MeeGo is an open source, Linux based distro, that pulls from various other open source projects. It supports devices like: netbooks, handhelds, TV’s, and IVI’s (In-Vehicle Infotainment). Intel/Atom and ARM platforms are supported. Enjoy this visual tour, and stick around for a few more words at the end. (Images total ~1.5MB)

MeeGo

Version: 1.1 (released 28 Oct 2010)
Live CD/USB: Yes
Tested on: my MSI U100 Plus netbook (Intel Atom N270?)
License: Open Source
Website: http://MeeGo.com

First Glance

This spunky OS, with its simplified navigation, is snappy and responsive. Services like Twitter, Last.fm and IM, are integrated into the desktop environment.

Click images to zoom in / out.

MeeGo’s interface ideology is simple: Visually intuitive, and maximize real estate. You move through the main sections via the top toolbar.

The colorful icons on the top menu zoom and bounce as you move over them. The interface is so responsive and fluid, it feels so crisp to move around.

Myzone is your landing page, it shows updates from all your social accounts on this page, tasks, appointments and favorite apps:

Evolution is used as your calendar and appointment schedular:

Applications open maximized on their own virtual desktops, called Zones. You can also Alt+Tab between zones.

You can search installed applications, and pin them to your favorites list, including the ability to Sync your data, and system updates:

The People panel shows your IM contacts on the left, and conversions on the right. Services like Twitter and Last.fm are managed on the Status panel, you can update your status to all your micro blogging accounts here:

The default IM client is Telepathy, it supports an array of IM protocols:

The Media panel and player is simplified, but fully functional and well intuitive! The backend uses GStreamer, PulseAudio and GUPnP for audio/video playback:

The Media player comes preconfigured to stream from The Internet Archive:

… and Last.fm as well:

Big Buck Bunny is bundled with the setup, and some jazzy music too – great for testing playback on your hardware:

The Devices panel is where you access your files (Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, Trash) and attached USB devices:

The “All Settings” button takes you to the big guy of software and hardware settings:

You connect to networks via the “Networks” panel:

Those are the panels by default. Opening the Toolbar settings (under All settings), and you can customize the top toolbar. Let’s add the Gadets panel with a couple of gadets:

Other features and things

Connecting a USB drive, or media card if you have a card reader, will ask you for an action:

I installed the Google Chrome edition of MeeGo:

Frozen Bubble!

Through the keyboard settings, I changed Ctrl+Alt+T to run gnome-terminal:

Impression

Smooth and polished, there’s still some work to be done on MeeGo, but what we see has been done well and with intention.

It’s impressive how architecture, API and reference material is well documented. This will ensure consistent applications and usability, at least that is the idea.

MeeGo is sleek and yet new, it is well worth keeping an eye out for. It makes a good OS for non-tech-savvy family and friends. But because it’s still pretty young, they may need some help to make sure it is set up and working. I can see a lot of folks loving it!

For myself, and all you other techy types, we like using terminals and doing our tax returns in hexidecimal (in my dreams!), this may not be your first choice. Try your hand at multi-booting, it may be great for a casual surf at the coffee shop.

Supported hardware includes Atom based Netbooks, and a few other models and devices. Like any free and evolving system, it’s worth reporting and helping with bug reports :-)

Issues

- I had to apply a fix for my wireless to be recognized as a device. It’s a known ralink rt2860 bug, the fix should be in the next release though.

- The Netbook touch-pad did not work. I used a USB mouse to test. This is a known bug.

- Without mousey, I tried accessibility via keyboard and got pretty stuck! The power button did provide a suitable UX action in this case.

Version 1.2

Scheduled for release in April 2011, I’m optimistically certain that many issues are going to be fixed by then. See the version 1.1 release post for more details on 1.1.

Feel unsatisfied? I did not cover every aspect of MeeGo, why not go discover more for yourself! :-)

Keyboardmonkey, out.