DeforaOS

About the DeforaOS smartphone environment, I have just uploaded a first image for tests, as presented here: https://www.defora.org/os/news/3380/Snapshot-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-available-for-tests It directly benefits from the recent switch to ... [More] Debian Squeeze/testing, as the default version of Debian on which hackable:1's development is now based. Like before, images are generated daily and found here: http://build.hackable1.org/ Last but not least, you may have heard of OsmocomBB, a Free Software GSM Baseband software implementation: http://www.osmocom.org/ Good news is, I have started to package it for use within hackable:1. A few things are left to be fixed before they can be pushed automatically online, but I have been able to cross-compile libosmocore and the layer23 set of tools already. [Less]

Having just worked again on the Phone project [1], it was considered to be time for a new release [2]: support for adding, editing and deleting contacts re-implemention of the panel applet as a dedicated, optional plug-in first release with the ... [More] monitor mode plug-in for the Openmoko Freerunner some fixes this and there (AT error handling...) As usual, packages for pkgsrc [3] and hackable:1 [4] are already available. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3343/Phone [2] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3373/Phone-0.1.0.tar.gz [3] http://pkgsrc-wip.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pkgsrc-wip/wip/deforaos-phone/ [4] http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/browser/trunk/packages/phone/phone.diff [Less]

After minor additions, the as project [1] also supports disassembly of object files [2]. While this alone could justify a major version bump, for some reason I have found the motivation to add a new, unexpected architecture to the project: Java ... [More] [3][4]. Yet, I am well aware of the current limitations of the project: not only is it currently unable to provide useful ELF objects, but it also still lacks some syntax many instructions to properly support x86 in the first place. Therefore, even though it can be an interesting project to download already, it is only tagged as 0.1.1 [5]. Ironically, the Java disassembler is probably its most useful feature at the moment. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/15/as [2] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/15?file=/src/disas.c,v&revision=1.16 [3] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/15?file=/src/arch/java.c,v [4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/15?file=/src/format/java.c,v [5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3370/as-0.1.1.tar.gz [Less]

While sticking to its original look & feel, the website for the DeforaOS project is now rendered through a newer stylesheet [1]. This stylesheet, and the website as a whole can still be improved in many ways though, particularly when it comes to ... [More] managing user accounts, or presenting screenshots for instance [2]. Still, it should improve readability a lot already, especially on tighter screens (like smartphones). But this is only a first step, thanks to thorough reviews from a good friend [3]. Work is continuously ongoing to improve the quality of the website. And of course, feel free to propose your own themes [4]! [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/12?file=/themes/DeforaOS.css,v [2] http://www.defora.org/os/category/293/screenshot [3] http://curlybracket.net/ [4] http://www.defora.org/os/news/reply/3371#edit [Less]

