http://www.osnews.com/story/17914/Motorola_Launches_US_Linux_Phone Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:17:03 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?240532 http://osnews.com/thread?240532 It's a closed system! We need apps on it, we can't just rely on what MOTO will be giving us!
(heavy sarcasem) Tue, 15 May 2007 22:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (The Baron) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240544 http://osnews.com/thread?240544 Are they pulling a Tivo or are they just not providing packaged dev tools (i.e. use the gnu toolchain available tools)? Tue, 15 May 2007 23:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bugnotme) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240548 http://osnews.com/thread?240548 No tools to write native apps. Only the J2ME SDK will be available for Java apps. Tue, 15 May 2007 23:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240553 http://osnews.com/thread?240553 """
No tools to write native apps. Only the J2ME SDK will be available for Java apps
"""

And I think we all know how Eugenia feels about that! ;-)

I'm glad I don't care about cell phones because the situation looks positively dismal.Edited 2007-05-15 23:46 Tue, 15 May 2007 23:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240554 http://osnews.com/thread?240554 Exactly. Tue, 15 May 2007 23:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240558 http://osnews.com/thread?240558 Your unfortunate plight is that you care. An affliction of the young!!! ;-) Tue, 15 May 2007 23:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240560 http://osnews.com/thread?240560 My reply was for your first sentence, not the second one. You updated your post and added a second sentence while I had already replied.

And yes, I like gadgets. The future is even more gadgets. Just like once desktop computers were the kings, and now laptop sales overcame desktops. Tue, 15 May 2007 23:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240569 http://osnews.com/thread?240569 Yeah, I'm bad about that.

You are right about gadgets. Targeted appliances are the future. It's just that the limited scope of gadgets doesn't excite me. Smaller and smaller PCs do, as long as they have the flexibility of a real PC. I've had more *advanced* handhelds. But *nothing* has ever excited me any more than my old HP 200LX running DOS. The keyboard was quite usable, and DOS apps ran nicely on its 320x200 screen.

It wasn't a gadget, but a small PC.

I have a test that I employ which may sound a bit weird to some, but it doesn't to me.

If I use a handheld device for a day, and I don't have a queasy, nauseous feeling while doing it, then it is a PC. Otherwise it is a gadget. I'm speaking about literal, physical queasiness and nausea.

I used to love messing with my HP48SX and HP48GX. But I always ended up with a vaguely nauseous feeling after an extended session. Gadgets.

It never happened with my 200LX. PC.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but hey! ;-)

-Steve Wed, 16 May 2007 00:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240587 http://osnews.com/thread?240587 "We truly appreciate your indentured servitude on behalf of our narrow commercial interests, with nothing given back to the community..." Wed, 16 May 2007 02:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tomcat) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240588 http://osnews.com/thread?240588 One of the fact that prevents linux phones form large sales is lack of native software. Java ones don't compete with native application in Symbian and Windows.
If motorola wants to raise their market share, it shall definitely open its native SDK. Wed, 16 May 2007 02:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rockmen1) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240602 http://osnews.com/thread?240602 I've noticed lot's of these Linux devices lately.. but none seem to be distributing the modified kernel sources.

Isn't that supposedly part of the GPL licence? Wed, 16 May 2007 03:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BSDfan) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240604 http://osnews.com/thread?240604 Motorola has a dev site where the kernel changes are free to download. But they use a licensed version of Qt for GUI, so they don't have to distribute those. Hence, there is no way to write native apps either. Wed, 16 May 2007 03:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240610 http://osnews.com/thread?240610 it's the carriers, not the phone developers, that limit apps.

linux sucks for phone apps anyway, and the balkanization of linux phone distros is only making matters worse. Wed, 16 May 2007 05:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Cloudy) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240672 http://osnews.com/thread?240672 And them not giving anything back (assuming it's true, I don't know) has harmed the linux community how exactly?

The Linux community is probably put in exactly zero effort to help out Motorola. The linux community does what it does and if people like it and what to use then, hey that's great. Stick to the license and we're all happy.Edited 2007-05-16 11:04 Wed, 16 May 2007 11:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240732 http://osnews.com/thread?240732 Solution: lock post edits after replies? Wed, 16 May 2007 13:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Beta) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240733 http://osnews.com/thread?240733 What I want is the ability to flash my old RAZR with the new Linux-based system. Anyone have any idea if this might be possible, kinda like a firmware upgrade? I figure my old phone still has a lot of life in it and deserves the ability to upgraded. Wed, 16 May 2007 13:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (brewmastre) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240745 http://osnews.com/thread?240745 I think this new phone may use motorola's new Linux kernel, that is single processor for baseband and application, so most likely it will ship with an arm11 based processor other than arm9, which is seen on previous products.
In other words, the binary may not be compatible.Edited 2007-05-16 14:23 Wed, 16 May 2007 14:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rockmen1) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240801 http://osnews.com/thread?240801 The fact that it's a closed system makes its use of Linux completely irrelevant.
I'd be interested in a Linux phone only if it was as hackable and customizable as a Linux desktop. Wed, 16 May 2007 18:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (CharAznable) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240847 http://osnews.com/thread?240847 And them not giving anything back (assuming it's true, I don't know) has harmed the linux community how exactly?

So, why not simply use a BSD-style license, if you're not concerned about harm to the Linux community? Wed, 16 May 2007 20:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tomcat) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?240893 http://osnews.com/thread?240893 Because they want people who make changes to the kernel to give those changes back.

If you are happy with the kernel the way it is and don't make any changes then you have no obligations. The sentiment among some free software people seem to be that if you use the Linux kernel you should open your entire API and make your entire platform open for everybody to develop on. Wed, 16 May 2007 21:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dagw) Comments