Ubuntu Announced the Mobile and Embedded Edition

A while ago, Intel announced at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing that they are working on the development of a new type of ultra mobile device that should come as a better alternative to the older and not so successful UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC ). The new mobile Internet devices (MID) proposed by Intel will have a low-power chipset architecture and their main purpose is to provide easier access to the Internet. The best part is that Intel decided to put Linux on these MIDs, in order to keep down the hardware costs.

In response, Ubuntu announced a new project especially designed for the new devices, the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project. The first release of this edition is planned to take place in October once with the release of the Ubuntu 7.10 version (codename Gutsy Gibbon). Intel will play an important role in the project development but anyone interested is also welcomed to get involved. More details regarding this Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded edition will be drawn at the Ubuntu Developer Summit that would take place next week in Seville.

Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors. Today it makes a wide range of devices related to computing and communications, devices like motherboards chipsets, network cards, flash memory or embedded processors. In 2005, Apple announced they moved from their older PowerPC architecture to Intel's x86. Also the Apple Xserve server was updated to Intel Xeon processors from November 2006 and is offered in a configuration similar to Apple's Mac Pro.

Ubuntu is a Debian based Linux distribution mostly targeted at personal computers and it is sponsored by Canonical Ltd., a private company founded by Mark Shuttleworth, South African entrepreneur. It comes from the Zulu and Xhosa concept of Ubuntu which can be defined as, "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity."