Moblin v2.0 beta refresh for Netbooks - June 7

Submitted by Tariq Shureih, updated on 9 Jul 2009 - 33 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 (33 total)

where can i get moblin complete source ?

Submitted by siva2553326 on 10 December 2009 - 2:23am.

Where can i get the complete source of moblin distribution

GUI method of Rebooting please

Submitted by zgundam on 26 July 2009 - 5:14am.

While the arguments for not having a GUI for shutting down is understandable (for a laptop), but what about a way to quickly reboot the computer without using the Terminal?

There are some of us who have more than one OS on their netbook / laptop and would like to switch between them by rebooting and not having to manually switch on / off the laptop all the time.

Thanks.

I think we don't need this.

Submitted by Arnie-75 on 26 July 2009 - 6:09am.

I think we don't need this. Hitting the power button 2 times is OK.

I want be root.

Submitted by TANGO on 13 July 2009 - 11:13pm.

I used USB image in My notePC but I can't access some special file without root permission.
How can I get root permission?

First time user

Submitted by kenny on 17 June 2009 - 3:08pm.

i stumbled upon this project and have to say i'm really impressed with the potential.

im running on a rebadged msi wind and it looks amazing. having problems navigating the internet pages and takes a bid of fiddling to get the touchpad working but like i say, i can see what this is trying to be and im impressed.

I've dual booted with xp and hope in time to use this as my main os for browsing, msn and facebook.

Love the concept and hope to see facebook, msn integration within a few releases, for me this will be crucial and once they are in there'll i'll make sure my less tech brave friends get it installed.

keep up the good work and i hope to get involved some point soon.

Advent 4211 Touchpad

Submitted by ash_bash on 15 July 2009 - 2:06am.

Hi, I have a rebadged MSI Wind (Advent 4211) and Moblin has installed Ok, but the Touchpad doesnt work at all, ive tried moving it during boot time etc to kick it into life but nothing.

Did you manage to get it working?

Ash

re msi wind touch pad

Submitted by kenny on 15 July 2009 - 2:26pm.

mine worked after updating to the most recent build. however, now wireless doesnt work

MSI Wind/Advent 4211 touchpad or wireless??

Submitted by ash_bash on 26 July 2009 - 9:30am.

yeah I have found the same problem now after using the latest version, is there a fix for this yet?

msi wind wireless

Submitted by kenny on 27 July 2009 - 2:38pm.

ok well um it did ... now technically it works but won't actually complete the connection to any networks...

Moblin 2.0 ß show on Atom + ION GFU

Submitted by dominig on 16 June 2009 - 3:02pm.

I have loaded Moblin 2.0 ß without problem on the Acer Revo, a small low cost PC built on the Atom N230 and the Nvidia ION GFU.
I would not say that it run, but it walks. Performance are unacceptably slow compared to Ubuntu 9.04 MID edition but better than Android 1.5 that would not boot.
My test configuration is typical for a Media Adapter application, with a connection via an HDMI interface to a 1080p TV set. I have Moblin 2.0ß and Ubuntu 9.10 MID running side by side in the default mode (basic Vesa mode without Nvidia drivers).

  • on Ubuntu the GUI is slow but remains usable. Update of the 1080p screen after a mouse click takes less than 1s and text entry is normal
  • on Moblin the GUI is hardly usable (like VNC on a PSTN modem connection). Update of the 1080p screen after a mouse click can take several seconds. and text entry takes 1-2s per character
  • on Android 1.5, the GUI does not show up

When I load the NVIDIA custom drivers on Ubuntu, the GUI flies like on a top end PC but on Moblin as expected it breaks the start up script and nothing works. I did not try to port the open source NVIDIA drivers but it would certainly change a lot the result. The difference in Vesa mode let guess that Moblin is running with a (or several) bag of sand. Test done in text mode by a simple ssh connection confirm that impression.
On the other side, Moblin tool kit look nice but integration of the ION is seriously missing for that type of device.
A promising solution.

Nvidia Ion fixed now it run

Submitted by dominig on 26 June 2009 - 4:07am.

