View source for Om 2008.8

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Return to Om 2008.8.

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Om 2008


Om 2008.8 is one of the many distributions that currently work on the Openmoko phones. You can compare a distribution with an Operating System on normal computers. It gives the phone all the software needed for operating. For more information about the different flavors, see distributions.

Summary

Om 2008.8 is the successor to Om 2007.2 and had ASU as a codename. It was released on August 08, 2008 (+ update "stable" releases starting from August 26, 2008). Om 2008.8 uses EFL for the launcher, custom UI applications and Qtopia on X11 for telephony. The distribution is the first step from GTK+ on x11 to using multiple toolkits in combination.

What's New ?

Compared to 2007.2 that has a longer development history, Om 2008.8 is definitely a .0 major release. So think KDE 4.0 vs. 3.5, not Linux 2.6.23 vs. 2.6.22. If you want the stability level required to use the FreeRunner as your main phone, it is suggested for now to keep 2007.2 in the phone's flash memory and test 2008.8 on a removable SD card.

The main user-visible changes:

  • The user interface has been fully revised with a new window manager illume. It is visually much richer, and can be customized further by using your own Edje files.
  • A graphical installer allows to add easily new applications, themes and functionality.
  • A new Locations application is provided, to save your favorite spots and share them with friends via sms.
  • Power management has been improved: The Aux button now locks the screen, the Power button suspends and the red LED behind the Aux button lights up when charging.
  • The keyboard is now the Qtopia one (whether this is an improvement has been hotly debated).

For developers, the main changes are:

  • Multiple toolkits: Om 2008.8 supports EFL, Qtopia and GTK+ applications.
  • A Community Repository has been set up, it is integrated in the (Installer).
  • Source Codes are publicly available, allowing for customization all the way down to low level systems.

For more details, see the Om 2008.8 Guide and the Om 2008.8 Feature Plan.


Om2008 home.png
Installer4.png
Om2008 installer1.png
Main.png
Edit1.png
Om locations4.png


Installation

To install the Om2008.8 stable distribution on the Neo FreeRunner, download the Root Filesystem and the Kernel image files from Download page and install according to Flashing the Neo FreeRunner. Note that flashing the smartphone will overwrite all your existing data and software.

Known Issues

This is only a subset, and some of the bits reported below may have been fixed by stable updates (see below too). See all tickets with 2008.8 in the bug tracker.

Suspend

Builds from the last days of August tend to suspend after 30s no matter what you set in settings. Switching the screensaver off with `xset s off' disables suspend completely.

GSM

WiFi

Audio quality

System Software

Networking

  • No Updates/Installation are possible or pings to domains because DNS is not working. This problem occurs because the /etc/resolv.conf is empty by default.

Add these lines in /etc/network/interfaces:

up echo nameserver 208.67.222.222 > /etc/resolv.conf
up echo nameserver 208.67.220.220 >> /etc/resolv.conf

This is to be inserted below gateway address and above the bluetooth networking. After this it will be set on every reboot.

For resolving DNS without restarting, run the following commands:

echo nameserver 208.67.222.222 > /etc/resolv.conf
echo nameserver 208.67.220.220 >> /etc/resolv.conf

This should solve most of your moko side networking issues. If you need any other help please refer to USB Networking

NOTE: resolvconf is installed so should probably be used

Problem: parts of resolvconf are missing: without the scripts under /etc/network/if-{up,down}.d, and /etc/resolvconf/run/enable-updates and /lib/resolvconf/list-records it does nothing, and even then, /etc/resolvconf/run should probably be a symlink to /var/run, or /etc/resolv.conf needs to be pointed at /etc/resolvconf/run/resolv.conf -- once all that's done, it seems to work as long as you add something like this to /etc/network/interfaces at the end of the usb0 stanza:

   dns-nameservers 192.168.0.200
   dns-search example.com

and add usb* above eth* in /etc/resolvconf/interface-order



NOTE: Solution: Steps to add missing resolvconf script:

touch /etc/resolvconf/run/enable-updates
cd /etc ; rm resolv.conf ; ln -s /etc/resolvconf/run/resolv.conf .
mkdir /lib/resolvconf/ ; cd /lib/resolvconf/
wget http://kopparv34.mine.nu/list-records
chmod +x list-records
Edit /etc/network/interfaces and remove the lines:
network 192.168.0.0
gateway 192.168.0.200
If we need to use the usb network more then just locally from the computer in the other end of the USB-cable, login with ssh and add a default route like this:
route add default gateway 192.168.0.200


  • Usb-networking will not work until rebooted after initial boot.

Usability

  • The Pin-Dialog by default just shows letters. You have to slide your finger up/down over the keyboard to make the numbers/uppercase/special characters appear.
  • The installer app doesn't release administrative rights which results in not being able to use opkg. Solution: run "killall packagekitd" (on the freerunner or when ssh'ed in).
  • The installer app doesn't release administrative rights which results in not being able to use opkg. Alternate Solution: On the FreeRunner, use the drop-down menu to close all open applications.
  • The keyboard may not be adapted for all uses. See Keyboard Debate for a full discussion and options.

Official updates for "stable" Om 2008.8

Posterior to the Om2008.8 release made on 2008/08/08, development of ASU/Om2008.8 is switching to a Debian-like model with three branches: stable, testing and unstable (see this message for more details).

Official updates for the "stable" branch are now available (as of 2008/08/26) in two forms (see see this message for the announcement) :

The changelog of the stable branch can be ogtained here : http://git.openmoko.org/?p=openmoko.git;a=log;h=org.openmoko.asu.stable

Dedication

From: Openmoko
To: openmoko-community mailing list

Om 2008.8 was designed to be empty, for the very purpose of showcasing your ideas.

Think of our products as galleries. We're building the environment.
Each one different from the next. You'll get all the free art supplies
you could imagine because we want you to add your own meaning.
You choose: consume, create, or both.

Either way you create your own meaning. It's about you.