Openmoko

I have a Neo Freerunner. I got it to experiment with putting Linux and GPS together on a small handheld device. The fact that it happens to have a cellphone built-in was not a factor when I bought it.

Now it turns out that I am now using it as a phone and not using GPS at all. I still want to us the GPS but time and the other 14 GPS receivers that I have available all conspire against me.

I came by a $20 cellphone demo SIM card so I tested out the Neo's cellphone capabilities. I was able to test both GSM voice and GPRS data services for a month. I discovered my phone had the buzz problem and had it fixed in June.

Now I am using a pay-as-you-go T-Mobile SIM, and the Neo works great as a phone.

I am using a 4GB Sandisk MicroSD card. To avoid known problems with GPS on the FreeRunner I use an external antenna when I play with the GPS.

Current distribution: SHR

2010-12-31 Just updated after not using the phone most of the year. Using Qi bootloader now because it's supposed to allow GPS to work with current SHR image. Using the phone to try to do more FoxtrotGPS development.

2010-Jan-03 -- After reading the survey on the OpenMoko list I decided to try the SHR image.

Favourite so far: QTmoko

In January 2009 I settled in on the "QT Extended" image. Shortly thereafter, Trolltech stopped supporting it and it morphed into the community supported QTmoko image. That's what I use.

QTMoko Wiki

QTMoko downloads

Basics

Shutdown - hold down power key.

Wake from suspend - tap power key.

Network over USB

Not so basic

Stuff I want to do.

Bring up a WiFi connection -

Using a bluetooth headset for phone calls

Using a bluetooth headphones with media player and phone calls

GPRS networking with TMobile

Works fine once you know the secrets: http://johnsu01.livejournal.com/232100.html?view=280228#t280228

It's a ppp connection so have the extra kernel modules installed. Make the /etc/ppp/ link to /var/run/resolv.conf so that names get resolved.

Other distributions that I tried

I have had so many distributions loaded, the poor thing must be very confused.

Openmoko says that the "way forward" is FSO but it's just a framework right now.

OM2008.12 - Crashed too often when I had it set up with a usable set of tools. Openmoko with OM2008.12

FSO - just a framework, not usable for anything except development. Illume

SHR - FSO + some extras - "S" is for stable but it's not done yet! Phone works. There was no "testing" rootfs so I used the "unstable" (it was the only choice!) Illume SHR

Android - Phone app crashes every 30 seconds. UI seems a bit lightweight. Seems like a toy to me.

QT Extended - very nice. Seems very solid and user interface is good. Could not find WiFi support. (Perhaps I just need extra package for wifi?)

FDOM - too much cruft, like the name says "Fat and Dirty", cluttered UI Tried it out last year around August.

Debian - planning on loading it tomorrow

Gentoo - have not tried it; hard to believe, huh?

My phone

ME 354651011662048
S/N 8A8603722
DATE CODE 20080621
GSM 850/1800/1900