Qtopia on the GP2X : competition for maemo ?
 

Looks like a japanese hacker has Qtopia (Qt for PDAs) running on his GP2X:
http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000610073575/

Qtopia is what powers Sharp's Zaurus line of PDAs, and a lot of other small Linux devices. Even if Sharp has been remiss in maintaining it own version up to date, there are others. And it seems that generally Qtopia runs faster and with less memory problems on equivalent hardware than less mature platforms (like, say, maemo :-).

Getting USB host mode on the GP2X is even worse than on the 770, because you have to make your own special-purpose cable ! And there is no built-in network connectivity, and of course the screen has lower resolution. Despite all this, that guy has Opera running on his console, through an USB Wifi adapter, with USB keyboard and mouse attached (yes, it has a mouse cursor too :-). No reason why there couldn't be external mass storage also. It seems that Zaurus software packages can be used more or less unchanged (viva ARM !).

My guess is that if maemo updates by Nokia don't live up to general expectations by power users soon enough, there will be something like this appearing for the 770 at some point and the platform will fragment like the Zaurus did.

Remember though one significant issue with Qtopia: Commercial development is not free. If you are making a GPL package, then there is no charge to use the QTopia tools. If you want to make a buck off your package you have to license QT from Trolltech.

And I think you will find the true power users are pretty satisfied with the platform. Remember this is basically a hardware beta. And I think they are doing pretty well so far.
David

Who wants to buy programs that run on free software?

Why does this argument always come up when someone mentions products from Trolltech?

Linux and GPL are about FREE software, not some proprietary closed source applications. We want more free software, not more closed source applications! There are plenty of expensive closed source programs for Windows mobile, do you want that to happen to linux?

Qtopia pda edition is GPL, which means it is open source, which means any software written with it must be open source.

You do NOT have to license Qt to write closed source Qtopia applications. Trolltech offers a binary SDK for about $200 USD.

That said, it is possible AND legal to make money off selling GPL software. I have done it. I know of lots of others that have done it.

Wow. Thats some pretty crazy rigging the guy has... Thanks for the interesting link fpp. Lets hope that Nokia will keep up with Maemo development though. ;)

btw, I think the hacker in question is Korean.

Me :) And I suppose everyone who is not FSF zealot. Choice is good. If someone makes good software and wants a reward he should get it. You are allowed not to buy and not to use it but it should be possible to write closed source application and be profitable.
Yes, one example is games. I want great games on linux.