I have looked at the openmoko since it was released and it has always seemed both too expensive and lacking in hardware.
Chris... On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:16 AM, Ann <[email protected]> wrote: > very interesting. Keep us posted on your progress. > thanks > Ann Richmond > > Michael Sokolov wrote: >> Hello fellow LUGers, >> >> This is a follow-up to the conversation I've had with David, Trevor and >> Jeff at the last RCLUG meeting. At that meeting I had expressed an >> interest in getting a totally open source phone that runs bare Linux, >> not Android, and David said that he was interested in that too. Well, >> I've done some research on this topic, and I've got some findings which >> might be of interest to others. >> >> First, some background info. The first noteworthy point is that I am >> looking for a *cellphone*, not a PDA, not a mobile Web terminal and not >> a WiFi VoIP thingie. I need a phone that does two things first and >> foremost: >> >> * Make and receive plain old-fashioned voice calls on a cell network; >> * Send and receive SMS aka text messages on the phone's cell number. >> >> In other words, a plain old-fashioned cellphone, what you call a dumb >> phone. But I want it to be open source so that I can make it do its >> "dumb phone" function in my own unique Michael-Sokolovian manner. >> >> There are plenty of "smartphones" out there which claim to be open >> source, but no open source dumb phones that I knew of (well, read on). >> Hence my thought of taking an open source "smartphone", ripping out all >> the useless battery-eating "smart" features and reducing it to an open >> source dumb phone. >> >> So I had been looking into the claims of open-source-ness on the part of >> various generally available "smartphones", reading people's stories >> about replacing their phone's official OS (be it Android or Weendoze >> Mobile or whatever) with something more hacky and unofficial, more along >> the lines of what I want, and evaluating whether or not that approach >> would be likely to work for me. >> >> The central issue for me is that the only part of the phone I really >> care about is the cell radio interface, the one that makes and receives >> plain old-fashioned voice calls, not VoIP, not WiFi, none of that other >> cheesy stuff. And that is of course the most closed and proprietary >> part of any phone... >> >> Enter the Openmoko project: www.openmoko.com and www.openmoko.org. What >> these guys have made is a real phone (a real physical product) which >> they categorize as a "smartphone" (although its hardware capabilities >> lag behind a bit compared to what most of you would probably call a >> smartphone) and which I see as being considerably more open-source than >> anything that's available in the realm of "mainstream" phones: >> >> * Rather than impose one standard distro like Android and say "you are >> on your own if you want something else", they actively encourage the >> buyers of their phone hardware to experiment with different distros >> or create their own. >> >> * The bootloader on the phone (U-Boot) is specifically designed to allow >> easy loading of arbitrary kernel and root file system builds in a >> fully blessed manner: you are NOT a "bad boy" if you do this. They've >> even added extra hardware to the phone just to facilitate easy >> "unbricking" if you've "bricked" your phone by replacing its U-Boot >> image with something that doesn't work. >> >> * They have published almost complete hardware schematics for the phone. >> Unfortunately these schematics are redacted in that the GSM (cell >> radio interface) block is shown as a black box, but even with this >> redaction that is still a heck of a lot more than what's available for >> any of the mainstream phones. Samsung, Nokia etc can claim all they >> want that they make "open source" Android or other "Linux-based" >> phones, but I've never seen even partial hardware schematics for any >> of those phones. (I would love to be proven wrong on this though!) >> >> Now on to the thorny part: the cell radio interface, the most secret and >> proprietary part of any phone - how have the Openmoko folks handled this >> issue? It looks like the makers of the GSM chipset they've used (TI >> Calypso) have allowed the Openmoko folks to use their chipset and >> provided the necessary documentation only on the strict condition that >> it does NOT become part of the open source work, i.e., stays under NDA. >> Unfortunately those folks seem to be unlike me in that they aren't >> willing to f**k and break the NDA immediately upon receiving possession >> of the ware, so they (the Openmoko.com company) have implemented a >> compromise solution instead. >> >> The compromise solution consists of sequestering the non-free part (the >> GSM cell interface block) behind a well-defined interface. Specifically, >> the interface between the Calypso GSM chipset and the rest of the phone >> (the open source part) is a serial port that carries data traffic (SMS >> and GPRS) and control commands/status in a standardized format defined >> by GSM docs 07.05 and 07.07 (which are public documents), plus a voice >> codec interface. >> >> That brings us to the actual cell capabilities of this phone. First of >> all, it's GSM, not CDMA: that means that users in the USA-occupied >> territories will need a SIM card from T-Mobile or maybe AT&T, but not >> Verizon or Sprint. That's no problem for me personally because I like >> T-Mobile. However, those who like fancy data services will be >> disappointed to learn that the Calypso chipset is *just* plain GSM, no >> UMTS/3G, and not even EDGE. In other words, just classic cellular voice >> calls (9600 bps codec), SMS (text messages) and GPRS. >> >> I'm hoping that T-Mobile allows basic IP access over GPRS. Sure, it >> would be slow as molasses (slower than land line dial-up), but remember, >> I'm looking for a *phone*, not a Web surfing device. The only reason I >> want any IP-over-cellular capabilities in my phone at all is so that my >> phone can pull the contact list from my own UNIX server, as well as send >> archival copies of all sent and received SMS messages back to the same >> server. This is such a miniscule amount of data (well below one KiB) >> that it should be OK even over something as slow as GPRS. >> >> The Openmoko phone hardware (Neo FreeRunner) exists in two different >> versions: one with 850/1800/1900 MHz GSM bands ("USA" version) and the >> other with 900/1800/1900 MHz bands ("European" version). Unfortunately >> the 850/1800/1900 MHz version appears to be unobtainium: all distributors >> who actually carry orderable Neo phone hardware are located in Europe, >> and they only have the 900/1800/1900 MHz version. >> >> At first that was rather disappointing, but then I remembered my old >> Motorola V66 phone. My significant other and I have just switched from >> Verizon to T-Mobile a few days ago; she had been with Verizon for ages >> but I used to have a T-Mobile phone before switching to Verizon to be on >> the same plan with my S.O. My old T-Mobile phone was a Motorola V66, a >> classic "dumb" phone. Despite being dumb and having no EDGE or 3G >> capabilities, it had a basic "mobile web" browser feature, which is what >> gives me hope that I should be able to get onto an IP network over GPRS >> with T-Mobile. >> >> And guess what, according to the available documentation V66's GSM bands >> are 900/1800/1900 MHz, just like the "European" version of the Openmoko >> phone. Unfortunately I don't have a way to test the V66 right now even >> though I'm back on T-Mobile and have a SIM card: I still have the V66, >> but it's dead (won't turn on and won't take charge). I've ordered >> another hopefully-good V66 from Ebay, when it arrives I'll give it a >> spin. But I had been using that V66 up until some time around May 2009, >> i.e., only 2 y ago, I frequented the same geographic areas which I >> frequent now, and I never had any problems with coverage: it must have >> been working fine on the 1900 MHz band. Let's just hope that T-Mobile >> hasn't dismantled that 1900 MHz GSM coverage in the course of last 2 y. >> >> Assuming that 1900 MHz GSM coverage is still available in the areas I >> care about, it seems that this Neo FreeRunner from Openmoko would be my >> ideal phone. It's basically like that good old Motorola V66 with an >> added Linux front-end. That Calypso GSM chipset they are using for the >> cell bank-end is actually capable of fully controlling a simple "dumb" >> phone all on its own, and it was the Openmoko folks who have configured >> it to serve as a back-end to something else (Linux in their case) rather >> than stand-alone. I don't know what chipset is inside the V66, but even >> if it isn't the same Calypso, it must be something very similar in terms >> of capabilities, which is why I can view Openmoko's solution of Calypso >> back-end + Linux front-end as being effectively equivalent to putting a >> Linux front-end on the V66 which I'm very familiar and comfortable with. >> I'll be writing my own software stack for the Linux part of it. >> >> Oh, and for those of you who like this new-fangled 3G/4G stuff, they are >> working on a new similarly open phone with an OMAP processor and a UMTS >> back-end - but that's still under development. >> >> MS >> _______________________________________________ >> LinuxUsers mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers >> >> >> > > -- > Ann Richmond > ---------------- > Randr Inc > 951-369-3427 > 951-787-8683 Fax > www.randrinc.com > > _______________________________________________ > LinuxUsers mailing list > [email protected] > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers > -- "As we open our newspapers or watch our television screens, we seem to be continually assaulted by the fruits of Mankind's stupidity." -Roger Penrose _______________________________________________ LinuxUsers mailing list [email protected] http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers
