Low powered ARM PC (CuBox, PandaBoard) support (Was Re: Are smartphones any good? (was Re: Oneplus One support))

Sat Oct 4 15:30:34 UTC 2014

I wasn't meaning a Pi based phone, I just noticed that a lot of these (albeit not the Pi, I know the Android struggles there) support Android and use a lot of open components.  I don't think Replicant on CuBox(I) or PandaBoard would be too hard, especially with CuBox being designed for Android.  Wouldn't be too drastically different from a tablet build, Pi would be best because of it's vast support, but I don't think anything based on Android has any hopes on that platform.

Michael von Glasow <michael at vonglasow.com> wrote:

>On 04/10/14 02:29, Jonathan Petruska wrote:
>> I don't think a fully free cellphone is too unthinkable. Has anyone thought of porting to mini arm PCs like the Pi, or has this already been done
>A proof-of-concept phone has already been built, albeit not with Android:
>http://www.davidhunt.ie/piphone-a-raspberry-pi-based-smartphone/
>
>As for Android on the Pi, some attempts have been made, but a lot of 
>things are still missing:
>http://www.intorobotics.com/raspberry-pi-android-guides-resources/
>
>Of course, there's also the GTA04, for which a port is under active 
>development.
>
>Such projects, however currently have a few hurdles to overcome:
>
>- Hardware sourcing: The typical smartphone nowadays is more than just a 
>Raspberry Pi with a touchscreen, modem and battery. Hardware typically 
>includes one or two cameras, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth modules, as well as 
>a bunch of environment sensors (accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, 
>proximity, ambient light, temperature, humidity). The challenge is to 
>find freedom-friendly components, for which free drivers either exist 
>already or are doable (i.e. documentation of interface and protocols is 
>freely available).
>
>- Momentum: A certain number of people who own and use such a device, 
>and a certain percentage of them who contribute to development are 
>necessary for any such project to take off. Without this critical mass, 
>development won't be able to keep up with the pace of the industry and 
>the product will be outdated before it is even finished. Openmoko and 
>the GTA02 aka Freerunner was an example of where this worked quite well, 
>but IMHO the Freerunner community was just about big enough to get off 
>the ground.
>
>- Cost: With the above constraints on hardware, a relatively low number 
>of users (i.e. small quantities) and most likely some quality demands, 
>such a device is likely to be costly. Take the GTA04, which has a 500 to 
>600 euro price tag just for the mainboard. With fully functional phones 
>selling for half this price, one does need a lot of enthusiasm to go 
>down that road.
>
>- Form factor: The GTA04, just like its GTA02 predecessor, is quite a 
>big brick. That probably has to do with hardware sourcing, production 
>quantities and also cost.
>
>So how can we tackle this?
>
>- Start with the easier tasks: A ten-inch tablet has fewer issues with 
>form factor than a phone – its dimensions are largely determined by the 
>screen size, which takes up the bulk of the space. The next biggest part 
>is the battery – but the other components are the same size as in a 
>phone, thus less is gained or lost from shrinking the mainboard or not 
>doing so. Also a tablet does not need to include all the hardware 
>components of a phone: a basic tablet can work on WiFi only, thus the 
>cell modem is not a concern at that time. Once the tablet takes on shape 
>and has evolved to a certain degree of maturity, cell connectivity can 
>be tackled.
>
>- Plan for a lifecycle: Over time, hardware requirements evolve as 
>faster processors, more performant graphics and systems with more memory 
>become the norm. Just having finished one platform doesn't mean work 
>stops there – rather, this is where work on the next generation begins.
>
>- Keep specs stable: We have just established that hardware evolves – 
>and new hardware requires adaptations in software. However, such 
>improvements should be as gentle as possible in order to limit the 
>changes in software needed. Where possible, newly introduced hardware 
>should be compatible with existing drivers, or at the most require only 
>smaller modifications to existing drivers, rather than requiring 
>completely new drivers.
>
>- Get a company on board: When it comes to industrial manufacturing 
>processes and building devices in professional quality, a different set 
>of expertise than that of a software developer is needed, and the 
>financial limits of a handful of individuals are easily exceeded. The 
>founders of Geeksphone one stated that getting their company to the 
>point at which they started shipping the One (their first device) 
>required investments which roughly equaled the price of a small house. 
>The GTA02 benefitted from the involvement of FIC, a manufacturer of 
>computer parts. The challenge is to find a company who has a commercial 
>interest in the project.
>
>
>> ; I know there are some built specifically for Android (CuBox, Pandaboard, etc.).  I like the idea of Replicant in the tablet world (If you can roughly consider Replicant/Android on mini PCs akin to tablets).
>>
>> msokolov at ivan.Harhan.ORG wrote:
>>
>>> Allan Mwenda <allanitomwesh at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> HAHAHA,if only I could. That is a rather gloomy scenario though
>>> My great-grandfathers did it successfully in 1917, and we can do it
>>> again.
>>>
>>> To bring this thread back on-topic, a fully-functional (i.e., unlike
>>> OsmocomBB) GSM cellphone whose baseband firmware is available to every
>>> end user in the form of full source code, compiled using gcc and other
>>> Free Software tools (no blobs or proprietary build tools), and
>>> physically reloadable into the phone, again using only Free Software
>>> tools running under a free OS (GNU/Linux or other Unix), is NOT an
>>> impossibility, and it is becoming closer to reality with each passing
>>> day.  The work is being done in a public source repository:
>>>
>>> https://bitbucket.org/falconian/freecalypso-sw
>>>
>>> Look at the commit history, and see for yourself how steadily this
>>> project marches forward.  As Che Guevara said, this movement is
>>> growing stronger with each passing day, it will never stop.
>>>
>>> All the talk about legalities is nothing more than a scarecrow.  Does
>>> your country's police force employ psychics with extremely advanced
>>> extrasensory perception capabilities?  If not, how are they going to
>>> divine that the ordinary-looking cellphone in your hand or your pocket
>>> or your purse lacks some needed regulatory approval if its actual
>>> radio signal emissions are identical to those from any other correctly
>>> functioning GSM cellphone?  And how are they going to divine that a
>>> cellphone that physically looks just like any other (standard
>>> commercial quality plastics and all) contains firmware which some
>>> believe might infringe on some copyrights held by some ancient company
>>> which might not even exist any more?
>>>
>>> VLR,
>>> SF
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Replicant mailing list
>>> Replicant at lists.osuosl.org
>>> http://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
>> _______________________________________________
>> Replicant mailing list
>> Replicant at lists.osuosl.org
>> http://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
>
>_______________________________________________
>Replicant mailing list
>Replicant at lists.osuosl.org
>http://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant