Filed under: Desktops

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Filed under: Cellphones

Without much fanfare, the Samsung i800 was canned at the tail end of last month. When asked why, Orange simply noted that it was pulled in order to “prepare a more competitive Linux mobile.” A recent writeup at Ostatic takes a hard look at whether this simple withdrawal is really a sign of things to come, and it suggests that ALP could see support fade as the major players in Linux (and maybe even Nokia) step to the plate. One analyst was even quoted as saying that “having Google’s brand behind Symbian could very well mean ‘game over’ for mobile Linux in the mobile phone market,” and we honestly can’t disagree too vehemently with that assertion. Of course, the LiMo Foundation has stated its intentions to not back down from the mighty Google, but sometimes, even the best intentions fall through. Guess time will tell, huh?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

DeviceVM’s SplashTop “instant-on” OS is based on Linux, even though it’s locked down to only run IM, Skype, media software, and Firefox, and you know what that means — it’s already been hacked wide open. Yep, the clever kids at the Phoronix forums have managed to open up the BIOS-based OS and make it do all kinds of tricks, including run other programs and boot other machines off a flash drive. The hacks are still a little complex, but with ASUS shipping tons of ExpressGate-enabled mobos and laptops and HP’s support in the Voodoo Envy 133, we’d there’s a one-click unlocker in the wild fairly soon. Anyone brave enough to install it on their machines?

[Thanks, george85]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

It has been a solid tick since we’ve seen a good FairPlay hack, so it’s with great pleasure that we pass along El Tunes for Ubuntu 8.04 users everywhere. Tested to work on Hardy Heron using RhythmBox (but assumed to work on any modern Linux Distro with GStreamer and a media player that utilizes GStreamer), said plug-in enables open-source aficionados to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. As for limitations, the current version has no Pause / Seek support and cannot de-authorize a machine for playback, but a future version should hopefully cure those two quirks and add support for purchased video content and audio streaming to an AirTunes device. Give it a shot and let us know how it treats ya.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

There was a time when the world was more innocent and Lincoln Logs in elementary classrooms were a given, but now that teachers are looking to squash every ounce of fun between 8AM and 3PM (okay, so maybe we just had a rough experience or two), LEGO’s taking the back door in. The WeDo robotics kit is marketed toward elementary schools and the younger kids within them, with each package containing 158 blocks, gears, levers, etc., a USB hub for connecting to your Mac / PC, OLPC XO or Intel Classmate, a motor, one motion sensor, one tilt sensor and a CD with a smattering of sure-to-be-riveting activities. Mum’s the word on pricing for now, but considering your tax dollars will be paying for ‘em, it’s not like you’ll really benefit from knowing.

[Via BoingBoing]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Aw, aren’t these two just as cute as a button together? We can almost see Dell gushing at the thought of rolling Ubuntu out in a pair of new machines early next month. Nah, we didn’t just fabricate that — the Ubuntu 8.04-powered XPS M1530N and Studio 15N should be available in a matter of weeks, and in the meantime, you open source aficionados can enjoy Hardy Heron as a pre-installed option on the XPS M1330N, Inspiron 1525N and Inspiron 530N. Hit the read link for purchase options in your country.

[Via TG Daily]

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Filed under: Laptops

At this point, it’s pretty hard to figure out which netbook is better than another, but if you’ve been keyed in on Acer’s version for whatever reason, Laptop has a review sure to pique your interest. The Aspire One was praised just as soon as it left the box for its classy styling and super portable design. After getting down to business, however, reviewers felt that the typing experience was only “decent” and the touchpad was “cramped” — two things we actually would expect from a device of this stature. Nevertheless, the port selection was tolerable, the performance was passable and the battery life left a bit to be desired. As you can tell, this one seemed perfectly average on the whole, though it was deemed a “pretty good bargain” at $379. Huzzah?

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Filed under: Cellphones

If you’re a Linux fanboy with a hankering for some mobile action, you’ll be pleased to know that buyers of the retail, North American version of OpenMoko’s Neo FreeRunner have started getting shipments. If you hit the read link, you’ll be able to see one lucky owner unboxing his new toy, complete with a spares kit and debug board (this guy is getting into it, okay?). This set of photos should be a nice companion to that in-depth look at the OS we saw recently. Now we’re going to be on pins and needles finding out what gets cooked up for that spacious 480 x 640 screen.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Laptops

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Unless you’re very, very special, you haven’t yet had an opportunity to run your hands over Openmoko’s latest open-source creation, the FreeRunner, which was announced several months back with the hope of a spring release. Unlike the Neo1973 before it, the FreeRunner’s said to be chock full of enough spit and polish to take on an audience larger than the original’s hardcore developer base, and while a springtime date with destiny is now out of reach, it looks like they’ll only miss the mark by a few days. A recent message from Openmoko’s VP of marketing on the community listserv said that the retail phones should be packed and shipped by tomorrow and — if all goes well, of course — should clear customs by the first of July, meaning buyers should be able to get them delivered in the first week or two of the month. If they’d been able to squeeze in 3G, we’d hardly be able to contain ourselves, but even as it is, we suspect there’s enough buzz to get units sold; let’s just hope they’re already hard at work on version three.

