As the Moblin Project continues forging ahead with their sleek, fast-booting Linux remix for netbooks the gang at Canonical continues to keep pace. There's a new GUI for the Ubuntu Netbook Remix which premiered over the weekend.

While it's not yet on public display at the UNR web page, there are plenty of images of the restyled interface over at Ubuntu Mini. It's much less cluttered than the previous version, which is an important improvement for an OS designed for diminutive netbook displays.

Continuing with the streamlining of the UI, application launches no longer call an animation - just a simple notifier in the center of the screen. Adding apps to your favorites is now much easier as well. You no longer need to drag an item to the Go Home apple. A simple click on the add to favorites button next to an app's icon is all it takes.

If you'd like to take the new interface for a spin, you can grab the alpha ISO image from the Karmic Koala download page.

[via Liliputing]

In wake of the federal government's decision that they own your notebook computer plus all your flash keys and your first-born child, coupled with the costs and hassle of commercial flying, travelers are looking at alternatives to data-filled laptop computers. Besides, laptops are heavy, especially when you add in the battery, and then you have to schlep all those geeky-tchotchkes we stuff inside the bag. My eyes are a little too old to use my phone exclusively (it works for on-the-fly email and an occasional text message) but it doesn't get me quickly to web-based apps that I need for business. What to do?

Enter Ultra Mobile computing. From 7" to 11" screens, with Vista or XP operating systems, 2-lb ultra portable computers are entering the business landscape. Costs range from $300 - $2000 and up (US$) and what they offer may be just what you need. The trick is to buy only what you need so it's both portable and affordable. For example, I need Word and Excel when traveling but I hardly need to load Access or Publisher so a smaller hard drive works fine - what I really want is a web browser and speedy wireless Internet with the ability to VPN. We're a Windows shop, so Outlook Web Access (browser-based) takes care of email needs.

Fundamentally just a tiny computer, an ultraportable fits into a larger purse or in your briefcase (yay! no laptop bag to stuff into the overhead compartment!). Once you struggle through choosing to install only those programs you absolutely have to have because the hard disk is going to be significantly smaller than your 160+ Gb workstation, look into the free and low-cost portable applications that take little drive space and require almost no installation so your compact hard drive doesn't get crowded.

But what about hauling all my files with me if I don't have the luxury of a VPN or I haven't figured out yet how to remote into my desktop back in the office (which I remembered to leave ON during my trip)?

The key? For your ultra-portable machine, get applications that fit on a Flash key or iPod with as close to "zero footprint" as possible. Zero footprint? These are applications that remove all temporary files/registry settings once the program has exited. If you create a document, you can move it as well to a portable storage device, like a Flash key. No trace left behind and less for the TSA to explore when they seize your computer at the border.

At any given time on the planet, there's a technology trade show in progress. Some are more significant than others, and there's no formula to figure if any given one will be worth the airfare. We're guessing that a few ultraportable laptop manufacturers, as well as a few of us (cough) normal folk, are a little intrigued with the news emerging from the Computex exhibit halls today.

Canonical let slip some further information and screen shots of Ubuntu Netbook Remix, the Ubuntu derived operating system for ultraportables. The quick and dirty information: it looks suspiciously as if the Ubuntu image is made to work solely on Intel Atom processors. How radically different is that from the other Intel processors used previously in ultraportables? Will it be a significant enough difference that it won't run with other Intel chips? Are VIA machines left in the dust? Maybe, maybe not, but we're guessing it'll affect performance on some level.

It seems that Canonical and Intel are working with various manufacturers to get Ubuntu Netbook Remix into our hot little hands, but it probably won't happen much before late 2008. They were so kind, however, as to release some screenshots of the demo version.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix looks... well, a little bit like the "Easy Mode" settings in the Eee PC's customized Xandros. Maybe not quite as simplistic, but we have this funny feeling that many people picturing "Ubuntu on an ultraportable" were thinking more along the lines of the traditional look with a few GUI tweaks. We're not sure if this is really a good or bad thing, as yet. Ultraportables are different animals, and used in a different manner than a desktop. Perhaps a different looking user interface is enough of a disconnect to make it all work (and keep us from trying to install the sorts of things on our ultraportables that they aren't intended to run due to processing limitations).

What will be interesting, and promises to push Linux on ultraportables to the next level, is all that scary stuff on the backend. The most intriguing bit of this conversation seems to focus on the use of Moblin, and the push for developers to get Ubuntu packages to work well -- really well -- with the specific requirements of the processor and ultraportable hardware.

There is a subculture among the Download Squad bloggers (and you thought you couldn't get any further sub-anything) of ultraportable computer users. We love the little things. They're teeny, have the right amount of power to do their designated tasks well and with little fuss, and they're fairly inexpensive.

But sometimes we're not real enamored of the default operating systems. The Eee users among us love the machine, but the verdict is out on Xandros in either simple or advanced mode. We've used eeeXubuntu, and it works well, but it seems as though the project is stuck on the Gutsy release and has no plan to move forward.

In a Guardian interview, Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu dropped the intriguing news that there is a Netbook Remix version of Ubuntu in the pipeline. Details are scant, but it seems there is some work being done with Intel to support the custom chips it manufactures for this market (no word on whether this release could leave VIA-powered machines out of the loop). There is a Launchpad account up and running, but there's not too much to see there (yet).

Ubuntu is fairly easy to tailor to ultraportables, but we're expecting that the Netbook Remix project is going to offer a bit more than resized windows and applications altered to make the most of screen real estate.

Personally, we'd most like to see tweaks made to software to extend battery life, special repositories set up for applications optimized for ultraportables, and perhaps some utilities to better support those of us who use both the internal hard drive and a supplement memory card to house the operating system.

Fellow ultraportable users, what would be on your wishlist for Netbook Remix version of Ubuntu?

[The Guardian by way of Slashdot]