n900 still open?
 

So I have an n800, and I have loved messing with it by installing debian, etc. but I was wondering, will the n900 be as open as the n800 is/was? I would LOVE to hear that it was still open to the point where one could possibly install debian and integrate it's features as seamlessly as you can on the n800. I think the possible introduction of payed apps could add pressure to lock up the root from the average user, for fear of illegal distribution. I would hate to see maemo stray from it's open roots though (pardon the pun). Does anyone have any info or insights regarding this matter? Thanks =)

Re: n900 still open?
 

Significantly more open, actually.

Re: n900 still open?
 

OpenOffice runs fairly well, although Gimp crashes when you touch the picture with a tool for some reason...

Re: n900 still open?
 

Please see qgil's blog post, "Software freedom lovers: here comes Maemo 5".

Re: n900 still open?
 

[Insert an "as open as your momma" joke here.]

Re: n900 still open?
 

Of course the announced switch to Qt will mean saying good bye to lots of well known tools. But hey, it’s all Free software in the end.

What does this mean, ? Does this mean maemo 6 is gonna be whole different platform ?

Re: n900 still open?
 

No, it doesn't. GTK will still be supported by the community.

Re: n900 still open?
 

Somewhat. The argument is that "only" the toolkit changes, while the rest of the platform stays more or less unchanged. But of course Qt alone is a very big chunk of the platform a developer gets into contact with. You will still be able to use Gtk/Hildon though, as long as it gets properly maintained and updated by the community. How well such applications will integrate will depend primarily on the extend of the community effort, just as it is the case with Qt on Maemo 5.

Re: n900 still open?
 

Following a discussion on Michael Lauer's blog, I've been having a look at the list of closed packages in the nokia-binaries repository and the N900 kernel source code.

The conclusion I've come to is that you need closed source binaries for at least the radio transmitter (fmtx-middleware), OpenGLES acceleration (libgles2), Nokia’s proprietary GUI/calendar/location/... components, GPS (location-daemon) and battery charging (libbmeipc0). All the rest of the hardware seems to have open source drivers in the kernel (although I'm not 100% sure of this).
If I am wrong on any of this, please correct me.

Re: n900 still open?
 

I had a total nerdgasm when I saw the picture on that site... After the hassle of rooting two G1's, to have that out of the box would be incredible! I am DEFINITELY upgrading to this when the end of my contract comes around... When's the expected release date?

Re: n900 still open?
 

Sounds approximately correct. The Media Player UI is also proprietary.

Re: n900 still open?
 

Welcome freekyfrog. I think theopen nature of the N900 is one opf the best things going for it - not discounting the fact that Maemo 5 by itself is very slick and sexy to look at - so you don't just have to sell openness to your friends (who in all probability don't understand that concept on cell phones as yet).

The expected release date is by October in some select markets.
Expect to start seeing it globally by October end - November for sure.
At least it can be part of your holiday shopping.

And contract or no contract - think about going Unlocked for the N900.

Re: n900 still open?
 

Exist there a more precise list of these proprietary components? :D

Re: n900 still open?
 

Yes, but it's in the closed nokia-binaries repository, for which you need a authentication token.

Get it here by accepting the EULA and then go to:

http://repository.maemo.org/dists/fremantle/<YOUR TOKEN HERE>/nokia-binaries/binary-armel/Packages.gz

Re: n900 still open?
 

Thank you.

Re: n900 still open?
 

@Nilchak

Yeah, it's frustrating trying to explain the meaning of "root" to non-penguins. But yeah, I'm glad I'm still on T-Mobile, and it's a good thing my contract is up in February (upgrade time!). It's so hard to express my excitement towards this device in a logical manner on this forum, I just want to be all like, "WAWAWAWAWA~!!!!!!OMGOMG!!!ICAN'TWAITOMGITWILLBESO EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!"... but I can't without getting a gtfo from everyone here. Also, I'm so glad they chose to stay with a resistive screen O_O Capacitive is awesome and all that, but for an actual computer (unlike iphone :P) you need more control (Hello, GIMP!). Sorry if I'm ranting, I'm just exited. =)

Re: n900 still open?
 

Just let us push a Summit, a final release and a sales start and we will work in this list in more detail. There are even some pending relicensings and contributions of features to upstream projects in the pipeline. But we want to get this Maemo 5 in the hands of happy users first, and actually you want this too. ;)