Sony has released MediaTek's soc MTK 6859's OSS buildable package. Even though it only contains the kernel source, and does not include the framework, it's better than nothing. I know nothing about this, so I will not make any additional comment. I hope some knowledgable saints would wake up from their slumber and educate us about what these are, and if that would be any beneficial for us. (mentioning no names, especially exophase, notaz, bsp, cough, cough)
http://developer.sonymobile.com/downloads/xperia-open-source-archives/open-source-archive-for-build-16-0-a-0-36/
PS: my prediction was right, MediaTek has made up its mind to get its share of pie in the somewhat highend mobile market, and it's willing to become more open. Anyone want to give me a cookie? :rolleyes:
Edit, it seems that many have yet to realize how important this bit of information is.
MTK is basically one of the best android soc providers out there, and ED has shown great interest to that.
The only drawn back with MTK is that, they never provide their sourcecode.
It may come into fruitation sooner than most people would anticipate. Imagine a MTK 6859T (4 core 1.5ghz soc) based console (with nice buttons similar to K101's), with great android support and come with a keyboard embedded carrying case and it can take sim cards. It's basically Much i5 on steroid. With better camera, better screen, basically better everything. (not as good android UI maybe)
That would be pretty awesome. What if that console would have linux support from us, and ED would be the one selling those? It costs much less but could do more than pandora, and it can be made for as many units a bunch as you like. Sure, it doesn't have as good audio quality, and someof pandora's apps would not be competible with it. But, it could attract a wider range of consumer, and potentially make our community bigger.
ED has this thing in mind for quite some time, but he was frustrated by the lack of linux support. (there are alternatives with linux support, but they would cost a lot more and be much less stable) I wonder will we accept this as one of the next pandora in line, or will we call it a bastardized abomination that should be killed with extreme fire fueled by the blood of the forever condemned?
If ED would be selling those and use some of that profit to port linux onto that, how much are we willing to pay? (units are cheap, but development is extremely expensive, and the company behind it only has hardware engineers so they can't be relied on) Obviously, the more profitable it is, the better it will be, and more money would be put towards funding those Pre-orders.
A few problems I can foresee are:
1. The Chinese are short on funds, they need much more capital to put a real keyboard onto their products rather than a leather case with keyboard attached on.
2. We won't have hardware uniqueness anymore, because MTK6859 is quite a consumer product, by that time everyone and their dog would have it.
3. Porting our system onto mtk would be quite tricky, even though some peole has already did a quick hack to get access into that charging linux the soc has. That linux is pretty bareboned, and nobody knows how much tweaking and even rewrite would be necessary.
4. We can not rely on those lads/girls to do any of the software or os related works. Even paying them will not be any good; they don't have the most basic low level programmers and technicians. (what do you expect?) So, ED would have to hire his own people, this may add into the development cost by quite a notch.
5. ED should not give them full trust: ie give them everything they need to flash linux on their systems and thus get bite in the behind when they decide to betray him. However, flashing our own systems is quite time consuming, and it's rather wasteful.
http://developer.sonymobile.com/downloads/xperia-open-source-archives/open-source-archive-for-build-16-0-a-0-36/
PS: my prediction was right, MediaTek has made up its mind to get its share of pie in the somewhat highend mobile market, and it's willing to become more open. Anyone want to give me a cookie? :rolleyes:
Edit, it seems that many have yet to realize how important this bit of information is.
MTK is basically one of the best android soc providers out there, and ED has shown great interest to that.
The only drawn back with MTK is that, they never provide their sourcecode.
It may come into fruitation sooner than most people would anticipate. Imagine a MTK 6859T (4 core 1.5ghz soc) based console (with nice buttons similar to K101's), with great android support and come with a keyboard embedded carrying case and it can take sim cards. It's basically Much i5 on steroid. With better camera, better screen, basically better everything. (not as good android UI maybe)
That would be pretty awesome. What if that console would have linux support from us, and ED would be the one selling those? It costs much less but could do more than pandora, and it can be made for as many units a bunch as you like. Sure, it doesn't have as good audio quality, and someof pandora's apps would not be competible with it. But, it could attract a wider range of consumer, and potentially make our community bigger.
ED has this thing in mind for quite some time, but he was frustrated by the lack of linux support. (there are alternatives with linux support, but they would cost a lot more and be much less stable) I wonder will we accept this as one of the next pandora in line, or will we call it a bastardized abomination that should be killed with extreme fire fueled by the blood of the forever condemned?
If ED would be selling those and use some of that profit to port linux onto that, how much are we willing to pay? (units are cheap, but development is extremely expensive, and the company behind it only has hardware engineers so they can't be relied on) Obviously, the more profitable it is, the better it will be, and more money would be put towards funding those Pre-orders.
A few problems I can foresee are:
1. The Chinese are short on funds, they need much more capital to put a real keyboard onto their products rather than a leather case with keyboard attached on.
2. We won't have hardware uniqueness anymore, because MTK6859 is quite a consumer product, by that time everyone and their dog would have it.
3. Porting our system onto mtk would be quite tricky, even though some peole has already did a quick hack to get access into that charging linux the soc has. That linux is pretty bareboned, and nobody knows how much tweaking and even rewrite would be necessary.
4. We can not rely on those lads/girls to do any of the software or os related works. Even paying them will not be any good; they don't have the most basic low level programmers and technicians. (what do you expect?) So, ED would have to hire his own people, this may add into the development cost by quite a notch.
5. ED should not give them full trust: ie give them everything they need to flash linux on their systems and thus get bite in the behind when they decide to betray him. However, flashing our own systems is quite time consuming, and it's rather wasteful.
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