Mobile Internet Device (Intel)

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Samsung Q1 loaded with early Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition.

A Mobile Internet Device (MID) is an Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) initiative raised by Intel for consumers and prosumers. Most other UMPCs are designed for mobile professionals. Intel came up with the term and announced a prototype at the Intel Developer Forum in spring 2007 in Beijing. The product and specifications were announced at the conference. There are ongoing controversies regarding the use of ARM or Intel architectures in mobile internet devices. An MID development kit by Sophia Systems using Intel Centrino Atom was announced in April 2008.^[1]

1 Hardware
2 Operating system
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Hardware

The device contains a processor and chipset produced by Intel that consume less power than most of the x86 derivatives and are an extension of the Centrino mobile platform. As of today, several platforms have been announced, as listed below:

[edit] McCaslin platform (2007)

This platform contains an Intel A100/A110 processor (code-named Stealey) 90 nm running at 600-800 MHz respectively.

[edit] Menlow platform (2008)

This platform contains an Intel Atom processor (code-named Silverthorne) 45 nm running up to 1.86 GHz.

[edit] Moorestown platform (2009)

This platform contains an Intel Atom processor (code-named Lincroft) 45 nm.

[edit] Operating system

The MID will run an embedded version of Linux with a finger friendly user interface modified by Intel instead of a Microsoft Windows operating system like other UMPCs. However, with the dual-core processor, the device is capable of running Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Intel said it would demo the version of Linux, based on China's Red Flag Linux known as Red Flag MIDINUX, in May.

Later, Intel announced collaboration with Ubuntu to create Ubuntu for Mobile Internet Devices distribution. Ubuntu's website says the new distribution "will provide a rich Internet experience for users of Intel’s 2008 Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform."^[2]