myubuntu and Handhelds.org

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Florian Boor <florian.boor at kernelconcepts.de> has expressed interest,
but it doesn't seem to have made the Ubuntu-devel list; I think it bounced.

Just to make sure, I've copied and pasted the original message below.

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From:  Florian Boor <florian.boor at kernelconcepts.de>
Subject:  Re: [Familiar-dev] myubuntu and Handhelds.org

Hello,

looks like i should read the familiar-dev mailinglist more frequently  :-)

John Richard Moser wrote:

>> Ubuntu Linux has a side project for micronizing Ubuntu, called myubuntu
>> (since I don't have a myu key) or µbuntu (since I can copy and paste).


I took a look at this idea quite some time ago, that's pretty interesting.


>> Handhelds.org already supplies a project to supply a debian-based
>> iPaq/PDA distribution, Familiar Linux.  I believe it would be
>> advantageous to both entities to begin discussing potential
>> collaboration of efforts immediately.


Well... its not really debian based, but Familiar is intended to be binary
compatible with debian. The ipkg package format is more or less
compatible with
dpkg and binary packages built for debian are expected to run in Familiar.


>> Handhelds.org already has a 2.4 iPaq kernel; a fully maintainable base
>> distribution that can be upgraded or have new packages installed;
>> integrated GPE with a miniature X and GTK+2; integrated Opie; and a
>> fully functional boot loader.  The GPE distribution of Familiar fits
>> within 14 megabytes of install base.  This is a great head start for
>> Ubuntu and myubuntu project.


This would be interesting indeed and i think we can share quite some
experience.
What we currently do is to build the complete distribution from source
using the
OpenEmbedded environment. Apart from some minor issues this works very
well. At
the moment there is some discussion going on (oe mailinglist) on how to
solve
remining QA issues we run into frequently. These are mostly things like
vanishing source distributions and so on...

One of the major advantages of OpenEmbedded is that it is very easy to add
support for a new device - that means the feature to build a complete
filesystem
image which runs out of the box on the designated target device.
I can't imagine it would be hard to make OE build debian packages as
well which
might be an interesting feature for compatibility with Ubuntu, Debian
and Maemo.


>> Sharing effort with the Ubuntu community would lighten the load on
>> handhelds.org developers, increasing the quality and rate of release of
>> the software.  AFAIK, handhelds.org still does not have a functional
>> document processor (think WinCE Pocket Word or Pocket Excel), and
>> gpe-nmf has always been quirky as a media player (and no longer works
>> besides).  They have yet to move to 2.6 kernels as well.  Filling these
>> gaps would be much easier with Handhelds.org AND Ubuntu developers than
>> with only one or the other.


That's all very true... speaking of GPE we really lack office tools at the
moment. On some devices with larger screens (iPaq hx4700, Netbook Pro, Nokia
770...) we have Abiword and Gnumeric running with quite some success,
but for
the common PDA displays (and in future smartphone displays i hope..) which
usually come with a resolution of 240x320 pixes we are defintely lacking
these
kind of applications.
There is some work going on to replace gpe-nmf by a new audio player
based on an
external library (libeina). For video playback there are quite some possible
solutions like VLC which offers a PDA frontend.


>> As a management issue, myubuntu is currently structured to gradually
>> miniatureize Ubuntu, as is outlined in the wiki; the larger mini-ubuntu
>> effort comes first for PVR equipment, while the smaller myubuntu effort
>> is filed down from there.  This is potentially backwards; it is likely
>> more logical to start by structuring a Familiar-like PDA distribution
>> and growing from there, as removing bloat is more difficult than adding
>> features.


Yes right - i'd really look forward to do some work together, i think
that's a
really good idea!

Greetings

Florian

- -- The dream of yesterday Florian Boor is the hope of today Tel:
0271-771091-14 and the reality of tomorrow. Fax: 0271-771091-19 [Robert
Hutchings Goddard, 1904] florian.boor at kernelconcepts.de 6C 44 30 4C 43
20 6B 61 16 07 0F AA E6 97 70 A8

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