Thread: Samsung Captivate - Samsung is OPEN-SOURCING their drivers and other code!
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danramos is offline danramos
2010-07-31 , 09:45
Posts: 4,672 | Thanked: 5,455 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA
#51
Originally Posted by johnel View Post
Sounds like an interesting development.

I assume this device has bluetooth which means you should be able to attach a bluetooth keyboard to it?
If not maybe developers can hack the source and make it possible?

What I like about my N900 is that it is the "most standard" installation of Linux compared to other mobile devices.

Android is "linux" purely by use of the kernel but everything else is "Google-ised" - e.g. their own special VM it's Java but not quite and their own glib library which means porting existing linux software is non_trivial.

At least with maemo porting linux software is considerably easier due to the use of standard components.
It has Bluetooth (pretty much all Android devices have to have bluetooth as a requirement). Android is sitting on TOP of the Linux kernel. You CAN install Debian on the same device running Android. Once you've done that, you're pretty much able to use all the console apps for Debian with no problem. If I understand it right, until someone writes an Xorg to sit on top of that kernel on those devices, you can't run the graphical apps, though. Hence why something like MeeGo on that hardware would be a VERY VERY big win all-around.

Even if all I got was Android with Debian, it's almost all of what I'd want and the best of all the worlds for me. I prefer console apps anyway, PLUS I can still run my Android applications.

Originally Posted by javispedro View Post
Is the Android situation so bad that a device with a kernel "that can be built with CodeSourcery" is news?
You're just jealous 'cause it's starting to look more open than your favorite OS.
 

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