November 4, 2009, 3:33 pm
The Moblin project today released Moblin v2.1 for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops. The incremental release reportedly adds an installer for Moblin Garage apps, additional languages, and 3G data connection support, along with a host of performance, stability, and documentation improvements.
The release was announced today by Imad Sousou, directory of Intel’s Open Source Center, in a Moblin.org post, here. Topping Sousou’s list of touted improvements was a better browser, something many early reviewers have clamored for. Wrote Sousou, “After much work, we are including a new internet browser application that far exceeds our previous browser performance and adds full support for features such as plug-in support and add-ons.”
Other highlighted improvements include:
- 3G Data Support using Ericsson MBM 3G modems
- Application Installer Integration
- Clutter 1.0
- Bluetooth audio, input, OBEX and phone modem device discovery and pairing via a toolbar panel
- ConnMan stability, performance enhancements
- UI scaling for “a wide range of nettop resolutions”
- Improved Instant Messaging account setup and connection manager improvements, including “transparent connection to your friends on your local network”
- System-wide input method support.
- Localization in English, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Finnish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional
- Community translation project working on additional languages
- Upgraded versions of key open source apps involving Moblin developers: the Linux kernel version 2.6.31, Intel Linux graphics driver 2.9, X server 1.6.4, and Mesa 7.6
- Updated documentation, sample code and updates to the Moblin SDK
A full list of changes and known issues can be found here, while a list of “tested netbook and nettop hardware” should be here. The Live CD image can be downloaded directly here.
