linux on xda - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Hi there!
Is anybody working on porting linux to xda now ? Is any info about project's state available ?
I found this idea very interesting, and I'm interested in porting Linux on my cell phone - SONY CMD-J5. Internally xda & j5 is very similar(!) - both have hercrom100 cpu, twl3011 chip, and there is absolutely no docs on hardware, excluding firmware hackers' info (r00t.host.sk, http://hyperion.sp.unipg.it/bodhi3/), but there is still nothing that seems like datasheet.

HI
No help to give I'm afraid but am having a similar linux problem. Mainly connecting to a linux based wireless LAN and using telnet facilities on linux systems.

No progress
Hi,
As far as I'm aware no-one is working on it. Mostly because everyone is too busy with other stuff and it doesn't have priority. Maybe because people are too busy finding out what can be done with the current software.
One note though: when running Linux on an XDA you have nothing todo (or hardly) with the hercom chipset etc. The ARM that would run Linux is completely separate and would communicate with the GSM modem through a serial AT command interface.

OK, thank you.
And then a new question: if two devices both using hercrom100 & twl3011 chips, they must (?) have similar hardware IO ports. For example, it was concluded that on Sony J5 on-chip com port data register is accessible via 0xFFFF5800 port, and first timer's control registers are accsible via 0xFFFFF800, 0xFFFFF802, 0xFFFFF804 ports. I didn't find any info about this ports on the site's pages. What's the matter ? I know that they are busy people, and cannot spend a lot of time disposing XDAs. More politely, I want to ask - is any sort of similar info is available to anybody ?

In the XDA all or almost all I/O with the end-user is taken care of by the StrongARM chip. This chip communicates through GPIO lines and a serial port with the GSM ARM chip. This part is the custom ARM/DSP combo. I suspect that there will be great similarities between things like hardware ports on the processors themselves. I doubt that the are used in the same way as on the XDA. For the XDA port it is not needed to touch the hercom chipset at all.
Porting linux to something like such a Sony sounds like a very big and uncertain effort. With the XDA at least there is the iPaq, which is similar and has a linux port. Still for that port Compaq used a lot of internal specs that are not available on the XDA. I suspect the Sony to be quite different from the XDA because I don't think it will have and additional strongARM for starters. Do you know if the thing was manufacutered by HTC for Sony? Because if it is a Sony design than even if the chipsets are identical there is no comparison possible.

Hmm. I expected that you have a bit info about hercrom chipset.
Also I expected that hercrom chip plays a more significant role in the xda, than a gsm modem. But the firmware loaded to hercrom cpu might be useful - possibly it converts AT commands to the output on some ports to drive the gsm hardware; may be it quite plain for reverse-engeneering than Sony firmware, where gsm hardware driving routines mixed up with lot of other stuff. Hmm. May be, it is possibe to find a guy from, for example, HTC software development team, who can help us. Dreams, dreams..
"Porting Linux" is sounds quite good, but now it's no more than brave idea, you right.
There is no additional chip in the Sony that drives LCD, takes care of user input and so on. Also, I don't know who is real manufacturer of the device. It is almost certainly known that hercrom is the one and main cpu in the device. There are 32Mbit flash chip, in which resides the firmware. And this firmware is disassembled by ~10-20 volunteers.
Thank you very much.
And where is my Interactive Disassembler ?

Hello all...
Just some quick questions with xda and linux...
- What's the current status of linux support? Like, what works, what doesn't?
- How many people (or maybe also who) are actually working on porting linux onto the xda?
- What has to be done for xda linux support?
Thanks.
Pigeon.

Staus of porting Linux to XDA
Status of porting Familiar Linux to the XDA:
a) Lots of people think it would be totally cool
b) Nobody's doing it
We here at XDA-developers would love to help out and share our experience with the device and we can invest quite a bit of time. But we're not diving into this one on our own (just yet).
Given that Familiar Linux runs on an iPaq the job wouldn't be too great. Getting the kernel to run would be doable. Getting it to talk to the screen, modem and buttons may be a little more tricky. And there issues with the flash chips not being supported by Bootblaster (?). Probably the lack of a sleeve-interface and/or CF-card slot would make development a little bit more tricky.
All in all, it would be a Good Thing (tm) if some people that are really familiar with familiar would spend a secluded weekend with some of our gurus, sometime later this summer. Maybe do this as a project at CCC Camp?

Familiar and etc...
I've been using Linux/Familiar on my Ipaq for quite a while (2+ years). I'm also a developer for Familiar and GPE (not actively right now though, "busy" you know I have a fair bit of knowledge how it works as a distro. However I'm not really a Linux kernel/drivers hacker. I'm willing to help porting Linux onto xda for sure, though I don't really own a xda yet, which is even more tricky. Been looking around ebay for xda but haven't started really getting/biding one yet.
Anyway... I'm basically one of those i-am-not-buying-a-device-unless-it-can-run-linux person.
Cheers.

Lots of recruits
Looking like there are a lot of us on this site just gagging for Linux on our XDA. Hopefully by the end of the summer this will have emerged in some way then.
Perhaps now would be an appropriate time for somebody here, or elsewhere to take charge? Of course it has to be somebody who has time, and knowledge. Me personally am one of the many people who are eager to test, but don'y have a clue!
Many thanks. And heres to something getting underway very soon.
w w w . l i n u x . x d a - d e v e l o p e r s . c o m
here we come !!!
Martin

Maybe we could have a bit more detail list of what steps are needed to be done/discovered in order to have a usable (or full) linux port on the xda?
Something like...
- JTAG
---- locating JTAG pins(?)
- bootloader
- drivers(?)
- etc(?)
Someone who really knows about the xda can come up a comprehensive one and people can slowly work on them?
Pigeon.

