[LAU] OT: linux phone?

robert lazarski robertlazarski at gmail.com
Fri May 30 01:57:28 EDT 2008


On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 1:46 AM, Ray Rashif <schivmeister at gmail.com> wrote:
> Looking at it, reading the docs, I can honestly - and humbly - say that this
> is NOT ready. If you'd like to develop, then it's for you. If you'd like a
> phone to use as a phone, then it's not. An iPhone is of more worth, iirc you
> can load up some custom Linux distro on it too like on an iPod. I don't see
> any benefit for the end-user aside from the "open" hardware. We don't get a
> refund if we open and destroy it along the way, unlike software where code
> can be rolled back.
>

You can use the sold out GTA01 as phone, what makes you think you
can't use a newer revision as a phone? I expect the Freerunner to be
competitive, with new talent into openmoko pushing future hardware
over the top.

Openmoko has growing list of who's who on their team - got to meet
some of them at a recent embedded conference talking about the
upcomming Freerunner. Doesn't guarantee anything, but increases the
chances of success. Rasterman is doing the default UI of the
Freerunner and IMHO it looks great. QTopia is available too. Keep in
mind that unlike some other Framebuffer phones, this one runs X11 so
you already get a ton of mature apps. For me, its not just this
version - but also future versions just as I look forward to new
updates on my linux audio tools. They're both here to stay.

Now the same argument about linux being "NOT ready" is made often all
over the map - audio in fact being one of them. And in fact I have a
very expensive Korg Oasys that while it runs a 2.4 linux kernel, its
UI is not open. But if there was an open keyboard for sale, I'd buy
one. I use a liitle sequencer called seq24. Best out there? Dunno, but
its a simple but powerful tool that runs on linux and I know it is
going to be around for a while.

Now that there's an open phone, I'm buying that. In the end, I won't
buy a IPhone any more than I'll run pro tools.  Not that anyone should
care. I certainly won't care if anyone buys an IPhone ;-) .

Oh yeah - no 3G this time around. I personally expect to see it the
next hardware revision.

Cheers,
Robert



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