There are two categories on Wikipedia: Embedded Linux (with its own article) and Mobile Linux (without its own article, don’t know if it’ll be redundant to create one).

I’m confused about this because Mobile Linux (which is meant to go onto “mobile”, “traveling” devices such as smartphones, PDAs/”palmtops” and PMPs) is generally assumed as being a specific form of Embedded Linux (which goes on both mobile and stationary devices, such as networking hubs, robots and non-GUI machinery).

However, you also have the “Netbook“, “MID” and “tablet PC” Linux distributions that are coming out. These are meant to be “mobile”, in both the laptop sense and the phone sense, since you can carry such smaller “-tops” in a small bag, a purse, or other place where you can often find a mobile phone located (except for the pocket….apparently, they won’t get to that point until multitouch “-tops” will replace the “-book”‘s keyboard, and that will take years to put out to market).

Furthermore, while this smaller type of “-top” may (like the MacBook Air) or may not lack an optical drive, it will also have a way to install an operating system from some physical device, whether it is through a wireless optical drive that syncs to the “-top” or through a USB flash drive stick that can be stuck into a port on the side of the “-top”. Mobile Linux devices – at least the smartphones – don’t have this option, as don’t other smartphones with different operating systems installed, although Linux has been installed (through various jerry-rigged ways, onto PMPs and PDAs which aren’t locked into a carrier).

So where does the mobile Embedded with no user-software flexibility end and the mobile Netbook/MID with user-installable OS and software begin?

If the smaller luggable laptops are becoming as small and compact as the Mobile Embedded devices, then should the Netbooks and their operating systems be included into the “Mobile Linux” Category, alongside the smartphones, PDAs and PMPs?

(I also notice that with the current hoopla being given to Linux-based smartphones and Linux-based subnotebooks, one doesn’t hear that much about Linux PDAs or Linux PMPs, although that may only be because of the respective lack of native Linux support for PDA-compatible wireless and PMP-compatible codecs that won’t wear down batteries. Oh well.)