We reported earlier that Linpus is planning a MeeGo based distribution and that it was being demoed at the Computex event. At the end of the event Linpus published a press release, which gives some additional details on the product. Linpus say they have added a number of enhancements including improved hardware and peripheral support (drivers), advanced power management, Linpus Windows Data applications (allowing easier access to Windows data on dual boot systems), online support and a LiveUpdate function to deliver upgraded drivers and new applications over the air.

Linpus has previously built products based on the Moblin project, including the software that shipped with a variant of the Acer Aspire One. Linpus's MeeGo based products will be a continuation of this work. They have made it clear that they intend to create a commercial MeeGo distribution for both the netbook and tablets user experiences (UI / flavours) of MeeGo.

Here's an extract from the press release:

“Linpus is excited to be involved in the MeeGo project,” said Rita Jing, vice-president of sales, Linpus. “The combination of the Moblin and Maemo projects into MeeGo clearly creates a more powerful, flexible open source community and platform. Linpus Lite for MeeGo will benefit and so will our clients.”

Linpus' version has added a number of enhancements:

  • More social network support in M-Zone – Flickr and MySpace.
      
  • Online support – Linpus commercial grade LiveUpdate function to deliver device-specific patches, upgrades and new applications to your system.
       
  • Power management – Advanced settings and options for idle mode and auto-suspend – as well as fine-tuning mean power savings of around 15 to 20%.
       
  • Network Manager – More 3G modems and device-to-device file transfer (adhoc), VPN, PPPoE and WPA2-enterprise support.
       
  • Linpus Windows Data Applications – If you have dual-boot with Windows, these applications help you view Outlook data, music and videos.
       
  • Peripheral support – Linpus has unprecedented experience in the Linux consumer bundle market, meaning they have included support for a huge range of printers, projectors, and other hardware.
       
  • File Manager – A Windows-like experience means that the partitions of USB drives are now alphabetically labeled, and easy to find.
      
  • International keyboard – This application allows users to switch between the keyboards of four different languages with just the tap of an icon.
       

Linpus Lite Video

Here's a video from Carrypad.com, which was shot at the recent Computex event, showcasing some of Linpus' MeeGo based offerings.

The video shows a demo of an early version of Linpus Lite for MeeGo, which is based on the MeeGo netbook experience, running on a couple of different netbook. This is based on the MeeGo netbook experience.  The video goes on to discuss how Linpus will be offering a 'slate edition' intended for tablets; this will be based on the MeeGo tablet experience.