May 27, 2005
Yes, this has
been
covered
heavily. Not nearly enough noise has been made about how easy
hacking this device is. Nokia has opened up almost everything even placing the graphics under a Creative Commons
license. Nokia has also constructed a firm foundation to develop on. Underneath everything is a
Debian based system with a 2.6.11 kernel. Debian is one of the largest binary
distributions mainly because of its apt package management system. Apt will make it really easy to get new software and
keep the installed software updated. A modern kernel means the device will be able to keep up with developing
technologies like bluetooth and usb. The next layer is an Xserver. This is not a pda and Nokia has decided not to use
technologies like Qtopia or Opie for the application layer. This will make porting graphical apps much easier and
with the addition of Gtk they will also have a consistent look. If you’re worried about the ARM processor support, just
check out all of the programs that people ported for the Zaurus.
The best news for you is that Nokia has set up a comprehensive development site. It describes the underlying
software layers and how to set up the development environment to emulate the device. It even has a walkthrough for how
to port applications to the device. As an example they show how to port
Gaim, which is funny because most places have reported that IM support won’t
be released until 2006. If Nokia does a good job building in support for Microsoft htpcs, iTunes control, and Tivo
control I think this device will be certain to take off. I’d like to see someone make an electronic programming guide
that you could use to change the channels on the tv and schedule recordings instead of the intrusive on-screen-displays
used by most cable boxes. If anything it will be nice to hang out on the couch reading news and ebooks without having
to use my genital scorching Dell.
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