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Nokia Leaks Phone With Full GNU/Linux Distribution
An anonymous reader writes "It is now clear why Nokia has been so slow with S60 updates: the upcoming N900 just left everything else in the dust. Unlike Google's Linux platform, Nokia is not intentionally breaking compatibility with real distros, choosing instead to bring you the unmatchable power of GNU/Linux on your phone. This is the most awesome device I have ever seen: MAP3 CPU/GPU, 3,5" 800x480 touchscreen, keyboard, Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS; 5-MP camera, CZ lens, 32 GB storage, SD slot; X11, VT100 terminal emulator, APT package manager. Estimated price without credit: $780 (N.5800: $390, iPhone 3GS: $750). Developers should note that even though the current desktop is still GTK+, Qt will be standard across all Nokia platforms in the near future (less powerful phones will use Qt on the Symbian kernel). Users can download flashing software from Nokia, and patches can be submitted at the Maemo site."
How can you justify that cost? For $800, you could buy a netbook, a basic smart phone, plus hookers and blow.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Firstly, if it only runs javascript applications as you say, then it's hardly any more of a "real distro" than Android is.
There are other compiled languages besides C. There are a lot of them in fact...
I suspect from your previous comment that you are terribly unqualified to even understand the implications of what you're saying, or to make that comment at all.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
What I wonder is how long it will be before these phones *are* your computer and you just plug in a fullblown screen and keyboard wherever you want to sit and work. We're essentially there, just nobody does it yet.
[FUCK BETA]
I don't buy an appliance just because it runs Linux or X11 - however I *might* buy one if these features add new functions, or make existing ones easier. So far as what I've already got is concerned, the only thing that comes to mind would be the ability for me (and not anybody else) to log into the phone remotely and use its functions across a network connection.
Other than that, my experience of smart phones is that the keyboard's too small for serious word-work, the screen's too small for almost everything (esp. watching movies) and it's also far too dim to use in daylight. The music player's nice and the camera while limited is good enough for "happy snaps", almost all of which are discarded or ignored as soon as they've been taken. I.e. all features, but few benefits.
So come on Nokia, don't try to impress me with megabytes and gigahertz, tell me what I'll be able to do now, that I couldn't do before. That's where the sales are.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
can it make phone calls without dropping signal? I'm still waiting for that.
Here's a novel concept: Don't answer the phone while you're taking a piss...
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
"bring you the unmatchable power of GNU/Linux". Cheesiest. Line. Ever. On /.
Just for the record: is there anything that you can name that can do more than Linux? Ever had an OS run on your wristwatch that was also able to run on the world fastest super computers, space exploration and operation critical medical hardware?
Just curious...
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Or wherever those pesky government regulations require them to. You can't just hack together your own code, plug it into the GSM network and expect the FCC to just smile and look the other way.
As much as I would like to see that happen; history shows that whoever is best at marketing, wins. I'll spare you the examples, because otherwise I would be modded down for (-1, incomfortabl- errrrr.... trolling or flamebaiting.
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Yes, but the real question is, "since when is being compiled a requirement?"
Ever since performance or memory usage has been. And thus always will.
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
FLAMEBAIT!!? Or pure ignorance? .NET is not a native app environment. And guess what? Microsoft banned all benchmarks for it because it is SLOW. *Compiled*, *native* apps run almost always faster than some non-compiled crap. Saying "fsck compiled apps - I only care about by (insert favourite interpreted lang here)" is either flamebait or ignorance.
You can get sooo much more out of a phone if you only run native apps on the slow ass processor without draining the battery completely. If you really want examples, please write an implementation of some MPEG4 codec in Javascript and then we'll compare it to execution speed for a C implementation. I suspect you may have trouble running the Javascript decoder anywhere in real time.
Cheers!
Ok, I'll bite.
Your shocked dismay at being modded flamebait is entirely irrational, as you are entirely misrepresenting what Sir_Lewk said.
He did /not/ say that 'applications made with Javascript can't possibly exist in a "real" distro.' He said that any Linux offering that limits itself to /one/ language cannot be considered a full distro.
That is debatable - but I very much empathize. IMO, a fundamental feature of Linux is its openness, which allows me to do whatever I please on my hardware (even run ancient COBOL apps - though some work would be required) with minimal effort.
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Now, to your previous post:
Sir_Lewk is mentioning that both Palm's Web OS and Android are castrated distros. /not/ arbitrarily limited by language - which is a huge boon to development. If you want an already existing application, you don't need to rewrite it from scratch in whatever language, you /port/ it.
Nokia's offering is
As to "since when is being compiled a requirement?", consider this: who would to convert a compiled language into an interpreted one? If you want platform compatibility, you /port/ the compiler. Being compiled is a requirement if you don't want to attempt to convert a language /designed/ for compilation into an interpreted one.
As to your ad hominem attack on Sir_Lewk, it lends you absolutely /no/ credibility.
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I have now explained what you have requested. IMHO, your posts easily fall into the realm of flamebait. You are not worth another explanation unless you can demonstrate understanding.
I wish you the best of luck.
Nobody is putting words in your mouth, you really do imply this above, by questioning why the Pre distribution shouldn't be considered a "real distro". The Pre distribution isn't a real Linux distribution because you are unable to run applications that are developed to run on the Linux platform. Instead, you are forced to use the web-based platform that Palm has chosen to be the only way to develop apps for the Pre. By suggesting that the Pre distribution should be considered real, you are implying that it's acceptable to require all apps to be written using Javascript exclusively for the logic.
I don't think you implied this intentionally. Rather, it looks like you simply have poor reading comprehension, at least in the context of this conversation. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why multiple Slashdotters are arguing with you about a couple of comments of yours.
Funny doesn't count for karma. Otherwise, I would have made a joke instead of informing you of this.
CATS/Diebold '08- All your vote are belong to us!