I just stumbled on this little beauty while looking for an Ubuntu ultra-thin laptop. What you’re seeing here is System76’s answer to all the other Intel Atom N330 / NVIDIA ION powered nettops like the ASRock ION 330HT, ASUS EeeBox PC, Acer Aspire REVO, etc. However, what’s sets the Meerkat ION Nettop apart from the rest of the crowd is that it’s hardware configurable (customize it during checkout), pre-loaded with Ubuntu (the most popular Linux OS — Boxee / XBMC / MythTV / Hulu Desktop ready), and starts at $359 with a hard drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and more. MORE »

Wow, I think we might have a winner here. The folks at Myka have created a hybrid HD media player / HTPC that’s based on Ubuntu. The Myka ION provides a custom media dashboard that one boots straight into on top of a fully configured and optimized PC that supports Hulu, Boxee, XBMC, and other popular services. The Myka ION as the name suggest leverages the NVIDIA ION (9400M) graphic chipset with a power sipping Intel Atom N330 processor. In other words, it can handle full 1080p HD video with ease. MORE »

Canonical announced today the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop Edition [Feature Tour], the latest version of the popular Linux desktop distribution. Ubuntu 9.10 brings changes small and large that all have a common purpose – to make Ubuntu the most user-friendly operating system available. Ubuntu 9.10 features a redesigned, faster boot and login experience, a revamped audio framework, and improved 3G broadband connectivity, all of which contribute to a first-class user experience. MORE »

It was nearly five months ago when Hulu first announced the release of Hulu Desktop for Windows and Mac. Now the Hulu Labs team has added a Linux version to the mix with 32 and b4-bit packages available for Fedora and Ubuntu. Attached here is a demo of Hulu Desktop running on Ubuntu that I created [Watch in HD]. Quick impressions: the Hulu Desktop UI is snappy, intuitive, and offers a better navigation and playback experience than Hulu.com. All Hulu needs to do now is publish a .deb / .rpm repository URL so the Linux OS package managers can download software updates automatically.

A commenter recently brought up how he was going to use XBMC Live with an HTPC he was going to build. Honestly, I forgot that such a thing was available. XBMC Live was announced briefly in a paragraph in the August 2008 release notes of “Atlantis”. Curious, I decided to take it for a spin. What I found was that XBMC Live not only provided a drop-dead simple way of experiencing XBMC without having to do a full install, but that it also does a superb job of creating a set-top like experience. MORE »

Here we go again. Back in March a Chinese CE manufacture unleashed the 4.3-inch display Ubuntu-based MID called the SmartQ 5 in Asia for less than $200 — which got a lot of people (including me) excited. Now, SmartDevices has rolled out a 7-inch (800×480) touchscreen Internet Tablet running what appears to be the same OS, but in a form factor closer to an e-Book Reader. The SmartQ 7 will sell for $220 (1,500 Yuan) and will be available in white, silver, green, blue, and pink. All the juicy specs can be found here (highlights below). If you’d like to get a closer look at the device, Engadget Chinese has posted a series of unboxing photos to whet you’re appetite. UMPCPortal has also obtained some photos from a Chinese distributor showcasing the various colors. MORE »

Man, I’m so jealous…. As a long-time Ubuntu user, the SmartQ 5 [Translated] hits all the right buttons for me. The SmartQ 5 is a $130 (899 Chinese Yuan) Mobile Internet Device that features a 4.3-inch 800×480 touchscreen, runs a custom ARM-friendly version of Ubuntu, includes built-in Wi-Fi / Bluetooth connectivity, and provides an SD card slot for additional storage. It’s obviously fairly slim and compact, making it ideal for a variety of purposes. If this device ever makes it stateside, it’s destined to be a big hit for its price point and functionality. [via / via]

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing this Boxee demonstration from one of the folks close to the project. In this video you’ll see Dave Mathews (Stage Two) on DL.TV showcasing some of the platform’s many social features and explains how one can easily “roll their own” Boxee system, on top of Ubuntu, using their old PC hardware (Boxee is also available for: Windows, Mac OS X, and Apple TV). In my opinion, it’s one of the better demos I’ve seen to date. MORE »

As some of you may already know… Ubuntu released their latest Linux desktop OS distribution, Intrepid Ibex, on October 27th. Now, the Mythbuntu team – the guys behind the popular Ubuntu-based MythTV distro — is announcing the availability of their Ibex / 8.10 release. One of the new features that caught my attention right off the bat, is the inclusion of the Wubi installer. So, what this means is that… Windows users who have supported hardware and TV tuners already setup and working with their Windows PVR app can install Mythbuntu to a disk image and have the option to boot their PC at startup to Mythbuntu and keep their current Windows installation intact. Sounds like a good way to test the waters and win over some converts. Full release notes after the jump. MORE »

RSOL PC today announced the upcoming release of their latest desktop computer series which is capable of running multiple operating system platforms either simultaneously or independently on traditional PC hardware and with minimal software patching.

The Smooth Series Multi-Platform Desktop from RSOL PC has been tested to be compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Ubuntu, Fedora and even a slightly modified version of Apple, Inc’s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, commonly known as “OSx86″. The Smooth Series Multi-Platform Desktop will be available for sale through their web site on July 24, 2008, and the first units are expected to ship on or around August 8, 2008.

Inside the Smooth Series Multi-Platform Desktop computers, end-users will find traditional PC hardware like an Intel E8400 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo CPU with 6MB L2 cache, a 750GB SATA II hard drive with a massive 32MB buffer, a 20X DVD+/-RW SATA drive with Lightscribe functionality, 4GB DDR2 memory (expandable to 8GB), an nVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB PCIe video card, Gigabit ethernet, 8-channel digital audio, a USB keyboard & mouse, 6 USB and 2 Firewire ports. In fact, the only things that are not included are a monitor and possibly an operating system if that option has been declined by the end-user. The base model will be retailing for $898 plus shipping and applicable sales taxes. MORE »