then posting back out when the connection is good then we have a winner here.

Another thought is an "overseas" travel option where support for FON etc. allows for easy network access.

Having been "messing about" with Linux systems now for the last 10 years and currently bored of Ubuntu (yes I know it is a great distro but seems to have lost it's focus recently for me anyway) I want to put some energy into something new & Moblin looks like a good bet.

Cheers

GDH

Workin on Generic Mini Notebook Intel Atom based

Submitted by Aymara on 26 July 2009 - 5:32pm.

Hi!! I'm glad to find that Moblin is growing fast!

I've installed as secondary OS. I have a data partition thats based on "Reiserfs" file system, and It can't be mounted on Moblin. It's REALLY important for me to access to those files (documents, music, videos).

Any chance to Reiserfs to be supported??? what can i do??

creating live usb image for moblin image creator 2

Submitted by mobquest on 7 July 2009 - 3:34am.

Hi,

I want to create a live usb image for moblin image creator 2. When type

sudo moblin-image-creator --config=netbook-core.ks --format=liveusb --cache=mycache

i get the following errors in the terminal

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/moblin-image-creator", line 282, in
sys.exit(main())
File "/usr/bin/moblin-image-creator", line 248, in main
creator.install()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mic/imgcreate/creator.py", line 691, in install
yr = ayum.addRepository(name, baseurl, mirrorlist, proxy, proxy_username, proxy_password)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mic/imgcreate/yuminst.py", line 282, in addRepository
if not self.checkRepositoryEULA(name, repo):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mic/imgcreate/yuminst.py", line 216, in checkRepositoryEULA
os.path.join(repo_lic_dir, repo.id + '_LICENSE.txt'))
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/mic/imgcreate/yuminst.py", line 143, in __checkAndDownloadURL
raise CreatorError(herror)
NameError: global name 'herror' is not defined

How do I solve this? Please help..

non-free repository

Submitted by babel on 29 June 2009 - 7:28am.

Hi there, i know moblin is based on fedora and both projects are planned to be a truly open source OS, but I think you have to put some alternatives in the repositories, cuz some apps work only with java for example; or at least u have to install by default apps to convert propietary files such as .wmv, .flv or .mp3, cuz i tried to install ffmpeg and sound converter and i had to download manually a lot of .rpm files before i can run ffmpeg, and i couldn't run soundconverter at all due to a incompatibility with a Gstreamer file installed by default in moblin. SO, if u can't play some media files and u don't have the tools to convert them into open source files, then u can't do nothing about it, and I love open source, but we have to admit we are a small population compared to users that prefer to user .avi, .wmv and that protected trash.
My idea is to have a repo with all this kind of software, it could be "turned off" by default so the users have the open source expirience, but at least that way u have an alternative.

installing Skype

Submitted by Arnie-75 on 28 June 2009 - 1:47am.

Well, I can't believe it! I'm an absolutely beginner regarding Linux and still I achieved installing Skype for moblin! :)
For everyone else, here is the instruction I used.
http://kasolutions.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/installing-skype-on-fedora-10/

You have to change one thing: Delete the empty line after [Skype] within the Skype.repo. Otherwise it won't install. It has to look like this:

[skype]
name=Skype Repository
baseurl=http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/fedora/updates/i586/
gpgkey=http://www.skype.com/products/skype/linux/rpm-public-key.asc
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

Also, if you need sound within Skype I had to change the audio within Skype options to HDI INTEL. This may be different for others since I have a Dell Mini 9.

Unfortunately the latest updates to the moblin browswer does not let me fill text in forms or mark and copy / paste anymore. I had to install FireFox again to write this (on a Dell Mini 9).

My thoughts for new builds and the website

Submitted by kenny on 26 June 2009 - 10:38am.

It would be useful to have a features list on the website and a progress indicator. for example, there have been a lot of requests for facebook and msn integration and there's no response as to whether this is being added or not.

also, for each release it would be nioce to see a list of fixes or features added.

Does anyone else agree?

New features list in upcoming release

Submitted by Michael Shaver on 26 June 2009 - 10:46am.

We will be adding a list of new features to releases as they come out now. The idea of a progress indicator is also good and I'll look into ways of implementing. I encourage everyone to search open bugs and to submit bugs at http://bugzilla.moblin.org. Many of these requests are being worked on and can be tracked there.

Thanks

re: New features list in upcoming release

Submitted by kenny on 26 June 2009 - 11:02am.

Thanks for the reply. I really do love the project and think that it has a great deal of potential.

I'm currently using XP mainly due to its simplicity and compatibility but will use moblin as my main 2nd os.

Moblin is as fast to load as xp is slow and i like the fact that moblin is straight forward and almost intuitive in the way that it is trying to integrate major internet apps.

Got Moblin working on eee 1008HA (Seashell)

Submitted by Akshay on 26 June 2009 - 10:30am.

Well, I got Moblin to work on my eee PC 1008HA, also known as the Seashell. Installation was very easy and was done in minutes. I haven't had a chance to test the sound yet, but I know wifi works for sure. Here are the bugs I found using the internet:
+ When I first start the browser, it gives me a blank page even after I type in the URL. It will load the page, but the page will be all white. I know that it has loaded the page because as a I move my cursor around and highlight various links on the page, the links will display on the status bar. But the page will be white. The second time I load the browser this seems to fix itself however.
+ on myZone, thumbnails for the web pages I have visited are all white. Might have to do with the above problem.

Suggestions to add:
+ Facebook along with twitter.
+ Mail program with support for Gmail
+ RSS feed reader

Eee PC 900

Submitted by Whitt Madden on 26 June 2009 - 8:20am.

Whenever I try loading the OS from my thumb drive, all I get is a cursor and a blank screen, using the Eee PC 900 model.

Moblin vs. Windows 7

Submitted by Arnie-75 on 25 June 2009 - 11:25pm.

I just tried the RC of Windows 7 on my Dell Mini 9.
After having used Moblin for about 2 weeks I found Windows 7 to be unusable. The desktop is a joke, like you have a taskbar and a start button on such a small display. This is NOT ergonomic. Also despite the progession in disk performance compared to VISTA it's still a bit slow. Moblin on the other hand is very fast and very ergonomic. It's obvious that it was programmed with small displays in mind. Now it needs to become more stable and bluetooth needs to be workling. On my Dell Mini9 it isn't, I already tried the 'bluetooth pairing app' but the device still didn't show up.

I'll switch back to Moblin.

PS: How about setting up a forum on this site? This would be VERY helpful. I don't like the mailing list.

Thanks

Submitted by marcusgennaroz on 25 June 2009 - 3:03am.

Hi! I just downloaded Moblin and installed it on my AspireOne. It works perfectly out of the box! Really cool. Thanks a lot for your effort.
M.

???

Submitted by noppolk on 25 June 2009 - 3:47am.

Model AspireOne is???

Thx

Non-Intel graphic card

Submitted by mort on 25 June 2009 - 2:22am.

Hi, i wanted to ask You if Moblin will support non-intel, non-integrated graphic cards - i have geforce8600M GT and its not working too well - and thats a pity becouse moblin looks promising for me - nice and simple ;) - and like that OS i was looking for

wiifi no activated

Submitted by nicolas andrade on 25 June 2009 - 1:55am.

sometime mi wireless card not work at the beginin
its a realtek 8187B
and never scan acces point
u.U
some help

Problem For Acer Aspire One D150

Submitted by noppolk on 24 June 2009 - 1:32am.

Hello.

I'm Found The Problem Between Moblin and D150.

1. Can't Detect Bluetooth Hardware on Device
2. Wireless Lan LED Can't Display and Blink

Thx.

Impressed Overall

Submitted by sketec on 23 June 2009 - 12:29pm.

I had been using UNR 9.04 on my Dell Vostro A90 and suffered from graphics issues. I'm switching to UNR 8.10 but, while in transition, I decided to give Moblin v2 a try. I'm impressed overall, but I can definitely see why it's still in beta.

Firstly, I had to go through this: http://slaine.org/_slaine/Dell_Mini_9.html to get wireless working.

Second, I had to revert to the Dell Mini 9's firmware to get sound working. Even still, the volume is too low. I had to open the alsa config and manually adjust.

