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IBM Picks Qtopia Over PalmOS And PocketPC
Bill Kendrick writes "ZDNet,
Geek.com and others are reporting IBM's decision to choose Trolltech's Qtopia (the embedded version of their Qt library, used by the Sharp Zaurus PDA) in their forthcoming devices.
See the announcement at Trolltech's website, and an
earlier press release at IBM.com." Here's an earlier post about the new IBM reference platform.
I'd say IBM has made quite a shift since its inception. Moving from massive, room-filling mainframes to miniature gigabyte pocket drives and Qt-toting PDAs. It's nice to see that ol' Big Blue can still jump through the ever-moving hoops of technology.
Posting as directed.
The trolls have given back a lot to the Linux community. KDE would be nowhere without Qt. Dual licensing seems to be one of the few open source business models that actually work (unfortunately, mostly for libraries). Plus, Qtopia is a great platform to work with, so good lock to Trolltech.
IBM is all about Linux and Java these days. Choosing otherwise would have been a fatal mistake both in terms of marketing and technology. The Zaurus is good technology and a powerful proof point. With IBM's resources, they should be able to take the technology all the way.
TrollTech?
Trolls! They invade everything nowadays
There is lots of room at the bottom said - RF
And we know what happened that last time ibm released a pc reference platform.
I would say that linux just won the future.
and the future is wareable -peace yall.
- the final invention says that
" we'll make great pets."
Looking at the Qtopia website, Trolltech seems to be dedicated to making desktop software for all major OSes, even Linux :) This is certainly better than WinCE which probably does not sync nicely with MacOS or Linux. Even PalmOS officially leaves out Linux/UNIX (but pilot-link works great!).
:-D (Although none really have the capabilities of my Clie NX70 :)
Also, Qtopia is open source... I think I want a Qtopia device now
My other car is first.
Qtopia is qt on embedded Linux. Same environment as Sharp's Zaraus. Good Stuff.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I am glad to see this since it should broaden the Qtopia user base significantly. You may or may not know that Qtopia is also used by the Sharp Zaurus Linux PDA (both the Sharp software and OpenZaurus distros use it). There is also the OPIE project, which is basically a suite of PDA apps built on top of Qtopia. This bodes well for getting more Liunx PDA users on board, and provides some existing apps for those using Qtopia for the first time.
This is a HUGE win for the Trolls.
They deserve this success too. They have given us QT, which IMO is THE BEST Application Framework for C++ ever developed.
However I'm wondering if there isn't another faction inside IBM that we haven't heard about... waiting to kill off anything that isn't Windows based (sort of like what happened with the IBM PC Co and OS/2).
You know you're a geek if you've ever replied to a tagline.
It also goes a step further than motorola's annoucement earlier this week as here we have an opensource product in the middleware as well as the OS--and the middleware/interface makes a real difference in this type of device. Note that they will use a Montavista kernel, just as motorola: I guess the palm market is becoming so saturated that differentiation from competitors is also crucial at this stage--this will allow them to offer different apps etc than palm/pocket PC.
Goodie goodie, IBM is back on the handheld market with some fun stuff--we as consumers might see some great new apps.
yours ever, fz.
X windows reminds me of the space shuttle. It's big and old and we know it won't last forever, but we hide our heads in the sand and we don't want to hear about it. Well, that's a really stupid attitude, especially since there is such an inviting alternative.
is this suprising? IBM's a big supporter of Linux in pretty much every area that it can be. Embedded, desktop, server, mainframe, etc.
Apple, Sharp, and Trolltech do not offer any syncing solution for Mac OS X. It's... like... beep beep beep.. a bummer.
Entrepreneur: QuickTime is the latest business machine that lets you go back in time and correct all the bad business decisions you made.
Boss Hog: We need to go back and dump sugar in them Duke Brothers' gas tank. Get onto it, Rosco!
IBM HINT: There is no QuickTime...
But I'm sure you already Gnu that.
But I didn't know and that means there is probably a bunch of others out there too..:
Qt is a multiplatform, C++ application development framework. One source runs natively on Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac 0S X, and embedded systems.
Go here for a brief overview from Trolltech.
Pretty cool with the customization aspect.. Is there any programmers out there who have some real experience? This is pretty interesting to me, and I wouldn't mind hearing some feedback and maybe links or something. =)
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
QT/Embeded is the embedded version of the QT library. Qtopia (formerly QPE) is a PDA operating environment based on QT/Embedded.
After Sharp decided to use Qtopia on the Zarus, TrollTech seemed to lose interest in the Qtopia version for Familiar on the iPaq, so an open source fork was started called Opie http://opie.handhelds.org/
One of their goals is binary compatabilty with Qtopia though.
Lets ignore all the security issues for a moment. Let's just imagine that MS finally makes something truly secure, and no one is going to be hacking your phone or PDA.
The primary issues then become functionality and memory footprint. In terms of low cost buying power, you can't beat linux. In terms of memory scalability, you can't beat linux.
