Committed to Maemo 5

I gone and done it, I’ve committed to a pre-order for a Nokia N900 from Amazon so sometime in the next X Days I’ll be on the Maemo 5 bandwagon. After pondering Android, Vodafone 360, Palm WebOS and Maemo, I had to choose a platform based upon HOW I USE a phone rather than as a Carrier would have me use one. It’s the one phone that most mimics my current use, a Palm T/X with a tethered Nokia 6300. Since Vodafone has killed my tethering of the Nokia, I’m reduced to using the T/X WiFi only, and there is a dearth of free WiFi sites in Ireland. Given that the Blazer browser in the T/X is functionally obsolete pointed me at a ‘Full’ OS device like Maemo. And while I can, and have booted Angstrom on the Palm, it’s inability to connect WiFi and Bluethooth make that configuration interesting, but useless. Android, and particularly the Hero was especially appealing, and was my second choice. But Android appears more like a ‘Widget marketing’ platform where only the underlying core was open source. Maemo is a full fledged Linux, although not mainstream, I can hack Linux. And while the current lack of Java is curious and worrying I do know, and it has, other programming language support, even MySQL (older version).

So what is the N900, it’s a portable Linux system, with a phone app in it. more or less what I have already. I understand that! Now all I have to do is be patient until my new toy ships. Here’s hoping is ships early. 🙂

I will miss the Palm T/X, but it’s already been repurposed as a Internet radio on it’s desk stand in my office. The Nokia 6300 will also be missed, I wonder if the wife will let me keep it around as a standby?

UPDATE: More reasons for my choice Software freedom and someone else who agrees with me Maemo offers more freedom

The first one to Sue, Loses!

Looks like Google has showed their true Android colors as Google has just slapped Cyanogen with a cease-and-desist letter By demonstrating that Android is really NOT Open Source it makes my decision a bit easier. Palm Pre (WebOS), or Nokia N900 (Maemo). Of the two, only Maemo is still considered Open Source, however Palm WebOS has never pretended to be Open Source either. Android always had the feel of Google Lock-in functionality with the real intention to permanently lock the Android platform into Google. And this Cease-and-Desist is the final straw. More here!

Decisions decisions too many mobile phone choices.

For a change, I have money to burn, some, anyway, and while I love my Nokia 6300 mobile phone, I thought I’d splash out and go for a new ‘smartphone’. But the choices are endless, I like the Nokia E71, but I know that there is an upgrade to the Nokia E72 , then there is the New Nokia N900 with the New Maemo OS, and more or less future proof. Or how about the HTC (Android) Hero. Of the three, I like the N900, but the E72 has better ergonomics, more like a phone. Which is what it’s supposed to be.

Any suggertions?

Future of Linux on the Palm

Having read this article about how to Dual Boot Linux on a Palm TX. I then downloaded the linux distribution described in the demonstration from the Reware Project And loaded it on a spare 2GB SD card as outlined. IT works as described, and it didn’t do any harm to my normal Palm OS installation. After trying the music app from this project and drilling down through the filesystem to find a complete Linux distro, I downloaded another system called Opie from here http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~miska/ and have now been throughly impressed with Linux running on my Palm.

The OPIE project is more or less a replacement PIM running over the Linux, and contains many Palm PIM equivalents, and although not as polished as the Palm applications, it makes for a very good beginning. From what I can know, the OPIE system boots off a Ã…ngström Linux distribution of a Linux v2.6.23 kernel. And while the networking elements of the Palm T/X don’t appear to be operational, it’s still impressive.

If the forthcoming release of Nova Linux can take the edges off this OS, much in the vein of Android, Palm just might pull it out of the fire.

Here hoping!

Apple Slaps down developers again

Every day I’m more and more impressed with my Palm T/X choice as Apple extends iPhone NDA. Apple is getting genuinely proprietary about their iPhone/iPod app store. They are making a mockery of their own developer community and that won’t last, seeing as there is now the Google G1 Android phone and it’s open source development roots.

UPDATE:

One more foolish Palm move

if this rumor is true that Palm’s Treo Pro in the wild, probably not fake. Then Palm has got to be the most foolish company in the world. Just when they are promising a new OS, a Linux cum Android like platform, they should announce yet another Windows based Phone, makes the company management come off all unfocused and wishy-washy in the vision department. How foolish can you be? Bring out the new OS, dammit, even in beta format. Get on with it Palm!