I'll change my habits a bit here, and write a personal note about what I've been working on recently. Some of you may know about it already, since I have begun to announce it, but probably to a smaller audience this far [1]. It's probably relevant ... [More] to begin with some background information about all this, although even then it's difficult to know where to start. Reinventing the wheel For some reason I found the urge to start an Operating System project of my own, which began with a modified version of Debian GNU/Linux [2]. This goes as far back as 2001, which may seem like yesterday to many experienced UNIX users, but was just a year after my first installation of a distribution on my own computer. This turned into a LFS-based project [3], before becoming the DeforaOS project as it is today [4], with more or less the goal to re-implement a complete kernel and user environment. That is to say, you may see a pattern here, and remind me that such time may be better spent improving the existing projects. While I would definitely agree that many Open Source projects need help (quite logically, otherwise I wouldn't have started my own), I will briefly summarize the reasons behind my choices: I am having fun, and learning in the process; back then, I did not have the technical means (eg cheap Internet access), let alone political power to influence much of the things I really wanted; with my projects evolving, I stuck with this work and choices rather than give it all up; frankly I still do not see myself having any political power now in the community, to do what I really want anyway; last but not least, I am essentially trying to implement a different design, which I believe is worth a try. Of course this doesn't mean that I always make the same choices as a professional [5]. This experience has always been useful, even though a compromise in design I made to implement a working solution unfortunately hasn't succeeded to date [6]. But I have then been focusing a full year on the hackable:1 project instead [7], with a few releases along the way. The Openmoko Freerunner This is clearly another illustration of the "reinventing the wheel" approach. Why go all the way and create an Open Source smartphone from scratch [8]? It sure must be tedious, and from my experience and the information I have obtained in the process, I can say it sure was. And I can't say it was a clear, undisputed success either. I'll be honest: I never liked the device itself. I found it ugly and bulky at best. I encountered the most annoying hardware bugs and subsequent frustration rushes. No need to mention the community fragmentation, which didn't help either. But today still, it sure has its uses, and is actually useful in plenty of ways. Coding again Burning out, having new opportunities, I parted ways and resumed work as a security consultant instead [9]. I could afford to take a first break in far-away land (thanks a.) and have fun creating software again, rather than feel like a packaging robot for what seemed to me as being broken code anyway. I could manage to get a few bugs fixed in my current Operating System of choice (NetBSD [10]), and then turn a few more sub-projects of DeforaOS to be good enough that I began to (finally) use many of them on a daily basis. The motive(s) Owning a Sharp Zaurus [11] for a few years, I had already been thinking about an embedded version of the desktop environment while writing it. But I could do better; I could take my revenge on the Openmoko Freerunner instead. Still bitter from the outcome of my efforts while working with the device, I was convinced that I could do better. Be it true or not, as always there is only one way to know: trying it hard, whatever the reason. After a quick glance at the Openmoko community, to no surprise I found its activity to be declining. Maybe this is not true and I was simply expecting it, but I think it's fair to say that the hardware is aging. Nonetheless, combined with hackable:1 it has the advantage to easily letting me run my own native environment. This is certainly not true of the more popular mobile platforms. Trying a different way As mentioned, I thought I could turn this phone into something more useful than it already was. This was based on the following assumptions, based on my personal appreciation: the existing projects are over-engineered; they have no global coherence concerning usability; they are often developed as regular applications, regardless of the hardware constraints. Better then, some interesting and unusual features of the hardware are available and documented [12], some of which could turn into interesting security developments. I cannot pretend to have actually been able to do better, or implement all these fancy features, especially within this other month break; but here is where I am now. The DeforaOS embedded desktop environment First, I have spent some time improving and adapting my existing desktop applications to fit the Freerunner. I won't copy and paste what I have already written about it [13]. Instead, here is a summary of its current status: neither hardware buttons are required (nor currently used) for regular operation, as everything can be done on-screen; both panels are fully functional, with an integrated application launcher, and displaying the clock, hardware status (including registration, signal level and operator) and of course an application switcher; the on-screen keyboard is fast, although definitely not finger-friendly at the moment (xkbd embedded in the panel), and will be re-implemented from scratch; the contextual menus (as offered through a Gtk+ extension) could be more intuitively found; the file manager is functional, but could be better integrated with the freedesktop.org standards; the clipboard and drag&drop features from the same project could be improved as well; the