The Open Pandora project has been an amazing project to follow. We first reported on the product, an OMAP-based Linux mini-laptop primarily focused on gaming emulation (but kitted out with some interesting features for anyone interesting in mobile computing) in Dec 2007 and in the last 4 years the product has gone through some amazing ups and downs with spec changes, production issues and community financing but it looks like they’ve made a break-through and that Open Pandoras will be shipping soon.

The story would make a great book. We saw an update in Dec 2008 showing a prototype build and an Angstrom OS build and after a year of refinements it finally went into limited production in May 2010. 4000 units should have been produced before Feb 2011 but it didn’t happen.  “[The production company] communication has been terrible, the missed all the deadlines they set themselves and they have a failure rate of at least 25%.”

On 12 July 2011 ‘EvilDragon’ the lead developer for the project wrote a post entitled ‘A fresh new start’ explaining how production was being stopped as a result of problems with the Texas-based production company. The search started for a new production company and by 27th of the same month they had found a candidate. Soon after, 70 investors had stepped forward and pledged nearly half a million Euros. Contracts were prepared and pre-orders started again.

The next months updates are worth reading in full over at the Openpandora news forum. There’s snow, hacking, sad news about a community member, delivery problems, contracts and more. It’s an amazing story that ends up with this fantastic post and video entitled “100% success.”

What a joy to watch.

The OpenPandora story isn’t over yet though. Mass production is due to start next month and after 4 years of waiting, the specifications don’t look as good as they used to. There’s software to write too. What you’ve got here though is an open-source, very efficient  handheld PC with a strong community behind it. It’s also a bit of history.

In support of the Open Pandora project I’ve put in an order and  I’ll do my best to give it airtime on UMPCPortal when it arrives. You can place a pre-order here. I’m sure there are many readers here who already have their orders in.

Check out the Pandora Rebirth competition too. Apps for prizes and follow OpenPandora on Twitter here. We have a specification page here.

When I read Lukes request for mobile developer help I was impressed. This is Chippys Customer Challenge 2011 #3

I recently went to a local development meetup, and found myself content to use my phone during a ‘Hack Night’ to remotely access my desktop at home to type, and then browse using the phone’s browser. My goal would be to try to find a device that is ultra portable, but that would be a little more easy to do some of my regular development tasks on. It seems like there are a lot of options out there that might fit the bill, but I don’t know if people are really doing much development on more mobile devices rather than just laptops or netbooks.

It takes some patience, good eyes and even a little courage to mobile development work over a remote desktop solution on such a small screen. Luke is now looking for a solution that he can also use as a portable web server. I’m assuming that he also wants to do local development work too. It makes sense as relying on multiple network connections and ISPs to get to your work machine is a little wobbly! CPU and screen requirements can be quite high for software development but there might be a balance that can be done between local input and remote processing.

Luke mentioned Ubuntu which immediately cuts out a whole section of UMPCs from the toplist. Z-series Atom devices have never been well supported by Linux distributions although I know there are some workarounds with Ubuntu. Maybe it’s even baked-in by now. Can anyone comment on that?

Here’s what I’m thinking would suit Luke:

5-7” screen on X86 architecture at under 800gm. At least two USB ports and a VGA port. Local storage requirements relatively low. Touchscreen not really required. Tablet format OK with an external USB or BT keyboard.

The 5-7” category X86 category is non-existent right now and for value-for money, could you really beat something like the 900gm Asus Eee PC X101 with Meego for 170 Euro? It makes decisions really really hard.  Mobility is the driver here though so where do we go with this? The good old, possibly beast UMPC ever, Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium. If you can find it, go for it Luke!

Other options you might consider are some of the newer, lightweight tablets. The AMD-based MSI Windpad 110 or Iconia Tab W500 for example. 10”, yes, but well under 1KG.

Also keep an eye on new Oaktrail models running Meego. That might happen in the fourth quarter and would indicate a stable status for Linux on the Z-series CPUs. It’s a Fedora-based solution but I’m sure the GPU support will find it’s way over to other distro’s soon.

