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A Truly Open Linux Phone

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the apt-get-phone-software dept.

skelator2821 writes to tell us about the debut of the OpenMoko, a Linux phone with GPS that is open from top to bottom. The device is set to debut to developers this month for $350, according to the article, but there is no detail on how to get your hands on one, and no link to the manufacturer (FIC). From the article: "This is the first phone in a long time to get us really interested in what it is, what it isn't, and the philosophy behind it. The philosophy is the thing that makes Linux great... it is really open. It runs the latest kernel, 2.6.18 as of a few weeks ago, and you can get software from a repository with apt-get."

2 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. More details by IvanCruz · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... can be found on Linux Devices: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2986976174.html and also http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7056478804.html

  2. your wrong about the lack of memory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't care about the camera. I never seen much of a point to a camera phone. Makes about as much sense as a mp3 playing bathtub, which I am sure somebody somewere made.
    Sure it's convient, but so what?

    And your absolutely wrong about not having enough memory. It takes miniSD cards and has 128 megs of RAM. Right now I have 2 1gig miniSD cards and a 128 meg SD card. Also you can buy up to 4gig MiniSD cards.

    So frankly with miniSD slot your disk space is practically UNLIMITED.

    For instance many possibilities:

    * Go the 'Slax' route. Slax is a customizable Live Linux cdrom. It has various modules that you can use that you can add-on applications and other things to a already existing live cdrom. You can do this because the modules are compressed read-only file systems and you use UnionFS to mount them over the existing file system transparently. You can mix and match applications in that manner.

    You can do the same thing with this. No problem.

    So other possibilities.
    * Remote X11 applications. Need I say more? (and yes NX compression will make them perfectly usable)
    * Simple games.
    * VoIP.
    * remote access of systems through a veriaty of means such as voice command, terminal, tones.
    * 266mhz CPU is fast enough for video.
    * GPS kicks-ass. Interact with other GPS systems and keep track of things via GPSD and such.
    * secure encrypted file systems for passwords and other sensitive information.
    * stream audio

    What this thing is is a Linux PC that fits in your pocket. Pretty much anything you can do with a PC linux box you can do with this thing.

    This thing literally kicks the shit out of any sort of propriatory hardware phone you can think of. Even with out the camera. The possiblities are endless.