The first (unofficial) release of hackable:1 featuring the DeforaOS Smartphone environment, and therefore also known as dse1, is now out for the community to test. It was announced on my blog first [1], after posting links [2], scribbling a few words about it [3] and taking screenshots [4] beforehand. Feel free to use the development mailing-list [5] if anything comes to mind.

Happy testing!

[1] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/blog/96/First-%28unofficial%29-release-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-environment
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/wiki/display/2131/Download
[3] http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/wiki/AvailableVersions/dse1
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/download/3343/Phone
[5] http://lists.defora.org/

The past three weeks have been quite productive, and gave birth to a number of projects.

[1] _GServer and GToolkit_
Both were already found in the tree for a long while, but without anything interesting to demonstrate. This is no longer the case, thanks to the recent introduction of support for floating-point types within the AppInterface protocol.

Indeed, this meant that an API such as OpenGL could be easily exported through this protocol. This is now implemented as part of the GServer project. Among the possibilities associated with such a projects, these are the most obvious:

• proxying calls to OpenGL displays, therefore...
• ...distributing the output over the network
• ...possibly over multiple screens at once
• ...optionally changing the point of view in the process
• implementing a display manager, possibly replacing X
• displaying OpenGL-based models and animations from simple shell scripts

GToolkit itself is not useful at the moment.


[2] _VPN_
The same principle is tentatively being applied to generic networking, within the VPN project. By simply proxying low-level calls to the networking API, it is believed that a complete VPN service can be provided with just a few lines of code on top of the AppInterface protocol.

Some further experimentation may be easily performed with this project, such as redirecting TCP traffic transparently over SCTP.

[3] _XMLEditor_
Once the libParser and its XML engine introduced, it was trivial to fork Editor and propose a hierarchical XML document editor. At this stage the application can only be used as a viewer, but the possibility to edit complex XML-based documents is the aim of the project (eg DocBook...).


[4] _Todo 0.1.0_

This release features a few fixes and improvements, allowing the view to be filtered by completion, and proposing a task edition window.

[5] _Phone 0.2.1_

Deciding numbering of this version proved tricky, as it fixes a very important blocker on the Openmoko Freerunner: early registration is now working reliably. This was mostly caused by the introduction of the deep-sleep fix, after which the modem loses the current PIN code and registration.

[6] _Keyboard 0.1.0_

This version is an almost complete code rewrite. It is already much more usable on embedded devices, with the Openmoko Freerunner being the current target again.

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3397/GServer and http://www.defora.org/os/project/3398/GToolkit
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3396/VPN
[3] http://www.defora.org/os/project/3399/XMLEditor
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3395/Todo-0.1.0.tar.gz
[5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3400/Phone-0.2.1.tar.gz
[6] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3401/Keyboard-0.1.0.tar.gz

A new snapshot of the DeforaOS smartphone environment [1], as featured in the Debian-based hackable:1 distribution [2], is now available for tests. Many fixes and improvements made it into this snapshot since the last one [3], some of which were already listed yesterday [4].

All in all, this is getting closer to something useful for tests. Unfortunately, an annoying registration bug remains, but it is the last blocker before focusing again on user experience:

• adding icons to the home screen;
• completing the settings menus;
• handling hardware buttons;
• improving the finger keyboard;
• letting the telephony software be more convenient;
• supporting power management;
• updating the artwork...

The list is shortening though: feel free to check it by yourself with the direct link [5]! It is, of course, also listed in the "Download" wiki page [6].

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3363/Introducing-the-DeforaOS-smartphone
[2] http://trac.hackable1.org/
[3] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3380/Snapshot-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-available-for-tests
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3390/New-software-releases-for-the-DeforaOS-smartphone-project
[5] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.08a-rootfs.jffs2
[6] http://www.defora.org/os/wiki/display/2131/Download

A number of projects were released with newer versions yesterday. Together, they should already significantly improve the usability and candiness of the DeforaOS smartphone [1]:

• preferences support for the telephony application
• new virtual keyboard based on Gtk+ (themed)
• updated panel applets for telephony, keyboard...
• new panel applet to track wpa_supplicant's status
• bugfixes as deserved...

The full list of software revisions follows:

• libSystem 0.1.4 [2]
• Keyboard 0.0.2 [3]
• Panel 0.1.1 [4]
• Phone 0.2.0 [5]

They are all packaged within hackable:1 [6] already; you may expect new snapshots of the environment soon.


