Jul 14 2009

Linux Responds To Chrome OS With Moblin-Based Quick Boot

HyperSpace

Phoenix Technologies announced yesterday its intention to launch a Linux-based Hyperspace environment that will incorporate elements of the Moblin platform. The goal is to implement faster quick-boot in netbooks, but the move is being seen as a response to Google’s announcement of the upcoming Chrome OS.

Hyperspace is usable by netbooks and can by shipped alongside Windows. It’s an instant-on Linux environment with a simple interface, meant to give access to several apps, a browser, and an office suite without needing to enact the slow-booting elements of an operating system.

By cutting boot times, Linux distributions could be trying to find ways to stay competitive. Linux hasn’t been much of a contender in the netbook market recently, and with Google’s recent announcement that space is about to get much more competitive.

Unfortunately for Phoenix, Google’s no-cost policy might be a more attractive prospect than useful but expensive HyperSpace technology.

Info is not yet available as to how Moblin will be involved in HyperSpace, aside form being optimized to the Atom CPU. We’ve got a full tour of Moblin here if you’re interested in knowing more.

Via ArsTechnica, image via Liliputing.

Feb 13 2009

Linux-Based HyperSpace Brings Quick-Boot To Netbooks

The latest huge netbook announcement comes from Phoenix Technologies, whose HyperSpace mobile platform has just been released in European markets.

Phoenix is mostly known for its BIOS firmware, but has diversified its computing products greatly, recently including netbooks in the expansion. HyperSpace debuted at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress. The most interesting factor in the new release is the quick-boot functionality it hinted at earlier this year at CES 2009.

Phoenix’s VP of business development talked about the ways HyperSpace will help netbooks quite confidently, saying that it will bring the “phone experience” – complete access, all the time.  “With a 1GHz ARM chip, these systems will be on a par with the [Intel] Atom world.”

HyperSpace is a Linux-based platform, which can be installed by users or preloaded by vendors. It is supported on machines running Intel or AMD chips – that is to say, basically every netbook. Phoenix is also releasing HyperSpace on ARM netbooks.

Booting your machine in under 15 seconds is a brilliantly attractive option. HyperSpace also boosts battery life by up to a massive 30% against an identical configuration running Windows. Linux is usually more efficient than Windows on any machine, but usually not that much.

That isn’t all, either. Phoenix’s new netbook product can offer “seamless roaming between Wi-Fi, 3G and wired networks,” once more in the mobile phone style. Phoenix wants netbooks to go whenever and wherever instantly, and its new release is improving upon what has made netbooks so popular in the first place. “If you close the lid, it suspends. If you open the lid again, it comes back right where you left off,” said the VP.

If HyperSpace is all it’s hyped up to be, netbooks could see massive improvements in the near future. Be sure to check out our previous article about HyperSpace and netbook quick-boot technology for more info.

Via Vnunet.

Jan 11 2009

CES: Quick-Boot Comes To Lenovo, Sony, Others

All that time you spend watching a Windows load screen may soon be a thing of the past.

Quick-boot technology has been around, but rarely applied to real computing – luckily, with the rise of netbooks, it has found a place.

The idea of this quick-book netbook technology is that netbook users could surf the web, view, images, or check their email without even loading Windows. Lenovo and Sony demonstrated quick-booting machines at CES this week.

Sony Vaio P

Lenovo updated the Lenovo Ideapad S10 to have quick-boot capabilities with a Quick Start software based on the Linux OS of DeviceVM. Sony is now offering the Cross Media Bar navigation system to access multimedia instantly, something we should be seeing in the Vaio P Series.

According to the VP of Global Consumer Marketing at Lenovo, Craig Merrigan, netbooks are exactly where quick-boot should be used. “The netbook usage scenario is kind of a grab it, use it, put it back sort of situation. We believe it optimizes for that quick boot-type of environment,” he said.

Lenovo doesn’t plan to put quick-boot into mainstream notebooks. Machines with the power for content creation achieve that better with a full-fledged operating system.

“For mainstream notebooks when you are doing a greater variety of things… the quick-boot environment doesn’t support that all that well so we think that it’s better left to netbooks at this time,” said Merrigan.

The director of Phonex Technologies product management, Anand Nadathur, said the applications and drivers that slow down PC boot times aren’t what computer users want all the time. “When users start their PC in the morning, they are not looking for the full-fledged OS to come up and do some amazing things. They just look for a simple browser so they can check e-mail.” With this in mind, Phonex introduced a quick-boot environment called HyperSpace Dual at CES. HyperSpace Dual is meant for netbooks and laptops, and is downloadable at the Phoenix website for $39.95 for one year or $99.95 for three.

Phoenix Technologies Logo

Freescale, who partnered with the post-ASUS Pegatron to deliver their own netbooks at CES 2009, talked about quick-boot plans with Qualcomm. They want netbooks starting as fast or faster than smartphones.

Qualcomm sees quick-boot as something they want to add to the Snapdragon platform, which already includes a CPU, 3G, and a 3D graphics core. Freescale wants quick-boot on their Linux netbooks, the ones using the ARM i.MX515 processor (another CES introduction). This processor is also used in the Freescale-Pegatron netbook.
Via PCWorld.

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