rationale for ASU (and change from GTK to Qt)

[Stroller]

On 28 Jun 2008, at 03:05, Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman) wrote:

> On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:11:06 +0100 Stroller  
> <linux.luser at myrealbox.com> babbled:
>
>>
>> On 27 Jun 2008, at 19:01, Ron K. Jeffries wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Can someone explain the rationale for the decision
>>> to switch from the original GTK based OpenMoko
>>> to QT based version known as April Software Update (ASU)?
>>
>>
>> Rasterman is the rationale, as far as I can make out.
>
> i had nothing to do with it. i, in fact suggested to keep the  
> current gtk apps
> as-is

I apologise. It just seemed that this change occurred without  
explanation when you came on board. A message you posted some time  
ago evangelising E16 (??) firmed the impression that the new  
environment was your innovation.

> just improve the "desktop environment". others at openmoko insisted  
> even
> on just qtopia - no x11. they wanted qtopia because for them "it  
> worked". we
> ended up with a compromise of a port of qtopia on x11 - but then  
> also needing a
> custom wm.

I have to say that I find it a bit odd running X11 on a mobile phone  
- a WM wouldn't be required without it - when an alternative is  
possible. In fact, as far as I can ascertain an alternative already  
exists. X11 seems logical to me for desktop computers, but not for a  
device which will only ever have one main window on the screen at a  
time. I had mistakenly understood earlier Openmoko builds to be non- 
X11 (i.e. qtopia-ish?)

Stroller.