I have a netbook. A Lenovo S10, as a matter of fact. My S10 is split into two partitions–one running Windows 7, the other various flavours of Linux.
A netbook is a pretty useful little device. It’s small enough that it can go pretty much anywhere. It’s just big enough to get work done, within a pretty narrow definition of “work”. As a net device, it’s excellent.
The biggest shortcoming of these devices is the screen size–more specifically, the resolution of the screen. 1024×600 is just barely enough to run a web browser in full screen mode (and I recommend Chrome in kiosk mode for this). Multiple windows? I don’t think so. More than 1 or 2 windows introduces a clutter that’s difficult to manage, especially if you’re using the trackpad rather than a mouse (it’s trivial to grab a window and flick it out of the way with a mouse–not so trivial with a trackpad).
In order to combat issues with screen size, I think we need to rethink the user interface. In Windows 7, I move the task bar to be vertical on the left and autohiding, and that helps a lot. It’s still not ideal, though, because the windows are still windows and still have the same properties that make them ideal for larger displays but not so much for smaller ones.
Several Linux distributions attempt to resolve this by modifying the UI elements to optimize them for the small screen. Jolicloud and Ubuntu Netbook Remix are two examples. Both are very nice Linux distros, both are optimized for netbooks, including the display. Both install and run on my S10 with no issues. The way they manage the “window management” issue is simple–each window is essentially a full screen, and you switch between windows as you switch between applications. You don’t ever (or hardly ever) see multiple windows on the screen, though you certainly do have multiple applications.
Which brings us to Moblin. Moblin rethinks the whole netbook package, not just the UI. UI changes are similar to other netbook Linux distros–one window, one screen. But the rest of the OS shows how much can be done when you go all the way back to the roots of the OS. On my S10, Moblin goes from power off to fully functioning in 30 seconds. Battery life on Moblin is better than Windows 7. Screen effects are crisp and sharp. Moblin takes advantage of every hardware tweak netbooks have to offer, and works around most of the hardware compromises. It’s crisp and clean and, after a little tweaking, ideal for my needs.
Moblin can optimize netbook hardware so well because it’s very foundation is created by folks at Intel. These are folks that have intimate knowledge of the Atom processor and the Intel GMA video chips that make up most notebooks. These folks know how to wring every drop of performance out of their hardware, which is as it should be.
Sadly, though, they cannot create a Linux distro. Sure, Moblin rocks. It’s very pretty and it works very well on my S10. But that’s after two days of dicking around with it in ways that your average consumer won’t, and shouldn’t have to, do.
First I had to hardwire my net connection so that I could download, build and install the Broadcomm drivers for the wifi card in the S10. Why? Moblin ships without support for these drivers because they are proprietary. That’s a decision the Moblin team made and I respect that. But there’s no reason why they couldn’t make a package available for people to install, rather than forcing them through hoops. Ubuntu does this with, for example, proprietary nVidia drivers.
Next, in order to get media support, I had to download and install gstreamer and it’s codecs. From source. This is unacceptable. The Linux Foundation knows that people listen to MP3’s. Again, there are licensing issues that make it difficult to include the codec support in the distro, but, again, organizations like Ubuntu have worked around this. Making Joe Consumer download and compile source code is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
If I install Jolicloud or the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I get a similar experience to Moblin. But I’m good to go out of the box–there’s no need to hook up a wired connection to get wireless working. There’s no downloading and compiling source code for functionality that should be there from the get go.
I still think that, so far, Moblin is a better experience. I like the way app switching is done, for example: alt-tab shows all open windows in a miniature but live view. I can take a look at a mini version of a terminal and see if the job that was running has completed. Release alt-tab and I’m back where I started.
I respect Intel for getting into Moblin. The assistance they bring to the Linux community for optimizing their hardware is invaluable. I hope that other organizations, like Canonical, take advantage of this. I also hope that Moblin can grow into something much more consumer friendly and Linux-newbie ready. They’re at version 2.1 now. Perhaps with version 3…
