FSFS.in 2008 :: Day 3.5 :: Openmoko Hack Session

Day 3 :: Got a Openmoko Hack session underway in the media hall after the fsfs.in ended.

Watch out here the GPS pigtail doubles as the stylus !

foss.in 2008 :: Day 4

Day 4 @ foss.in 2008

IndLinux Project BOF Beacon Workout Sharing ideas after Apertium talk Sachin Joshi demo's his Hindi ASR system Flashing the Neo FreeRunner Connecting the FreeRunner with an USB cable and reseting it to boot from NOR dfu-util in action dfu-util writes the kernel and File system images to the device Just Messing Around ! Few more OLPC XO's sighted Lou Bébert brought it his ubuntu studio turntables hookup XwaX UI External USB sound card ( look at scheme diagram) Ubuntu Studio PC Aasim tries his hand at DJing Ramki nails another victim Don't wanna sing!

Buying Neo FreeRunner in India

The other day shakthi mentioned (scrapped) that he ordered a Neo FreeRunner I am tempted to get one for myself, checked the openmoko site and found that Jaipur based IDA systems distribute this product in India. The cost of Neo FreeRunner is in India is Rs.20,000 .

IDA Systems Pvt Ltd
11 Uniara Garden
Jaipur 302004
+91 141 3243321
http://www.idasystems.net/freerunner

NB:The IDA Systems Neo FreeRunner product page has picture of Neo 1973 not FreeRunner !!

RIP Greenphone, Welcome OpenMoko's Neo1973 (FIC GTA01)

I had long given up hope on open platform for mobile phones until Trolltech's Greenphone. It offered a glimmer of hope that hacker friendly devices powered by GNU/Linux would be a reality in otherwise closed source mobile platforms.

However the party didn't last long, within one year of hitting the retail market Trolltech announced its decision to the end of Greenphone productions and but keep supporting the now popular Qtopia Greenphone community with yet another another device from OpenMoko project.

The Neo1973 produced by FIC can also run Qtopia.
The Neo 1973 boasts the following hardware specifications

• 2.8" VGA TFT color display
• Touchscreen, usable with stylus or fingers
• 266MHz Samsung System on a Chip (SOC)
• USB 1.1, switchable between Client and Host (unpowered)
• Integrated AGPS
• 2.5G GSM – quad band, voice, CSD, GPRS
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Micro SD slot
• High Quality audio codec

I reckon we have now come a long way from scrogging flea markets for used hardware and creating custom boards. Now you can buy a "Neo Hacker's Dream Box" off the shelf!! that is, if you have enough money to buy these devices.