Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Interesting article on Engadget reciently..

"Those of you disappointed by the "top secret" features of Leopard might want to cast your hopeful, wayward glances in the direction of Ubuntu. Here comes "Gutsy Gibbon," otherwise known as Ubuntu 7.10 whose feature-set now appears finalized with a planned October release just like Apple's big cat. Pumping the 2.6.22 Linux kernel at its core, Gutsy G will be the first Ubuntu release to include new Mobile and Embedded editions "targeted at hand-held devices and other mobile/embedded form factors." It will integrate the Hildon UI components developed by Nokia and already on display in their N800 tablet. In other words, that Sony Ericsson P990i we saw running Ubuntu likely wasn't a hoax after all. :

Read article here


Think this will allow us to install on the N800/N810 ?.. or will it have to be re-compiled - ported for the tablets?

Just curious.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

From the FAQ:

#

I'm sure portions of UME will be ported though...

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Could we be more specific here?
Which parts of the Nokia tablet hardware need Nokia support:
video, audio, Wifi , Bluetooth, FM-Radio, touch screen ?
I need all these.
Which parts will be/are planned to be ported to the UbuntuMobileEdition ?

And why should I switch to UME in first place? Will it give me a good PIM or an OnScreenKeyboard with Ctrl and Alt keys?

Thanks.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

If by chance that a mobile version of Ubuntu comes availiable for the tablets.. I am hopeful that the PIM software in ubuntu works on it.. that is the only real thing I dislike about the N800.. PIM software for it sux bad. Yes I have used GPE.. its clunky.

I bought a blackberry reciently due to the fact that N800 PIM software suxors. Now I use them as a team.

N800 for multimedia and web browsing.. also for note taking in meetings with the Nokia bluetooth keyboard..

Blackberry for on the go PIM and email.. and a DUN modem.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Not necessarily a complete list...

Most of the available hardware in the OMAP CPU is proprietary or requires NDAs (DSP, IVA, MBX)
WiFi is mostly closed
Battery and watchdog management is closed
Possibly other stuff

It certainly looks like it's in Nokias interest to fully open the OS sooner rather than later. There's some annoying stuff such as the battery and watchdog management they could open source relatively easily, the other hardware may be beyond their control which is why in future they should use open-source friendly hardware and not the closed source cr@p peddled by TI.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

If i understand, ubuntu ume is based on Hildon, so i think we can port PIM of ubuntu ume to maemo easily.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

I really don't understand how Nokia can include proprietary drivers in their distribution on the Linux kernel. There are pretty strict rules for the use of binary blobs in order to avoid breaking the GPL rules. Nokia can't simply keep parts of their Linux kernel secret. That's whar the GPL is designe to stop. So how did Nokia get around it?

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Nobody bothered?

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Do you mean nobody at Nokia bothered to read-up on the GPL and what it allows? This has happened at other companies, of course, and quite a few companies have been forced to reveal code they considered secret. But I can't believe that none of the people developing for the Nokia tablets haven't spotted something smells fishy.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

I meant that nobody bothered because

a) Nokia did nothing wrong or

b) nobody from the open source community could be bothered.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Answer is: a)

;)

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

or

c) Nobody has spotted it yet (or at least kicked up a stink about it), so it's a timebomb waiting to go off, or

d) Nobody knows if this is right or wrong because the whole GPL and binary drivers is still a grey area and you'll get radically different answers depending on who you ask

Personally I think the binary modules are stifling development on the Nokia tablets. The ability to create your own kernel is an essential freedom of Linux that's only partially being implemented here -- you have to use a single version of the kernel in order to remain compatible with the binary kernel modules. (I guess you could backport some technologies but that's extremely hard work, and certainly not as trivial as compiling your own kernel from scratch.)

Can you explain your thinking?

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

Just as you can have binary modules from nvidia and ati on your desktop, you can have binary modules for the wifi and battery on the tablet.
The source of the kernel for the tablet is open source, otherwise there wouldn't be the custom kernels with usb host mode and so on that the community makes.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

You can also have a binary of an OS ...
For me it is obvious the Nokia cannot be interested in opening the ITs. Why should I buy a new device if even the old one gets the newest updates.
Ok, there are people like me who think different. My next IT like device will support an OS similar to Ubuntu Mobile. I dont want to get fooled a second time.

Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Mobile
 

The binary graphics drivers are 'binary blobs'. They NOT binary-only drivers. The actual driver (kernel module) is open source. It just hooks into the binary blob, which is a chunk of cross-platform code that's also used under Windows.

I've been explaining this elsewhere on this forum. AFAIK you can't simply keep module code secret. The modules will have to be compiled against the kernel headers, so you've got GPL code included there. And if GPL code is used, it's a derivative work, and therefore must also be licensed under the GPL.