Xandros and Canonical are the latest Linux distributions to announce plans to develop versions of their operating systems based on Moblin. The Moblin Linux distribution, which is backed by Intel and managed by the Linux Foundation is a custom version of Linux optimized for Intel Atom powered mini-laptops. It boots quickly, takes advantage of the chip’s power saving features, and…

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Xandros Linux is probably best known in netbook circles as the operating system powering Asus Eee PC netbooks. But at Mobile World Congress in Spain this week, the company behind Xandros made a series of announcements related to netbooks and low powered computing devices. Probably the most significant is that there are now versions of Xandros optimized for ARM, Freescale,…

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It looks like Asus is not planning to kill its Linux Eee PC models for northern Europe as I reported yesterday. Some reports had quoted an Asus spokesperson as saying that the company would not be offering its custom version of Xandros Linux on Eee PCs in Denmark and certain other northen European countries. But apparently that was a “misunderstanding.”…

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So it turns out that if you want to sell a computer with a custom operating system in multiple countries, you have to take the initiative of translating the menus and dialogs yourself. And that’s apparently turning out to be a bit of a chore for Asus. So the company has decided not to offer Linux on Eee PCs sold…

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The version of Xandros Linux that Asus ships with Linux versions of its Eee PC line isn’t exactly the most frequently updated Linux disribution in the world. So if you want to make sure you’ve got the latest versions of software like Pidgin, Firefox, and other applications loaded into the read-only section of your netbook or nettop’s storage space, you…

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There’s been a lot of talk over the last few months about the future of Linux on netbooks. When the OLPC Foundation, Asus, and other early netbook makers decided to preload various Linux distributions instead of Windows on the earliest netbooks, there were a few goals. The OLPC Foundation wanted to embrace open source ideals while keeping software licensing costs…

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Kristin Shoemaker is one half of the podcasting team Sudo Wrestling and she blogs at OStatic and Linux Librarian. She likes to take things apart and see if she can put them back together again in new and better ways. I am pretty well past the “geek” mark, and coming up really close to the “dork” point on the Nerd…

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My Eee PC 1000H is currently running Windows XP, so I haven’t had a chance to check this out for myself, but Sascha at Eee PC News.de reports that there’s a new version of Xandros available for Eee PC 701 users. Xandros 1.6.1 adds a few new icons and programs to the easy mode launcher, including an Eee Connect feature,…

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Asus appears to have launched its new software download center for Eee PC users. The site has over 3,400 free Liinux applications including games, media players, and office applications. There’s just one problem. There doesn’t appear to be any easy way to install these programs on a current generation Eee PC. Each program has a handy little “install” button next…

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Acer, Asus, and MSI may have been busy making headlines this week, but not everything is about hardware. Microsoft and Xandros both made moves this week that could have a major impact on the low cost ultraportable laptop market: Microsoft softens its stance on Windows XP for low cost computers: While Microsoft may have stopped selling Windows XP directly to…

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When Asus first announced the Eee PC, the company explained that one of the ways it would keep the price down on its tiny laptops would be by shipping machines that run Linux instead of Windows. But Asus rose some eyebrows with its choice of Linux distributions. While Ubuntu, Fedora, and several other distros have gotten a lot of attention…

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