DeforaOS

The first (unofficial) release of hackable:1 featuring the DeforaOS Smartphone environment, and therefore also known as dse1, is now out for the community to test. It was announced on my blog first [1], after posting links [2], scribbling a few words ... [More] about it [3] and taking screenshots [4] beforehand. Feel free to use the development mailing-list [5] if anything comes to mind. Happy testing! [1] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/blog/96/First-%28unofficial%29-release-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-environment [2] http://www.defora.org/os/wiki/display/2131/Download [3] http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/wiki/AvailableVersions/dse1 [4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/download/3343/Phone [5] http://lists.defora.org/ [Less]

I finally have the pleasure to deliver the first version of the DeforaOS Smartphone environment, as featured in the hackable:1 distribution. First, the direct links: ... [More] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.09a-rootfs.jffs2 (flash) http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.09a.tar.gz (MicroSD) If you like the artwork better than I do myself, you can also find a splash screen for u-boot there: http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-splash.gz I have gathered some release notes and documentation within hackable:1's wiki, which you will find there: http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/wiki/AvailableVersions/dse1 http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/wiki/DeforaOSSmartphone Of course, I gathered some screenshots as well. They can be seen here: http://www.defora.org/os/project/download/3343/Phone Before I conclude, I am the first one to know that this release is far from perfect. If you feel like you have anything to say about it, you will be more than welcome to let it be known. There are a number of ways to do that: contacting me personally as described on http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/wiki/13/Contact using DeforaOS' development mailing-list, as on http://lists.defora.org/ filing a bug in DeforaOS: http://www.defora.org/os/project/bug_new (create your account first at https://www.defora.org/os/user/register) Now for the final words of this post, I have no reason to hide the fact that hackable:1 itself is probably a dead project already. I seem to be the last developer interested, which I find quite sad since I know no other project providing ready-to-flash Debian images for embedded platforms. If you also have a need and desire for such a framework, I encourage you to let it be known. As for myself, I have in mind to improve and maintain such a way to generate ready-to-use images, probably as part of the DeforaOS project as well, unless somebody beats me to it. Anyway, for more literature on this work, feel free to check earlier blog posts and news announcements on this blog or at http://www.defora.org/ . Happy testing! [Less]

The past three weeks have been quite productive, and gave birth to a number of projects. [1] _GServer and GToolkit_ Both were already found in the tree for a long while, but without anything interesting to demonstrate. This is no longer the case ... [More] , thanks to the recent introduction of support for floating-point types within the AppInterface protocol. Indeed, this meant that an API such as OpenGL could be easily exported through this protocol. This is now implemented as part of the GServer project. Among the possibilities associated with such a projects, these are the most obvious: proxying calls to OpenGL displays, therefore... ...distributing the output over the network ...possibly over multiple screens at once ...optionally changing the point of view in the process implementing a display manager, possibly replacing X displaying OpenGL-based models and animations from simple shell scripts GToolkit itself is not useful at the moment. [2] _VPN_ The same principle is tentatively being applied to generic networking, within the VPN project. By simply proxying low-level calls to the networking API, it is believed that a complete VPN service can be provided with just a few lines of code on top of the AppInterface protocol. Some further experimentation may be easily performed with this project, such as redirecting TCP traffic transparently over SCTP. [3] _XMLEditor_ Once the libParser and its XML engine introduced, it was trivial to fork Editor and propose a hierarchical XML document editor. At this stage the application can only be used as a viewer, but the possibility to edit complex XML-based documents is the aim of the project (eg DocBook...). [4] _Todo 0.1.0_ This release features a few fixes and improvements, allowing the view to be filtered by completion, and proposing a task edition window. [5] _Phone 0.2.1_ Deciding numbering of this version proved tricky, as it fixes a very important blocker on the Openmoko Freerunner: early registration is now working reliably. This was mostly caused by the introduction of the deep-sleep fix, after which the modem loses the current PIN code and registration. [6] _Keyboard 0.1.0_ This version is an almost complete code rewrite. It is already much more usable on embedded devices, with the Openmoko Freerunner being the current target again. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3397/GServer and http://www.defora.org/os/project/3398/GToolkit [2] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3396/VPN [3] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3399/XMLEditor [4] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3395/Todo-0.1.0.tar.gz [5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3400/Phone-0.2.1.tar.gz [6] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3401/Keyboard-0.1.0.tar.gz [Less]

I have managed yesterday to release a new snapshot of the DeforaOS smartphone environment, as found packaged on top of the hackable:1 distribution. Unfortunately, there is still one obvious blocker bug before it can be easily tested as a real phone ... [More] at the moment: as it seems, the modem "forgets" the PIN code a few seconds after accepting it, and is then unable to register correctly. Of course, my current plan is to investigate and fix this as soon as possible (with a new snapshot). Yet, among the changes since the last release of the environment, you will already find: a new finger keyboard, with popup keys (and using Gtk+' theme) the addition of a phone log; preferences windows for the phone application; the return of the background picture, and a preferences window to easily change it; last but not least, the final version of my initial attempt at SMS encryption. With this, I will continue my work on the user experience: fix and update the web browser (broken since the switch to Debian testing); continue improvements to the finger keyboard (bigger keys, multiple layouts) nicer Gtk+ theme and artwork if I manage (screenshots!) more actual tests and usability improvements to the phone application; power management; GPRS support. I have also begun to implement an application to configure access to wireless networks, with wpa_supplicant's help. It will take another while though. For more information, as always, check either http://www.defora.org/, the IRC channel of hackable:1 (#hackable1 on Freenode), the respective mailing-lists ([email protected], [email protected]...) or even, feel free to contact me directly of course: http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/wiki/13/Contact And before I forget, the snapshot itself is announced and available there: http://www.defora.org/os/news/3394/New-snapshot-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone [Less]

