Included in the list are netbook heavyweights Acer and Asus and highlights that we may see dedicated MeeGo netbooks at some point in the future. Acer’s Jim Wong, senior corporate vice president and president of IT Products Global Operations said: “Acer was an enthusiastic adopter of Moblin and we’re excited about Moblin’s evolution into the MeeGo software platform. We’re looking forward to ecosystem innovation that will be enabled by the open nature of MeeGo.”

Asus’ S.Y. Shian, vice president and general manager of Notebook Business Unit, said: “MeeGo is an exciting new software platform and gives customers mobile computing solutions based on Intel Atom processors which offer innovations for the user experience. As the netbook market grows, Asus is continually exploring offerings that optimize this computing experience and address the specific needs of today’s netbook customers.”

Now the MSI Wind U160 has been spotted running Moblin at MWC in Barcelona. The hardware remains the same: 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display, N450 Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD and a 15 hour battery life. We don’t know whether this was just a demonstration or whether MSI plans on making this a commercial reality. However, you can check out a video of the Moblin Wind U160 after the break.

Via Notebook Italia.

Lifehacker has been conducting a poll over the last week, asking its readers what is the best netbook operating system. First of all they asked their readers to flag their favourite, they then rounded up the five most popular OSes and conducted a poll to find a winner.

The five chosen candidates were Windows 7, Ubuntu, Jolicloud, OS X and Linux Mint. What I find strange about this collection is that there is no Windows XP. Given that Windows XP was preinstalled on pretty much every netbook before last October, it’s strange there’s a lack of XP love. I was also surprised to not see Moblin as one of the chosen five. Over 760 replied to the original post, which seems a reasonably high number to get a wide range of votes.

The poll itself saw 13,001 votes and declared Windows 7 the clear winner with 36 percent of the vote followed by Ubuntu with 27 percent. Jolicloud and OS X both garnered 12 percent of the votes each with Linux Mint at last place with 8 percent. Do you agree with the list? We’d love to hear your favourite below.

Nokia recently delivered its first Maemo device the Nokia N900 smartphone and Intel’s Moblin is a credible open-source software platform for netbooks as well as MIDs. The MeeGo project will be hosted by the Linux Foundation. There will be access to both the Nokia Ovi Store and the recently announced Intel AppUp Centre.

The great news is that MeeGo will support both x86 Intel Atom processors and ARM-based chipsets, so we’re as likely to see this in smartbooks as we are in netbooks. The first release of MeeGo is not currently available, although it is expected in Q2 2010. The first devices are expected by the year end.

The Samsung N127 is powered by an Intel Atom Z-series processor, more than enough grunt to run Moblin adequately. Ars Technica got some hands-on time with the Samsung N127 and found that Moblin ran very snappily. As Moblin has been designed for small screens, the large icons and bright colours help with the user experience.

You’ll be glad to hear that battery life is also meant to be on par with the Windows XP version (a sign of good optimisation). The hardware itself is typical of most Samsung netbooks currently on the market. Samsung haven’t even got rid of the Windows key! Check out a hands-on video of the Samsung N127 from Liliputing below.

Samsung aren’t the only ones toying with Moblin on netbooks. MSI is planning a U135 netbook with SUSE Linux and the Moblin UI. Novell has worked hard to get boot times down to 30 seconds. This particular model is planned to launch in February. Liliputing spotted one of these at CES and shot a quick hands-on video that we’ve attached below.

The benchmark tests covered everything from video playback performance to encoding to battery power consumption and CPU/memory usage tests. The test netbook used was the popular Samsung NC10 with 2GB RAM and a 32GB SSD.

Interestingly, Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 came out on top, having the best battery life and lowest CPU/memory usage. The desktop distro OpenSUSE 11.2, was second, whilst Moblin 2.1 came third. Chromium OS was bottom of the pile, although considering very early source code has been released this is not entirely surprising. Check out the thorough tests at Phoronix.

Via Netbooked.

This new release brings a number of significant improvements including 3G and Bluetooth (device discovery and pairing) support, enhanced browser functionality, UI enhancements, integrated Moblin Garage (online application store) as well as a number of performance and stability improvements.

We’ve listed the full Moblin v2.1 feature summary from the press release after the break. You can download Moblin 2.1 here or check out a number of screenshots of the new release here.

Moblin v2.1 Feature Summary

• Internet Browser. 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. Many thanks to Moblin users and the developer community for their feedback and contributions.
• 3G Data Support. Support for 3G data connections using the Ericsson* MBM 3G modems. Support for additional 3G modems is planned for future releases.
• Application Installer Integration. The Moblin Application Installer is integrated and provides a logically categorized list of applications that you can choose to install. The selection of applications that appears within the Moblin Application Installer comes from the Moblin Garage.
• Clutter 1.0. With this new version of Moblin, we are releasing Clutter 1.0, the Moblin animation framework.
• Bluetooth Device Support. Bluetooth device discovery and pairing now supported via a new panel in the toolbar, which supports Bluetooth audio devices, input devices (keyboards, mice), OBEX file transfer, and using a Bluetooth* phone as a 3G modem.
• Connection Manager. Connection Manager (ConnMan) has significant modifications particularly in the areas of performance and reliability. The new version of ConnMan now supports Ethernet, WiFi, WiMAX, and 3G.
• Nettop Support. UI scaling is provided for a wide range of nettop resolutions, including the ability to show more information in the Myzone panel based on the available screen space.
• Improvements to Instant Messaging. Improvements have been included for Instant Messaging account setup, integration within the connection manager, and support for transparent connection to your friends on your local network.
• Input Method Support. Input method support is now included across the system.
• Localization. Moblin is currently localized in the following languages (English, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Finnish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional). We also have a community translation project where Moblin is translated to additional languages by the community.
• In addition, Moblin v2.1 includes several updated versions of key technology components that the Moblin developers worked on with the various communities; these include the Linux kernel version 2.6.31, Intel Linux graphics driver 2.9, X server 1.6.4, and Mesa 7.6. We are also providing updated documentation, sample code and updates to the Moblin SDK. Detailed Moblin UX help documentation is included in multiple languages along with updated Moblin SDK documentation and sample code.

The Linux Foundation has also announced Moblin Garage that appears to be an online application store containing free/open source software The Moblin Garage works in conjunction with the Moblin Application Installer to easily install new applications. The Moblin Application Installer is launched from the myzone panel and provides a list of applications from the Moblin Garage to install. You can find more detail on Moblin garage here.

The guys must have been busy, as Moblin v2.1 has also been announced. It is expected to be released during Q4 2009 and will include myzone improvements, IM improvements, better language support, updated kernel, Moblin Garage, Moblin Application Installer, 3G data support, and Bluetooth. It is still at the very early stages but can be downloaded here for those wanting an early preview.

This version has been labelled as the “Developer Edition” as it is still a work in progress. Despite this, Dell is shipping the Inspiron Mini 10v with it factory installed. If you already have the Mini 10v and just want to download the image click here. Check out a video demo after the break.

Via Dell Blog.