Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

I was never a fan of the Linux operating system, until my MIS professor finally made all of us install it on our laptops. I was amazed at the speed of the OS on my laptop.

Anyways, there are several modifications of Linux. Ubuntu, Fedora, and some other companies have their own version of the Linux OS, since it is open source.

I was wondering if, Nokia could make the Maemo 5 operating system Open Source too, so that we can start developing our own modified versions of the Maemo 5 operating system for the Nokia N900. (Maybe one with portrait mode too)

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Parts of Maemo are open source, and can be found at maemo.gitorious.org (off the top of my head). However, for whatever legal reasons, not all of Maemo is open source. Parts from Nokia are still closed, and drivers for things like video can't be opened by Nokia.

If you are interested in something more open than Maemo, you may want to look at MeeGo (http://www.meego.com) which has no closed source bits in its stack, unlike Maemo.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Thanks, ill take a look! :)

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

if meego is completely open source and meego runs on n900 then the mentioned video drivers etc are open source too aren't they? Then why can't the maemo video drivers be open source?

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

MeeGo is open, however, for it to run on the N900, some blobs HAVE to exist, such as the video driver and bme, but iirc, those are the only 2 closed blobs.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

some firmwares, like for the GSM modem, are also closed ('cause of some lame law that punishes toolmakers for what use random people give to the tools)

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

I think it's worth noting that Maemo is pretty much entirely open source, with the exception of the aforementioned blobs, and is itself an offshoot of Debian Linux, and remains pretty awesome. I could remix it myself, if I had any clue how.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

The great thing about Maemo 5 is that, while it -is- open source and you -can- modify and recompile stuff, you usually don't have to. Thanks to the fully functional Xterm - and full Linux stack - you can usually write simple apps or scripts that will change settings, modify behavior, and implement extra functionality -without- having to mess with C++.

So, while those who are experianced can go in and modify things, the rest of us can usually take those modifications, string them together with shell-scripts and Python, and have something that works... WITHOUT all the low-level knowledge and time spent.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

You had a better time than me, Linux refused to boot my laptop with the power supply plugged in initially on.

I really don't get the speed comparison thing though, I see it a lot "omg, I installed linux and it is so fast" ... unless you had an infested, startup trash happy Windows install I never see a difference.

Linux is lovely but it is a time consuming system to get running and polished. I work supporting linux servers and they can be just as much of a pain as Windows machines... with the exception that restarting them generally fixes nothing, its always more serious.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Rebooting on a Windows machine doesn't "fix" anything it just resets the random time to the next reboot. At least with Linux you have a chance of finding the cause of the problem instead rebooting with your fingers crossed, touching wood, praying to the patron saint of computing.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

It would have been worth noting, if it was true. Since this openness claim has nothing to do with reality, it is not worth noting at all.

No. The firmware is close because Nokia chose that it be close. There is no law requiring it to be close.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

You realise that GSM contains many patented technologies?

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

there is one major reason for gsm part being closed: operators

just think about a device which has its gsm modem functionality compiled a tad wrong causing a havoc at least to the cell tower it is connected to. fixing such things costs pretty much. One estimate was when someone tampered with finnish towers and did something small. cost for operator per tower: 200 000+ eur. and if I remember right, there were 2 operators involved so you can double the figure....

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

As far as I ḱnow Adobe Flash and SGX driver from Texas Instrument is not open sourced.

I dont know about the wifi/bt driver but maybe those driver is not open sourced.

So stop blame Nokia for everything! This is how bussiness work we will NEVER see fully open sourced drivers and so on. Not even Meego Hardware will have fully open sourced drivers etc...

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Right. Its one thing to give people free hands to mess with their devices, and another to give them free hands to mess it for everybody else.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Do you realise that using patents as a reason for closeness is the dumbest argument that can be made?

Unless, of course, the claim is that Nokia try to hide which patents they use from the patent owners.

If you don't know, why do you feel such a strong urge to participate in this thread? What is the relevance of drivers to this thread?

Phone application is owned by Nokia - no third party to blame - close.

Contacts application is owned by Nokia - no third party to blame - close.

SMS application is owned by Nokia - no third party to blame - close.

Network management system is owned by Nokia - no third party to blame - close.

cherry trojan is owned by Nokia - no third party to blame - close.

Map application is owned by Nokia - no third party to blame - close.

Etc. etc. etc.

I hope you know more now.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Patents don't prevent open source. They can be licensed on open source principles or for profit. It is more a matter of what the owner wants to do.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Actually MeeGo for netbooks is fully open source. And this is a PITA. There are only some netbooks that uses HW where all drivers are available in open source form. Most drivers are available and is freely redistributable, but contain blobs. MeeGos policy is to only redistribute drivers that are fully source code open source. This doesn't even make sense, because the blobs are often low level firmware that need to be in binary form no matter what. The only alternative is to redesign the HW to contain the blobs in ROM.

How will this be with MeeGo for the N900 ? I wonder, surely there has to be lots of blobs in there. I guess Nokia can redistribute it, but not MeeGo?

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

:confused: Assuming we're not suddenly discussing flavored condoms, I have no clue what "cherry trojan" meant, and Google returns little of relevance.

Enlightenment, please?

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

I was wondering that too. Thanks for saving me a google search or two ;-)

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Cherry Trojan, I think, is some slang that developed for the piece that forced mynokia subscription upon PR1.2 update.

That's the best I could come up with through power search of this forum.

Edit:

Here's the thread, on the page where I got the info to make the above conclusion:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=57214&page=13

There's something about a .cherry_state file, and just in general rambling about the MyNokia subscription thing.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

I think Nokia should focus on building hardware and let the software be developed elsewhere. I can understand why some of maemo5 are closed but do not accept or agree upon it. Although the OS is pretty awesome it could have been even more awesome.

I hope Nokia will open up more.. especially the contacts widget. Also to make more easy to change to different OS. For that maybe a more open BME would be needed.

So even if Nokia have not gone the full yard yet.. they have brought us open-source lovers closer. They could easily have taken the other route. And Meego will take it a step further on that road.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

The primary threads are:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=57214
and
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=53565

The first one was already mentioned above, but I don't thing page 13 is the best place to start reading it.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

I've been told that there is a law, i think in the UK, against "providing hacking tools", that Nokia would be prosecuted under if they released open GSM drivers and firmware and someone used those for evil purposes

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

By that logic you can't sell computers in the UK, since they could be used for "evil purposes." I suspect the law is different from how you describe it.

Oh and IIRC the GSM firmware isn't Nokia's. I believe they sold their baseband group to Renesas and it is in fact their baseband firmware.

Re: Linux is Open Source, Is it Possible for Maemo 5 to be Open Source too?
 

Good news is there is actually an opensource GSM stack being developed. Bad news is, it's only GSM, and everything else is a lot more complicated. Worse news is that it's at the very earliest stages - last I read up on it it was able to listen to GSM signals, but not send anything.

And each hardware port is it's own challenge.