Hi
Now that I made some progress, we can look at this.
pigeon said:
Maybe we could have a bit more detail list of what steps are needed to be done/discovered in order to have a usable (or full) linux port on the xda?
Something like...
- JTAG
---- locating JTAG pins(?)
- bootloader
- drivers(?)
- etc(?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently I finished the JTAG part and a bootloader can be flashed in this way. More details can be found at the following page, but it has not been finished completely yet: http://xda-developers.com/jtag/
To port Linux, I think the following steps are needed:
- reverse engineer the hardware mapping to registers, pins and addresses
- port a bootloader with this information
- port the kernel with this information
Now the first two parts would be an iterative loop, starting with a basic set of hardware features such as screen, touch screen and buttons. For this it is necessary to understand how the bootloader (for example bootldr at http://cvs.handhelds.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/bootldr/) works and how it can be limited to basic functionality.
When the bootloader has been ported with the basic hardware features than this information can be pretty much directly used for porting the kernel.
Question is:
Who has experience with coding in the bootldr or BootBlaster for iPaq?
Who has experience reversing the Wallaby bootloader to figure out how hardware is controlled from software?
Who can create a basic build for running the bootloader in RAM on the XDA from Windows CE?
Any volunteers can mail me, but I don't have much time to instruct. People should have the ability to take a 'Figure out how the LCD is controlled' and proceed from there with something like IDA Pro.

XDA developer W4XY said:
Question is:
Who has experience with coding in the bootldr or BootBlaster for iPaq?
Who has experience reversing the Wallaby bootloader to figure out how hardware is controlled from software?
Who can create a basic build for running the bootloader in RAM on the XDA from Windows CE?
Any volunteers can mail me, but I don't have much time to instruct. People should have the ability to take a 'Figure out how the LCD is controlled' and proceed from there with something like IDA Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I took it upon myself to at least create a basic port and procedure for getting bootldr running on the XDA in RAM (without flashing). When that is working, I'll post more details on where to get it etc.

Good Luck
We appreciatte the effort that you all make on this site. As I have no experience in any of the things that you mentioned I can be of little assistance for the moment. But as one of the few here that are interested in this Linux port, I look forward to testing and giving feedback.
Looking forward to the XDA Special Edition Linuc ROM ! ! ! v0.01
Martin

Available to work
I have a couple of years experience coding under Linux on desktop PCs, and some experience coding kernel modules, although no specific experience of Familiar.
I don't have an XDA yet (quite a big obstacle except at CCC), but I want to get one soon; I saw one a friend of mine had, and I fell in love with it.
I have quite a lot of time to work on stuff like this, and I'm thinking of going to CCC if a couple of other people are who are interested in Linux on XDA.
I'll be on #xda-developers on IRCnet and #familiar and #handhelds.org on Freenode.net pretty much every evening (BST) and my email is [email protected]

Good deal. Thanks for the offer for assistance.

Can't come to CCC
I'm afraid I've decided that I can't come to the CCC. It's too short notice (only found out about it a couple of days ago), a long way to travel, I'd be coming alone, and I already have plans for that weekend.

Contributors sought
An old thread back to life! Linux porting has now started in full on http://xanadux.org. We're looking both at porting to Wallaby and Himalaya and do not want to stop after the kernel is done. Userland applications and maybe even a full distribution are our goal.
Check it out.

I wish to know:
1. What is the status of the project now?
2. How to join? (I tryed to send to the email there but couldn't)
regards,

Hi,
AlBaraSoft said:
I wish to know:
1. What is the status of the project now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently there are two developments going on:
XDA 1 or Wallaby: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/WallabyProgress
XDA 2 or Himalaya: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/HimalayaProgress
Progress and information can be found in the respective Xanadux pages: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/XanaduxDeveloperHome
2. How to join? (I tryed to send to the email there but couldn't)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh that is strange. Where did you send mail to and what was the result? The e-mail address is: [email protected]
Beware that the current state of linux is very primitive. But with both it is possible to boot Linux and start TCP/IP networking over USB.
If you want to join and try and implement a feature help is very welcome! We are looking at several features such as Touch screen, button support, GSM modem etc.

Related

Android: will it work on current devices ?

Hi !
Does anyone actually know if android can be installed / flashed on current devices ? Or it's only for certain devices that come with it preinstalled ?
Please don't post things like: "i would love it if it did" or "omg, android is great"...
I'm looking for an answer from someone who actually knows or someone who knows exactly how this stuff works...
Thanks
PS: Menneisyys, i hope you'll post something
I don't think that you'll be getting your answer any time soon as nobody has seen the thing yet.
But i would speculate that as HTC is one of the partners, it might be possible. HTC probably wont reinvent their phones again for the android.
Not a programmer...
but i was listening to leo laport yesterday and it seems that ggls world domination strategy would be all including. so it seems very likely that they would allow some version of it for use on other phones.
http://techguylabs.com/radio/ShowNotes/Show403#toc5
At this point, since there there is no release yet and nobody has/can play with it, it's probably hard to say. However, knowing Google, there is a good possibility they will come out with an app that allows you to use your current phone (speculation).
I heard that Android based on some Java-sintacsys - maybe it is good for us?
Well, the SDK has been released, get it here: http://code.google.com/android/. A demo video is available on the page to show you what it's capable of thus far--looks promising. I'm no coder, but I wish someone would develop this for current HTC devices. As an incentive, Google launched an Android Developer Challenge (http://code.google.com/android/adc.html), where developers of "innovative, useful apps" can win up to $275,000.
leetsauce said:
Well, the SDK has been released, get it here: http://code.google.com/android/. A demo video is available on the page to show you what it's capable of thus far--looks promising. I'm no coder, but I wish someone would develop this for current HTC devices. As an incentive, Google launched an Android Developer Challenge (http://code.google.com/android/adc.html), where developers of "innovative, useful apps" can win up to $275,000.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I grabbed the SDk and got a basic hello world up and running. From what the video said and what I can glean from various sites. The Android OS is designed to run on existing hardware. I would imagine that includes HTC machines. Its a complete OS though not an app so I would imagine you have to blow away WM6 and put android on in order to take advantage of its functionality. The actual coding appears to be extremely easy.
I can see google or the community releasing a "shell" of Android.
The more people with it the more money for them. If you watched the video they are really trying to push the location based services from GPS, cell towers, IP address... can anyone say more cash for ads.
I wouldn't mind having it on WM and its open source so there a good chance we will see it.
Alpine would be perfect for Android
Alpine would be a perfect phone if recycled with android !!
Good processor, lots of mem and a big screen for touch sensasions!!
Is it a dream or could that become reality?
Is Android compatible with HTC Touch-style hardware or does it require the numberpad?
There is a linux-2.6.23-android-m3-rc20.tar.gz kernel file on the android google code project site, there is also ADB utility - Android Debug Bridge (comes with SDK), it has an option of flashing a device (over usb) or an emulator (which is also included in the package)...the question is how to compile that kernel and make it run on our HTCs, and what kindof boot loader does it require? Maybe guys from Xanadux know better
It's also interesting how JAVA is being used after becoming open source, it appears that android is mostly independent from the JAVA API, the only relevance I found was only basic stuff like java.util, java.io and etc (included in the android.jar)...
i think that android will work on htc devices because pretty much they are the ones that will be releasing the first devices preloaded with android and i think that white device was made from htc. I see a potential here so i ask some one to make a thread on porting android to any or a specific device. good luck and may the force be with you.
ps. i hope its a htc wizard
I'd say we'd be waiting to see the HDK come out before we can put it on our own devices, can't wait though.
A dream
The Android SDK includes an emulator, see here http://www.ohadev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15
Quote: "It seems that the main binary is emulator; this includes a qemu-0.8.2, which runs (in system mode) the ARM kernel image at lib/images/kernel-qemu.
Two more images are mounted from lib/images : the system.img (which appears to be the rootfs, and userdata.img, which gets replicated (and mounted from there) at $HOME/.android/userdata.img."
This guy (http://mamaich.uni.cc/fr_pocket.htm) got Qemu compiled for ARM, buggy/crashing, no visible update for several years, see also here http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/in...e_to_running_ms_dos_8_12&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Question: Anyone have any more recent news/experiences about Qemu on ARM/HTC?
So, theoretically one could try running the Android Kernel image from the SDK emulator on Qemu on PocketPC.
Even if it works (highly unlikely), this megasandwich AndroidImage->Qemu->PocketPC would probably be fantastically slow, with dodgy/absent I/O support.
Real solution is to wait for a modifyable Kernel which can run natively on the HTC ARM processor.
Did not someone from google mentioned at the day of the release that android will run on any ARM9 based device?
dirac said:
Real solution is to wait for a modifyable Kernel which can run natively on the HTC ARM processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no such thing as "HTC ARM processor". All major ARM-based CPUs
are supported by Linux, it's the device drivers for external hardware that are
often missing because of the missing documentation.
cr2 said:
There is no such thing as "HTC ARM processor". All major ARM-based CPUs
are supported by Linux, it's the device drivers for external hardware that are
often missing because of the missing documentation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im sure that HTC will release drivers for all their devices since they are partners in the Open Handset Alliance..
prodinho said:
Im sure that HTC will release drivers for all their devices since they are partners in the Open Handset Alliance..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some doubts that the (future) drivers will be released as free software, and not some binary blobs like nvidia, ati and m-systems did it in the past.
Binary linux kernel drivers are evil

PPC w/o MicroSoft?

So I've been having a discussion in another thread regarding the use of older versions of MSOS's on PPC. That spawned a question on my part:
Is there a development group here somewhere that is working on a Linux OS, or another OS for PPC?
Linux will run on just about anything, its' lightweight OS needs little memory and cpu power. So how hard would it be to design a light Linux based OS for a PPC?
Obviously it would take a group of people, much like those groups developing Linux distros and programs.
I think there is memory to be saved, and speed to be had. And if someone were smart enough to wrap a dialer and vendor agnostic connectivity around it, it would take off.
Any interest in this?
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Xanadux
or android
or
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...H_en-GBGB243GB243&q=linux+for+pocket+pc&meta=
Wow, I'm disappointed.
There are hundreds of WM5 & WM6 custom ROMs' being developed by hundreds of top notch developers...... and only ONE Linux port?
very underwhelming...
You may also want to check out OpenMoko (http://www.openmoko.org) or just try and put together your own.
Splitter said:
Wow, I'm disappointed.
There are hundreds of WM5 & WM6 custom ROMs' being developed by hundreds of top notch developers...... and only ONE Linux port?
very underwhelming...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a whole different thing. All those roms you are talking about are just modifications of an existing OS.
The linux port amounts to building an OS from scratch, and it's a lot harder.
edzilla said:
It's a whole different thing. All those roms you are talking about are just modifications of an existing OS.
The linux port amounts to building an OS from scratch, and it's a lot harder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed.
Actually porting Linux to an HTC device wouldn't be so bad. Some people have found out how to flash ROM's theoretically without needing a bootloader even.
The problem really boils down to drivers for Linux. We can't even get proper video drivers working with the Kaiser under Windows Mobile (the proper drivers were never included, so video output is slowwww) though the hardware supports 3d acceleration! HTC denies our requests for hardware specs to develop our own. And this is trouble we're having with drivers for Windows!
Really it boils down to this hardware. This type of hardware being proprietary as you can get. You've got processors and controllers that are highly proprietary and the vendors are tied in to 100 different non compete non-disclosure agreements and can't provide specs. Even the qualcomm chips borrow code from broadcom -- which means qualcomm can't publish how those portions of their chips work! Microsoft then licenses code from these vendors with promises not to share source. HTC licenses code from broadcom and qualcom swearing not to publish it. Etc etc...
Now, your a Linux developer. How do you integrate drivers in to your kernel when the chip instruction set isn't even documented? Control codes aren't published? Reverse engineering is the only way, which can take years. Developers here have learned simple controls such as to change LED's or discovered the standard interface for USB/SD cards. That's about it.
It's hard for an open source OS to survive in a closed-spec hardware world. PC's are open and well documented and very standard. However, every phone is different, and different production runs may even have significant changes in internal hardware design.
It's really a waste of time to seek Linux on mobile devices until hardware becomes standardized. Which is never because companies like qualcomm and broadcomm via and others are not fans of open source. This is the market and those who dominate it.
If this saddens you, it should -- but it's just the way it is.

