OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled [LWN.net]

Those who have been waiting for the next-generation OpenMoko phone (called "GTA03" or "3D7K") will be disappointed; OpenMoko has come to the conclusion that it will not be able to successfully complete the project. Instead, the company will work, for now, on making the FreeRunner phone actually work and on a mysterious "Project B". For more information, see this post by OpenMoko marketing chief Steve Mosher. "As it was defined, it is dead. So how do we get to a new GTA03? Two requirements: continue to improve GTA02; deliver on project B. What is GTA03 and when do we get there? There are a number of independent efforts out there that are pitching me ideas for GTA03. I talked to sean a bit about this and I'd like to try to open up more of the design process and the marketing process to the community." See also: the slides from Sean Moss-Pultz's ESC talk [PDF].

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 5, 2009 16:40 UTC (Sun) by mjr (guest, #6979) [Link] (3 responses)

Things do look bleak, but at least the news wasn't overdone like on Slashdot. Hopefully they can polish up the system on the Freerunner while this Project B can bring them some capital and get them back into the main game. But of course, hopes are hopes. I don't claim to know which way things will go, but I do know that OpenMoko disappearing altogether would be a loss to the free software community.

Some more of my still-relevant thoughts on the matter in my blog.

(Still a FR user.)

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 5, 2009 18:27 UTC (Sun) by TRS-80 (guest, #1804) [Link] (2 responses)

What distro do you use? I'm still using 2007.2, having tried Debian, SHR and H:1, and 2008.8.

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 5, 2009 23:52 UTC (Sun) by csamuel (✭ supporter ✭, #2624) [Link]

I'm running Qt Extended Improved (based on 4.4.3, with bug fixes) and I'm
happy, I've been using QtE for the last 6 months or more and (with the echo
canceling fix and upgrading the Calypso firmware to moko9) it works nicely
as a phone.

I'm still running with a 2.6.24 kernel as that is very reliable for
suspend/resume, but I need to change it every other day with just
occasional calls.

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 6, 2009 5:35 UTC (Mon) by tajyrink (subscriber, #2750) [Link]

I use mostly Om2008.12 with my own tweaks (something along the lines of what Kustomizer http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Kustomizer brings along) to a quite ok success. Only the slowness of the Qtopia apps is really annoying.

I'm now dual-booting Om2008.12 and Debian, with interest to moving to Debian completely. It needs some heavy customization still, but with a bit more proper SMS software I could already move.

The nice thing is that I've a separate data partition on my 8GB MicroSD card, so that I can access eg. OpenStreetMap data and music files from either distribution via TangoGPS and player software.

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 5, 2009 20:35 UTC (Sun) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link] (2 responses)

I'm wondering what battery life current OS images yield.
Is it possible to keep the phone in standby for 3 or 4 days?

That would really be a reason for me to try out my GTA02 again.

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 6, 2009 1:03 UTC (Mon) by pj (subscriber, #4506) [Link] (1 responses)

Someone needs to get the CAD drawings for the extended back that the candadian guys did and figure out how to turn it into an extra battery pack. I'd deal with another 1/4" of thickness if it meant 3x or 4x battery life (which is what I can see *easily* fitting in there just by putting in more of the same stock batteries)

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 6, 2009 16:12 UTC (Mon) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link]

That wouldn't really be acceptable to me.
First is that it's already more than thick enough.
Second is that it simply shouldn't waste that much power.

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 5, 2009 22:09 UTC (Sun) by zooko (guest, #2589) [Link]

This is actually what I had been hoping for. The GTA02 seems like a nice combination of hardware,
if only I could figure out what to do with it, and if a few bugs were ironed out...

OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled

Posted Apr 5, 2009 22:37 UTC (Sun) by eli (guest, #11265) [Link] (1 responses)

This sounds like some much needed realism on the part of Openmoko. I
have a FreeRunner, but the buzzing issue prevents me from using it as a
phone. So I broke down and bought an Android Dev Phone. I am still
hopeful that they can deliver on the promise of the GTA02.

GTA02 A7 coming...

Posted Apr 6, 2009 6:11 UTC (Mon) by tajyrink (subscriber, #2750) [Link]

I agree that the buzz issue, in 900MHz range, is by far the biggest problem FreeRunner has, though I use it still with tweaked ALSA setting which make the problem a bit smaller when it occurs. The phone becomes a lot more interesting once they get the factory-fixed A7 revision to resellers. Currently I'd recommend anyone considering FreeRunner to wait for it unless you enjoy hardware tweaking: http://people.openmoko.org/joerg/GSM_EMI_noise/big-C_rewo...

For existing customers like me, still waiting for the Big Plan (besides fix parties) for those who do not want to fix hardware themselves.

But when the A7 is on sale, I'd happily recommend FreeRunner to most free software hackers (with some extra time for tweaking:)).

Status of FreeSmartphone.Org and GTA02 updates

Posted Apr 6, 2009 6:52 UTC (Mon) by tajyrink (subscriber, #2750) [Link] (1 responses)

An additional informative piece from Michael Lauer / FSO:

http://lists.linuxtogo.org/pipermail/smartphones-userland...

So FreeSmartphone.Org is in need of further funding, but will (naturally) continue anyway. Additionally, Openmoko still plans to release Om2009 software release in the summer, though I really think Debian, SHR & co. should take over the whole software part maybe with exception of kernel. Paroli as an independent project can be packaged by anyone, in case it's going to be The easy-to-finger-use dialer/PIM software.

Status of FreeSmartphone.Org and GTA02 updates

Posted Apr 6, 2009 13:33 UTC (Mon) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link]

There certainly is a lot that they can salvage from the openmoko project software-wise.

Didn't they eventually produce some software variations that included GSM/phone-related items that would be controlled via dbus? Stuff that could be integrated into the Gnome desktop in a sort of modern desktop services manner?

Because, if so, then it should be very interesting to anybody who would seek to add Cell Phone-like functionality to Netbooks or MID devices. Maybe the Telapathy folks or the Moblin folks would be interested?