Accelerometer(s), Camera, and Memory

[David Pottage]

On Saturday 19 July 2008 19:47:38 Dee Ayy wrote:
> Is there no camera?  After tracking my stolen phone with 2
> accelerometers and GPS, my app will like a nice candid snapshot/video
> of the culprit.

There is no camera. Also you can't use the accelerometers to do ineral 
navigation for more than a short time because there are no gyroscopes, or 
high precisson. The accelerometers are more usefull for gestures, detecting 
which way is down, and detecting free fall (ie dropping your phone). You 
could for example configure your phone to reject calls if it is face down, or 
sound a loud alarm if you drop it more than 60cm.

> My head is spinning.  Somewhere I think I came across an 8GB maximum
> SD size.  Can I not use the largest SD size I can find?

I have never heard of a limit, it is just that 8Gb is the largest size 
currently available. I dare say you will be able to use larger size cards 
when they become available.

> Where can I find documentation or APIs?  The above thread mentions
> /dev/input/event3  Is it mentioned somewhere at
> http://downloads.openmoko.org/ ?

The phone runs linux, and most of the APIs are the same as linux, so you can 
look for docs in the usual places. For phone specific stuff, check the Wiki, 
openembedded or the mailing list archive.

> Is the DBoard like a physical simulator for the closedPhone?  In other
> words, can I do development with only a Neo FreeRunner?

There is a simulator you can run on linux. It runs ARM binaries and emulates 
some of the phone hardware. You can also develop some types of X applications 
for the phone on your linux desktop, and then re-compile for the phone when 
you are ready, however now that hardware is available you are probably better 
off buying a phone, rather than relying exclusively on a simulator.