It still a manual process and a bit of a hack but once that Nvidia special video and the Ethernet forcedeth drivers have been added, Moblin does run well on the couple Atom N230 + Nvidia Ion. The tests done on a 1080p large TV are very impressive.

Moblin is still not stable enough for any shipment, but performance of the UI or large screen with that configuration are good. I shoudl become a good solution once the production class software has been reached.

A short description of what is required to do to activate the Ion configuration is available on Brendan blog at
http://www.madeo.co.uk/

You can also find a relevant thread on the development mailing list at
http://lists.moblin.org/pipermail/dev/2009-June/005210.html

Enjoy

eeePC 900HA works great

Submitted by Greg Skyles on 16 June 2009 - 9:20am.

It booted in a flash from my USB stick the first time (once I figured out how to get the BIOS to let me boot from the USB...) and seems to work great. WIFI, sound, everything I tried loooks good.

Persistent image on USB

Submitted by NC_Bob on 15 June 2009 - 12:49pm.

Can I make the image on the USB key persistent in some manner?
When I make changes they are all reset when I reboot.
Sorry to sound dumb.
Thanks.

Persistent image on USB

Submitted by omegahalo on 2 July 2009 - 9:21am.

Good question... i would like to know also.

Persistent image on USB

Submitted by samisirkia on 19 November 2009 - 9:26am.

I have done an install to an USB storage.
Do partions as you wish. Be sure to install grub to the mbr of the usb stick.
It requires some manual editing after the installation:
- copy the initrd.img from liveusb to the /boot/ of the new installation.
- check the label of the installed partition - let's say it is MyMoblin.
- edit /boot/grub/grub.conf:
Change root=sd*1 -> root=LABEL=MyMoblin
Add line "initrd /boot/initrd.img" after the kernel line.
- edit /etc/fstab:
Correct root partion: sd*1 -> root=LABEL=MyMoblin

You should now have a bootable USB installation.
Use a fast USB memory.

I wrote that from memory, so please report the mistakes here.

Japanese font missing - perhaps

Submitted by Manabu on 15 June 2009 - 1:15am.

Although I can select "Japanese" in the installation screen, Japanese font displayed in the following installation session is not completely displayed. Also, after installation, Japanese fonts are not correctly displayed, making environment mostly useless. It seems Japanese characters are displayed using Chinese fonts.
As it can be selected at the installation time, corrupted result disappoints trial user.

new install or update?

Submitted by Arnie-75 on 13 June 2009 - 5:02am.

I asked this before in another comment but got no answer:

I want to have the latest version that's public. Do I have to install the latest beta each time it is released or is it enough to install all available updates as they arrive?

Thanks

yum update

Submitted by Michael Shaver on 15 June 2009 - 8:34am.

You can run yum update from a terminal to update to the latest release.

yum update

Mini 9 ; no WIFI

Submitted by Julio on 12 June 2009 - 3:57pm.

I can see the WIFI interface when I click on the wifi icon but no access points are seen. My access point comes up in all in my other wifi-enabled computers/devices; the access point broadcasts its ESSID.

Mini 9, no WiFi

Submitted by Jerry on 17 June 2009 - 2:34pm.

You are lucky, I was seeing it and with this release that went away. Only the wired adapter shows up. I had used the fix posted here to get WiFi working, but gave up as I am using a USB stick and there was no way to make that permanent. If there is a way to get it on the stick after the edits, let me know.

Poulsbo chipset

Submitted by chompernuts on 12 June 2009 - 11:19am.

I have a Dell mini 10, which uses the Poulsbo chipset. Are there any plans to add support for this? I know there are issues with the drivers. The Ubuntu mobile team repackaged some things to make it work
http://mok0.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/ubuntu-on-the-dell-mini-10-2/

lenovo s10e

Submitted by christian on 12 June 2009 - 10:42am.

hello,I try the beta of moblin on the lenovo s10e and i see that work well all but the wifi is not configured....
this is a os beautiful and i ask you if the final release is also in italian?and if the final release is compatibility on the lenovo s10e..
thank you for all and sorry for my english

Apire one 110

Submitted by Mackeral on 12 June 2009 - 6:25am.

