SD69 | # 11 | 2009-09-10, 11:48 | Report

Yes, the n8x0 NITs won't suddenly be abandoned. But there is the very real danger that they will eventually become relics (like the Sharp Zaurus) because they start to physically fail from wear and tear after years of mobile use and/or because the difference in their raw computing performance with the generation of MIDs in say 2012 will be so great that people will not want to use them (even if you prefer the Diablo OS and associated UI) for mainstream tasks like web surfing.

A big +1 for saving Diablo! How do we do that?

As of now, Diablo is only available on the N8x0 NITs, and thus currently seems destined to share their long-term fate. This implies that if we want to save Diablo (for more than 3 years or so), then it has to be disassociated from the N8x0 NITs. This is complicated because of the 3rd party closed source components in Diablo, but if Nokia is not going to use Diablo anymore, then they should do right by their professed support for open source and make it available (in more than an edition that can only be used on the N8x0s), sub-license, sub-contract, sell, transfer, etc., whatever rights they have in Diablo to the extent possible... (and I admit we don't know what is possible).

(Yes, I am familiar with Mer and I advocate for it but saving Diablo for posterity is not the only goal of Mer.)

SD69 | # 12 | 2009-09-10, 14:28 | Report

Yes there will be interest for awhile, but what about longer term when the supply of Diablo based devices dries up? It should become legal at some point in the future to install Diablo on another device. How do we help that happen?

Stskeeps | # 13 | 2009-09-10, 14:33 | Report

You mean saving 770/N8x0? We hardly use Diablo code

endorphinum | # 14 | 2009-09-10, 14:48 | Report

Hi everyone and thanks for opening this thread linuxeventually !

We are exactly at the same point where we were when the 810
appeared. Everyone is talking about hardware and NOKIA has
made a big improve on the possibilites and the OS with the n900.
And unnecessary to say that It looks awesome.

But about what i have seen, it's nothing but an optimized
media-player-phone UI so it think that it realy depends on
how you are going to use the device (phone, media player, gaming?)

And that's the difference for me: The n900 is more like
an iPhone derivate while Diablo AND Mer are a real OS
where i can act the way i might do daily with XP, Vista or OSx.

It's not that i hate the iPhone, but it's just a phone.
And it always will be for me.
But my Diablo n800 is a system where i can do much more
then simply be a content generator for my OVI or social network
provider. It's a system i can play and hack with.

Instead of publishing a newer device, NOKIA should have been
thinking about making the whole system much more end user
interesting by bringing the huge amount of possibilites that *nix
offers.

Nevertheless, i am also not going to buy the n900 if there will be
only adopted games, farting sound machine or cocain sniff apps.
I want a device that i can work AND play with.

zerojay | # 15 | 2009-09-10, 15:59 | Report

You expect them to stay behind on an older device instead of trying to advance things with new ones? REALLY?

Things don't work that way, sorry.

They *are* pushing the huge amount of possibilities that *nix offers. They are making the system much more "end user interesting". It's called the N900 and it's happy to get to know you.

mrojas | # 16 | 2009-09-10, 16:26 | Report

The whole idea of the N900 UI/desktop is to use it and customize it as you want to. Believe it or not, a flowing UI can actually make one more productive.

If anything, due to is capabilities, the N900 and Maemo 5 are the closest thing a mobile OS is to a desktop OS so far.

The N900 is being billed as mobile computer first, that can make phone calls. Never as a smartphone.


N900 and Maemo 5 is as hackable as the previous tablets.

If we agree in end user as a massive, non-techie user, then you can't really complain that the UI being too fancy and then complain that is not end user interesting.

If you are thinking in end-user more as a *nix power user, then it has been shown already that the N900, due to its powerful hardware, can bring even more *nix capabilities to the mobile world. Easy Debian will be on it, for example.

Please do not assume so much and take a look around. Productivity applications are on their way. Games should too.

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Last edited by mrojas; 2009-09-10 at 16:29.

SD69 | # 17 | 2009-09-10, 20:34 | Report

No, I don't mean saving the devices. I meant saving Diablo - the software. Maybe you didn't see my earlier post thinking out loud that we might want to try to disassociate Diablo from N8x0?

Yes, OK, Mer hardly uses Diablo code any more. That proves the point, as wonderful as Mer is, it is not the project for saving Diablo.

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Last edited by SD69; 2009-09-10 at 20:39.

canoehead | # 18 | 2009-09-10, 21:22 | Report

I think the way forward is Mer, and seeing whether Mer can be shaped to meet the needs of n8x0 users.

If the community continues Diablo, that is only one part of a healthy system. Beyond using up community resources for Diablo itself, we'll need to convince application developers to also to continue to push out updates for their Diablo versions. Ie Maemo Mapper, pwsafe, etc. They will likely focus more and more on the API's in Fremantle/Mer.

I think it is much more strategic to focus on Mer, and hopefully make the developers lives easier to put out Mer builds of their Fremantle applications. I'm not sure if OBS is going to make that a snap, but possibly.

Making life easy for an open source developer is one of the key ingredients to success.

bummer | # 19 | 2009-09-10, 21:39 | Report

In that case they should not had made the screen so small and used an inferior screen option. It's a smartphone.

Texrat | # 20 | 2009-09-10, 21:49 | Report

It's whatever it's labeled, and that's mobile computer-- with a small screen.