[pkg-fso-maint] What software do you (want to) use on your Freerunner?

[Sebastian Reichel]

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 03:27:54PM +0200, Thibaut Girka wrote:
> Hi,
> As you might know, I will soon be working on debian-installer support for the Freerunner (and probably other "similar" devices) as a GSoC student[1].
> 
> Before starting the actual work, I would like to have your opinion on a few points:
> 
> 1°) µSD, yes, but NAND?
> In any case, µSD will be supported, but do you think it is worthy to provide support for Debian on the NAND?
> It shouldn't be that hard, but I don't think there is any benefit in it, since there is only 256MB available.

I suggest experimenting with ubifs for NAND.

> 2°) What bootloader should be supported? Qi? U-Boot? Both?
> The boot process slightly differs between Qi and U-Boot.
> The installation process will use the ROM U-Boot (since it's available on any FR, and provide useful things like DFU),
> but once Debian is installed, it should be easier to use Qi.
> What about U-Boot support? Is it really needed? Should we assume Qi is installed on the NAND?
> Or maybe install it ourselves (but this way sounds far too intrusive)?

I'm a qi user, but I think it should be no problem to support both
in the way the install.sh script does (by setting symlinks)

> 3°) Which Desktop Environment should be the default?
> Gnome is the default DE for a desktop installation of Debian, but it, of course, isn't suitable for the FR.
> I guess the main challengers are:
>   * XFCE: quite similar to Gnome, stable, usable, it has been in Debian for a long time and there is already a task for it
>   * Illume: faster and finger-friendly, but much more experimental, and available in unstable only
> 4°) The phone suite
> Well, after all, the FreeRunner is a phone.
> A quick testing of Zhone, already available in Debian, shows that it seems reliable and relatively fast.
> However, it is really simple, and does not provide many features.
> Then, do you use your FR as a phone? If yes, what software do you use?

I think it would be cool to have a SHR rule, which installs a system
similar to the SHR distribution. Btw: SHR guys are currently switching
to fsogsmd, so less python and more speed :)

I think a selection like this would be cool:

Phone Middlelayer:
[ ] FSO
[ ] oFono
[ ] omhacks

Phone UI: (this should just show, what's working with the selected middlelayer)
[ ] SHR
[ ] Zhone
[ ] ?

Desktop:
[ ] Illume
[ ] XFCE

I guess FSO and oFono as well as the window managers should be XOR'd
(so just one possible).

-- Sebastian
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