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Free N900 (KDE.News)
KDE.News has a report from the Maemo Summit, where Nokia handed out 300 N900 phones to developers. "However, it is not the hardware which is most interesting to us - it is the software. The N900 runs Maemo, a Debian Linux based operating system for high-end smart phones. Compared to pretty much all competition, the N900 offers a very open software platform and provides a terminal application by default. Most of the GUI is currently build upon GTK, using Clutter on OpenGL and various other FOSS components in the lower stack. But the upcoming release, Maemo 'Harmattan' 6 will receive a new, Qt based GUI. Qt is already available for the N900 and in the first half of next year we can expect an officially supported Qt 4.6 release for Maemo 'Freemantle' 5."
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Free N900 (KDE.News) Posted Oct 12, 2009 23:43 UTC (Mon) by Zenith (subscriber, #24899) [Link]
First reaction: AWESOME!
30 seconds later: Still awesome, and what a nice big carrot for those
I really have high hopes for this piece of hardware and I am seriously
Free N900 (KDE.News) Posted Oct 13, 2009 0:45 UTC (Tue) by davidm (subscriber, #35) [Link]
To be accurate the pre-release units were provided on a 6 month loan, not just given away. Still it will make for interesting times around Maemo.
Free N900 (KDE.News) Posted Oct 13, 2009 3:03 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Seems like a bit of a waste. It is not like they will be able to do anything
with those units when they are given back to the company.. they are not only preproduction units, they are used units. They'll just sit around the warehouses until they get thrown away after a few years or the engineers pick through them as playthings when they get written off. There is really no difference between giving them units for six months or just giving them away permanently in terms of cost to the company.
All in all it is a bit odd, but it is still a nice thing to do. And smart.
Lending Posted Oct 13, 2009 3:25 UTC (Tue) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link]
There is a difference. Giving away the phones has accounting and tax consequences. Lending them has different consequences. I predict recipients will be invited to return them if they want to, or not if they don't; or maybe to buy them at a sharply-reduced (used) price. There will be some sleight of hand that keeps them out of the warehouse.
Lending Posted Oct 15, 2009 13:10 UTC (Thu) by mgedmin (subscriber, #34497) [Link]
I got the impression that part of the reason for this lending agreement is
that a device (including the software on it) with GSM radio in it has to be certified and given a warranty before it can be sold, and Nokia doesn't have the final version of the software ready for that yet. What we received was a development snapshot made a couple of days before the summit.
Lending Posted Oct 16, 2009 20:42 UTC (Fri) by oak (guest, #2786) [Link]
> What we received was a development snapshot made a couple of days before
the summit.
Not couple of days before, according to the Maemo team blog post, it was
I guess the developers need the bleeding edge, hot and fresh. :-)
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 8:28 UTC (Tue) by sylware (guest, #35259) [Link]
Do we have the GPU driver code? And for the wireless chips?
Do we have all the optimal code for the hardware? (*then* I will know if I buy it or not)
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 8:52 UTC (Tue) by jospoortvliet (subscriber, #33164) [Link]
Nope. I wrote 'Compared to pretty much all competition, the N900 offers a
very open software platform'. It is not completely open, unfortunately. But a big step in the right direction, and Nokia is committed to having it as open as reasonably possible. So barring legalities, pending lawyer reviews, deals with suppliers and other vendors and strong competitive reasons... And it's a learning experience for them, like many companies they keep things in-house and secret by default and are now slowly figuring out how that hurts them.
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 9:02 UTC (Tue) by sylware (guest, #35259) [Link]
Ok. That's all I needed to know
I won't buy it.
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 11:01 UTC (Tue) by Adi (guest, #52678) [Link]
No problem.
Other non-zealots will buy.
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 11:20 UTC (Tue) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]
Not having free drivers has quite a few practical implications. Using a different kernel is one. All the newish X extensions are another. I don't want to be forced to use kernel 2.6.30 and Xorg 7.6 one or two years from now just because this is the only one supported by some binary drivers.
The Z Word Posted Oct 13, 2009 12:03 UTC (Tue) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link]
Indeed. It's amazing how people who use the term "zealot" typically also insist that they're "only being pragmatic". I can only assume that "pragmatic" must mean throwing stuff out every year or so for newer, shinier stuff that just happens to support the software of the day.
The Z Word Posted Oct 13, 2009 16:10 UTC (Tue) by mrfredsmoothie (subscriber, #3100) [Link]
You mean like the n770?
