OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Jinidog on July 12, 2006, 12:27:41 pm
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Hello guys,
my parents finally force me to use a mobile phone by buying me one.
So, what do I need on a mobile phone?
Linux of course.
I don't have much knowledge about mobile phones (never got one) and even less about linux on such ones ( I played much with my zaurus)
So, does someone of you know a nice device, on which you can play with linux (keeping its ability to serve as a mobile phone ) and which is not too expensive (probably hard to find, I think)?
Would be nice to share your knowledge with me.
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All Linux Smartphones out there are hiding the Linux atm. The most promising models right now are the Motorola A780 and E680(i) for which we have started the OpenEZX project (see openezx.org).
They already run Linux and you can enhance them with own Linux software by jumping through a couple of hoops. The goal of the OpenEZX project is a complete replacement of the proprietary MOTO software stack -- but it's a mid term goal, since it involves hacking a lot on kernel and userland stuff.
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There are a few linux phones out there, the Motorola's that Mickey posted, but also Phillips 968. There are more on their way also.
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There are more on their way also.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134888\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
And they will be on the market the day after the final of GNU Hurd is released. (SCNR)
Best regards,
Chris.
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Best Linux Smartphone... but not on the market yet
ImCoSys Linux Smartphone (http://www.krunker.com/2006/03/01/imcosys-linux-smartphone/)
Late
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There are more on their way also.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134888\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
And they will be on the market the day after the final of GNU Hurd is released. (SCNR)
Best regards,
Chris.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134889\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
That's a silly comment, and not at all true.
It takes a long time for phones to come to market, and western markets such as Europe and especially the US are slow to embrace new technologies.
There are more linux phones on the way (that run Qtopia BTW), I cannot comment on what and when.
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Do they have linux on the treos yet?
i know it runs on the xda's and some of the older models can be picked up on ebay for very little
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Do they have linux on the treos yet?
i know it runs on the xda's and some of the older models can be picked up on ebay for very little
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134954\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
There's the rub. I'd much prefer a Qtopia smartphone to palm or wince (orto just to use a simple phone as an extension/modem for my Z), but when I mislaid my nokia (found it later) and went to ebay for a replacement I ended up grabbing a Sierra VOQ. Hard to beat something with a keyboard for $71 us, you know?
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Do they have linux on the treos yet?
i know it runs on the xda's and some of the older models can be picked up on ebay for very little
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134954\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
There's the rub. I'd much prefer a Qtopia smartphone to palm or wince (orto just to use a simple phone as an extension/modem for my Z), but when I mislaid my nokia (found it later) and went to ebay for a replacement I ended up grabbing a Sierra VOQ. Hard to beat something with a keyboard for $71 us, you know?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134957\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Who you using for cell?? Cell One? I'm stuck with ACS, and they don't support phones with sim cards....
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gci.
gci cable tv. gci cable internet, gci cell. they have unlimited data over cell for 60 monthly, supposedly they will pro-rate for days you don't use, and turn it on and off in a few hours--no lenthy contract.
The think is a little on the high side, but I have decent speed, and 1 "800" number to call when something doesn't work...and one company's bills to keep track of .
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That's a silly comment [...]
Obviously.
[...] and not at all true.
That remains to be seen.
It takes a long time for phones to come to market [...]
Granted, product cycles for an entirely new platform are at least 2 years (or at least they should be ).
There are more linux phones on the way (that run Qtopia BTW), I cannot comment on what and when.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134897\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
So you've been telling us for quite some time now. Knowing how easily designs are stripped and cancelled by marketroids, I won't hold my breath until I actually hold one in my hands, though.
Best regards,
Chris.
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Okay, even though this isn't an inexpensive phone, it is still a Linux-powered phone. The Motorola A1200 is a quadband GSM phone with a 2 MP camera and a built-in FM radio. Unfortunately, it's not EDGE. It has hadnwriting and voice recognition. Seems like the perfect companion for a Z. =) Sweet little phone. Comes in red, black, and white. I've been lusting after the red.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=871 (http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=871)
(Doesn't it look like a communicator from Star Trek?)
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Yes, the A1200 is sexy. The OpenEZX project has this on its agenda as well, but the priority now is the the more widespread A780.
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new one just reviewed, seems like they did a good job (motorla) but i didnt review it
as always its on the linux devices site
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8243331060.html (http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8243331060.html)
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Well, for my self I have decided, that I don't need a smartphone.