Add in stability, and the reality of security, and it seems wierd that anyone would go another direction.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
If you go here, you'll see that they have three licenses: a Commercial Development licence, a Commercial OEM license and a GPL Development license. So it depends on what you're planning on doing with what you build. You can't build a commercial product with the GPL license.
"You may or may not know that Qtopia is also used by the Sharp Zaurus Linux PDA (both the Sharp software and OpenZaurus distros use it). "
In the post: "the embedded version of their Qt library, used by the Sharp Zaurus PDA"
I don't think so. How do they benefit by coming out with a pda that does not support the two major pda os's out there (PalmOS, WinCE)? How could they hope to ever be something other than a niche player? How many other companies that don't currently have pda's are going to come out with a pda that currently has little market support. Will any existing pda manuf. hop on the IBM bandwagon (e.g. Compaq/HP, Sony, etc).
Nope, this looks like IBM pushing their PPC405 into the embedded market, any resemblence to a pda is purely incidental.
I hope this means that the Qtopia will get a lot more commercial support. Other than tK, there aren't many commercial programs out there. Not that I WANT to have to pay for software, but a lot of specialty programs aren't going to be developed by freelance open-source programmers. Hardware support has also been a problem for me with the Zaurus. Maybe another linux PDA (or another person in charge or the Zaurus) will help create more interest in developing hardware drivers for it. I sure hope so.
if(!cool) exit(-1);
Most of that stuff can be removed at compile time.
Yeah, well, is IBM really going to be able to compete with Symbian and Microsoft? Sure, it's nice to see a dinosaur company like IBM making bold moves, but they're just one step behind the other guys. I would say IBM is an outsider in the new battle for the "pervasive OS". Today, the big contenders are Nokia/Sony Ericsson + Symbian and (as usual) Microsoft. Sure the Zaurus is nice, but check out the 3GSM news and all you will see is Symbian and M$.
I think that you should serf the internet over to dictionary.com :)
The Free editions of Qt are pure GPL. Their website hints that you should buy a license for internal development, but this is not a requirement. I think it is just a case of the marketing guys being confused (maybe even over the difference between closed vs commercial). The issue has come up on the qt-interest mailinglist before, with the end result always being that a license is not needed for GPL development, and the Trolls have never responded otherwise.
:)
Of course, it is encouraged that you support Trolltech if you are benefitting from their library. It's not every day that a company gives you their entire flagship product as open source. Plus their support is usually pretty good
Here's how it works. If you use the GPL Qt, you need to release your product as GPL. You can still charge for GPL products, you just have to make source available for the cost of media and shipping. But if you don't want to release your product as GPL, you get a commercial license from Qt. Then you aren't under the restritcions of the GPL, because you aren't using the Qt libs under the GPL. That's how every product with a "free for non-commercial use" download licenses the product, although not always with the GPL.
I don't see how IBM could have chosen Qtopia over PalmOS or PocketPC since those operating systems don't run on PowerPC hardware. Rather, it appears to me that IBM Microelectronics wants another market to sell PowerPC chips into and chose just about the only viable solution that wouldn't take years to deliver.
It was a combination of a kernel driver for the video card and a set graphics libraries, which working together would provide a common hardware abstraction layer for all applications which might need to paint to a display. This way all applications could use the same functions to paint the display no matter what the underlying hardware. They then created a GGI X Server as a proof of concept that X could work over GGI. The real intention was to replace SVGAlib and get X drivers out of userspace - for both performance and security reasons. Pretty much what we have today with frame buffer and DRI support in the kernel, but far advanced for its time. There was some kind of falling out between Linus and the project so it never got added to the baseline kernel, the politics of which I can't remember. This is going back to 1996 or so. Too bad, it was a good idea which didn't survive.
You might be thinking of the Berlin Project, which I see has moved over to something called Fresco. Haven't followed up on that in some time so I can't speak to its current development activity.
Cheers,
--Maynard
Either this isn't a PDA but some other product whose true purpose is being hidden, IBM doesn't know what it is yet, it is a PDA but is light years ahead of Palm OS and PPC, or someone made a huge mistake. Palm OS and PPC dominate the PDA OS market, with Palm in the lead. A sliver represents Linux etc. If IBM's product is not at least three times as good as Palm/PPC or significantly underpriced, it will fail. If it has blazing performance, excellent hand writing recongnition, and advanced AI (maybe similiar to the Newton but enhanced), it won't sell, especially in a depressed economy. It will need several killer features that no one else has to succeed. It is also possible that it is just a tool for the IBM server market. Although why anyone couldn't use a Palm/PPC device instead is an open question. Or IBM is tossing out a hardware ref and seeing what happens, who bites, what develops.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
Not to mention a change of administration in the executive branch leading to a kinder, gentler, nation for our formerly oppressed corporate underclass.
Go back and reread your the history of the case; the soft-pedaling started during the Clinton administration. This isn't a Clinton/Bush or Dem/Rep issue, more a failure of the system as a whole. I'd have to go back and look again myself, but ISTR that the DOJ was toughest near the beginning, which was during the Bush Sr. administration.
