Letux 380: Small And New Linux (qt) Phone To Come, Lightweight 90g, Linux, Bluetooth, QVGA, Quadband, Camera Options

[dhns]

I was offered recently a small and nice Linux PDA Phone. It has a 2.4 QVGA touchscreen, Quadband GSM, Bluetooth, Camera and runs Qtopia Phone Edition. Some experimentation has shown that it is possible to ftp/telnet into the device. And, it weights just 90g and is only approx. 2/3 of the size of the Neo 1973 although the display isn't much smaller. What do you think I should do?

-- hns

Edit: some photos are shown here: http://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showto...st&p=175686

[speculatrix]

OK, one final reason to use kernel >= 2.6.23 ?
android! so, just provide the base system and the software will come to you.

quoting from the elinux page, you need...
* SoC with ARM926 or higher (e.g. ARM11) (check ARM MPCore or ARM Cortex regarding TLS issue)
** Note: ARM920T with ARMv4 instruction set will not work
* You have already a recent (~2.6.23) Linux kernel with Thumb & MMU & EABI etc support running on your target
* Soc/HW has and Linux kernel supports
* Display/frame buffer (touchscreen would be good but optional). Frame buffer has to support double buffer/page flipping.
* Keyboard
* USB (optional)
* RTC (optional?)
* Serial console
* Some storage, sufficient for ~64MB, e.g. NFS or USB stick or NAND or NOR or MMC/SDcard etc. NFS would be easiest for development
* Sufficient main memory (SDRAM) >=32MB. While 32MB seems to be enough to start, system will be really slow then. Therefore 32MB is sufficient for proof of concept, but not for a usable system.

[dhns]

Generally, I see the benefits of a 2.6.x kernel, but let me compare a "Dreamliner" vs. a "737".

While the first will have the latest technology, more distance etc., the latter is robust and mature and simply works for the masses.

And, they are used for different purposes. Would anyone expect that the 737 is upgraded to the engines of a "Dreamliner" for intercontinental flights? Probably not. The 737 is a system where all components are adjusted homogenously to each other.

Coming back to the Letux 380 device. It is more like a "737", small, useable, mature. The 2.4 kernel simply works. So, why change a running system? Who would spend money for doing that? Or do it just for fun? Sadly, the current economical situation permits less and less volunteers to work on it.

So, opening Linux devices is like squaring the circle. There are basically three different approaches:

1. retrofit Linux on a Win device: the handhelds.org (OpenEZX, Xanadux, ...) approach (needs volunteers who need years to analyse the device beyond their market availability)
2. develop an open Linux hardware from scratch: the Openmoko approach (needs a lot of funding and is commercially questionable)
3. find a manufacturer who already has a working Linux device and discuss to open it: the Letux 380 approach (we can't change anything in hardware)

As you can see none of these approaches is "optimal".

-- hns

[koen]

The 2.4 kernel simply works. So, why change a running system?

Because right now your system runs much slower and consumes much more power than with a kernel that isn't from 2002.