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Developers Go Mobile: Opie Releases Free SDK

Posted by michael on from the building-blocks dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Open Palmtop Integrated Environment (Opie) project to develop a free graphical application environment for Linux handhelds and webpads has released a software development kit (SDK) based on the KDevelop3 open source IDE. The Opie SDK provides tools for developing open, professional-class applications for Linux based mobile and embedded devices running under the Opie platform, according to Opie hacker Oliver 'Groucho' Fels. In case you're wondering, Opie is a fork of Trolltech's Qtopia, a palmtop application stack popularized by Sharp's Zaurus line and other PDAs and handhelds. Opie features a sophisticated personal information (PIM) framework as well as several other productivity apps, extended multimedia capabilities and document model, networking and communication tools, and support for more than a dozen languages."

18 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Licencing by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not immediately apparent from their website, so is Opie subject to the provisions of the QPL, if it's derived from Trolltech ?

    In other words, can you write commercial s/w with it ? I personally have no real desire to :-) But I think it may have an impact on the uptake...

    Simon.

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Of course not. It's based on Qt which is licensed under GPL/QPL.

    2. Re:Licencing by MooKore+2004 · · Score: 3, Informative

      It is binary compatible with Qtopia. Buy a qtopia licence from TrollTech. Of course if you release your programs as open source you can still sell them. Many people have wrote Qt Apps and release the source for free, but sell binaries.

      --
      found here
    3. Re:Licencing by Ianoo · · Score: 5, Informative

      ... and hence the fork is licensed purely under the GPL, since the QPL is a commercial license and does not permit forks.

  2. Re:Opie, the one everyone forgot. by mutende · · Score: 3, Informative

    I thought OPIE was One-time Passwords In Everything.

    --
    Unselfish actions pay back better
  3. Opie + Zaurus SL-C7x0? by Kent+Recal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is anyone using Opie on the Sharp Zaurus SL-C7x0?

    I'm tempted to buy such a device and wonder what software options I may have (other than the default). Does Opie on Zaurus support all features of the default software (as in network connection, ext. hardware support, sync'ing etc.)?
    Is it fit for daily work or should it be considered "experimental"?

    I expect the PIM functionality of Opie to be a bit more mature than the "translated from japanese" apps that come pre-installed with the zaurus.

    Some comments from a Zaurus owner who has tried both (anybody out there?) would be nice. Google didn't find me a review covering this subject so I'm giving it a blind shot here...

    1. Re:Opie + Zaurus SL-C7x0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Haven't used it on an SL-C model, but I'vve got one of the original 5500's I believe it was and I installed Opie on there pretty much off the bat, good software selection, decent hardware support (Considering the SD card module is binary-only from sharp, although somebody had a open source mmc module under development)

      They're worth a look if you don't mind your 'open source' having a lot of closed source items in it.

      On yeah, and if you kill the backlight you get a good 5 hours or so on a battery (maybe more)

      -- vranash

    2. Re:Opie + Zaurus SL-C7x0? by PaintyThePirate · · Score: 4, Informative

      I had Opie on my Pocket PC (An Ipaq 3650) for a while. It was running on the Familiar distribution from handhelds.org. It worked surprisingly well, though some of the PIM features were not as polished as those on the Pocket PC 2002 OS. Opie supported all of the hardware on the Ipaq, so I assume the Zaurus would be fully supported as well. As for the question about if it is "experimental", I would liken it to the Testing distribution of Debian. It is stable enough to run fine, but it is not as perfect as the Stable distro.

      --
      eclecti.cc
    3. Re:Opie + Zaurus SL-C7x0? by treke · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can't kill the backlight on a C7X0. If you do, the non-reflective screen just turns black. A c760 can already get you 4 or 5 hours of continual use, so it isn't a big deal.

      As for Opie, I've used it on my iPaqs and my C760. Works well for my needs, but it isn't for everyone.

  4. PDA/Phone Programming by Aurix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've got a Kyocera 7135 (Palm OS/Phone), and I've always been curious if it's possible to write a Palm application to control the phone?

    Ie, I'd like the program to hang up after calls hit a certain length during certain times... (Save on phone bills)... Anyone got any ideas?

    1. Re:PDA/Phone Programming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Manually click the button?

      You: "Ya, ya, ya, listen shut up!" [CLICK!]

  5. Re:Trolltech by koshimetsu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Canopy Group == Umbrella Corp.?
    Woohoo, zombie dogs!

    Seriously though...I fail to see anything on their feature list that stands out as terribly innovative. And the fact that they are "including an easy to use access API" actually puts me off a bit...PDAs don't have very much in the way of system resources and I'd be much more impressed if it was tiny+fast.

    That or if it just turned everyone into zombies. That would be impressive. Not very fun, but impressive.

  6. Not just for PDAs by anonymous+coword · · Score: 5, Informative

    Opie/Qtopia are useful several different enviornments. Most notably for "rescue" systems. For example in Ark Linux, if you mess up your XServer and it cant start up again, runs a Qtopia app to help you recover. Also for its installer.

    I personally have written an mplayer front end for my own home made settop box because I didn't want all the burden of X for just one app! So try them today, it may just be the "X replacement" that people are looking for!

    --
    Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
  7. Re:Trolltech by BigHungryJoe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't think the parent is flamebait.

    Ralph Yarro, CEO of the Canopy Group, also sits on Trolltech's Board of Directors and is a part owner of Trolltech.

    There is no denying the relationship between SCO and TrollTech.

    If you're going to use QT I hope you have indemnification to protect yourself from SCO.

  8. More Linux Distributions for PDAs by wehe · · Score: 4, Informative

    OPIE is great. It works on different PDA models (not only the Zaurus PDAs made by SHARP). Though there are different other Linux distributions for PDAs available.

  9. *soooo* many ways to do this in linux now ... by torpor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... put together a 'small and light GUI/SDK', I mean. For small and light computing.

    Hold on, its going to get better. SDL+Paragui/gtkfb+fb/&etc...

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  10. Re:Opie, the one everyone forgot. by J.+T.+MacLeod · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, Opie was from The Andy Griffith Show.

  11. The one thing that's missing from these PDAs... by bc90021 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...is phone call ability. I've owned several Zaureses (Zaurii? ;) ) and have run Opie on them, and it is extremely cool. However, since I've always had to carry a PDA *and* a phone, I've always ended up selling the PDA since it's just extra weight and the phone defaults to the place to store contacts since I can voice dial with it.

    As soon as there's a Zaurus that's also a phone and has phone software for it from Opie, I'll be switching permanently!

    --
    libertarianswag.com