Luke is not the only one looking at ultra-mobile Linux. I know a few other people that are struggling with this too. If you wait until the end of September we should have some more information on the dual-core Cedar-Trail devices. Tablets based on these should be lighter and smaller than the Pine-Trail equivalents like the Gigabyte S1080, a N570-based device at 900gm for about 550 Euro here. Having said that, Oaktrail devices like the Viewpad 10 Pro, Lenovo Ideapad P1 and Fujitsu Q550 (which I see in Germany for just over 600 Euro now) are worth looking at if weight and battery life is more important. With both of these solutions though you’re looking at Power-VR graphics. I worry about Linux support for that.

There’s one other device you might consider. The Toshiba Libretto W100. Is the dual-screen device based on a dual-core U5400 CPU. It’s got standard Intel graphics and should work well as a web server and even for compiling due to its relatively powerful CPU. It can be noisy, warm and, lets be honest, very short on battery life (2hrs) but it’s actually the only ‘current’, small-form-factor UMPC on the market that isn’t running a Z-series CPU. Price: Around 700 Euros with UMTS (I’m looking at a European price here.) I wouldn’t mind one of these myself for a bit of mobile 480p video editing and hotel work.

As for older devices, the previously mentioned Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium is the one to keep an eye out for.  It’s still holding it’s own thanks to some fantastic engineering from Samsung. There are a few VIA-C7-based devices out there too. They’re cheap and not too powerful (think low-end single-core Atom) and can be a little on the warm side but at least Linux support would be easy.

My choice? If I just wanted a lightweight Linux device for light duties, I’d probably be looking at the Asus Eee PC X101. 920gm, basic specs, small SSD storage and an unbeatable price of 169 Euro here in Europe.

Anyone out there already doing mobile development work on Linux with a UMPC? Let’s hear your opinion.

It there is one thing we know about JKK of JKKmobile, it’s his uncanny ability to cover huge amounts of distance at technology shows and exhibitions to produce first-look videos, by the bucket load so when he posts the following about Amtek prepping not 1 or 2 tablets but an incredible 5, we know we are in for a interesting Computex;

Firstly there is the iTablet Speed-Lite (AE03), packing a Nvidia Tegra 2 1Ghz, 1GB RAM, 2MP camera, 10.1” multi touch display and WiFi. Then there is the iTablet Ex-Lite II (AE04), wielding a Freescale 800MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 2MP camera, 10.1” multi touch display and WiFi also. Both of these come with a choice of either WindowsCE 6.0R3/7.0, Android 2.0 or Linux and have options for bluetooth, 3G connectivity and GPS.

To add to these is the iTablet Lite (TZ10), sporting an Intel® Atom Menlow-XL Z530 1.6GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM, 10.1” multi touch display, 2MP camera, WiFi, 4200mAh battery, Windows 7 and a choice of either a 1.8” IDE HDD or a 64GB SSD.

Then the icing on the tablet cake in the form of T23A CULV tablet PC and the T23x CULV Series. All of which have Core 2 Duo 743 1.30GHz Intel Montevina Platform CPU’s, 2GB of RAM, 1.3MP cameras, 2.5” SATA HDD’s from 160GB to 320GB and coming with a choice of either a 12.1” XGA digitizer, touch or digitizer and touch screens.

If that doesn’t get your tablet juices going then head over to JKKmobile for the full specifications and pictures.

Brad at Liliputing has put up a first-look video of Meego 1.0 for netbooks. Clearly the UI is based on Meego as is still using clutter instead of Qt and there don’t seem to be many major changes apart from Chrome being used as the browser. Brad does report that it’s fast though

As I write, i’m installing to an MSI Wind and will do some testing. I’ll also test the image out on a Menlow device. I doubt it will work but let’s see!

First look at MeeGo v1.0 netbook operating system.

Two items of news related to Linux support on the Menlow platorm  have caught my attention in the last 24 hours. Both news items are related to the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Menlow is the Intel platform that many MIDs, UMPCs and even netbooks and laptops have been built around in the last 12 months. It’s focused towards very low power consumption, video playback acceleration and 3D support in the smallest possible size.

Up until now, the only official operating systems that have supported the platform have been Moblin 1 (via Intel. Largely a static project now) and Windows XP, Vista and 7. Trying to use any of the latest popular Linux distributions on any of these devices results in problems.

Ubuntu, the Linux distribution run by Canonical, has always had a close relationship with UMPCs and MIDs. They did some work on Moblin 1 with the Ubuntu-MID distribution but that project is now static. Then there was Ubuntu-Mobile which turned into Ubuntu UMPC. Again, this project stopped. The Ubuntu Netbook Remix project also started and this is the one that has been focused on over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any support for the graphics/video part on Menlow known as ‘Poulsbo’. The same is true of Moblin 2. Intel dropped support for the MID platform.

