2008/7/10 michael shiloh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> An interesting (to me) discussion, probably not for this list, would be >> exactly how open a cell phone could be and still get regulatory approval. >> >> Geoff. > > I can answer that. I hinted at it in my previous email. > > The guideline we followed was RMS's rule about when source code has to be > delivered. If code running on a chip or set of chips can not be downloaded > or > updated or reprogrammed in any convenient way by the user (which in this > context includes you, the open source developer), then for practical > purposes > it may be considered to be hardware, and thus source code is not required. > > (I like to think of this as similar to the Turing Test - if you can not > determine from the outside whether it's implemented completely in hardware, > or > whether it consists of some form of firmware, then we call it hardware.) > > The GSM radio in Openmoko's Neo Freerunner is a black box. The interface is > well defined (it's a serial port and implements the industry-standard > cellphones extensions to the AT smart modem command set) and all code that > communicates with the black box is open. > > Anything inside the black box can not be modified by developers, and thus > received regulatory approval. > > Michael >
Thanks, Michael. Those bits of information are interesting. Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il א-ב-ג-ד-ה-ו-ז-ח-ט-י-ך-כ-ל-ם-מ-ן-נ-ס-ע-ף-פ-ץ-צ-ק-ר-ש-ת A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
