Asus readying Moblin netbook?

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 10 Aug 2009 at 11:41

Asus will deliver an Eee PC running the Moblin operating system in October, according to reports.

Moblin is an open-source operating system based on the Fedora Linux distro, and was developed by Intel to take advantage of Atom-based netbooks and Core 2 processors.

Rumours suggest Asus will simply port the operating system to an existing Eee PC rather than launch it on a new model. The Seashell 1008HA has been mooted as a likely candidate.

The company is also thought to be considering offering Moblin as an alternative option on all of its netbooks if an initial trial goes well.

Though unconfirmed, the rumours aren't too difficult to believe - Asus has long flirted with open source. Its original Eee PC ran a modified version of Xandros and its high-end motherboards are equipped with the Linux-based Splashtop "instant-on" OS. There were also reports it was ready to launch a netbook based on Android, though those have quietly fizzled out.

Unsurprisingly, Asus wasn't giving anything away: "There's no news on Moblin at this stage. Asus has long-term relationships with many partners in the industry and the Asus R&D team is always involved with the latest technology developments," an Asus spokesperson told PC Pro when confronted about the rumour.

"Asus will officially announce new products when they are mature and ready for manufacture, with clear production plans," he added.