Linux Boots on Treo 650 179
nilbog writes "A major leap forward has taken place in the development of Linux for the Treo 650. Grack.com has posted screenshots of a Cingular branded 650 displaying the familiar penguin logo. A discussion has sprung up over the the treo central forums where Shadowmite, one of the developers, has confirmed that it shouldn't be too long before they are able to get the phone's hardware working under linux. "
Treo 600 (Score:3, Insightful)
Major leap forward? (Score:5, Insightful)
Pity there are few completer-finishers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Thank You Linux Virus (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, you can keep on wondering, because if you don't get it already, there's no way anyone can explain it to you.
Re:Major leap forward? (Score:5, Insightful)
For the former, it's just showing that it's possible to run Linux at all on the phone. We've got all the pieces available (Linux Kernel, GPE environment, GSM/CDMA AT command set etc.), it's just a matter of connecting all the those pieces together to create a full open-source GSM/CDMA phone on highly-available hardware.
For the latter, you'll need to just trust that it's actually working (note that a lot of the hardware is supported by the handhelds.org kernel already). It's also using the PXA27x processor - a very well-documented and well-understood processor with open specifications.
Re:Thank You Linux Virus (Score:3, Insightful)
You realize you're welcome to do that at any time. It's not as if the Treo folk came in and said "Make Linux run on this."
Re:Thank You Linux Virus (Score:1, Insightful)
It's not our responsibility in the linux community that you want a bit of fame for yourself for starting yet another kernel project. Writing a kernel from scratch is a hobbyist activity, or at best in order to fulfill some odd purpose on strange hardware. The fact that the linux kernel boots on something doesn't preclude you porting your kernel to it. Don't for a moment kid yourself that the only reason that nobody cares what your kernel runs on is that linux already does. The real reason is you haven't created anything of note. Make something better than linux, with more hardware support, and then you can complain about the "linux virus".
Despite my nasty "how-dare-you-attack-the-precious" tone, I agree with you in a way. Moving on from unix is a lofty goal, well worth working on. Don't be yet another radical loud-mouthed conspiracy theorist dumbass troll programmer. We have more than enough of those.
Re:Major leap forward? (Score:4, Insightful)
For those willing to buy a Treo 650 and the phone service with it, what can a Linux port offer that's more desirable than what they get out of the box? Are you going to get the same SMS/MMS/email capability, the same productivity apps, the same phone integration, the same data capabilities that you get already? The same sync capability with your desktop? Are open source apps better than the ones available for the 650 now at doing the things that a Treo owner wants to do? Pretty much no on all counts. Linux may be cool on a Treo like it is on other things but it isn't useful.
so, where's the *nix for blackberry? (Score:5, Insightful)
seriously, where is the *nix for blackberry devices? they've been out in various incarnations for a long time, and there's plenty of old ones lying around, just waiting for an open source OS to make them useful again.