software load for first mfg run of Freerunner? Is ASU what ships?

[Kevin Dean]

On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 3:35 PM, Ron K. Jeffries <rjeffries at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am NOT asking if mass production has started.
>
> I am asking if OpenMoko has frozen a release to
> load into the microSD cards. It seems to me that the unit can come off
> the line, and that one of the final steps before packing would be to load
> the
> software.

Firstly, yes, the software has been chosen. It's one of the older
versions of the 2007.2 stack, the one you're used to if you have a
1973 or if you've toyed with Qemu in the past year. This will get you
basic phone calls, SMS, a limited media player and so on.

Secondly, and while this is nit-picky, the software isn't on the
microSD card (though you CAN boot software installed on the SD card)
its in NAND Flash. The reason I mention this is because both the
Freerunner and the 1973 include a microSD card of 512MB, a size most
people would find to small for "everyday" use once you start using it
as a digital music player, a storage device for pictures et cetera.

You can install a microSD of your own into it without having to do any
software copying before you boot it the first time. :)

>
> Is ASU "the* ship[ping s/w load?
>
> yes I know people can and will download new s/w.
> but you'd hope that the Freerunner as shipped would not
> require an immediate s/w reload.

The software that ships to developers will not be the software that
"mainstream users" will have installed. For a mainstream device,
making the user install the software is dumb. That said, between the
developer release and mainstream release the software (ASU) will be
developed and improved upon so rapidly that it's possible that by the
time the device is actually in your hand that the ASU would have also
become usable enough to move to and poke at and report bugs on.

>
> Or maybe I'm being too "old skool" ???
> --
> Ron K. Jeffries
> http://blog.eronj.com
>
>
>
>
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