Linux coming to cell phones
Posted by Arnaudt on 11 January 2003 - 08:42 · 12 comments & 1653 views
About the Author
Full name: Unknown
Forum name: Arnaudt
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Full name: Unknown
Forum name: Arnaudt
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Slashdot It!
Submit to reddit
Submit to blinklist
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Add to furl
Share on Facebook
Add to Windows Live
Add to Google- Advertisement
-
-
(3 replies)
#1 Posted by acbd on 11 Jan 2003 - 13:10
- i dont want linux on my cell phone, i want winodws
-
#1.1 Posted by Foo Fighter on 11 Jan 2003 - 14:48
- [quote]
i dont want linux on my cell phone, i want winodws [/quote]
I don't want [i]either[/i] OS on my phone.
-
#1.3 Posted by JaggedFlame on 11 Jan 2003 - 17:06
- I just want a phone that dials numbers for me and provides good, cheap, reliable service. Of course, most cell phone companies haven't even got that part right, so I suppose I can't expect much out of a phone with an OS on it.
-
#2 Posted by warr on 11 Jan 2003 - 15:56
- linux good!
-
#3 Posted by Spike101M69 on 11 Jan 2003 - 16:36
- this isnt going to be like the pocket-pc phones are they? i rtied one at a Sprint store the other day and it was like holding a freking brick up to my head
-
#4 Posted by Webgraph on 11 Jan 2003 - 17:53
- Definitely going to get one of those kinds of cell phones, for sure. Or I could use the Palm-based ones, so long as it's not Micros*it!
smek
-
(3 replies)
#6 Posted by Cara on 11 Jan 2003 - 22:44
- Cute, a phone which will require a nerd to operate! Gone are the days where you dial, now with this phone you must go find a way to download the correct libraries, get them installed, edit the kernel to allow you to install a 'dialer' application, find out your dialer application wasn't designed for that linux distr. so you have to go out and find another version to install, get it installed and then finally realize that after all this work your phone still won't ring because the linux programmers attribute ringing to Windows and therefore is evil...
Just what the world wants! A linux phone!
(Just so the Trolls know, some of that is a joke and should be read as such) -
#6.1 Posted by Rambo2000 on 12 Jan 2003 - 15:57
- LOL I wouldn't worrie about it, it will be a stripe down version of Linux that will be as easy as any other phone is, but with this, they can make the OS to how they want it for there phone, and not have to wait for Microsoft to get off there arses to develope and update one, as well as that, gets rid of the Microsoft tax. Microsoft can't really do it because theres too many diffrent designs and tend to be a bit slow at it, where by Linux on the other hand can be changed into anything they want without any cost, Linux works out better for them.
-
#6.2 Posted by JaggedFlame on 12 Jan 2003 - 21:07
- That's nice, no more "tax".
So... anyone got a couple grand a year to spare for hiring a person who actually knows how to modify an OS?
Oh, hell, while we're at it, make a million bucks... wouldn't want that guy screwing up on us... people make mistakes, right? Let's just hire a team who knows what they're doing.
Without any cost? Dream on. -
#6.3 Posted by Rambo2000 on 13 Jan 2003 - 00:42
- Not saying there wont be any more tax, but it wont come from Microsoft, anyhow, the way the OS will keep inproveing is by people who have a passion to do these things, and beside, the money to fund it gets put into it indirectly, say like Intel or Dell or who ever wanted a feature, they could put it in themself, thats if it's not got it, Linux gets funded indirectly just by buying hardware and in the near future, home devices. Beside, it will cost a lot more then a couple of grand to ask Microsoft to do it and they'll have to pay a tax like per year, so Linux is a better option for them, more so as Microsoft can't honestly make all the changes these companys want, but the company who wants them, they can pay someone to do the changes to how they want them, a much better way and the company will know they have full control of the software on there device, not having to pay the Microsoft tax. As you said it, people make mistakes, just like companys do, Linux can't fall into that trap because if one company makes a mistake, people will move on to another company, just like in the PC hardware market, 3DFX made a mistake by sticking to old technology and lost out because of it, but was that the end of the PC with 3D?, no it wasn't, other companys just filled the gap, the same will happen with Linux until they pretty much have full market share and from then on, they'll be fighting each other for best OS base on Linux, kinda like 3D cards and CPU's do it today but for the same computer, as much as you don't want to admit it, Microsoft can't compeat with that, even with all the money and goverment help, they can't compeat with that, as I said before, we are kinda paying for Linux to a degree but in a indirect way, by buying companys hardware, but anyhow, it works out much cheaper then what Microsoft offer us.
Among the big names backing Linux for mobile phones are chipmaker Texas Instruments and device maker NEC, representatives from the two companies confirmed Friday.
Also, two phone manufacturers will ship Linux phones that work on the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) standard sometime this year, according to Scott Hedrick, a marketing manager at MontaVista Software, which makes the Linux chips destined for these phones. Hedrick would not identify the phone makers. Two additional Asian phone makers Hedrick did not identify are also making Linux phones, he said.
Cell phones are a new foray for the Linux operating system, which has found its initial stronghold inside servers, powerful networked computers. Companies including MontaVista Software, TimeSys, Red Hat, LynuxWorks and Motorola are all trying to adapt the software for the embedded computing market, which includes cell phones and other consumer-electronics products and devices.
Linux has some powerful competition. Leading the pack is Symbian, an operating system backed by most of the major phone makers and already in at least one phone on the market. Microsoft has won a few converts for its Windows Powered Smartphone and Pocket PC Phone Edition operating systems. PalmSource's operating system is also grabbing some customers as well.
But Linux is the only OS for the next generation of phones that is open source, a mixed blessing, according to Keith Waryas, a wireless analyst with IDC.
An open-source OS is generally less expensive than anything developed privately, likely a key point in helping Linux win wireless converts, Waryas said. However, some U.S. wireless carriers doubt that Linux can ever be secure enough to trust with their billion dollar networks, he said.
And Linux has got some pretty powerful competition, Waryas said. For instance, Symbian is backed by most of the cell phone industry, including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Siemens and SonyEricsson.
"You can't forget that the people backing Symbian are also the ones making most of the mobile phones," Waryas said.
Texas Instruments representative Dana Meyers said Friday that several manufacturers are working to develop wireless devices using a Linux version of OMAP, or Open Multimedia Applications Protocol. Meyers would not identify the customers developing phones. OMAP is used to build cell phones.
Seiji Mitsuoka, NEC general manager, said in a statement that NEC is using MontaVista's Linux chips to "help us deliver Linux-based mobile phones to global markets."
Mitsuoka did not release additional details on NEC's Linux phone plans.
A Microsoft representative had no comment. A PalmSource representative had no immediate comment when reached on Friday.