why openmoko is so slow? Is it a joke?

Muthu Subramanian K muthusuba at gmail.com
Wed Jul 15 18:14:06 CEST 2009


My comments are inline:

On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 3:30 PM, <devel-request at lists.openmoko.org> wrote:

> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:56:09 -0400
> From: Joshua Judson Rosen <rozzin at geekspace.com>
> Subject: Re: why openmoko is so slow? Is it a joke?
> To: devel at lists.openmoko.org
> Cc: community at lists.openmoko.org
> Message-ID: <87k52a4k9i.fsf at slice.rozzin.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> mobi phil <mobi at mobiphil.com> writes:
>>
>> So... my question is ... is it a joke
> [...]
>> In this case I would really advice people to refrain in buying the
>> openmoko, and better go for glofiish M800, that has a keyboard and
>> radio as plus
>
> ... and that, it appears, also has a $300 higher MSRP. Almost twice as
> much as the FreeRunner? A lot of people have expressed shock and
> amazement that the FreeRunner could cost even $300; these are,
> presumably, not the same people whom you would advise to `just buy the
> glofiish for *$700*'. Or..., were *you* joking?

This shouldn't be an excuse...Openmoko freerunner already has a
powerful CPU, Qtopia runs decent (I wouldn't say *fast* enough thou) -
it sure lacks a lot of features.

>
>> and kernel support is almost ready...
>
> `It's almost twice as expensive, but at least it's also harder to
> develop for!'? :)
...
>
> Openmoko is here with a hand extended, saying `let's work together';
> what is Eten's position?
>
> If Eten is making a comparable offer to cooperate, then by all
> means--do support them! :)
>
> If we cannot convince you to care about open hardware, and you `merely'
> wish to contribute to development of Free/OpenSource Software systems,
> then note that *that* contribution *is* also appreciated. Thank you!

I don't agree that its easy to develop for openmoko - But, I agree,
since its open source/hardware, its _easier_. I can't find proper
resources (probably I don't know where to search!), neither do experts
in devel lists respond adequately to "starter" questions. I can't find
a decent "How to"/"Starter" wiki pages (w.r.t development). I had
planned to get involved in the development (Since I thought there was
*lots* to improve in openmoko), but I didn't get any help - even after
repeated messages to openmoko lists.

> If you are have no contribution to make at this time, then..., while
> it may be difficult to say, Openmoko *may* simply not have much to
> offer you yet, either--it's is a distinct possibility. As previously
> noted, the project (or projects, depending on how you look at it) is
> (are) still nascent in many respects, and it's entirely possible that
> you are simply not the target-audience right now. I've had this happen
> to me many times, with many things :)
>
> My SHR FreeRunner, by the way, does already work quite well as *my*
> daily phone, PDA, mobile Wi-Fi access-point, GPS navigator,
> music-player, web-tablet, IM client..., etc. And it works, for me,
> *much* better than the Motorola RAZR that it replaced (and which sold
> for..., what was it, $500?) :)
>
Perhaps you should tell us your configuration (software mix) and if
possible post your out-of-the-box working image. I will be looking for
an OS which is "stable" enough - and in which most features work.

> On that note, perhaps I've read too far into your comments--maybe all
> you're saying is, `I am upset that the FreeRunner apparently cannot be
> all things to all people'?

I don't know what to say, but there sure is a lot of scope for
improvement - at least from the "software" point of view. I guess, I
don't need *all* the things at all times, but I sure need a better
call-pickup-dial speeds!
Eg. Currently my phone starts ringing only after the caller has got 1
or 2 "rings"..After I press pickup, it rings for once more before
actually "picking up". What is the phone doing during these "wait"
times?

>
> I apologise for writing such a lengthy reply--I fear that I lack the
> skill required to make it it shorter; and I hope that it isn't read as
> being hostile. Quite the opposite: those questions are not
> rhetorical--they are genuine inquiries.
>
> --
> Don't be afraid to ask (Lf.((Lx.xx) (Lr.f(rr)))).
>

Don't take this mail as a flame or an anti-openmoko mail. I am all for
open-source/hardware. I still do use Freerunner (with Qtopia) as my
daily phone (its the one and only phone that I have). Now that Qtopia
is _out_, the (only) remaining promising OS(s) for openmoko are
Android and OpenWrt. But there is a long long way to go, before
accelerometers and GPS work decently. Of course some pressing issues
like suspend/resume needs a lot of improvement.

Go Neo!

And please update the distros-wiki....they list feature wise
"working"/"not-working" they don't in anyway reflect "to what extent".
Probably one more column "usable"/"not usable" (for everyday usage)?

The success of a platform lies in the easiness of application
development, take Nokia's SDKs for example. Are there any comparable
SDKs for openmoko? There are lots of effort put into
Neo/Openmoko...But, I guess, they need to be more streamlined.

>
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