Version 2 -- New community distribution hackable1

Steve Mosher steve at openmoko.com
Thu Dec 25 20:07:53 CET 2008


Thanks Bearstech!

  If you guys get a chance to join us at CES I'd love to show
off hackable to the press.



Marcus Bauer wrote:
> 
> Hey guys,
> 
> fully in the spirit of "release early, release often" we want to
> announce hackable:1, a new distribution for the Neo and other hackable
> devices.
> 
> 
> What is hackable:1 ?
> ====================
> 
> Hackable:1 is based on the DebianOnFreerunner but packaging the
> OM2007.2 applications, extending and bugfixing them. It is intended to
> become a stable platform for the VAR market and fun to use for
> everybody else.
> 
> The important part is that hackable:1 is not only open to community
> contributions but we are actively encouraging them and we do the full
> development in public on IRC channels and mailing lists - no decisions
> behind closed doors, no sudden changes of directions. We want to
> produce a stable, linearly evoluting platform.
> 
> Hackable:1 is running from 2GB SD cards simply because they have
> become so cheap that there is little reason to fiddle with the
> restrictions of the limited space of the built-in flash. Therefore we
> can ship with a full set of development tools ready installed to
> get you started with mobile development in minutes. No more need to
> wait 20 hours until Openembedded is finished with its set up. No more
> need for flashing - but we will also soon provide a flash image for
> those of you who need the space on the SD card for other things.
> 
> We have a full LAMP stack too, for those countless of you out there who
> are more proficient with PHP than C or C++.
> 
> Not to forget that you can make phone calls and send SMS... And you can
> even print. Get yourself a USB gender changer and connect your printer
> to the Neo. It works - beat that all you iPhonies out there! (A gender
> changer is just a few dollars on ebay).
> 
> 
> 
> Then what have we done so far?
> ==============================
> 
> Some of the highlights:
> 
>  * we packaged OM2007.2 as .deb packages: dialer, sms, contacts, neod,
>    phone-kit, gsmd, matchbox, panel applets
>  * we improved sound quality (fixes for gsmd for echo cancellation)
>  * another fix for gsmd to suppress the reregistering of some phones
>    (OM bug #1024)
>  * extended the aux and power menus. For example you can now easily
>    switch between USB host and device mode or connect to a bluetooth
>    keyboard
>  * a simple onscreen keyboard with all hacker characters on a short
>    press on the AUX button
>  * GPS works out of the box
>  * switch on and off accelerometer-based autorotate
>  * fixed matchbox-windowmanager crash-bug
>  * if sms send fails there is now an error dialog
>  * many GPRS providers preconfigured for easy use
>  * matchbox-stroke is included (it is fun!)
>  * preconfigured for GSM multiplexing, i.e. having calls and sms coming
>    in during a GPRS session (not activated by default)
>  * x2x works out of the box (using your desktop mouse and keyboard on
>    the Neo)
>  * that battery applet shows plenty of battery info now (you need to
>    install the notification-daemon first)
> 
> 
> Where do we want to go?
> =======================
> 
> First of all: we want to make it a community distribution implementing
> (with some freedom) the GNOME Mobile stack. Thus come and join us on
> our mailing lists, on IRC #hackable1 on freenode, file bug reports for
> enhancements and start to hack yourself. If you have eyes that can
> distinguish between more than black, white and orange, and you have
> graphical skills, we will be happy for your help to add colors to the
> theme!
> 
> In general we intend to work closely together with other open source
> projects, most notably DebianOnFreerunner where remarkable work has
> been done already.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you install it?
> ======================
> 
> It comes as a tarball, thus you need a 2 GB SD card (SanDisk work well)
> and a card reader for your PC / Laptop. You just have to partition and
> format the SD card and then simply untar the tarball onto it. Five
> minutes and you are done, no lengthy installation process or flashing.
> Your flash even remains untouched, so you can easily give it a test run.
> 
> 
> About Bearstech
> ===============
> 
> Bearstech is a French FLOSS innovation engineering company.
> Bearstech is also the French distributor of Openmoko products and  
> supporting the efforts of hackable:1 with infrastructure and developers.
> 
> 
> You can find everything and involve yourself in:
> http://www.hackable1.org
> 
> The download is at:
> http://www.hackable1.org/hackable1/?C=M;O=D
> 
> The installation guide is at:
> http://www.hackable1.org/wiki/Documentation
> 
> 
> -- The hackable:1 developer team --
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Openmoko community mailing list
> community at lists.openmoko.org
> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community




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