And for those who are convinced that only the Reps favor corporate America, keep in mind that the Dems are heavily behind the push to maintain Big Media's stranglehold.
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PDA's do not synch to each other. Period. I know that IR port on your Palm is ever so useful, neh? What does PDA OS compatibility mean? To the PDA user, not much. As long as the requisite apps exist, and the price is right, and the PDA can synch to the REAL computer (ie, desktop/laptop running Win/MacOS/Linux), in many people's eyes it is a serious PDA. Add in a standard memory card (Flash/Smart/SD), and ability to export/save as some standard file format, and you have a PDA that's as good as any PocketPC/Palm out there.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
"PDAs typically use processors designed specifically for embedded environments...the PowerPC is exactly the opposite."
:-) ). As you'll note from the Macs, chips based on the architecture tend to have low power consumption and the resulting low heat output. However, smaller PowerPC implementations can be found in everything from Cisco routers to TiVos. I know of at least one $25 'residential gateway' DSL router that's a PowerPC.
Ah, not quite! Just as the presence of Athlons does not mean there are no embedded x86 Elans, the presence of the G4 doesn't mean there are no embedded PowerPCs! Don't confuse the architecture (PowerPC) with the implementation (G4).
The PowerPC has long been a staple of the embedded commuity (by 'long' here I mean 'half a decade or so'
The PowerPC's proven itself to be an astoundingly flexible architecture, and if IBM says they've got a low-power-consumption chip, I'd believe it, even if they posted good performance figures. As with the ARM, which was also not originally an embedded chip, performance and power consumption are not -always- mutually exclusive.
Also, as far as Linux on the PDA is concerned...I run Linux on my iPaq (and use it as a PDA) and have found it to be smaller and more stable than WinCE, and more stable (though larger) than PalmOS. My distribution of Linux fits handily into 16M of flash, and that includes Qtopia, all my PIM apps, Konqueror, Kinkatta (an AIM client), and various wlan mapping tools. Even my non-Linux friends prefer my 'feudal' Linux PDA -- and this was put together by a bunch of volunteers. I'm really looking forward to see what IBM's got.
sync with my lotus suite applications running os/2 on my ps/2? And please tell me that it will cost a good 25-30% more than the competition....go big blue.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Just a fine coincidence. Bought a Zaurus Open-Box yesterday for 200 bucks at staples.I have had 2 palms and I was more than presently suprised at qtopia. I like it better than the palmos pda's that I have used. It just seems to work, it's reliable and easy to use so far. I already think that qtopia blows palmos and CE off the map. And if desktop linux was this usable for the normal 'Joe' we would be much better off.
Just my 2 units of currency..
So you could use Qt GPL version and make an app and sell it, but you'd also have to release the source code with it under the GPL license.
They couldn't even make a go of rebranded Palm units. They killed off their own z50 WinCe micro laptop. They don't have a credible minilaptop in the US (Japan only thank you very much). They can barely get their own Lotus Easysync to work with Lotus Notes desktop applications. Their machines are getting bigger and bigger, not the other way around.
If anything this is a test bed for some kind of embedded technology subproject.
Their heart isn't in it. This is a throwaway project - some bright execuweenie in training has been given a bag of burnable cash to show what he can do for the benefit of Sam Palmisano and Co.
Think of all the drivers people are downloading and will never use.
So don't build the parts you don't need. This is one of the huge advantages of having the source code.
Last time I checked, Linux may not be desirable in handhelds because the kernel is growing, growing, growing
Dang. I guess I need to find something else to run this handheld on. I mean, since the 2.4.18 kernel that it's currently running can't fit. And I thought I still had half of my 32MB free, even with Linux, busybox, Qt, and a couple dozen apps, but I guess "cat /proc/meminfo" is lying to me...
and the new features don't realy put a dent in the desire for such computing that needs to be small and quick on the sleep and resume modes.
You mean my PDA *doesn't* really suspend and resume in less than a second? Man, do me a favor and go tell kids that Santa Claus doesn't exist or something, because you're really getting me down.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
While it's true that under the Bush I administration the DOJ followed through with a consent decree over anti-competitive practices at Microsoft, that action was over contracts between MS and all large PC vendors which bundled Windows with all PCs manufactured regardles of what OS they shipped with. Microsoft signed the consent decree and immediately found a loophole and continued their old practices into the Clinton administratoin. The Clinton DOJ action against MS was primarily over bundling Internet Explorer within Windows 98 in order to kill Netscape. In the previous instance we see MS leveraging their monopoly to kill off distribution of other OSs with any and all PCs. In the latter case we see them leveraging their monopoly to kill a secondary application and development environmet which threatened to commoditize Windows through open standards and platform compatability.
Without a doubt, once Bush took office and Ashcroft took the DOJ we had a new policy of dropping the case at all costs. The DOJ settled with defendant that had previously convicted. When have you ever seen that by a prosecutor? Extremely strange, and obviously political. This is not a Democrat vs. Republican thing, it's a Bush II policy issue, the effects of which are in the public record.
Cheers,
--Maynard