Ten general QtMoko and Debian questions

[Radek Polak]

On Saturday, November 10, 2012 09:42:01 PM Harry Prevor wrote:

> I just aquired a Freerunner, and after checking out the list of
> distributions on the wiki I've narrowed it down to Debian and QtMoko.
> I'm leaning toward QtMoko but I'm unsure about a few things:
> 
> 1. What are the advantages to using QTMoko over Debian on a Freerunner?

If you are using QtMoko you are also using debian. QtMoko is just one package. 
Like KDE or gnome. You can run QtMoko also on top of other rootfs - like in 
open embedded, Fedora, OpenWrt - whatever.

> 2. I like that it is built for touch by default in QtMoko but would
> also like to fall back to a desktop-like environment when needed (i.e.
> something like Openbox that isn't optimized for touch); this is
> possible, no?

Yes, there is QX program - it launches X server optionally with matchbox 
windows manager.

> 3. Does QTMoko offer all the software in the Debian repositories?

Yes, but for X server applications you need to use QX to run them.

> 4. Can I install a different window manager than the default one if wanted?

QtMoko run on top of framebuffer - it's not using X server. For applications 
ran in QX you can use whatever window manager you like. For native QtMoko you 
cant change it.

> 5. Are there any glaring software limitations regarding the Freerunner
> that QtMoko has that Debian doesn't?

No, you can install all debian packages since qtmoko rootfs is debian.

> 6. They both use the same kernel, right?

There is no kernel for Freerunner in debian repos. So you have to use self 
compiled kernel.

> 7. From what I've seen it seems like QtMoko is being more actively
> developed than Debian on the Freerunner currently; is this true?

I am doing release tarballs like every two months. Most of the work goes to 
qtmoko package so Debian on freerunner project does not need to do release 
that often.

> 8. If I prefer the debian-unstable packages can I use that repository on
> QtMoko? 9. If I were to upgrade to a GTA04 at some point, would the
> transition be any easier on one distribution than the other?

You can upgrade the rootfs to testing/unstable and it will most likely work. 
But i cant guarantee that it will always work. It's moving target.

> 10. Is either distribution more thouroughly tested with the GTA04 than
> the other?

QtMoko now runs nearly perfectly on GTA04. There is problem with ringtones 
sound which i am now working on. Then GTA04 support will be same good as it's 
on Freerunner.

Regards

Radek