First Look at the OpenMoko Platform
Techtree News Staff, Jul 10, 2008 0727 hrs IST
A look at the software that will power the 'open' cellphone
Ryan over at Ars Technica offers a first look at the Linux internals of the OpenMoko platform. OpenMoko is an interesting experiment to open up both the software and the hardware internals of a cellphone to modifications. The platform will allow a third-party to make modifications to both aspects of the device.
image courtesy of Ars Technica
After the announcement of the FreeRunner smarphone last Friday, Ryan takes a look at the software that makes the device tick.
Ryan's take on the OpenMoko platform reflects upon the Linux software ecosystem at large -- "[OpenMoko] provides end users with an enormous amount of flexibility, but it also creates a lot of complexity. The choices are difficult to navigate, and the lack of a cohesive direction contributes to fragmentation and redundancy." The platform has already seen some fragmentation: initially, the platform was built on top of GNOME Mobile and Embedded technologies, with the GTK+ toolkit. The current emphasis is however on a new stack that sits on top of Trolltech's Qtopia mobile environment. Eventually, OpenMoko will implement FreeSmartphone.org APIs with the hope of assimilating the best of all approaches and offering the modders a full range of choices. Ryan points out that "OpenMoko's potential for success will be heavily predicated on the ability to turn choice and diversity into an asset rather than an impediment."
The device itself is not out yet, but for the curious amongst us, this is a good introduction to the OS and the user-interface that will eventually power the FreeRunner.
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