TooMuchGreen

Having previously dabbled with Moblin on my Dell Mini 9 I was obviously most interested in the Ubuntu “developer” version (as recently offered up for purchase on the 10v’s) so I pulled it down from the Dev Wiki and installed it.

I used Ubuntu’s quick and easy usb-imagewriter to create the key and as you would expect with it being a tailored Dell netbook release it dropped onto the Mini 9 with no problems at all, everything worked including the Wi-Fi (which wasn’t seen during previous dabbles with the standard and less together Karmic-Moblin-Remix)

It’s certainly a different experience at the front end but the more you use it the more it makes sense (for me anyway) and once you get to grips with slick little nuances like using the “pin” to tag items & web pages to your zone (MyZone) you get it even more and really start zipping about.

Setting up mail was seamless with simple end-space cleaner than anything I’ve seen in a long while (perhaps ever), in fact the whole Moblin OS itself is bright and thoughtfully simple with funky designed solid little drop shadowed icons for all apps and satisfyingly responsive delivery (VERY responsive).

Delving deeper was equally as rewarding and after updating the installation I was most impressed to see a fully populated Tasksel list offering not only every server module but every flavour of Ubuntu available to upgrade the installation, quite surprising as UNR’s I’ve played with in the past offer nothing as extensive and useful (but I suppose who’s going to use a Dell Mini as an Ubuntu server….just me then?). I’m planning to do some LTSP (Terminal Server) R&D with the back end so stuck SSH on for access from the MacBook Air, I do seriously love the Dell but admittedly the keyboard is just a touch too compact for anything other than a few emails and Tweets from latte world.

In my previous post I did say I had doubts as to whether I’d actually be that interested in Moblin as a usable daily OS however it’s certainly caught my eye for just being “fun”. Even without the incredibly useful dual-purpose server side offerings of full blown Ubuntu in the background it offers a most attractive and distinctly refreshing interface up front. The iPhone wowed us with it’s gestures but I think Moblin has just as much mileage once it settles into it’s obvious netbook niche. For me it’s a revelation, fresh fun up front but with server tools there when I need them, it makes the little Dell even more special than it already was(is).