I have managed yesterday to release a new snapshot of the DeforaOS smartphone environment, as found packaged on top of the hackable:1 distribution. Unfortunately, there is still one obvious blocker bug before it can be easily tested as a real phone ... [More] at the moment: as it seems, the modem "forgets" the PIN code a few seconds after accepting it, and is then unable to register correctly. Of course, my current plan is to investigate and fix this as soon as possible (with a new snapshot). Yet, among the changes since the last release of the environment, you will already find: a new finger keyboard, with popup keys (and using Gtk+' theme) the addition of a phone log; preferences windows for the phone application; the return of the background picture, and a preferences window to easily change it; last but not least, the final version of my initial attempt at SMS encryption. With this, I will continue my work on the user experience: fix and update the web browser (broken since the switch to Debian testing); continue improvements to the finger keyboard (bigger keys, multiple layouts) nicer Gtk+ theme and artwork if I manage (screenshots!) more actual tests and usability improvements to the phone application; power management; GPRS support. I have also begun to implement an application to configure access to wireless networks, with wpa_supplicant's help. It will take another while though. For more information, as always, check either http://www.defora.org/, the IRC channel of hackable:1 (#hackable1 on Freenode), the respective mailing-lists ([email protected], [email protected]...) or even, feel free to contact me directly of course: http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/wiki/13/Contact And before I forget, the snapshot itself is announced and available there: http://www.defora.org/os/news/3394/New-snapshot-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone [Less]

A new snapshot of the DeforaOS smartphone environment [1], as featured in the Debian-based hackable:1 distribution [2], is now available for tests. Many fixes and improvements made it into this snapshot since the last one [3], some of which were ... [More] already listed yesterday [4]. All in all, this is getting closer to something useful for tests. Unfortunately, an annoying registration bug remains, but it is the last blocker before focusing again on user experience: adding icons to the home screen; completing the settings menus; handling hardware buttons; improving the finger keyboard; letting the telephony software be more convenient; supporting power management; updating the artwork... The list is shortening though: feel free to check it by yourself with the direct link [5]! It is, of course, also listed in the "Download" wiki page [6]. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3363/Introducing-the-DeforaOS-smartphone [2] http://trac.hackable1.org/ [3] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3380/Snapshot-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-available-for-tests [4] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3390/New-software-releases-for-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-project [5] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.08a-rootfs.jffs2 [6] http://www.defora.org/os/wiki/display/2131/Download [Less]

A number of projects were released with newer versions yesterday. Together, they should already significantly improve the usability and candiness of the DeforaOS smartphone [1]: preferences support for the telephony application new virtual ... [More] keyboard based on Gtk+ (themed) updated panel applets for telephony, keyboard... new panel applet to track wpa_supplicant's status bugfixes as deserved... The full list of software revisions follows: libSystem 0.1.4 [2] Keyboard 0.0.2 [3] Panel 0.1.1 [4] Phone 0.2.0 [5] They are all packaged within hackable:1 [6] already; you may expect new snapshots of the environment soon. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3363/Introducing-the-DeforaOS-smartphone [2] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3384/libSystem-0.1.4.tar.gz [3] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3387/Keyboard-0.0.2.tar.gz [4] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3388/Panel-0.1.1.tar.gz [5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3389/Phone-0.2.0.tar.gz [6] http://trac.hackable1.org/ [Less]

I have been staying a few days in Vienna a couple weeks ago, where I happened to join a Debienna [1] meeting. As things went it felt appropriate to introduce hackable:1 [2] (and my current work on it) to this fine crowd. I have therefore quickly ... [More] prepared a presentation, of which slides can be found there [3]. It was called "hackable:1 (and then more)", and I really appreciated this opportunity. See you guys! [1] http://www.debienna.at/ [2] http://trac.hackable1.org/ [3] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/papers/h1more/h1.html [Less]

The downloads page [1] is now linking to a development snapshot [2] of the DeforaOS smartphone software stack, running in the hackable:1 distribution [3]. You are all welcome to try it out, and report tons of bugs in either DeforaOS or hackable:1 ... [More] tracking systems. Of course, the kernel can be obtained directly from hackable:1 [4], and an optional splasn screen replacement for u-boot can be flashed too [5]. [1] http://www.defora.org/os/wiki/2131/Download [2] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-rootfs.jffs2 [3] http://trac.hackable1.org/ [4] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-uImage.bin [5] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-splash.gz [Less]

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]