Intel's Linux-Powered Mobile Internet Device

An anonymous reader writes "Intel is set to launch an ultra-mobile PC dubbed Mobile Internet Device or MID which will run on Linux. The PDA-sized devices will target 'consumers and prosumers' instead of mobile professionals. From the story: 'MID tablets will run a simplified finger-friendly user interface optimized for the small screens, based on the Gnome desktop but with an Intel-developed master user interface layer to serve as an equivalent to the desktop. Developers will next month see the first MID-specific OS -- a tweak of China's RedFlag Linux known as RedFlag MIDINUX -- while the IDF schedule itself includes a stream of ultra mobile sessions including one on Designing for Linux-based mobile Internet devices.'"

Linux?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Linux powered? What happenned to Microsoft's origami [slashdot.org].

HAHAHAHAHA! I guess intel saw how craptacular MS's other embedded devices were (think mobile phones) and decided to go their own way....

Oh - and what you all came to the comments to get (wtf link to a zdnet blog anyway?) a link to a gallery of pics [engadget.com]. It looks surprisingly nice.

Nokia's Internet Tablets' Hildon UI too

[Jaffa]

It's also using the Hildon GTK+-based libraries for a user interface which form the most user-visible part of Maemo [maemo.org] - the Linux base which Nokia is using in their 770 and N800 Internet Tablets. Those have the advantage of using ARM processors, rather than chunky x86 ones meaning standby/resume is not something you need as the power consumption is that much lower. Interesting times.

Re:Late April Fool's?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Unless they charge out the ass for this thing, I can't see how they'd be able to sell enough units to even cover the R&D costs.

Are you MAD? Have you seen what Ultra Mobile Computing can do? [youtube.com] (for maximum comic effect, check out the UI in the lastish sequence with the two girls going to the party).

But seriously, I suspect from red flag being the software partner that the target market is Chinese - not you.

That said tho', I'd love to have one if they're anything near as nice as they look....

Re:Nokia's Internet Tablets' Hildon UI too

[tincho_uy]

Yes, but the Nokia tablets don't offer HSDPA, or any other GSM conectivity option, for that matter. It'll be interesting to see what one can do with this little device...

Re:Device drivers...

[Aladrin]

Um, yeah, actually, I -would- want to make sure the latest Ubuntu would run. Imagine that.

And why would it not have the drivers? If Midinux has the drivers, there's nothing stopping Ubuntu/Gentoo/DSL/etc from having them also.

Truth be told, it's not Ubuntu that I want, but Kubuntu. I like a lot of the stuff that KDE has like KIO slaves, and I like the attitude of the Ubuntu distro people. They have a tendency to run their distro like I'd want if I were there, and I tend to stick to it.

It's not 'the Slashdot crowd' anyhow, it's the entire human race that will never be truly happy. If we could be, we wouldn't be where we are today, and we certainly wouldn't continue striving for better all the time. If you aren't happy being part of the human race, maybe you should consider other options? (That's a joke, for all you idiots out there that don't have a sense of humor. You know who you are.)