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Android Dev Phone 2 availableAndroid Dev Phone 2 availablePosted Nov 16, 2009 17:34 UTC (Mon) by drag (subscriber, #31333)In reply to: Android Dev Phone 2 available by fb Parent article: Android Dev Phone 2 available
Well I am interested in openness at the Kernel level.
That is what would matter to me most long-term, because if I can control the
For example I know that Nokia uses proprietary systems for controlling the
I know enough to be dangerous and install a cross-compiler tool chain on
so I want the system with the least amount of proprietary BS.
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Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 16, 2009 17:36 UTC (Mon) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
I am probably getting the N900 shortly now that I think about it. It's a lot
easier to find detailed information about the N900 then the Sapphire platform.
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 16, 2009 17:46 UTC (Mon) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]
I suspect you will always have closed code for the GSM stack, because of regulatory issues - this is why some open phones specify a separate application processor for the non-GSM application/OS code, letting the DSP run the GSM stack's closed code.
I'd be interested to see a comparison on driver openness (and that of any important userspace elements that talk to hardware, e.g. power management) between Android and Maemo/N900.
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 16, 2009 21:30 UTC (Mon) by niner (subscriber, #26151) [Link]
"Regulatory issues" were also cited as the reason for closed source WLAN drivers. It did
not hold up there, so what makes you think that it will for GSM?
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 17, 2009 0:50 UTC (Tue) by erinnlooneytriggs (subscriber, #24665) [Link]
You all might be interested in this: http://ofono.org/ it is an open source gsm stack that is being developed by nokia and intel.
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 17, 2009 14:25 UTC (Tue) by jamesh (guest, #1159) [Link]
oFono appears to be more of an API standard that a GSM stack could be exposed with. It seems to be more aimed at enabling portability of telephony applications.
This doesn't make it a bad thing for free GSM stacks though: if the GSM stack is only accessed via the oFono API, it should be easier to plug in a replacement one rather than having to reverse engineer the interface of the proprietary stack.
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 17, 2009 1:29 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Stuff like that takes time. GSM standard is much more patent-encrusted,
involves DRM, and several major corporations have a vested interest in keeping it very closed.
So it's not going to be open any time soon. It'll be up to hackers to open
They depend on a lot of "omg this is telephony AND radio and that is too
* (people that work for above-mentioned major corporations)
oFono is very interesting, of course. The GPLv2 licensing is promising,
So is OpenBTS. Different sides of the same coin, I expect.
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 17, 2009 7:08 UTC (Tue) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]
WiFi uses unlicensed spectrum, whereas GSM spectrum is licensed - people's ability to make emergency calls over GSM using E911 or the non-US equivalent probably takes precedence over open source. There may well be open source stacks for GSM, but at the point of delivery to the end user I suspect they would have to be closed (BSD like license, or Tivo-ized so that the end user device's GSM stack can't be changed.)
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 17, 2009 7:19 UTC (Tue) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313) [Link]
hat sounds very similar to the arguments that AT&T made about their monopoly on phones for landlines years ago.
that was eventually dealt with and the fix was to require a very small portion of the phone to be certified. I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar result eventually for this.
the question is how small the certified piece can be.
Android Dev Phone 2 available Posted Nov 17, 2009 8:14 UTC (Tue) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]
Agreed - if the regulated part can be just the bits that could DoS a GSM network or overuse licensed spectrum, then everyone should be happy. In reality, any smartphone today lets you install applications that could DoS a network using SMS or phone calls, but this is somewhat restrained by the cost of SMSs and calls.
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