Will NeoFremantle/Fremantle-On-Neo900 need to support the following items?
1.Cherry (aka MyNokia)
2.Nokiamessaging
3.maesync
4.ActiveSync (for talking to MS email servers)
5.Support for SIM phonebook
6.Device code lock
7.Startup wizzard (thing that runs on first start and sets the time and date and stuff)
8."About Product" control panel

In my opinion, the aim should be that everything that works on Fremantle on the N900 should be made to work on the Neo900 too (if feasible), perhaps with the exception of any online services which may now be EOL'd. If any user depends on a particular service or functionality then it needs to stay. I think we can get rid of Cherry as the Neo900 is not a Nokia device and it is known to be spyware.

As for the free implementation of Fremantle that's being worked on, that's a different kettle of fish and doesn't need to be as strict. REing some of those items would be a waste of time and a reimplementation written from scratch would probably be preferable.

1.Cherry (aka MyNokia)
for sure not ;-P

2.Nokiamessaging
No, afaik it's dead

3.maesync
No idea what that does. Might be the "sync to other maemo device" in which case we probably want to keep it.

4.ActiveSync (for talking to MS email servers)
need? no. Nice to have? sure.

5.Support for SIM phonebook
Yes. But possibly not imlemented in the same way like original fremantle does. AFAIK currently only import to maemo addressbook is implemented. This could get done by a new "app" that operates by talking AT to modem and inserts records to the contactsdb

6.Device code lock
We probably should keep that, one way or another. Might work differently internally.

7.Startup wizzard (thing that runs on first start and sets the time and date and stuff)
Yes, why not. Seems it's a useful function. Implementation details subject to review and new definition.

8."About Product" control panel
Well, I guess some sort of "About product" should be there in settings anyway.


As a general rule / guideline think of our mantra in FPTF. And of the idea that ideally we want to run unpatched fremantle images on Neo900 - since that won't work, it's probably fair to say "we want as few patches as possible"

And I have to agree with wicket above, that RE != keep function resp support. That's particularly applicable for e.g. device lock, which should work with blob as long as we provide some sort of CAL, whatever it takes to do that. Same prolly applies to "About system".

cheers
jOERG

My view is that if its easier to clone and replace a given Fremantle binary than it is to make it work as-is, its ok to clone it. Like the device lock, replacing bits of that if doing so is easier than trying to keep it is how it should be done.
We dont have to store the device lock in the exact same way as stock Fremantle does as long as we provide the functionality.

I'm pretty sure providing a "RE'ed" libcal - that maybe uses a different CAL storage than exactly a partition of NAND - is easier than discarding CAL all together and RE the device lock and a dozen other blobs that use CAL, every day.

for me 1+2 not worth it. 3 maybe. the rest i definately would want in some form (original if it works or re/clone if needed). in the long run a replacement would be better.

We have reverse engineered CAL (for Fremantle) in CSSU repos so that shouldn't be a problem. That said, the only closed source blob left that use libcal and that isn't being dropped/replaced/cloned for other reasons is libdevlock.so.1.0.9, everything else using CAL is FOSS, needs to be cloned or needs to be dropped (e.g. softupd isn't something we can use on Neo900 because its too tied to N900 cellular modem)

Startup wizard -yes a useful one but this time with a way to cancel it with hardware key

I generally agree to joerg's view here:
1. Cherry
Definitely NO

2. Nokia messaging
NO, it is dead.

3. Maesync
A definite YES, needed. I sync my N900 via PC Suite offline (NOT via cloud services ) with my work laptop.
Furthermore I used it (once or twice/thrice) to sync from and to other Nokia devices (incl. contacts, calendar, ...).

4. ActiveSync
I do not need it (on this device), but -as joerg said- why not?

5. Support for SIM
phonebook support for sure.
nice add-on would be SIM application toolkit

6. Device code lock
YES.

7. Startup wizard
Hmm, undecided (currently I would like to have it removed, as removing battery 99%, and a reboot sometimes, triggers this and then hinders to boot process to continue. Only to confirm the date/time settings which would be set by ntpd anyway).
But on Neo900 BupBatt will work...

8. About product
Nice to have.
Something like command liner 'osso-product-info' for sure.

I would hope to see ActiveSync implemented. I would like to use the Neo900 as a daily driver (at least eventually). For that to happen, some sort of corporate syncing solution would need to be available. Certainly, alternatives exist, and I have used them. That said, for better or worse, ActiveSync has been the most worry-free solution in my experience.