The future of Linux happen with the market booming, netbooks, these small laptops at low prices? While Microsoft hardens its position on this market by extending the lifespan of Windows XP and giving some exceptional discounts to manufacturers, the publisher french Mandriva seems convinced. This week, he announced the release of Mandriva Mini, its first Linux distribution specifically designed specifically for netbooks. Mandriva Mini will be available to all designers, manufacturers or distributors of laptops type netbook (OEM and ODM), both in emerging markets than in industrialized areas.
Mandriva Mini - KDE
"We are firmly convinced that for Linux, which has been very successful in the world of servers, netbooks are an opportunity to take a significant market share," said optimistically Francois Bancilhon, CEO of Mandriva. Why choose Linux rather than Windows? To meet the needs of assemblers and vendors netbooks, according Mandriva should propose a system that both inexpensive, flexible, customizable and little bigger resources, since these machines have a configuration that a less powerful PC "traditional" .
With a swift boot sequence (between 15 and 40 seconds, depending on the platform), a guaranteed compatibility with USB keys major 3G market, and an interface (KDE or Gnome offices are available) adapted to small screens netbooks of the Mini Mandriva is therefore expected to stick perfectly with the expected usage on such machines. Mandriva also claims to have adapted its system for storage systems to flash memory, developing interactions with the dedicated controller to manage the location information based on the state of Flash memory cells. "You can of course install a classic Mandriva on a netbook, and that will work, but it is better to use a system really suited to this type of machine," says the publisher.
As agreed, is the Gdium a netbook launched in late September by Emtec (Dexxon group) who will embark on the first distribution Mandriva Mini. Announced in May, the Gdium itself apart from its competitors on a technical level by using a processor based on the MIPS-64 and produced by STMicroelectronics, while the bulk of the market rests on the Atom Intel or, to a lesser extent, on Via chips. A somewhat unexpected choice, but have two major advantages: a relative independence from Intel, suspected of orchestrating his way to the market netbooks because of the overwhelming dominance of its processor Atom, and a door entry into the Chinese market, or MIPS chip was designed.
The Gdium presented as a terminal being dealt with in a comprehensive sense from a customer's mobile online services, also differentiates itself by its lack of internal memory. Operating system and personal data are actually stored in a USB key, the G-Key, which will take place at the front of the camera. A single machine could be easily used by several people, each with its own key and thus its own environment. If the demand is there, Emtec will eventually integrate this key player digital fingerprint which, coupled with a software system, will provide a strong authentication. Desiring to invest the segment of education, Emtec intends to involve the Gdium a series of online services, which offer content produced by teachers or by a community that apparently has yet to build. Release scheduled for late September, at a price of around 379 euros with a USB key 16 GB.
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