The litl webbook is a webbook developed, marketed, and sold by litl LLC. It features the ability to stand upright in an inverted-V position (referred to as "easel mode") and a cloud-based operating system called litl OS.

Origins

Litl's CEO John Chuang, also co-founder of Aquent, has said that the origins of the litl webbook lay in his observation that while his family was increasingly using web applications, their home computer was based on pre-web.

Engineering partners

The industrial design of the Litl webbook was by Fuseproject with engineering design by MOTO Development Group. FIC manufactures the device.

Operating system

Litl OS is the

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-oriented

operating environment In computer software, an operating environment or integrated applications environment is the environment in which users run application software. The environment consists of a user interface provided by an applications manager and usually an ...

of the Litl webbook.

User interface philosophy

The litl OS interface removes several conventional elements of general-purpose desktop environments. Litl state that a set of principles were developed to guide the design of the interface, including using a rule that any computer task that had the word "management" next to it was removed.

User interface structure

Litl OS's user interface utilizes graphic elements called "cards" to organize browsing sessions and content instead of the tabs and menus found on conventional desktops: Flicking through cards in Easel mode (when the screen is flipped back on itself causing the webbook to be in an A-frame position) is done using a blue-colored click-wheel (called the "litl wheel") on the litl webbook or remote control. The card concept, easel mode and general usage of the interface are demonstrated in Litl's videos. The interfaces to some web content are also customized by Litl or third parties to integrate with Litl OS and are referred to as litl channels. (Litl OS's optional display method for RSS feeds is also referred to as a "litl channel"). Customizations and settings are minimal in keeping with the design goals of simplicity and ease of use.

Designers

User interface concepts were first mapped out by

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working closely with Litl.

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and detailed interaction design were by Cooper Consulting in consultation with Litl's internal design team. Fort Franklin also contributed to some design elements.

Software details

The underlying

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

is a mobile/embedded distribution of

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', '' Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All th ...

provided by

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. The user interface is written largely in Mozilla's dialect of Javascript using the gjs binding to access GNOME and

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UI elements. Litl automatically performs nightly software updates, and the OS stores browser cards, web channels, settings, and contacts online at

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using a web service running on Google's App Engine and the

Django framework Django ( ; sometimes stylized as django) is a free and open-source, Python-based web framework that follows the model–template–views (MTV) architectural pattern. It is maintained by the Django Software Foundation (DSF), an independent org ...

. Open source components of the operating system's

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

can be obtained on DVD from Litl.

Specifications

References

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