Now that this is a phone, too, I wonder if the device will be supported for longer. Not having ever shelled out more than $40 or so for a phone, I'm not sure if people who pay for smartphones expect to keep them for longer than a year or two.
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 12:58 UTC (Tue) by jospoortvliet (subscriber, #33164) [Link]
Good point. We can indeed only hope Nokia supports the N900 for as long as
there are users (which seems unlikely indeed). However, as far as I can tell, the 770 is still receiving updates so things seem to look good.
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 13:49 UTC (Tue) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]
A lot of its code is C++ anyway, you wouldn't want it. ;P
driver code Posted Oct 13, 2009 9:06 UTC (Tue) by Hanno (guest, #41730) [Link]
For your information, here's the Q&A section in the Maemo Wiki on this topic:
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 12:34 UTC (Tue) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] I would have thought that the N770, N800 and N810 were good enough learning experiences. Didn't they learn from them that binary-only drivers are evil? For them and for us.
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 13:24 UTC (Tue) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239) [Link]
I'm not aware of a single modern embedded 3D core that has fully open drivers, and Nokia don't have the design experience to produce one themselves.
Closed until further notice Posted Oct 13, 2009 19:29 UTC (Tue) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] I was not specifically talking about 3D cores, embedded or otherwise. But I (and surely many others) was hoping that the N900 would be the first truly open smartphone out there (with OpenMoko's permission), even if they had to innovate a lot. Not just "each bit closed until people nag them enough to bother", as the wiki pages seem to suggest. Proprietary userspace we can live with (or without); but binary drivers are about the worst, right after locked bootloader.
Closed until further notice Posted Oct 13, 2009 19:44 UTC (Tue) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239) [Link]
Nokia isn't a direct customer of any embedded 3D core vendor, and as a consequence they have no direct leverage in this matter. Changing that would require Nokia to either design their own 3D core or get into SoC design, and neither of these are realistic options. So, while, yes, it would be awesome if Nokia were to release an entirely open smartphone, having that happen would require a vast capital outlay for approximately no benefit to Nokia.
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 13:27 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
It is not really Nokia's choice to open some of it.
The PowerVR graphics, for example, are used to provide video acceleration.
That sort of thing. Some of it is Nokia's choice to be closed.. like some
All in all these are the same problems your going to run into when you buy
The TI OMAP platform is going to be used in pretty much everything and
Especially the PowerVR chip is going to be a PITA. IT would be nice if AMD
If people don't get their hands on this and apply reverse-engineering
So if people are going to abandon N900 they are going to have to make the
The N900 is Unique in that Nokia is actually encouraging hacking on it. If
Hell, waiting for ATOM phones is not going to gain you much. They are still
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 16:33 UTC (Tue) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link] What you say is largely the sad truth. However, I take issue with this: It is not really Nokia's choice to open some of it. When projects like Openmoko (and their successors) try and get access to documentation, their bargaining power is very limited: the vendor is likely to give them the brush-off over such "intrusive" demands concerning a mere five-digit number of units. Still, the Openmoko follow-up efforts try their hardest to use open hardware where they can, and they've surely seen the pitfalls of using stuff which people thought was "open enough". Meanwhile, Nokia ships millions of units every year and is in a much better negotiating position. If they can't bring pressure to bear on their vendors, they're either not trying, or they should be concerned about the strategic implications of their vendors getting to call all the shots.
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 16:59 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Your right to a certain extent, but this is just one product line out of dozens. Hopefully if N900 is a success and there is a visible commercial demand for completely open drivers then other manufacturers will follow suit.
All these embedded companies like Ti come from a tradition were spending a huge amount of effort on a one-off software application/driver that only works with one product is very normal and is acceptable...
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 17:06 UTC (Tue) by sylware (guest, #35259) [Link]
In the last HTC android terminal, what driver code is missing?
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 17:17 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Are you talking about HTC Hero? Or the Tattoo?
I think both of those ship as locked-down phones with proprietary UI code. I have no idea about the bootloader or drivers or whatever, or even where to go to find that information.
Learning experiences Posted Oct 13, 2009 22:01 UTC (Tue) by lbt (subscriber, #29672) [Link]
You are aware that Nokia persuaded TI to provide OSS drivers for the kernel part of the N800/N810 GPU and a re-distributable binary X driver.
ETA ~2 weeks - delivery via the Mer project at http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/
You know how you get that slow, beautiful (and seemingly never ending) transition between the pitch black of night and the bright new dawn....
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