[1] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3363/Introducing-the-DeforaOS-smartphone
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3384/libSystem-0.1.4.tar.gz
[3] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3387/Keyboard-0.0.2.tar.gz
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3388/Panel-0.1.1.tar.gz
[5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3389/Phone-0.2.0.tar.gz
[6] http://trac.hackable1.org/

The downloads page [1] is now linking to a development snapshot [2] of the DeforaOS smartphone software stack, running in the hackable:1 distribution [3]. You are all welcome to try it out, and report tons of bugs in either DeforaOS or hackable:1 tracking systems.

Of course, the kernel can be obtained directly from hackable:1 [4], and an optional splash screen replacement for u-boot can be flashed too [5].

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/wiki/2131/Download
[2] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-rootfs.jffs2
[3] http://trac.hackable1.org/
[4] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-uImage.bin
[5] http://www.defora.org/download/snapshots/hackable1/Hackable1-Openmoko-Freerunner-user-2010.07a-splash.gz

Having just worked again on the Phone project [1], it was considered to be time for a new release [2]:

• support for adding, editing and deleting contacts
• re-implemention of the panel applet as a dedicated, optional plug-in
• first release with the monitor mode plug-in for the Openmoko Freerunner
• some fixes this and there (AT error handling...)

As usual, packages for pkgsrc [3] and hackable:1 [4] are already available.


[1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3343/Phone
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3373/Phone-0.1.0.tar.gz
[3] http://pkgsrc-wip.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pkgsrc-wip/wip/deforaos-phone/
[4] http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/browser/trunk/packages/phone/phone.diff

After minor additions, the as project [1] also supports disassembly of object files [2]. While this alone could justify a major version bump, for some reason I have found the motivation to add a new, unexpected architecture to the project: Java [3][4].

Yet, I am well aware of the current limitations of the project: not only is it currently unable to provide useful ELF objects, but it also still lacks some syntax many instructions to properly support x86 in the first place.

Therefore, even though it can be an interesting project to download already, it is only tagged as 0.1.1 [5]. Ironically, the Java disassembler is probably its most useful feature at the moment.

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/15/as
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/15?file=/src/disas.c,v&revision=1.16
[3] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/15?file=/src/arch/java.c,v
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/15?file=/src/format/java.c,v
[5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3370/as-0.1.1.tar.gz

While sticking to its original look & feel, the website for the DeforaOS project is now rendered through a newer stylesheet [1]. This stylesheet, and the website as a whole can still be improved in many ways though, particularly when it comes to managing user accounts, or presenting screenshots for instance [2].

Still, it should improve readability a lot already, especially on tighter screens (like smartphones). But this is only a first step, thanks to thorough reviews from a good friend [3]. Work is continuously ongoing to improve the quality of the website.

And of course, feel free to propose your own themes [4]!

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/browse/12?file=/themes/DeforaOS.css,v
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/category/293/screenshot
[3] http://curlybracket.net/
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/news/reply/3371#edit

The Todo project [1], for the management of task lists, was recently described as being "young" [2]. This is less true now, as it was tagged as version 0.0.0 just minutes ago, and therefore released and available for download [3].

Even though not as complete as the average task list management application, it definitely can be useful already:

• tasks are stored and restored when closing and opening the application;
• their status is kept of course (eg whether they were completed)
• they can be sorted by status, title or priority.

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3299/Todo
[2] http://www.defora.org/os/news/3362/DeforaOS-as-an-embedded-desktop-environment
[3] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3366/Todo-0.0.0.tar.gz

There is an important piece of software that is (deliberately) missing from the precedent news item. About a month ago, it entered the list of projects [1] composing the DeforaOS project together, only being announced [2] on the developers' mailing-list [3]. It is, however, essential to bring the embedded desktop environment to a very specific range of devices: smartphones.

Indeed, it is called Phone [4], and has been under constant work for a month before reaching version 0.0.9 [5]. While its initial feature set is still limited to the essential parts (calling, being called and texting), the project already features a plug-in system, including:

• profile management
• hardware-specific support (eg for the Openmoko Freerunner [6])
• additional security features, with SMS encryption being already implemented and functional

Needless to say, the intention is to bring it to be fully-functional and usable. Early screenshots are available already [7], and more will be proposed on this website as soon as likely.

[1] http://www.defora.org/os/project/list
[2] http://lists.defora.org/devel/2010/04/msg00030.html
[3] http://lists.defora.org/
[4] http://www.defora.org/os/project/display/3343/Phone
[5] http://www.defora.org/os/download/download/3360/Phone-0.0.9.tar.gz
[6] http://www.openmoko.org/
[7] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/temp/DeforaOS/