The good news is that there are people out there working to fix the problem. The latest information is that one  ‘lucazade’ has rolled up everything that is needed into a few scripts and has even set up a repository that can be used to pick up the correct drivers. Full information at the bottom of this post.

The second bit of good news is that Jolicloud, the Ubuntu-based distribution targeted at netbooks, is also checking out support for GMA500. This message went out yesterday:

team is testing internally the poulsbo (gma 500) support in the next jolicloud release, we will look soon for testers.

Naturally we’ve already been in contact with the Jolicloud team about this and plan to bring you some more information shortly.

Despite all this third-party activity and end-user requirement (about 30 Menlow-based devices exist in the market right now) Intel has never really talked about Menlow support. We’ve seen Moblin 2.1 for handhelds running on Menlow and seen the Linux Foundation demonstrating it but I can’t get any statement out of them on the subject.

Based on what we’ve seen and heard I would put money on being able to run the open source beta release of Moblin 2.1 for handhelds on Menlow (purely because there’s no other platform available for developers to test on) and that is supposed to be coming within the next month. I’m also convinced that Moorestown will use the GMA500 so there’s another reason to have drivers available.

Finally, check out some of the emails in the Moblin Developer mailing list. This is an interesting one for example. (from 15th Nov.)

If you know of other Linux distributions that either work with or are planning GMA500 support (I hear rumors that Mandriva supports GMA500?) let everyone know in the comments. Likewise, if you’re running Linux on a Menlow platform, let us know what you think.

Update: 18th Nov 2009. Jolicloud have announced out-of-the-box support for the GMA500.

Considering the SmartDevices Q7 isn’t a true UMPC and it’s going to be a relatively slow browsing device, it’s getting a lot of coverage on UMPCPortal this week.

Read the full story

Looks like we have an interesting mystery device here. The SmartQ 5 MID has been captured in the wild. The background image of the device immediately reminded me of the background of the Nokia N810 [Portal page]. At first I thought it might be running Maemo, but seeing as this device is not from Nokia, I’d say that is highly unlikely. It appears to be running a simple Linux distro. The hardware itself seems very simple, with a 4.3” 800×480 screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, and just four hardware buttons on the top of the device. The source puts the price of the unit at $132 which prompts Chippy to assume that it is Arm 11 based. So far there aren’t many more details other than some images of it running FBreader, a Linux based e-Book reader. Considering the fact that it is Linux based, I’m sure it will be able to plenty of common Linux tasks, but it will all come down to a matter of how quickly, and how well the interface is adapted for touch. After seeing that the stylus is featured in many of the photos, I don’t have my hopes up for a finger usable interface, and the lack of keyboard probably means this device will turn out to be more of a toy than a productive pocket computer. Does that sound a bit pessimistic?

Swing by the source for more images. via [Engadget]

Somehow, somewhere, there seems to be a problem getting quality Linux drivers out for Poulsbo’s GPU. First we hear about the delays with Moblin V2 on MIDs  and now we get this story from an experienced Linux contributor. Adam’s article explains problems with the source code and how difficult it is to get working in a new distribution. Clearly the work on the Poulsbo drivers for Linux is delayed.

Building your own distro is exactly what Moblin is all about. 12 linux distributors have signed up to use Moblin  but if they can’t work with the Poulsbo chipset there’s little hope for any Linux distro on MIDs and Z-series netbooks in the near future. Let’s hope that Intel are working hard behind the scenes and that clean, usable GMA500 drivers will be available soon

AdamW on Linux and more » Intel GMA 500 (Poulsbo) graphics on Linux: a precise and comprehensive summary as to why you’re screwed.

ARM, Sony, ASUSTek, Garmin. These and most of the other 10 companies that have just joined the OHA are big names. The OHA is becoming a must-join, 47-member organisation!

Its difficult to work out what it all means though. Many of these members will be offering code and resource but how many of them are committed to building devices based on OHA code, Android? ARM and Intel for example, will be there because they want their platforms to be used by as many people as possible. Offering code and contact points for developers makes total sense. Vodafone may just be their so they can connect with the OEMs and have a chance to view the ecosystem and possible device in order to make strategic decisions. The entry-ticket for OHA doesn’t appear to be too expensive and the marketing advantages seem to be good so I hope they’re not just in it for the press releases!