I've already my zauri to play with (and for this plays I have not enough time anyway) so such a smartphone would be quiet the same thing, despite that there is not really a chance to get gentoo running on it.
Much to expensive these little toys.
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Just wait till the PocketPenguin is done.
XD
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Well seems like lpotter was right...
Now we have the Motorola Rokr E2 phone with linux on it. It is also approved by the FCC, so maybe a US launch might just be possible - "pending carrier interest".
(in plain words if the Wireless carriers can make sure that its all closed and tight so they can rip off customers with binding-clauses and disbaled DUN'e etc).
It seems Trolltech presented the device to Linuxdevices.com, so maybe Qtopia Phone is on it - didnt see any mention of it though in my quick reading.
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8243331060.html (http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8243331060.html)
Edit : Ok, article does mention that it has a graphical menu 'like' Qtopia Phone.
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Well seems like lpotter was right...
Now we have the Motorola Rokr E2 phone with linux on it. It is also approved by the FCC, so maybe a US launch might just be possible - "pending carrier interest".
(in plain words if the Wireless carriers can make sure that its all closed and tight so they can rip off customers with binding-clauses and disbaled DUN'e etc).
It seems Trolltech presented the device to Linuxdevices.com, so maybe Qtopia Phone is on it - didnt see any mention of it though in my quick reading.
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8243331060.html (http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8243331060.html)
Edit : Ok, article does mention that it has a graphical menu 'like' Qtopia Phone.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135586\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
It's definately not qtopia, but EZX, a costum motorola version of qt/e 2.x.
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Now we have the Motorola Rokr E2 phone with linux on it. It is also approved by the FCC, so maybe a US launch might just be possible - "pending carrier interest".
All Motorola Linux phones, so far, have been FCC approved and show up on motorola.com. So, FCC approval does not give much hope. The fact that it is a sequel to a phone that had moderate sucess offers much more hope. The first one had a tie-in with Apple iTunes, though, which likley made it more attractive, as the carriers get a nice buzzword and mind share.
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Personally, I agree with all the slashdotting of the carriers. I spent £150 on my GPRS card, and then found that Pop, SMTP, SSH, Telnet, MSN, AIM and VOIP were all filtered over my provider.
Gits.
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quick fix is to put your ssh on port 80 and then set up a semi VPN thorgh that.
also means they cant dictate what you can see over the connection (web filtering, some are known to do it to make it more consume less bandwith)
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I'm lucky enough to not have web filtering. ^^
The idea of controlling an MSN program on one PC from my Z sounds appealing, I can do that with X, right? I assume they have to be binary compatible though. . .
Scratch that for now, what does everyone th9ink of the Uni as even just a Windows Smartphone? I did some calculations earlier, and to get it with a 12 month contract, including line rental, brings the whole shebang to #380, and after that I can just drop the contract and keep the phone, at a muuuch lower price than the #650 wanted for the Jasjar branded Uni.
What does everyone think? Worth it? I can flash to linux at a later date that way, too. (When the Phone and Internal-Flash are supported on Familiar-Universal.)
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The idea of controlling an MSN program on one PC from my Z sounds appealing, I can do that with X, right? I assume they have to be binary compatible though. . .
You can do that with X11, and they don't have to be binary compatable. You might also look into VNC.
Scratch that for now, what does everyone th9ink of the Uni as even just a Windows Smartphone? I did some calculations earlier, and to get it with a 12 month contract, including line rental, brings the whole shebang to #380, and after that I can just drop the contract and keep the phone, at a muuuch lower price than the #650 wanted for the Jasjar branded Uni.
I've not played with one personally, but it seems to be a fun toy.
