Moblin: Mobile Linux Initiative from Intel

Intel seems to have got the open source epidemics. According to some sources on LinuxDevices.com Intel made public its intentions in starting a project for creating and developing open source solutions for mobile devices.

The Moblin project, as this initiative was called, should take in, according to Intel, a Linux kernel, UI framework, browser, multimedia framework, and embedded Linux image creation tools, along with developer resources such as documentation, mailing lists, and an IRC channel. The Moblin project is divided into more sub-projects. The sub-projects are said to be very flexible and anytime new ones can be added to the list. For the moment, the available sub-projects target the Intel architecture only, but Intel officials stated that the project is "open to contributions for support of other architectures".

Currently, Moblin targets Intel processors such as the 600MHz A100 and 800MHz A110. These processors are also said to form the basis for Intel's "Ultra Mobile Platform 2007" platform along with the 945GU Express chipset and ICH7 I/O controller hub.

Among the sub-projects currently targeted by Moblin I could count here:

- the Kernel (with platform-specific kernel patches and drivers)
- the GTK-based UI framework
- the power management policy project
- the betwork profile manager which is said to bring support for the various protocols such as WiFi or Bluetooth
- a Mozilla -based browser
- chat client based on Telepathy plus added support for popular messaging protocols
- Moblin image creator to produce binary images which can be run on actual devices, or in an emulated environment
- an image capture, management, and sharing application for still and video images
- a "Moblin Media Artist" player offering a choice of gstreamer or Real's open source Helix streaming frameworks

For more details you can also check out Moblin.org, the project's official website.