Also, whenever I try to log into a website, I get the program error message. This occurs on Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and others. The browser also doesn't render some pages correctly. An example is reddit.com, the links will sometimes run together. I also don't like how you can't right click and 'view source'.

Some other issues: no rss feed handler built in, no openoffice (I don't use it, but I think it would be useful for some), the menu is flaky, no shutdown option (except for using the terminal).

Fix these issues and I can see this working for a lot of users. It's not for me though.

installing moblin on desktop

Submitted by rawkz on 23 June 2009 - 7:54am.

guys anyidea if I can install moblin on ma desktop. I use mandriva linux well jus to mess around and know bout it. My comp's config is
1) intel dual core 2.8 ghz
2) 2gb of RAM
3) Palit Ge8400 series
is it too much for mobilin or ll it jus work fine.

WiFi Dell Mini

Submitted by Sanozuke on 22 June 2009 - 3:04am.

No working, without driver. Fix it please!

As far as I read the drivers

Submitted by Arnie-75 on 23 June 2009 - 10:22pm.

As far as I read the drivers for Broadcom 4312MCG wifi chipset are not fully open source. That's why they will not get integrated into Moblin.

WIFI no working in compaq mini

Submitted by homza on 21 June 2009 - 3:12pm.

no working, i´m waiting for fix it...

When can we use in GMA500?

Submitted by Myoinbong on 20 June 2009 - 4:56pm.

I want to test in MID.!!

Still...

Submitted by Julio on 20 June 2009 - 1:03pm.

...no WIFI on the Mini9. I was hoping the last two "refreshes" would fix this issue but they have not.

Can yum upgrade be used instead of fresh install of refresh?

Submitted by Dana in Philly on 19 June 2009 - 4:33am.

Is there a technical way for you folks to enable those of us who've already installed 2.0 beta to simply use yum upgrade, rather than continually reinstalling new images as incremental refreshes become available?

Dana in Philly
Moblin 2.0 Beta on HP Mini 2140 working

Upgrade from within Moblin

Submitted by kenny on 24 June 2009 - 3:50pm.

I was under the impression that when there are new upgrades the upgrade option within moblin takes care of that (at least everytime there is a new release it finds updates...) ?

By "the upgrad option within

Submitted by Dana in Philly on 1 July 2009 - 6:13am.

By "the upgrad option within moblin," do you mean yum upgrade?

Fedora Live-USB-Creator makes persistent moblin USB installs

Submitted by Chucky on 19 June 2009 - 3:14am.

Win32DiskImager is crap. I had to re-download the img file 3 times because I clicked the read button. All I can say is use the Fedora Live-USB-Creator to install on a usb. It makes persistent usb installations.

I just recently tried the bluetooth connection on Moblin and it works on my Asus A8E laptop. I just don't see any Bluetooth icon on the tray.

Everything works on Asus A8E even the webcam and mic works perfect. I just can't seem to mount my NTFS harddisks. I also wish they have NTFS-3G with moblin so I can read and write on NTFS.

About mail client

Submitted by thegreek on 19 June 2009 - 1:41am.

Is there a fix for the mail client?It crashes constantly!!!

Dell Mini 9

Submitted by Arnie-75 on 18 June 2009 - 9:57pm.

Well, it looks as if the brightness adjustmant broke for the Mini 9. In the last BETA the brightness could be changed with the slider. Now it won't.
BTW, will it's Broadcom 4312MCG wifi be supported sometime without having to install it manually?

How to support Dell mini 10(intel GMA500)

Submitted by vincent9909 on 18 June 2009 - 7:33pm.

The driver for intel GMA500 is too poor to use!!

Also downloading...

Submitted by Manabu on 18 June 2009 - 4:48pm.

It's great to receive updates, but would you give us any advise of how to find bugs fixed, programs modified, behavior chaned, and features added in this release?

Status of individual bug can be traced in bugzilla, but from the release viewpoint, it seems hard to find what have been changed.

Might be easier to find them when the build number is added in each release.

Downloading in progress

Submitted by SweSG on 18 June 2009 - 11:10am.

Thx!