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for ssh is was talking about running ppp on one end and connecting to it on you Z to gize you a vpn link thats encrypted, i belive ssh has another -x flag for this or somthing (replace x with the flag) where it automatiaclly sets up all ports to be fowrded
as a normal user i had no problems with any win ce pda, it took notes and looked after my contacts. however when you start adding programs it starts to get unstable to the point where you need extra tools just to manage its stability
msn is good on it as long as you can use the virtual keypad fast (forget the handwriting recignition)) but the web browser sucks so badly that most people (including those taken off the street) would prefer lynxs (and the horror of trying to install a omand line on the thing which can be done but is a pain)
WM5 is definattly an improvment for phones but in my belief they streamlined it for buisness and the lowest common denominator. there seems to be little in the way of added features for anyone without an exchonge server
basically if you are a power user (which by definition just by knoming the name of a linux powered pda makes you one in the PPC world) then you will need alot of software, if you are a linux power user (alot diffrent from a ppc one) then you will need a huge amount of software, for example i used to have to run a ftp server on the thing to get files of the device over wifi, on the Z i just fire up samba. and if i remeber corectly the sambar binaries are about the same size as the ppc ftp server
if you were to get one i would borrow one if posible and play around with it for a week, and see if it is for you
if it is i can show you a couple of place to free software (legal) and . as well as give you a list of apps that will make the ppc experince bearable to a Z user
(i have had a xda 2, hp1930 dell x30. and look after for other people (keep up to date) a xda mini and an xda kjam)
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My cousin, I believe, has one. . .
I'm not likely to be using it for the same things as Cortana and the PPZ (When out. ) But as a basic phone for University, with Basic PDA functions, which I can later (When it's ready) upgrade to Linux.
Anyone know how they're doing with the phone support?
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Hmm. . . It's arrived, and after the usual garbage crashes and bugs that happened before my first reset, it's actually not a bad system. The wifi is useless. . . But it's the only thing that I've had a problem with. I think the PocketPC messaging and phone apps are quite a good example. . . Shame the OS stinks really, doesn't it?
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I stumbled across this when looking at the UTStarcom wifi/sip phones, and the clone from safecom (www.safecom.cn) ... so I came here to see if anyone had noticed it, and this thread was the first one listed.
http://www.cyber-telecom.net/shop/product_.../products_id/31 (http://www.cyber-telecom.net/shop/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/31)
a bit pricey though!
I also looked for some technical details of how the Motorola RAZR phone special version for BritishTelecom Fusion server works, to see if it could be reconfigured to work at my home using my own bluetooth gateway and a different provider. As far as I can see, the RAZR switches from being a GSM phone to being a bluetooth "terminal", rather than being wifi.
Thus, so far, it seems to me that a Zaurus with
a/ bluetooth adaptor
b/ wifi adaptor
c/ and a GSM/GPRS adaptor (from enfora or audiovox)
provides the most flexible universal communications device (until the HTC universal itself is fully supported by linux)
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and after the usual garbage crashes and bugs that happened before my first reset, ...
Sounds familiar
Shame the OS stinks really, doesn't it?
It's made by M$, I wouldn't expect anything less. It's mind boggling how they spend billions crippling an already crippled [non-]OS so that it will run on low spec hardware and all they seem to have accomplished is to port the equivalent of the BSoD to a handheld platform!
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It's definately not qtopia, but EZX, a costum motorola version of qt/e 2.x.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135589\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
Ezx isn't Motorola's version of qt/e, it is a graphical interface build on top of Qt/e, which has been renamed to Qtopia Core.
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Heh, Actually I haven't had the BSOD. . . Before my first reset it just locked up, and since then it's been pretty much stable. I like the Today screen, and the comms software. . but the Media player is shockingly poor, there is no Mount/Unmount controls, you risk your FAT table every time you eject a card. . I had a friend once who pulled his card, destroying the FAT table, then I put it in my Poodle, which overwrote the drive with a new file structure "/Documents, /Install_Files" anyone? It doesn't handle Memory efficiently, so any music playing glitches when you rotate the screen. Oh, just had my first lockup since my initial reset. Wierd. As I said, the WLan system is shocking. . . I can't seem to make it connect to my Access Point any more. . It did it once, but now I can just turn the wifi on, and it just sits there telling me it's "Available", without bringing up the original "Connect?" dialog box it did first time.
On the other hand, open linux tends to be pretty useless as a phone. . . I think DB was right, someone needs to get linux on a BlueAngel or use a SLX or SL-CX with a GPRS/GSM card and write a Daemon to handle the modem. Because at the moment, there's no way to acept incoming calls unless you're actually running the phone program. . . Which isn't alot of good when it's suspended in your Piel Frama. After you've got a Daemon to START the call program, you have the basics of the phone. Messaging I think, is a little trickier. . . But I like the way that Windows handles Ringtones (Except for the fact that they have to be copied to "/Windows/Rings") In that it's done via the Sounds and Notifications program.