This refresh seems a bit more polished in the browser department. Where it prevents me from using it as a distro is the shaky, imprecise cursor/trackpad action, (clicking seems desensitized also) and the poor package management interface. I still cannot install a single e-mail client into Moblin. Calendar refused to log a couple of date/data entries and so did not show up in my_zone.
I will await a later more solid version which I am sure will become my favourite for this netbook.

What happened to the torrent?

Submitted by Michael Ansel on 11 June 2009 - 6:46pm.

With the first release of the beta, you guys set up a torrent for it, and it saved me a lot of time downloading. How come you stopped, and could you please create them in the future? Thanks!

pciehp compile option

Submitted by Craig on 11 June 2009 - 3:51pm.

Hi.
I've noticed a couple of bugs in this June refresh..

When using the chat option.. if someone messages you.. (in my test I used Salut to message the netbook but not sure if it makes any difference where the message comes from) there is no mention of it from the notifier or the People Zone.
The only way I could see that I was messaged was to start empathy from a terminal.

Once that is done the empathy mainwindow never leaves - I thought that the People Zone was practically a replacement for Empathy mainwindow?

I gather that the kernel provided with Moblin has pciehp as a builtin..
This needs to be enabled for the AcerAspireOne (ZG5) card readers to work..

That and perhaps acerfand could be added

Otherwise, moblin is Absolutely Awesome, keep up the good work people
XD

Testing on Advent 4211 (OEM version of MSI U100

Submitted by blaster219 on 11 June 2009 - 8:50am.

NB: Tested using latest LIVE version on USB key (did not select install at boot menu)

Webcam not functioning (although I couldn't see a way of checking it)
Bluetooth not functioning (indicator LED stubbornly refused to light up)
Many websites causing browser to crash (last.fm, mail.google.com)
Unable to access any data or files stored on XP formatted partitions of netbooks HDD. Since that is where ALL my documents and media are stored, this is a bit of a deal breaker.
The auto-hide function of the topbar is really annoying. Is there anyway to turn it off?

It looks good though, and definitely shows promise.

Wifi problems

Submitted by didelco on 11 June 2009 - 7:42am.

Wifi dont work with asus 1000h, at least to me, I hope was solved in this review

i am in love too

Submitted by poison on 11 June 2009 - 4:21am.

hey i am testet the live cd image of moblin 2.0beta and i was supprised
the design and the boottime and all other things - i am in love too

but my question is
i am using a 3G SIM card from vodafone in my netbook (lenovo s10)
curse at home i dident have wifi or wireless and i dont want do drive to the next hotspot in an mc doneds restaurante (ca 40 km)

is in the new release the 3G support includet or not?
cause by reading the last requrement it was saying "Not yet"
but what is with totay does it alredy work?

sorry for my verry bad english

My new love!

Submitted by SweSG on 10 June 2009 - 8:31am.

I'm in love. This works very well on my computer (Asus Eee 1000H).
Wireless network works good.
Sound works good.
Flash is allready installed so Youtube works.

I think this is going to be my main OS when it's finnished.

Thank you Moblin team for a good and probably hard work.

Sorry for my bad English.

// SweSG

flash?!?!??!?

Submitted by abe on 14 June 2009 - 12:34am.

wtf?!? have u got flash in the default browser of moblin?!?!... why haven't i?!?
i think i have the system up to date beacuse it says no updates available, but still no flash plugin in order to be able to watch youtube videos... =(
any help?!?!

Flash

Submitted by SweSG on 15 June 2009 - 10:46am.

Wierd that you don't have flash.

Anybody else that doesn't have flash?

Dual boot

Submitted by funkelectric on 10 June 2009 - 12:48am.

Hi,

I tested the "LIVE-USB" version of Moblin 2.0 , and I really want to use it as a day by day basis, but I would like to be able to use it in dual boot with the Windows XP version of my Acer Aspire One.

Any "easy" way to install Moblin 2.0 in dual boot with Win XP ? Maybe with something like it's used in Linux Mint 7 that's allow installing from winthin windows?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Install on Archos 10

Submitted by castellani jean-luc on 9 June 2009 - 1:52pm.

It is Ok on Archos 10 and French !