Linux Boots on Treo 650

nilbog writes "A major leap forward has taken place in the development of Linux for the Treo 650. Grack.com has posted screenshots of a Cingular branded 650 displaying the familiar penguin logo. A discussion has sprung up over the the treo central forums where Shadowmite, one of the developers, has confirmed that it shouldn't be too long before they are able to get the phone's hardware working under linux. "

Comments

Treo 600

[bhadreshl]

Does it also work for Treo 600?

Major leap forward?

[hackwrench]

I'm sorry, but getting something to display the penguin logo is not a major leap forward for anything. Furthermore the display of the pengin logo is not proof of linux running.

Re:Major leap forward?

[Rayban]

Both of those are understandable points, but I'll address them here:

For the former, it's just showing that it's possible to run Linux at all on the phone. We've got all the pieces available (Linux Kernel, GPE environment, GSM/CDMA AT command set etc.), it's just a matter of connecting all the those pieces together to create a full open-source GSM/CDMA phone on highly-available hardware.

For the latter, you'll need to just trust that it's actually working (note that a lot of the hardware is supported by the handhelds.org kernel already). It's also using the PXA27x processor - a very well-documented and well-understood processor with open specifications.

Re:Major leap forward?

[dfghjk]

"highly-available" doesn't mean what you think it means. What you mean to say is that it's something you can easily buy. Availability is the "A" in RAS (reliablity, availability, servicability). Saying a piece of computer hardware is highly available doesn't mean it's easily bought!

For those willing to buy a Treo 650 and the phone service with it, what can a Linux port offer that's more desirable than what they get out of the box? Are you going to get the same SMS/MMS/email capability, the same productivity apps, the same phone integration, the same data capabilities that you get already? The same sync capability with your desktop? Are open source apps better than the ones available for the 650 now at doing the things that a Treo owner wants to do? Pretty much no on all counts. Linux may be cool on a Treo like it is on other things but it isn't useful.

Pity there are few completer-finishers

[Darius Jedburgh]

I'm sure this will be yet another one of those ports where someone proves it can be done but nobody actually finishes the job to the point where someone could actually use it for something, let alone actually supporting it.

Re:Thank You Linux Virus

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, you've got a mostly-empty Sourceforge page with an alpha version of a kernel that you're writing in fucking Pascal, and you can't understand why it's so hard for you to compete with Linux?

Well, you can keep on wondering, because if you don't get it already, there's no way anyone can explain it to you.

Re:Thank You Linux Virus

[IANAAC]

When is somebody going to decide they don't want Linux on the XYZ 123 (at which point Glider probably won't be ready to run on that system, but I can hope, pray and dream, can't I?) so that someone with a development team and an idea for a revolution that would finally move the OS world past Unix can come in and say "our system works great on the XYZ 123, won't you try it on your database box?"

You realize you're welcome to do that at any time. It's not as if the Treo folk came in and said "Make Linux run on this."

Re:Thank You Linux Virus

[Anonymous Coward]

You're right - your motivation doesn't make your point less valid. The fact that it's complete garbage is what does that.
  It's not our responsibility in the linux community that you want a bit of fame for yourself for starting yet another kernel project. Writing a kernel from scratch is a hobbyist activity, or at best in order to fulfill some odd purpose on strange hardware. The fact that the linux kernel boots on something doesn't preclude you porting your kernel to it. Don't for a moment kid yourself that the only reason that nobody cares what your kernel runs on is that linux already does. The real reason is you haven't created anything of note. Make something better than linux, with more hardware support, and then you can complain about the "linux virus".

Despite my nasty "how-dare-you-attack-the-precious" tone, I agree with you in a way. Moving on from unix is a lofty goal, well worth working on. Don't be yet another radical loud-mouthed conspiracy theorist dumbass troll programmer. We have more than enough of those.

so, where's the *nix for blackberry?

[option8]

i have in my hand a device with a large, bright color screen, usb, a QWERTY keyboard and a processor fast enough to run all kinds of java apps. why is there no linux or bsd for this device?

seriously, where is the *nix for blackberry devices? they've been out in various incarnations for a long time, and there's plenty of old ones lying around, just waiting for an open source OS to make them useful again.