Google's Android - why isnt there more development for this?

http://code.google.com/android/
incase anyones not familiar with android, check that site out.
im not sure why there isnt more development or developers that are going after this in terms of getting it working on all devices? im currently using it on my vogue and its amazing. definately better UI in terms of EVERYTHING. its open source, so i think developers should be all over this! has so much potential its kind of ridiculous
vogue thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=382265
its working about 80% now thanks to amazing developer martin.
the browser and everything (overall UI) are so much better and smoother than windows mobile! and being that its open source with google ENCOURAGING development of apps and themes and skins and whatnot, i think this is the next best thing to happen to ppc's.
THIS is the actual iphone killer.
just some samples
on a vogue (very smooth)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0z9bWiAT44
just a demo of the browser (mine is actually a little smoother than this)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FpDDEVWtk
the reason im posting this here is because i was the first one to post in this section with manilla2d (when udk first released it), asking whether we can get this on other devices, and look what happened with that. if we can get the amazing developers from here to work on this like they worked on m2d, then wow this will be amazing!
Yeah, even I'm suprised at the low level of excitement of porting this to all devices. Hoping for some real development . Btw, those videos are pretty impressive.
Akshay
Yeah... I'm a little surprised too.
I have a Vogue now, so I'm OK, but I'd love to see somebody pick this project up for the Touch Pro. It seems to be very similar to the G1, so the porting would be a lot more complete than the porting to the Vogue.
Hopefully somebody with the skills (read: not me) will undertake this.
it'll pick up. i say in 6 months to a year people will snap out of the apple app dev craze. but from a dev point of view, apple is where its at right now. the amount of money you could make is a driver by all means.
htc will also be a key part in this. when they start to release better looking hardware, perhaps something on par with the diamond....you'll see a user increase. and user increase translate into dev interest. so just hang in there....i think you'll get what you want soon.
A ppc that works only on 80 Percent ? And no additional Software, no outlook syncronisation? Thats at the moment somthing for freaks or people with a second device
If there would be a 100 Percent Android i would install it, believe me, because i´m not very happy with windows anymore.
So i think we must wait and hope.
My next Device in half a year will be hopefully the Touch HD with Android rolleyes
because it makes no sense to port androud to a phone that is not 3G with GPS.
the only advantage of the g phone that I saw was the service. 3G and free GPS! i'm like, how much for the puppy in the window?
I honestly think that porting it to my wizard would be senseless.
without the service the gphone is just a phone wothout service.
S.V.I said:
because it makes no sense to port androud to a phone that is not 3G with GPS.
the only advantage of the g phone that I saw was the service. 3G and free GPS! i'm like, how much for the puppy in the window?
I honestly think that porting it to my wizard would be senseless.
without the service the gphone is just a phone wothout service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course it is always pointless. We do it because we can (and because we don't want to do anything while at work)
(and much like bluemetal, we are all tired of the same old look and functionality in our WM devices). Then again, it can always be worse....
we could all have iphones
Anyways, I am looking forward to someone porting this to the Blue Angel.
The bigest stumbling block for me is lack of Exchange support. GPS isn't really necessary with the cell tower triangulation available. The accuracy is getting better. It will never be as tight as GPS but close is good enough for me. I can do with out 3G (I wish I had it) I don't enjoy the experience with the little screen. It's like looking at the ocean through a porthole. A 5 inch screen with much better resolution would be great. I use it for quick info but surfing is not fun.
I do like the idea of going linux on the phone. It would be that much closer to having a truely mobile desktop. We wouldn't have to install resource hogging shells that ride on top of an already bloated today screen to get better customization.
I think the biggest problem overall though is the hardware needed will put a lot of older equipment like my little wizard out to pasture. I don't have the funds to rush out an purchase a new phone. And yes I think all the bugs will need to be shaken out for a while before I take the plunge. Maybe by the 2nd or third generation of Android things will be a little less "bleeding edge". It all looks great now but I rely on my phone too much to gamble on an untried system.
To be completely honest, I too am suprised by the lack of progress.
This is a complete replacement for Windows Mobile: something we've all only dreamed about up until now. It will have a wicked Dev community around it soon enough.
There were a hell of a lot of efforts to get the Beta running. But now... nothing?
*so confused
The worst part is, it'd be gorgeous on my LG KS20, but I doubt we'll see it anytime soon: no one loves us KS20 owners. Guess you were all just jealous of our drivers.
bluemetalaxe said:
A ppc that works only on 80 Percent ? And no additional Software, no outlook syncronisation? Thats at the moment somthing for freaks or people with a second device
If there would be a 100 Percent Android i would install it, believe me, because i´m not very happy with windows anymore.
So i think we must wait and hope.
My next Device in half a year will be hopefully the Touch HD with Android rolleyes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't know if you read my whole post, but i never said "hey everyone lets run something 80% finished on our ppcs."
waiting and hoping isnt going to do anything, thats why i started this thread. to get more attention instead of sitting and waiting for something we arent sure is going to ever happen.
im glad a lot of other people are on the same page as me, wondering why there is barely any development for this. thanks for the support guys
lets get some devs in here to weigh in on this!
Well, there's a number of quite simple reasons...
- Porting Android to another device isn't as simple as "Hey, it's Open Source, you just have to compile and install". First of all, you'd need to find a working cross compiler for ARM in the first place (one using Windows' API, like those used for PPC apps isn't much help). Then you'd need to write drivers for usually undocumented hardware with this cross compiler or in ARM assembler (reusing existing WM drivers, like in cooked ROMs, wouldn't work in Linux). Finally, you need to find a way to flash that system to your PPC (that's a bit more work than a patched/cooked variation of an already existing WM ROM), and so on. That's work for the kind of freaks who would do their taxes binary in mind...
- Writing apps for a system almost nobody own so far isn't that attractive. It's even less attractive if the potential developer doesn't own one - the real experience is always a bit different to an emulator, and usually would like some use for himself, too (what good is an mobile app for you if you'd need a laptop with emulator to use it? ). So far, there's only one official Android device out there, and aside from the fact it's still a bit "first try, for developers only" (no Outlook sync, ugly design, ...), you only get it in very few parts of the world or in overpriced eBay auctions. Inofficial ports with reduced functionality and maybe buggy or slow "beta" drivers aren't that great, too...
- While the Android API is quite close to common Java style, it's still something completely new, which requires some time to get into the framework's basic style, the available functions, the loopholes and small tricks, etc. With WM, the gap to common Windows (desktop) programming is way smaller, and I guess it's similar with the iPhone and Mac programming.
Or, in other words: Give Andoid some time to grow up. IMHO, G1 and the few existing ports are a playground for hackers and early adopters, so they can get startet with fixing (security holes, missing functionality, ...). Then, in some months, more devices with a "hacker improved" Android will be published, and when developers buy those, they also will start writing apps if they are missing something.
you'd think more people would be starting to port.. because god is that g1 terrible, you have to have sharpened pencils for fingers to type on that flush keyboard)
Mort said:
Well, there's a number of quite simple reasons...
- Porting Android to another device isn't as simple as "Hey, it's Open Source, you just have to compile and install". First of all, you'd need to find a working cross compiler for ARM in the first place (one using Windows' API, like those used for PPC apps isn't much help). Then you'd need to write drivers for usually undocumented hardware with this cross compiler or in ARM assembler (reusing existing WM drivers, like in cooked ROMs, wouldn't work in Linux). Finally, you need to find a way to flash that system to your PPC (that's a bit more work than a patched/cooked variation of an already existing WM ROM), and so on. That's work for the kind of freaks who would do their taxes binary in mind...
- Writing apps for a system almost nobody own so far isn't that attractive. It's even less attractive if the potential developer doesn't own one - the real experience is always a bit different to an emulator, and usually would like some use for himself, too (what good is an mobile app for you if you'd need a laptop with emulator to use it? ). So far, there's only one official Android device out there, and aside from the fact it's still a bit "first try, for developers only" (no Outlook sync, ugly design, ...), you only get it in very few parts of the world or in overpriced eBay auctions. Inofficial ports with reduced functionality and maybe buggy or slow "beta" drivers aren't that great, too...
- While the Android API is quite close to common Java style, it's still something completely new, which requires some time to get into the framework's basic style, the available functions, the loopholes and small tricks, etc. With WM, the gap to common Windows (desktop) programming is way smaller, and I guess it's similar with the iPhone and Mac programming.
Or, in other words: Give Andoid some time to grow up. IMHO, G1 and the few existing ports are a playground for hackers and early adopters, so they can get startet with fixing (security holes, missing functionality, ...). Then, in some months, more devices with a "hacker improved" Android will be published, and when developers buy those, they also will start writing apps if they are missing something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok now these reasons make a lot of sense. im just surprised that not as many people are trying to get it started so they can get started on fixing, like you said. but ok, all of your other reasons make complete sense. im sure the future releases of android will only get better.
android just seems like exactly what many of us have been looking for in wm devices, basically, a complete UI replacement endorsed/created by a large company (other than microsoft lol).
jakub_w said:
im just surprised that not as many people are trying to get it started so they can get started on fixing, like you said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who knows? AFAIK, the order numbers aren't that bad, and all those reviewers give some feedback, too. I mean, it's only a week since the G1 is available at all, and, as said, it's not very attractive so far. Not everybody wants to spend hundreds of dollars just to provide Google with requests and code changes and T-Mobile and HTC with money...
android just seems like exactly what many of us have been looking for in wm devices, basically, a complete UI replacement endorsed/created by a large company (other than microsoft lol).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think the UI is the really big thing about Android. You can even replace it completely, and I don't know (yet) where the limits / design guides are for applications. I just hope it doesn't get as confusing as Linux on the desktop, where even a Gnome or KDE desktop can be modified so far that it's almost as hard to switch distros as switching from Windows to MacOS...
The important things about Android are more in the basic technology, imho, like
- A stable, timeless system core (*nix is older than me, so "modern" is not quite correct - that goes for MacOS X, too, btw...)
- Seamless integration of connection management and phone functions (opposed to WM, where it still acts like a makeshift patchwork, and with every update less APIs are working...)
- Portable application framework (Java, lots of system APIs)
- Simple application installation (no "is this EXE a PC setup or the PPC executable?", "How the hell do I install a CAB file?", ...)
However, I still wonder how/if Andoid will support direct PC synchronization (for shared files, contacts, appointments, music, ...) and how fast and memory consumptive the required Java VM is... (Well, at least none of the G1 reviews I read complained about that, so it seems to be faster than .NET on WM...)
i was just playing around with android and in the dev tools or api demos theres a section called opengl es. i have a vogue and i tried these, they ran extremely smoothly. isnt this something that everyone has been saying is impossible? (specifically for getting tf3d to run on the vogue) i think this proves that software driven 3d is more than capable of handling tf3d. just a thought.
jakub_w said:
i was just playing around with android and in the dev tools or api demos theres a section called opengl es. i have a vogue and i tried these, they ran extremely smoothly. isnt this something that everyone has been saying is impossible? (specifically for getting tf3d to run on the vogue) i think this proves that software driven 3d is more than capable of handling tf3d. just a thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely agree with you on that. Thing is though is that this is a completely different environment with a different set of drivers (and rules) which makes (for example) modifying their parameters to allow for keys normally used for certain functions in WM to be used for something completely different. Also OpenGL (ES) is all that is used on *nix OSes whether or not they run on full or embedded hardware. All that's needed is the driver for the graphics chip. Microsoft wants you to use their proprietary D3D not OpenGL (ES) hence why it was impossible to have OpenGL (ES) before. Also TF3D uses DirectX and not OpenGL ES AFAIK.
Android is great. Only thing I need is a way to get the SDcard image working and a HTC Touch Pro to port Android, Angstrom and/or OpenMoko to, I'd be set.
why would you develop software for an operating system that isn't even fully ported yet?
joel2009 said:
why would you develop software for an operating system that isn't even fully ported yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weeell....
- It's Linux and Open Source (some people wouldn't touch a closed system with a stick...)
- It's nice to be prepared when you get the running system
- There is a device with that OS
- The documentation is way better than Microsoft's
- There's a good chance the API will remain compatible, so it doesn't hurt to start early (opposed to WM, where some basic features can/could only be done with device dependant or inofficial APIs, which were dropped in newer updates...)