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try out the mgetty pacakges, they can be hacked together to do what you need (make sure to get the fax enabled one) other than that you could write a quick daomon that looks for the phone ring signal and then plays a sound and reads /dev/input/event* and picks up on a button push. it depends on how they divide up the buttons (if its all one device then you may need a work around
the fat thing is a known problem, that is why there is that spining ball thing, dont pull out before that disappears, if it still happens then it might be a faulty SD card, there are known problems with certin SD cards and PDAs, its well documented at aximsite.com
for the rotation thing that has to do with the CPU hitting 100% not "bad memory handeling" if you feel its a problem you can fiddle with the glyph cache settings and bump it up a bit, this helps in games as well
i would definiattly invest in the resco range of products (file browser and rego editor) as they can help with some things (like the umount and it has an fdisk )
widows CE (was a typo but i thoght i would leave it) is rock solid until you add 3rd party apps the more you add the more unstable it gets
also if you want to share stuff on a wlan then you need an http server (free ware) or an ftp server (dont ask me haw i got it, just know i got it ) you will also want to try and get a 3rd party connection app as the windows wifi one sucks, the one that came with my dell x30 is great and with a trip to xda developers and thier rom extraction tool you can rip it out of the ROMs on dell, the other option is the socket connect app but it hides details and tries to look pretty. might also want the broadcomm bluetooth upgrade for wm5.0, it does wonders (bluetooth arvp a2dp and hid mouse/keyboard)
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Hmm. . I activated my PDA today and it connected straight to my Wlan. Stayed connected all day. :/ Right, ok.
Note to self. DivX does NOT work right on Windows Mobile 5, and it refuses to uninstall. PocketIE sucks, doesn't it? I'm quite impressed by Minimo actually. . Although i do wish it wasn't 8MB. . . And considering this thing is supposed to do Polyphonic ringtones the Midi synth is pretty bad. A few of he tracks I've put through it (All of the songs from FF1-7) have come out awfully.
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There's also the ROAD handy pc that runs linux. and It does use Qtopia Phone as well.
http://www.road-gmbh.de/en/produkte/index_01.html (http://www.road-gmbh.de/en/produkte/index_01.html)
The Philips 968 and Zte's E3 run linux, but they are only available in China.
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Heh, Actually I haven't had the BSOD. . .
M$ ran out of money to fully implement that, so ...
Before my first reset it just locked up,
... it just simply locks up, sometimes it is even kind enough show the busy "cursor" (that icon that spins in the middle of the screen).
and since then it's been pretty much stable.
Yeah Back when I was still using my Asus 730W it never went more than 3 days without having to reset, some days I had to reset multiple times. Contrast it with my Psion 5 which had a total of about 3 resets over 7 years of constant use, and my Psion 3 which never required a reset during several years of use.
I like the Today screen,
Not sure about later versions, but WM2003SE (and most likely earlier versions) had a crap Today screen, that is why there are so many add-ons and semi-replacements to remedy its deficiencies.
but the Media player is shockingly poor
yep, total crap. TCPMP is much better.
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Now what I could go for right now, is ReactOS Mobile Alpha 5. Unfortunately, I don;t think that's likely. I'm assuming the WM CE/PP API is very different from the Desktop API. . .?
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I think the Green Phone looks pretty promising;
http://www.trolltech.com/ (http://www.trolltech.com/)
http://linuxdevices.com/files/misc/qtopia_...nt_and_back.jpg (http://linuxdevices.com/files/misc/qtopia_greenphone_front_and_back.jpg)
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Wasn't there an entire thread on that one a couple' days back?
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Seems like another phone (don't know if its a smartphone, but any phone with Wifi and Opera should clasify as smartphone) with Linux on it
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=6731 (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=6731)
Its a D-Link phone and will be unlocked handset.
Not much details about the underlying OS layers and all that.
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Seems like another phone (don't know if its a smartphone, but any phone with Wifi and Opera should clasify as smartphone) with Linux on it
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=6731 (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=6731)
Its a D-Link phone and will be unlocked handset.
Not much details about the underlying OS layers and all that.
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div] (http://index.php?act=findpost&pid=143076\")
That's the same dlink as [a href=\"http://gpl-violations.org/news/20060922-dlink-judgement_frankfurt.html]http://gpl-violations.org/news/20060922-dl..._frankfurt.html[/url] , nuff said