JT’s World

Today, Moblin have released version 2 BETA. According to the folks at Moblin, the OS is designed to run on Intel Atom based netbooks to prolong the battery life and provide simple, yet powerful user-experience.

Moblin v2.0 Beta Feature Summary

• New, visually rich user experience, optimized for Netbook and Nettops, building on the latest open source graphics technology, such as Clutter, DRI2, and KMS. The user experience is provided mainly through the toolbar and panels, available at the top of the screen.
• The m_zone, acting as the ‘home screen’ panel. It provides instant access to your synchronized calendar, tasks, appointments, recently used files, and real-time updates from your friends on social networking sites.
• Aggregation of your social networking content. This provides you with the ability to see your social networking activities on one screen, easily interact with your friends, and update your status and site information. Twitter and Last.fm are the currently supported social networking sites, with more to come.
• A web browser optimized for the Moblin 2.0 Netbook user interface. Based on the latest Mozilla browser technology revised into a Clutter shell, the browser gives you access to the whole internet, as well as advanced features, such as video embedding and the latest Flash plug-in, while integrating seamlessly into the user interface.
• A ‘Zoomable’ media player. This player brings your media collection to life as you zoom from viewing all media down to focusing on an individual picture, movie, or audio track. The media player can detect and index media on external USB devices, as well as UPnP devices on your network.
• A user interface for connection management and an updated connection manager (ConnMan).
• And, of course, support for Linux desktop applications. Moblin is built using GNOME Mobile Technologies and supports existing Linux desktop applications.

It can be download from THIS link [Download size: 666MB)

Comments: Yes, this is the same OS that claimed 2-second boot up time. Although with the release of new BETA (which adds a lot of features over the previous alpha built), I do not think it will be able to boot in 2-seconds, but should still be fast enough.

[from gadgetmix]

Hiding at the top of the screen is the Toolbar – you can find it by moving the cursor to the top of the screen (or by hitting the home button on your keyboard). Once you’ve finished with the toolbar, move the cursor away. The toolbar automatically hides to save precious screen space and allows you to concentrate on the tasks at hand.

The Moblin Toolbar

The Toolbar has 3 sections. The time and date on the left, a selection of panels in the middle, and system information items on the right.

Toolbar Sections

Time and date area is view only. To change the time and date, see Settings.

Example of active toolbar panel

Task item panels are core to the Moblin netbook experience. When you select a task item a panel appears. The panels act as a bridge between launching an application and providing information and context associated with the selected item.

Starting from the left, the Toolbar panels are:

	the m_zone Provides a quick snapshot of activity on your netbook and within your social network.
	the status panel Allows you to instantly post your status updates to social networking services.
	the people panel See all your contacts in one place. Instantly know which of your friends are available to communicate with.
	the internet panel Provides access to your currently running, favorite, and recently viewed websites. It also has an integrated automagic bar.
	the media panel Displays your recently played and viewed media files.
	the pasteboard panel A level up for copy and paste, this stores and manages multiple copied items from your netbook activity.
	the applications panel Provides easy access to all of the applications on your netbook.
	the zones panel Manages, organizes or switches to currently running applications.

System information items

The System Information items let you view and manage important parts of your system and adjust them accordingly.

The icons tell you all you need to know in one look, and offer all the available functionality in one easy click.

The panels are laid out with stored settings on the left-hand side and activation toggles and key tasks on the right-hand side.

Example of active system information panel.

System information items:

	Network connection Manage network connections, Wifi, Ethernet, 3G, and WiMAX in one central location.
	Volume control Turn volume up or down, mute, or turn alert sounds on or off.
	Power Show battery status, and adjust display brightness to conserve battery power.
	Bluetooth Coming soon!
	System Tray Many legacy Linux applications use a thing called a ‘system tray’ to stay around without cluttering up your screen too much. We think we’ve found a better way to do it with Zones but we’re always considering ways to make those other applications work brilliantly on your Moblin netbook.

When you start Moblin the first thing you see is the m_zone. It provides a quick snapshot of your personal activity on your netbook and what’s happening within your internet social life.

The m_zone

The m_zone is divided into 3 sections: on the left, Recent activities; center, Recent files & websites; and on the right, Recent social network updates.

Visual reference: recent activities, files & sites, and social network updates.

Recent activities provides a snapshot of your Calendar appointments and “to-do’s” from your task list. Beneath your appointments and tasks are shortcuts to your favorite applications.

To populate your Calendar appointments, you enter them into the Calendar application. To create a “To-do,” launch the Task application.

Recent files & websites shows your most recent content-related activity on your netbook, such as pictures you’ve viewed, or websites you’ve visited. To open or re-visit any of the items shown in this area simply click it.

Recent social network updates enables you to keep track of your internet social life. It shows your latest friends’ feeds from Last.fm and Twitter. More 3rd party services will be incorporated in future releases.

To see how to activate your social network accounts, see Web Services.

Customizing the m_zone.

Currently, you can change only the background image and choose your favorite applications. Future releases may enable you to customize additional elements.

To change your background, follow these few simple steps:

1. Open the applications panel located on the toolbar
2. Scroll down and expand the “preferences” category.
   Applications panel
3. Select “Wallpaper and Fonts” to launch the Appearance Preferences application.
4. Choose an alternative background (click “add” to select one of your own).
   
   Appearance Preferences Application
5. Click “close” and return to the m_zone to view your updated background.

Moblin v2.0 is designed to help you get the most out of your netbook. The Moblin Netbook user experience provides unique ways to engage with the internet, integrate your social networking activity and experience your media.

Moblin is different so this is a good place to start. This guide will introduce you to the different pieces that make up the Moblin v2.0 interface, tell you how to get around it, and show you how to use core UI elements such as the m_zone, Toolbar and panel items.

1The m_zone

Overview of what the m_zone is, what it does and what you need to have in order to get the most out of it.

2The Toolbar

How to access it, and a brief overview of each toolbar panel item.

3Getting Started

Setting up your social networking services (web services), joining a network etc, to enable you to get the most out of the Moblin interface.

Sometimes, a Concept Phones editor’s day can be changed by a concept such as the one below! We’re dealing with a mobile Internet device, bearing the simple name of “MID”, designed by Jan Rytir and based on the Intel Atom platform. The gadget allows its user to browse the web from anywhere and it packs quite a bunch of neat features.

Among MID’s specs there’s a 47 button QWERTY keyboard with a customizable configuration, an ultra wide LCD touchscreen, an easy to use trackball, 2 USB slots, microphone and audio input, an SD card reader, stereo speakers and a docking connector. The device measures 180 x 80 x 20mm, so it’s quite compact and you should know that this handset also uses OLED technology.

There are also 7 configurable action buttons that can be accessed when the MID is opened or closed. We really love this design, but we’d like to hear your take on it. Neat? Superb? You tell us!

[via Yanko Design]