Ubuntu Phone OS

So I've Been a Big fan of Ubuntu for a while and I was thrilled to see that they will be releasing a phone OS sometime hopefully soon. Since I have the laptop dock I have always wanted to try to put full ubuntu on it. However that never fully worked on and had to be done on a blur based rom. I love the new JB rom I have on my phone as It performs well. But at the end of the video 21:00 Mark Shuttleworth, the Founder of Ubuntu stated that Ubuntu Phone runs on ARM based chips and Android Kenerals and Drivers.
I'm just wondering Who else would love to see this run and be compatible on the atrix AND the dock. If we still have a decent amount of developers I'm sure this is more than possible.
Heres the Link for the video:
http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone
Just putting the idea out there, but if there are any developers capable of this I'd be more than happy to support.
phone spesification is enough for run and if canonical is behind this i think its possible
I was about to post this as a new thread but when I saw this thread I decided to post it in here.
Happy New Year!
According to the video below Ubuntu for Phones will be compatible with any Android designed-hardware. If I understood it correctly, Atrix last chance is with Ubuntu for Phones for sure.
http://www.androidcentral.com/canonical-announces-its-ubuntu-smartphone-os
I have already said that once before that one reason the OEMs lock the bootloader of their phones is to prevent other platforms to be installed to shorten the life of the devices.
Millions of capable Android devices have already been abandoned due to lack of software support which I blame Google directly to allow the implementation of Wild Wild West on Android platform. The only loser in Android world is and will always be the consumers. Ubuntu for Phones will be the left jab that Google didn't see coming. I personally looking forward to see what Ubuntu for Phones can bring this year.
Update: it seems Ubuntu for Phones will not be available until 2014
Seems BBC covered the story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20891868
and in the article says that it will be released for the samsung galaxy nexus. porting from that to the Atrix may be hard, but it should be like CyanogenMod a little. So thats a little boost to say the least.
I also emailed canonical and showed interest in helping with the project especially with the lapdock capabilities, so ill let you guys know what I get back from them, and If its any useful Ill be sure to forward it to every developer possible.
Yes and simply
Yes it's possible for our Atrix, jus read that :
"Easier hardware enablement
We have teams based in Taipei, Shanghai, London, Beijing and Boston to engage with your engineering and factory operations – and their sole focus is to deliver a crisp Ubuntu experience on your device.
Ubuntu has already been adapted to run on chipsets using the ARM and Intel x86 architectures relevant for mobile devices, with the core system based around a typical Android Board Support Package (BSP). So chipset vendors and hardware manufacturers do not need to invest in or maintain new hardware support packages for Ubuntu on smartphones. In short, if you already make handsets that run Android, the work needed to adopt Ubuntu will be trivial."
So alright we don't MAKE handsets that runs android but we have one, we also have the kernel drivers no ? so with that it's like port a cyanogenmod ROM I think. My quote come from canonical web-site (sorry new member so I can"t post outside links ><) so it's a truth information
leclercqsteeven said:
So alright we don't MAKE handsets that runs android but we have one, we also have the kernel drivers no ? so with that it's like port a cyanogenmod ROM I think. My quote come from canonical web-site (sorry new member so I can"t post outside links ><) so it's a truth information
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, we have Ubuntu drivers but we're not sure we will be able to use them. But indeed the project of having Ubuntu running as main OS on the Atrix is realistic as we have all the material (HW and SW) required for this, if our devs know how to use them, but I think a whole team would be required for a project this big. It's not just a port of Cyanogen, it's not about taking a kernel and some drivers and snap them with a more recent UI and newer apps. We only got a kernel and an X server, it's far enough but the thing is that this X server was published to run on dev platforms. But also know it can be used on an Atrix, but how to integrate it with a whole new platform ? It will require time mostly. I think. And devs. But we don't have many devs so we only have hope. But maybe the devs on XDA will look more at the Atrix and Webtop.
CSharpHeaven said:
Update: it seems Ubuntu for Phones will not be available until 2014
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it's supposed to be available late 2013 - according to lifehacker....
http://lifehacker.com/5972559/the-ubuntu-mobile-os-introduced-today-coming-to-phones-in-2014
The Ubuntu Phones that ship with the OS will most likely be available in 2013 in the UK, and will clear american shores in Hopefully late 2013, but most likely will arrive around early 2014.
The OS itself will most likely clear for deployment sometime soon for the samsung galaxy nexus, as for a universal build I'm not sure If/when that will be available, so most likely we will have to see if one can be constructed for the atrix.
As far as the lack of developers, I fell that any and all developers that are still in possession of an operational atrix will want to test this, especially on a phone that isnt their daily driver and has capabilities of bringing back a strong webtop front.
absolutely possible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc0uMXGFBY
i like the ubuntu webtop, its run smooth and fast :good:
I think the atrix should be able to run it. just not mine unless the new bootloader gets figured out
Well I really think that Ubuntu can run on the Atrix, because they share the same idea, which is killed by Google: The webtop.
We just plug the phone into a dock, connect it to a monitor and that's it. Besides, the original webtop is just a big browser without many supported applications.
Several webtop-mods have shown that it is possible to run a full Debian or Ubuntu Linux on the phone.
And having one OS for mutliple devices is the stratagy that Microsoft now tries with Windows 8 on Tablets. But other than Windows, Ubuntu really got the chance to do it right.
Possible to run, but...