homescreen functionality cannot be enabled at the moment due to how matchbox-window-manager handles it; DeforaOS' own window manager is not mature enough to be used instead at this point; the latest versions of the web browser cannot be packaged on hackable:1 at the moment, as it depends on a more recent version of WebKit. I think this reflects quite well what is to be expected there. The DeforaOS smartphone environment Meanwhile, I have implemented a complete telephony application from scratch [14]. The design goals were: use Gtk+ and the glib libraries in C, and only relying on them and DeforaOS' libDesktop; embed the GSM daemon directly inside it; implement the core application with all the required functionality built-in (eg contacts, messages, phone calls, preferences...) let this application be as reactive as possible (eg single process) extend it through optional plug-ins; support hardware modems as broken as on the Openmoko Freerunner. It's still far from being eligible as a regular mobile phone sold with a contract, but as of today this first set of goals was mostly met. Some essential features are still missing: adding, editing and deleting contacts; maintaining a phone log; sending DTMF codes during calls; storing the messages sent; support for delivery reports; preferences dialogs; entering the PUK/PIN2/PUK2 codes; switching to data mode; call forwarding... Most of them are not challenging anymore, and are just a matter of taking a few hours this and there to get them done. Where is gets interesting One of the first parts I believe I should emphasize in this post is the plug-in support. First, it allows full integration with the actual, underlying hardware platform with all the code clearly separated. This is the case on the Openmoko, where: a first plug-in takes care of supporting profiles, by requesting a ring tone, triggering the vibrator and so on; the hardware plug-in catches these events and turns the relevant components on and off. Secondly, it allows extending the functionality in lots of different ways, from PulseAudio support to DBUS and potentially FSO integration [15], without mentioning webcams, GPS positioning [16] and then more. And there's more. SMS encryption One of the first additional security features I have been thinking about is SMS encryption [17]. While not being specific to the Freerunner, it is certainly an interesting platform for such a feature. My current implementation, while not being cryptographically strong at the moment, can already be demonstrated as a working Proof-of-Concept [18]. More than that, it is maybe time to think about a common, interoperable way to implement this feature. It looks like things could be moving towards this direction, with new projects emerging like TextSecure [19]. Cell tracking and geotagging Not unlike some other phones, but probably in a more accessible way, the Freerunner supports an "engineering mode". It is basically a monitoring mode [20][21], much like the one on your regular 802.11abgn wireless card (except you can't sniff traffic, yet [22][23][24]). While not being as featureful and polished as kismet [25], my current implementation (couple of days old) can already illustrate this concept. The future With a project as promising as Osmocombb [26] able to run on the Freerunner, I can only let you guess where all of this can be going. There are still many things to be done with this hardware, and of course I am also hoping to run my software on other devices as well, like the ones from ROAD [27], GizmoForYou [28], Nokia [29], Glofiish [30], HTC [31] and Palm [32] among others. If you would feel interested in any of this, do not hesitate to let me know [33]. Better, you can use the development infrastructure directly [34]. I will welcome your feedback and ideas, free patches and hardware, consider contracted projects. Thank yous To conclude, I have omitted one of the reasons behind all of this in this post. I had the pleasure to be invited to the Nokia Hackfest in Berlin mid-March this year [35], and then be honoured with a free N97 and N900 device. They have both proven very helpful while developing this software already. Of course there's a number of people and projects who are also a great help to me every day. I can only hope to be helpful to you, too. Cheers! [1] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3363/Introducing-the-DeforaOS-smartphone [2] http://www.debian.org/ [3] http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ [4] http://www.defora.org/ [5] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/cv.en.html [6] http://runningbear.org/ [7] http://trac.hackable1.org/ [8] http://www.openmoko.org/ [9] http://www.duekin.com/ [10] http://www.netbsd.org/ [11] http://www.trisoft.de/slc3200.htm [12] http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_1973_and_Neo_FreeRunner_gsm_modem [13] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3362/DeforaOS-as-an-embedded-desktop-environment [14] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3343/Phone [15] http://www.freesmartphone.org/ [16] http://realtimeblog.free.fr/ [17] http://www.cryptosms.org/ [18] http://www.passageenseine.org/hackevents/confidences-par-sms [19] http://www.whispersys.com/ [20] http://nobbi.com/monitor/index.html [21] http://www.gnokii.org/screenshots.shtml [22] http://www.gnuradio.org/ [23] http://cryptome.org/jya/crack-a5.htm [24] http://reflextor.com/trac/a51 [25] http://www.kismetwireless.net/ [26] http://bb.osmocom.org/ [27] http://www.road.de/ [28] http://www.gizmoforyou.net/ [29] http://www.nokia.com/ [30] http://www.glofiish.com/ [31] http://www.htc.com/ [32] http://www.palm.com/ [33] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/wiki/13/Contact [34] http://www.defora.org/os/project/bug_list/3343/Phone [35] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jW3VDqvzLs [Less]

