Brilliant. Any idea how much work it would be to adapt that for the nokia n900? (runs maemo linux as native OS, or an half-assed android -nitdroid- with some hackery.)
On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 12:32 AM, andrey mirtchovski <mirtchov...@gmail.com> wrote: > this is cool! > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 4:23 PM, John Floren <j...@jfloren.net> wrote: >> We would like to announce the availability of Inferno for Android >> phones. Because our slogan is "If it ain't broke, break it", we >> decided to replace the Java stack on Android phones with >> Inferno. We've dubbed it the Hellaphone--it was originally Hellphone, >> to keep with the Inferno theme, but then we realized we're in Northern >> California and the change was obvious. >> >> The Hellaphone runs Inferno directly on top of the basic Linux layer >> provided by Android. We do not even allow the Java system to >> start. Instead, emu draws directly to the Linux framebuffer (thanks, >> Andrey, for the initial code!) and treats the touchscreen like a >> one-button mouse. Because the Java environment doesn't start, it only >> takes about 10 seconds to go from power off to a fully-booted Inferno >> environment. >> >> As of today, we have Inferno running on the Nexus S and the Nook >> Color. It should also run on the Android emulator, but we haven't >> tested that in a long time. The cell radio is supported, at least on >> the Nexus S (the only actual phone we've had), so you can make phone >> calls, send texts, and use the data network. >> >> The Inferno window manager has been re-worked with cell phone use in >> mind. Windows are automatically sized to fill the whole screen. The >> menu has been moved to the top and the menu items have been made >> significantly larger. Physical buttons on the phone are now used to do >> many common tasks: >> >> (these keys are for the Nexus S, different bindings are used for >> the Nook, which has different keys available) >> * Back: Close the current window >> * Menu: Toggle the onscreen keyboard >> * Home: Minimize the current window >> * Power: Turn off the screen >> * Power+Volume Up: Open the screen brightness widget >> * Power+Volume Down: Turn off the phone >> * Power+Home: Restart Inferno >> >> Installation is reasonably simple. You'll need the Android SDK >> (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html), with the platform-tools >> package installed for the adb and fastboot utilities. We also strongly >> recommend installing CyanogenMod on your phone before >> proceeding--that's what we use to test. >> >> First, make absolutely sure you have the "adb" and "fastboot" >> commands in your path--see the previous paragraph regarding the >> SDK and try running "adb" to be sure. Download the tarball from >> http://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/downloads/hellaphone.tgz and >> unpack it in your root. You should end up with a /data/inferno >> directory (we put it there because of the Inferno build >> process). Then, go to the /data/inferno/android directory and run >> the Reflash-Nexus-S.sh script (assuming you have a Nexus S. Run >> Reflash-Nook-Color.sh if you have a Nook). This will >> automatically set up the phone to boot into either Inferno or the >> regular Java environment--during bootup, the screen will go solid >> white; if you touch the screen at this point, it will boot into >> the regular Android environment, otherwise it will timeout and go >> to Inferno. However, at this point you're not yet ready to boot >> into Inferno, so reboot the phone and touch the screen to go into >> the regular Android UI. The final task is to run the command "cd >> /data/inferno; ./parallel-push.sh". Reboot, let it boot into >> Inferno, and you're ready to go. >> >> You can also clone the repository >> (http://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/) and build it yourself, but this >> is a significant effort. I do not recommend it if you wish to simply >> try the system, but if you want to do development you should get the >> repository. >> >> Disclaimer: If you break your phone, it's not our fault. Don't email >> us, don't come knocking on our door, and don't call us--oh wait, you >> won't be able to do that anyway, your phone is broken! >> >> Credit where credit is due: Ron Minnich came up with the initial >> idea--we've been kicking the idea of a Plan 9/Inferno phone around for >> years. Our summer interns, Joel Armstrong and Joshua Landgraf, did the >> lion's share of the work of making Inferno into a usable cell phone >> OS--no small feat, considering that neither had any Limbo or Inferno >> experience before the start of the summer! They re-wrote the UI, >> puzzled out the undocumented cell radio interface, figured out audio, >> worked to make Inferno more portable across phones, and generally >> figured out how to make Inferno and the Android kernel coexist >> peacefully. Andy Jones, another intern, also did some very early work >> with Android that helped us figure out the Android init process and >> how to build for Android. I took care of getting Inferno running on >> the phone in the first place and have been adding things occasionally >> since then. We would also like to thank Andrey Mirtchovski for >> providing the OLPC framebuffer code (which ported to the Android >> phones relatively easily), and of course Charles Forsyth for keeping >> the Inferno torch lit all these years (and helping me figure out some >> puzzling problems throughout the summer)! >> >> > >
