A leg up with Arm, without Microsoft

XANDROS is a company that we boycott because of its patent deal with Microsoft and assistance to OOXML. Xandros also swallowed Linspire [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], which magnifies the issues with it. Linspire is no more by the way. As we stressed very recently, whatever Microsoft touches, Microsoft ruins. Companies must learn this quickly because history has been very consistent.

Xandros had had a thing going with ASUS for a while, but its 'partners' from Microsoft wrapped up ASUS [1, 2, 3], with ASUS actually admitting that this was happening. Rather than having to relearn a lesson, Xandros seems to be moving away from x86 and over to territories where vanilla Windows simply cannot run. They found ARM.

Here is the press release, which was followed by a lot of coverage that includes:

• A Review of the ASUS Eee PC with Xandros Linux pre-installed.

Update 20Feb09: I installed Easy Peasy which is a Ubuntu remix for the ASUS Eee PCs and I love it. It works great out-of-the-box! I am glad to be rid of that Xandros nightmare.

• Taming the Wild Eee PC: Replacing the Operating System, Part 1

Purchasers of the Linux versions of the Asus Eee PCs who really know Linux are going to be unpleasantly surprised by the limitations of the dumbed-down version of Xandros, which is the OEM install for that computer. For practical purposes, the package has no software expandability; the programs you can install with it are the ones that came with the PC and a handful of others available via the ASUS repository. In the first of his two-article series, A. Lizard discusses one of the possible options with respect to replacing the Eee PC OS.

• Xandros Linux for netbooks with ARM Cortex-based CPUs

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Xandros has introduced a port of its Linux operating system for the i.MX525 SoC processor from Freescale's i.MX51 family. The processor is intended for netbooks that will compete with Intel's Atom platform in the netbook and nettop market.

• ARM tells Intel where to get off

As if it was hedging its bets, ARM has adapted ARMv7 architecture to run the Debian Linux-based Xandros distribution.

• Mobile World Congress: First-Ever Qualcomm Snapdragon Devices

"This new solution will change the way people think about mobile computing,” said Andreas Typaldos, CEO of Xandros. “By introducing the powerful netbook experience that Xandros developed for the Eee PC to Qualcomm Snapdragon, OEMs and carriers can reach new markets and create recurring revenue streams.

• Freescale's Netbook Plans Gain Steam

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Xandros has introduced a port of its Linux operating system for the i.MX525 SoC processor from Freescale's i.MX51 family. The processor is intended for netbooks that will compete with Intel's Atom platform in the netbook and nettop market.

• Freescale's Netbook Plans Gain Steam

The company is adding support for the Phoenix Hyperspace pre-boot shell and Xandros Linux; 3G connectivity; and a price (perhaps) as low as $200 for its netbook reference design.

• Freescale Promises $200 Netbooks With New Chips

On Tuesday Freescale said it has tied up with additional partners to expand operating system options for netbooks based on its processor. Freescale processors will support Android and Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Xandros.

• Freescale: 15mm dicke 200-Dollar-Netbooks im Sommer
• Freescale promises $200 netbook
• Xandros ports netbook distro to ARM
• Freescale affiche ses ambitions sur le marché des netbooks
• ARM Cortex-A9 Sparrow nei netbook del 2011
• Freescale quiere vender Google Android para netbooks este Q2
• Netbooks Continue to Buck the Negative Trends
• ARM Drives Mobile Computing At 2009 Mobile World Congress
• HP Mini 1000 Mi Comes With Friendly Linux Distro
• Freescale promises $200 netbook

This may be handy for research purposes in the future. ⬆