Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 2nd Jan 2013 19:05 UTC
Expected, but still insanely cool: Canonical has just announced Ubuntu for phones. This is a new mobile phone operating system, with its own user interface and development platform. It's built around Qt5 and QML, and the interface reminds me of MeeGo on the N9. It's supposed to be on the shelves in early 2014, but the developer preview is out today.
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RE[5]: Android just to start with...
by tidux on Thu 3rd Jan 2013 18:41
in reply to "RE[4]: Android just to start with..."
Member since:2011-08-13
Open drivers are the really big thing here. Without open drivers, there's only ever going to be one usable OS per device (or at least one usable kernel - thank you Linux!), and the whole GPU situation on ARM platforms is maddening. It's getting to the point where a legal mandate to open the source code of GPU drivers might be the only solution.
RE[6]: Android just to start with...
by Kivada on Fri 4th Jan 2013 08:05
in reply to "RE[5]: Android just to start with..."
Member since:2010-07-07
Open drivers are the really big thing here. Without open drivers, there's only ever going to be one usable OS per device (or at least one usable kernel - thank you Linux!), and the whole GPU situation on ARM platforms is maddening. It's getting to the point where a legal mandate to open the source code of GPU drivers might be the only solution.
Don't the Mali-T6** series have programming docs released? Least I remember reading something like that last year. If thats the case it's only a matter of time till there are decent drivers seeing that the Samsung Chomebook XE303C12 is running a Mali-T604 as part of the Exynos 5 SoC and is apparently selling like hotcakes.
RE[6]: Android just to start with...
by Nelson on Fri 4th Jan 2013 14:26
in reply to "RE[5]: Android just to start with..."
Member since:2005-11-29
Completely agree. Its a culture change inside GPU and other chipset vendors that needs to change (and I believe is, albeit slowly, changing).
Its a balance, because I recognize a lot of their methods, if they were to document them, would reveal a lot of secrets related to how they achieve performance relative to the competition, and other tightly held GPU secrets.
There's likely a growing consensus inside of Qualcomm and AMD and nVidea but they are still ultimately led by the Old Guard who stonewall most serious efforts to support Open source.
I think if resources are focused on lobbying for change on this, it could have the largest ROI for the open source community.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.More News »
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Member since:
2005-11-29
You can do both, I think, by just support unlocked bootloaders. Then you face push back from carriers though.
I guess decent middle ground is having devices tailored for the OS they're made on, and having unlocked bootloader. Would allow custom ROMs (and alternate OSes if that your cup of tea) and would ensure a good experience.