Canonical unveils Ubuntu MID Edition

Earlier this month Canonical unveiled Ubuntu Netbook Remix, a customized version of its popular Linux distro designed to run on a new generation of small, low-cost, internet-centric laptop computers being built by several vendors. Netbook Remix is only part of Canonical’s broader strategy for portable computing, however, and though actual machines based on this distribution aren’t available thus far, the company today released yet another Ubuntu flavor targeted specifically towards mobile internet devices (MIDs).

According to the Linux vendor, Ubuntu MID edition 8.04 is based on the desktop version of the operating system and has been optimized to run smoothly on Intel’s Atom chips as well as with small touch-screen displays. It contains applications for email, calendaring, document reading, contacts and a media player as part of the default install as well as specially-designed MID browser built on the Gecko engine that powers Firefox.

Canonical will release new versions of the software on the same six-month cycle as it uses for the desktop version of the open-source operating system. The first public release of Ubuntu MID edition is now available for download, but it’s aimed at developers and original equipment manufacturers at this point.