Well, I'm sure, it won't be a real problem to run the Ubuntu phone OS on Atrix 4g, IMHO, I'm really suprised, they used Atrix 2 and his adventages in testing. It's but I'm sure, HW would not work on 100%. Everyone knows, what is a problem with HWA drivers fot ICS+ even on android. Fingerprint drivers will be problem too... the best roms are (at least in my opinion) GB ones. This is the "tax" we pay for extraordinary HW in Atrix 4G.
Another problem in optimalization is the date of release (futher in future...who knows, how many devs will stay..)
This OS already has its own section on xda and it hasn't even been released yet lol anyways u can share your thoughts on Ubuntu for phone here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2082789
Phone Slow? go HERE
_____________________________________
This post uses the patented TingTingin®™ method I would teach it to you but you are not yet worthy (come back in a hundred years)
--Sent from the future with a galaxy s4 like a freaking BAWS--
Like I said If I got an email back I would let you guys know and sure enough it came and here it is
Thank you very much for your interest towards Ubuntu on smartphones. We have received an incredible response and have been overwhelmed with the general positive feedback! Responses both from the general public and the industry have been far greater that we expected.
In order to make Ubuntu a truly fantastic smartphone experience we will be initially working with manufacturers who will build Ubuntu into their hardware. We anticipate market availability of Ubuntu on smartphones towards the end of 2013.
To reach this goal, and offer a great experience for future consumers, our first priority will be to respond to industry inquiries from manufacturers/OEMs, silicon partners, developers and mobile operators. If you are a potential industry partner, we’d like to learn more about you. Please register your interest through our web form: http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/contact-us
If you are a mobile apps developer, and want to learn how you can help bring Ubuntu to the phone, you can also find more information on:
http://developer.ubuntu.com/gomobile
We are all excited about Ubuntu for phones, but it will take some time to get into the marketplace. If you leave us your email and country details, we will let you know when there is further news:
https://forms.canonical.com/manhattan/
Once again, thank you for your interest in Ubuntu!
Yours sincerely,
The Ubuntu for smartphones team at Canonical
Pretty much everything you could have read up on :/
Greetings to all on this New Year!!!(Almost late!)
Hello people.
Searching the past week about this topic, I found the "How to upload" Ubuntu for phones on Tegra Devices like our Atrix.
Here you could find some info: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/TEGRA/AC100
This will help un too: http://ac100.grandou.net/nvflash#debian_ubuntu_package
https://developer.nvidia.com/linux-tegra
And here, the Ubuntu for phones. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/quantal/release/
They recommend the Lubuntu 12:10 because it supposedly run from the box. I did not try this yet until I have all the tools(software & knowledge) ready...
It could be nice to have to opportunity to flash it like any ROM, but, sometimes I like the "hard" way in order to learn and develop myself.
Well guys, BON APPETITE !!!!!
While it's possible from a technical standpoint, I just don't see the developer interest which is a shame really, since the device's only weakness is the lack of updates.
Dav0 said:
Hello people.
Searching the past week about this topic, I found the "How to upload" Ubuntu for phones on Tegra Devices like our Atrix.
Here you could find some info: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/TEGRA/AC100
This will help un too: http://ac100.grandou.net/nvflash#debian_ubuntu_package
https://developer.nvidia.com/linux-tegra
And here, the Ubuntu for phones. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/quantal/release/
They recommend the Lubuntu 12:10 because it supposedly run from the box. I did not try this yet until I have all the tools(software & knowledge) ready...
It could be nice to have to opportunity to flash it like any ROM, but, sometimes I like the "hard" way in order to learn and develop myself.
Well guys, BON APPETITE !!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This option to install ubuntu is impossible. U would risk to delete/brick partitions or nands. We need a IMG file with the filestructure and flash it with the fastboot/CWM. I can mount ubuntu 11.04 but the problem is no UI loading. Only usable is the terminal.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app
Hai_Duong said:
This option to install ubuntu is impossible. U would risk to delete/brick partitions or nands. We need a IMG file with the filestructure and flash it with the fastboot/CWM. I can mount ubuntu 11.04 but the problem is no UI loading. Only usable is the terminal.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No is not impossible. You partition an SD card load it up with kernel and system and use a dual boot solution to boot into the kernel on SD card. Of course some minor changes needed on the kernel. But not impossible.
also porting cyanogenmod is not as simple as grabbing a few drivers and adding a few kernel bits. It is a monumental task of trial and error with hundreds of lines of code to patch and sometimes full libraries have to be re written. Shoot the radio layer on the atrix was a quick hack job on cm for atrix.
Porting Ubuntu is tho should be quite easy. And maybe could even one day live in that juicy 750mb web top partition.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
You'd probably have to have /home on the internal sdcard to use /osh for installing Ubuntu.
Funny that this is the third thread in the last few days talking about using stand-alone Ubuntu on the device.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app
samcripp said:
No is not impossible. You partition an SD card load it up with kernel and system and use a dual boot solution to boot into the kernel on SD card. Of course some minor changes needed on the kernel. But not impossible.
also porting cyanogenmod is not as simple as grabbing a few drivers and adding a few kernel bits. It is a monumental task of trial and error with hundreds of lines of code to patch and sometimes full libraries have to be re written. Shoot the radio layer on the atrix was a quick hack job on cm for atrix.
Porting Ubuntu is tho should be quite easy. And maybe could even one day live in that juicy 750mb web top partition.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean like webtop in atrix just docking u phone and start Ubuntu version 12.04 and not 9.04 jaunty . And a small question: why does nobody can make it work? there are big changes to make it work I think. Dual boot is without a proof not working for me
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app