[Via The Inquirer Spanish]

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Filed under: Desktops

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Filed under: Handhelds

Intel’s Moblin tech is getting some big love at Computex — first Canonical dropped the Ubuntu Netbook Remix on us, and now Xandros has announced plans to support the MID- and netbook-targeted system additions in future editions of its Linux distros. If that seems a little confusing, it’s because it is — Moblin was never supposed to be a standalone Linux OS, but rather a standardized Linux core stack designed to maximize the potential of Atom-based mobile devices. Of course, one of those mobile devices is a little machine called the Eee that just happens to run Xandros, so it looks like Eee owners should look forward to better battery life, faster booting, and “expanded Internet and media capabilities.” Now the real question: is that enough to get people to stay away from the recently-revived-again Windows XP?

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Not much else to say beyond the title of this one — MWeston has recently confirmed over at the GP32X boards that Bluetooth will indeed be included on the forthcoming Pandora mega-emulator. He noted that BT was added because of an exceptional deal they landed and to “make competing devices look that much less interesting.” Right, so what exactly is this bundle of awesomeness competing against exactly?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Not much else to say beyond the title of this one — MWeston has recently confirmed over at the GP32X boards that Bluetooth will indeed be included on the forthcoming Pandora mega-emulator. He noted that BT was added because of an exceptional deal they landed and to “make competing devices look that much less interesting.” Right, so what exactly is this bundle of awesomeness competing against exactly?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Desktops

People have been stuffing PCs in all kinds of things they don’t belong in for a while now, but this Linux cluster creatively packed into an Ikea Helmer filing cabinet might be the first time we’ve seen furniture actually modded into a useful case. Sure, it looks like an ordinary filing cabinet, but it’s packing six machines with Intel Core 2 Quad processors on Gigabyte S-series mobos with 8GB of RAM each, allowing it pump out 186 Gflops — enough to complete a render job that takes a 2.66Ghz quad-core Mac Pro nine hours in just 64 minutes. Yeah, that’s quite a filing cabinet. Hit the read links for tech specs, instructions, and updates on Helmer II.

[Via Make]

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Filed under: Laptops

You never really know what all will emerge from a simple interview, and thanks to a recent sit-down with Canonical chief executive Mark Shuttleworth, we now know that a build of Ubuntu tailored for ultraportables (or subnotes, as it were) is just around the bend. According to Mr. Shuttleworth, the aforesaid software will be announced “in the first week of June,” and it’ll be called the Netbook Remix. He also noted that the outfit is currently “working with Intel, which produces chips custom-made for this sector.” Sadly, it seems we’ll have to wait a week or so before finding out more, but those interested in reading the interview in full can certainly give the read link a visit.

[Image courtesy of TurboGadgets, thanks KC Kim]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

With Nokia’s dedication to Maemo and the recent Trolltech acquisition, it’s no secret that Espoo has its eyes firmly locked on the Linux prize — but outside the whole Internet Tablet phenomenon, there hasn’t been a lot of product to show for it. Looks like that’s all about to change, with CFO Rick Simonson commenting this week that the company will “definitely” be releasing some Linux-based cellphones in the future, marking a pretty big move for a company with strong tradition in its long-lived Series 40 dumbphone and S60 smartphone platforms. Simonson refused to get into the nitty gritty details about what flavor of mobile Linux would be used; borrowing from its tablets might make sense, but the Android and LiMo juggernauts seem like they’re going to be pretty hard to ignore as well — not to mention that Google is said to have chatted briefly about Android with Nokia in the not-too-distant past. So what does this all mean? Is S60 Touch in danger here?

[Via Thumb Report]

Update: A closer look-see at Reuters’ report (ignoring the misleading headline) indicates that Nokia has not specifically committed to rolling out Linux on phones — rather, it has simply said that it intends to expand its use of Linux across its product portfolio. We figure that handsets are bound to get swept into the mix at some point, but technically, we could just be looking at other kinds of devices. Always room for another Internet Tablet or three, we suppose. Thanks, Eric!

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Filed under: Cellphones

We’re not certain why Palm CFO Andy Brown was being so cagey about the company’s next-gen Linux-based platform during a “fireside chat” at a recent JPMorgan tech conference, but his devotion to secrecy is almost as interesting as if he had dished out some details on upcoming devices. Wait, no, it’s not. Of course, Palm’s new OS is being developed by Jon Rubenstein, former Apple hardware and iPod veep, so maybe the paranoia is contagious — but Brown probably didn’t convince anyone when he openly compared Palm to Apple because both companies make both the hardware and the software. That’s a pretty hard head-to-head to be in when you’re talking about the Centro running Garnet — maybe some actual products might help that pill go down easier, you know? Brown did say that we’d been seeing the fruits of all this labor sometime “this summer,” but didn’t mention what it might actually be — let’s hope it’s got more design behind it than that nasty Zeppelin prototype.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

We’ve seen the Splashtop instant-on OS demoed on ASUS gear in the past, and now it looks like the company is making the love official: it’s going to start shipping it on all its motherboards. ASUS is calling the platform “Express Gate,” but it’s the same instant-on, ready-to-browse environment we’ve known about since October: an embedded Linux distro that runs Firefox and Skype off a memory chip linked directly to the BIOS. You might want to hit that link and check out the screenshots, actually — with ASUS set to ship over a million mobos a month with the feature, chances are it’ll be on a machine near you relatively soon.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

The OS updates are coming fast and furious these days, and the latest off the block is Fedora 9 Sulphur. Improvements include better KDE Desktop 4.0.3, better Bluetooth support, a revised Anaconda system installer, support for persistent Live USB key installations, and lots more. Should be all over the torrents now — get downloading and let us know how it goes!

[Via Digg]

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