[Liverpool] Maemo - back from the ashes?

[Andrew Bates]

Yes, the N9 would run what could be deemed as a Linux 'distribution', as
opposed to Android which is just running a modified Linux kernel. The N9
will be running what Nokia is calling 'MeeGo Harmattan' which is actually
just Maemo Harmattan (the codebase following Maemo 5, which was released on
the N900). The last time I looked into information on Harmattan, I believe
Nokia were going with an RPM based package manager and moving away from the
more obviously debian based solution they went with for Maemo 5.

As far as your requirement for a mobile phone that doesn't run proprietary
'software', it depends on how strict you define that. If you define it down
to the driver level, it's going to be very difficult for you to find a GSM
based mobile phone that doesn't use proprietary software.

Of course, you can always install a different OS on there that use community
built drivers and risk losing some functionality ;)

But then again, what it all boils down to is: what do you personally expect
a mobile phone to do? After my own toiling with the Nokia N900, I can easily
see why droves of people flock to Apple's offering. There is a line to be
drawn (at least for me) where the complexity of a phone exceeds it's
practicality. Android makes a good balance for me. Maemo was a very nice
idea in principle, but just ended up frustrating me. I get the distinct
feeling that OpenMoko would frustrate me even moreso.

Sometimes I miss the days before Psion had opened pandora's box :(

On 24 June 2011 04:00, Bob Ham <rah at bash.sh> wrote:

> On Thu, 2011-06-23 at 02:14 +0100, Andrew Bates wrote:
>
> > be prepared for maybe 6 months of support from Nokia
>
> Having been looking at the market for a phone recently, my criteria for
> a desirable phone is: does it run a Linux distribution?  With, of
> course, a preference for hardware that doesn't require proprietary
> software to use it.  I find myself scouring ebay for models in this
> list:
>
>  http://shr-project.org/trac/wiki/Devices
>
> If/when I find myself with the budget of an employed person, I'll be
> looking at a Palm Pre 2.  Not to use it as a webOS device of course,
> just as some hardware onto which SHR can be installed.
>
> The software provided by phone manufacturers now interests me just as
> much as the software provided by computer manufacturers.  Which is to
> say, it doesn't interest me at all :-)
>
> Bob
>
> --
> Bob Ham <rah at bash.sh>
>
> for (;;) { ++pancakes; }
>
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