Porting Sailfish OS

So, with the recent news of a port of Sailfish to the Nexus 4, I've been thinking. Does anyone know what it would take to port this OS? Does anyone here know the system well enough to be able to describe what it would entail to port this to another Nexus device, like the Nexus 5?
To clarify, I'm not asking anyone else to port the OS (though if someone would like to, that's fine), because I'm more than happy to do the work for it. I've just never actually ported anything like a completely new OS, so I don't know what it would involve and I'd like it if someone explained or even gave a rough outline of what would need to be done.
jabza said:
So, with the recent news of a port of Sailfish to the Nexus 4, I've been thinking. Does anyone know what it would take to port this OS? Does anyone here know the system well enough to be able to describe what it would entail to port this to another Nexus device, like the Nexus 5?
To clarify, I'm not asking anyone else to port the OS (though if someone would like to, that's fine), because I'm more than happy to do the work for it. I've just never actually ported anything like a completely new OS, so I don't know what it would involve and I'd like it if someone explained or even gave a rough outline of what would need to be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to do that a few weeks back but didn't have time to hunt down all the problems I had.
Check out this blog:
http://martinbrook.blogspot.com/?m=1
There's a rough guide in one entry. Basically you need to build CM from source, apply libhybris patches and then set up Mer on top of it. When you get Mer running it should be easy to install Sailfish packages. Libhybris is a compatibility layer for Android drivers to work on normal linux. Good luck and let us know how it goes. I had troubles with building Mer image for my device. In the video you mentioned it looks like the whole patch+Mer+ sailfish packages is this second prepared zip he flashes.
Sent from my LG-P760 using Tapatalk
jabza said:
So, with the recent news of a port of Sailfish to the Nexus 4, I've been thinking. Does anyone know what it would take to port this OS? Does anyone here know the system well enough to be able to describe what it would entail to port this to another Nexus device, like the Nexus 5?
To clarify, I'm not asking anyone else to port the OS (though if someone would like to, that's fine), because I'm more than happy to do the work for it. I've just never actually ported anything like a completely new OS, so I don't know what it would involve and I'd like it if someone explained or even gave a rough outline of what would need to be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man have you tried yet? My laptop is currently being serviced but upon its return I really want to try this.
aeppacher said:
Hey man have you tried yet? My laptop is currently being serviced but upon its return I really want to try this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet; I've been busy working with other things. Though it looks like we're in pretty good shape so far because the recent Ubuntu Touch builds have been getting doing some good work for Mer on the Nexus 5, so hopefully we can use that progress. I just haven't found the time to work on this yet, unfortunately.
jabza said:
Not yet; I've been busy working with other things. Though it looks like we're in pretty good shape so far because the recent Ubuntu Touch builds have been getting doing some good work for Mer on the Nexus 5, so hopefully we can use that progress. I just haven't found the time to work on this yet, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think SF is a really promising OS more so than Firefox is, tizen, and I think more polished than Ubuntu phone. I can't wait to start developing for it so I really want to port it when I get my laptop back. Nice thing is if you use Qt you can basically just write one app that will natively run on Ubuntu and SailFish
aeppacher said:
I think SF is a really promising OS more so than Firefox is, tizen, and I think more polished than Ubuntu phone. I can't wait to start developing for it so I really want to port it when I get my laptop back. Nice thing is if you use Qt you can basically just write one app that will natively run on Ubuntu and SailFish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree completely. It's sad that it hasn't seen a bigger leap in development, but I hope that it'll pick up sooner rather than later. I was just reading earlier today about Qt, which is pretty nifty if you ask me. Hopefully I'll find some time this week to actually make progress on it.
jabza said:
I agree completely. It's sad that it hasn't seen a bigger leap in development, but I hope that it'll pick up sooner rather than later. I was just reading earlier today about Qt, which is pretty nifty if you ask me. Hopefully I'll find some time this week to actually make progress on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well once I get my laptop back I will message you and maybe we can tag team it
Nice..get it work!
Lähetetty minun Nexus 4 laitteesta Tapatalkilla
Jolla is working hard on the android hardware adaptation libraries, here's official status about whats going on, its work in progres and might not be quite upto date.
https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Adaptations/libhybris
source: https://twitter.com/HarriHakulinen/status/433163017555959808
jabza said:
I agree completely. It's sad that it hasn't seen a bigger leap in development, but I hope that it'll pick up sooner rather than later. I was just reading earlier today about Qt, which is pretty nifty if you ask me. Hopefully I'll find some time this week to actually make progress on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whippler said:
Jolla is working hard on the android hardware adaptation libraries, here's official status about whats going on, its work in progres and might not be quite upto date.
https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Adaptations/libhybris
source: https://twitter.com/HarriHakulinen/status/433163017555959808
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tweeted Jolla asking if there was now an arm image within the SDK instead of just a x86 one and they told me that there is so that will take care of one major issue.
Android One port
Hi there! I'm not sure if this is where I can ask but I will, just to make sure. Could it be possible for someone to please port Sailfish OS to the Android One devices? They share nearly identical hardware (only differences are in storage).
Here are the specs:
Processor: Mediatek MT6582M 1.3GHz Quad Core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU
GPU: Mali-400 MP2
RAM: 1GB
Camera: 5.0 MP Autofocus Back Camera with LED Flash; 2.0 MP Front Camera
Storage: 4/8 GB (varies; categorized into sprout4 and sprout8 devices, respectively)
MicroSD: 32 GB max caapacity
Sim: Dual Micro
Network: 3G HSPA+, 2G EDGE and GPRS; Wi-Fi
Bluetooth: 4.0 with LE support
Location sensor: GPS with A-GPS
FM Radio
Ports: MicroUSB 2.0, 3.5mm audio jack
Other sensors: Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor
Battery: 1,780mAh Li-ion
Don't worry about the MediaTek processor hampering sources, check Google repos for code. Also sources are updated frequently.
I want to experience Sailfish on my phone and likely other fellow Android One users. Minimal modifications necessary for sprout8-specific patches.
sailfish os
hi i seen list of devices already ported using HADK some devices such as samsung they have some problem in application such as gps and fingerprint .... why these application doesnt work ?? is this problems based in sailfish error or this problems related to porters ? and hiw to fix this problems
sailfish os
hi i seen list of devices already ported using HADK some devices such as samsung they have some problem in application such as gps and fingerprint .... why these application doesnt work ?? is this problems based in sailfish error or this problems related to porters ? and hiw to fix this problems

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