The Todo project [1], for the management of task lists, was recently described as being "young" [2]. This is less true now, as it was tagged as version 0.0.0 just minutes ago, and therefore released and available for download [3]. Even though not ... [More] as complete as the average task list management application, it definitely can be useful already: tasks are stored and restored when closing and opening the application; their status is kept of course (eg whether they were completed) they can be sorted by status, title or priority. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3299/Todo [2] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3362/DeforaOS-as-an-embedded-desktop-environment [3] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3366/Todo-0.0.0.tar.gz [Less]

There is an important piece of software that is (deliberately) missing from the precedent news item. About a month ago, it entered the list of projects [1] composing the DeforaOS project together, only being announced [2] on the developers' ... [More] mailing-list [3]. It is, however, essential to bring the embedded desktop environment to a very specific range of devices: smartphones. Indeed, it is called Phone [4], and has been under constant work for a month before reaching version 0.0.9 [5]. While its initial feature set is still limited to the essential parts (calling, being called and texting), the project already features a plug-in system, including: profile management hardware-specific support (eg for the Openmoko Freerunner [6]) additional security features, with SMS encryption being already implemented and functional Needless to say, the intention is to bring it to be fully-functional and usable. Early screenshots are available already [7], and more will be proposed on this website as soon as likely. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/list [2] http://lists.defora.org/devel/2010/04/msg00030.html [3] http://lists.defora.org/ [4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3343/Phone [5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3360/Phone-0.0.9.tar.gz [6] http://www.openmoko.org/ [7] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/temp/DeforaOS/ [Less]

As the project's homepage suggests for a few days now [0], a new milestone was reached. Its first consequence is the possibility to run the DeforaOS desktop on an embedded platform, given these tight requirements on such devices: light and ... [More] efficient, written in C for Gtk+, with fewer dependencies user-friendly application launcher, file management and hardware monitoring designed for small screen sizes alike stylus- and finger-friendly (on-screen keyboard...) Naturally, it provides a number of graphical applications as required; in alphabetical order: Browser, taking care of the homescreen, desktop handling, file management [1] Editor, a simple text editor [2] Framer, the window manager [3] Mailer, young e-mail and RSS client [4] Mixer, handling the volume controls [5] Panel, with an application launcher and many applets [6] Player, a media player [7] Surfer, fully-functional web browser [8] Todo, a young task management application [9] Of course, they are all being actively used, developed and maintained, given their respective feature-set. The website is currently being improved, so as to provide screenshots of each of them soon; this will be announced here as well. [0] http://www.defora.org/ [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/230/Browser [2] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/253/Editor [3] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3283/Framer [4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/268/Mailer [5] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3305/Mixer [6] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3262/Panel [7] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/336/Player [8] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/340/Surfer [9] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3299/Todo [Less]

Unlike what the news count of this past month of May could suggest, a lot of work was put into the project in the last few weeks. Before a couple other posts, each detailing a new direction where this project can now head to, here is a summary of ... [More] each new released content since the last announcement: [1] Panel 0.0.6 more parameters can be defined in the configuration file the panel can be placed at the top of the screen instead pop-up keyboard applet (using xkbd) fixed some resizing bugs [2] Panel 0.1.0 new applet for the yet-to-be-announced Phone project improved embedded support bug fixes and performance improvements [3] Browser 0.2.0 the desktop application is more compliant with the NETWM specification usability fixes and improvements (dialogs, keyboard shortcuts...) implemented a homescreen for embedded platforms [4] libDesktop 0.0.2 updated the API to allow better keyboard shortcuts Of course most of these releases already made their way into either NetBSD (through pkgsrc-wip [5]) and Debian (through hackable:1 [6]). [1] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3348/Panel-0.0.6.tar.gz [2] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3349/Panel-0.1.0.tar.gz [3] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3355/Browser-0.2.0.tar.gz [4] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3357/libDesktop-0.0.2.tar.gz [5] http://pkgsrc-wip.sourceforge.net/ [6] http://www.hackable1.org/ [Less]

Another minor version bump for the Surfer [1]: 0.2.0 [2], but with major updates. They include: tabbed browsing (at last!) fully translated to French (thanks to Calimero); partly translated to German; a Javascript console; some more usability ... [More] fixes and improvements. With this done, it's getting much closer to match my own expectations of a daily browsing experience. It's still missing proper history, bookmarking, session handling, some usability tweaks and security measures, but it's getting there. The code also deserves a quick review, as tabbed-browsing support wasn't planned at start the internal API could be more efficient. But it definitely is the best release of the Surfer project so far, particularly when choosing the default WebKit-based HTML rendering engine. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/340/Surfer [2] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3341/Surfer-0.2.0.tar.gz [Less]