Saturday, August 11, 2007

Poky Linux

Recently Opened Hand announced Poky Linux for embedded devices. Currently the system runs on various Sharp Zaurus devices and there is also experimental support for Nokia N800 and OpenMoko Neo1973 devices. I tried the Poky system on qemu and also installed it on my Nokia N800.

The system contains UI component called Sato, which is corresponding component to the Hildon widget set. The system is fully open, and contains currently basic applications such as web browser and video player, a PIM suite called pimlico and some games.

Here's a capture of Poky Linux running in qemu:



And the system running on Nokia N800:



Seems that network is not supported yet on N800 so I was not able to test the browser any better. But currently the Poky Linux seems a promising option.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Lost in Berlin

On last week I was visiting Berlin. I took my Nokia N800 and a GPS receiver with me. I have installed Maemo Mapper on the device and loaded Berlin maps beforehand on it. Navigating was working nice, but I still had to buy a paper map. There's something that a digital map can't replace.

Another reason for taking the N800 with me was the WLAN connection. I succesfully connected to the hotel's WLAN. Also it was handy on the airport where I had to spend several hours. However the WLAN spots were not free so it cost some money but I can manage a few euro's cost.

I also finally ordered the Neo1973 (OpenMoko) device. I'll be waiting for it, and I will surely report first impressions on this blog. But until that I'm testing the development tools and tell more about them later...