[more below]

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You might not have seen the announcement that Ubuntu-mobile had a last minute name change to Ubuntu-UMPC based on the fact it was targeting mobile computers rather than the lower-spec Intel-based MIDs. Oliver Grawert, one of the lead guys on the Ubuntu-UMPC project, explains on his blog. It was just in time for the release of version 8.10 (AKA Intrepid Ibex) which was went live today.

Before I give you the links to the 8.10 versions (that I’ll be trying out ASAP) though, let me quickly give you an overview of the two distributions…

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Thanks to everyone that replied to my cry for help on mobile operating systems. I’m trying to take a developers view on the mobile platform market and work out why a developer might choose a particular OS or platform. Coming from an X86 world myself, I find it difficult to understand how Moblin, one of the first X86-only mobile operating systems, might fit into the big, carrier-influenced, ARM-focused, 100million-device-per-year world of converged mobile devices.

Since my article, Nokia announced that Symbian and related projects will be pooled and gradually turned into open-source operation. This article at GigaOm has some good thoughts. Given that they have 65% of the global market it’s obviously a significant move and I’ll be watching closely to see what happens. In the meantime, here’s a list I created of the choices that are in the market. The top 4 basically take the whole of the 100million+ per year smartphone market with LiMo carrying most of the rest. The most shocking thing is the list of Linux options. What on earth are they thinking? Open Source Linux appears to translate to a lack of focus and if I was a commercial development house right now i’d be looking to the top 4. LiMo appears to have some traction with good carrier support and penetration. Android on OHA has a lot of backing and media attention and Moblin has a number of distribution deals although at the moment, these are non-voice netbook distribution deals. It remains to be seen if the X86-focused Intel can stimulate smaller-screen distribution and make the conversion to being a voice platform when their smartphone-focused Morestown cpu comes into play in 2010.

So here’s the list of platforms, systems and methods i’ve put together. i’f i’ve missed one, please let me know!

Top 4 – 95% penetration of mobile device (*1) market.

• Symbian (65%)
• Windows Mobile (13%)
• Blackberry (10%)
• iPhone/ OS-x (7%)

Linux flavours

• LiMo (now includes LiPS)
• Android – OHA
• Moblin – Linux+Gnome+Hildon
• Meamo – Nokia. Linux+Gnome (GtK+, Gstreamer, Matchbox, Hildon)
• Mobilinux – MontaVista Linux
• Acces Linux Platform (LiMo compliant?)
• OpenMoko – Linux+Gnome
• TuxPhone
• Qtopia

Others

• Garnet (Palm, Access)

High-level languages, kits and methods:

• Ajax
• j2me
• Adobe air
• Silverlight
• Flash
• Flex

(*1) % Figures from Canalys

Fresh news from Computex!

IVT has just announced that they have ported the Bluesoleil 5.0 bluetooth stack found on lots of computers to Linux. The program retains its GUI and user friendliness and is supposedly ported specificaly for UMPCs. However with all the naming confusion thats around and the fact that very few UMPCs actually run linux, we assume they mean Netbooks and MIDs. Expect this to provide a good experience with bluetooth on quite a few devices in the future.

Source.

This open gaming handheld reminds me of the WiBrain B1 UMPC. Its got some great specs but the physical implementation looks a mess! It’s the latest incarnation of a design targeted at gamer/developers wanting to run gaming emulators. Based, spiritually on the GP2X, there’s very little focus on Internet connectivity an even less on mobile Internet connectivity (no Bluetooth, 3G) but the interesting thing is that the core hardware could form the basis of an interesting mobile Internet platform. Its being called ‘Pandora.’ [Wiki] Here’s an early prototype rendering.

The hardware is designed around a Cortex A8 CPU which is a RISC design and, according to what I read, will enable raw processing power equivalent to the new mobility focused X86 CPU’s like Intel’s Silverthorn CPU.

As the first product in TI’s OMAP™ 3 family of applications processors with the ARM Cortex-A8 superscalar microprocessor core, the OMAP3430 delivers up to 3X gain in performance over ARM11-based processors. The new processor leverages industry-leading technologies to provide mobile phone battery life together with the performance needed for laptop-comparable productivity software and an audio-video experience equivalent to that of consumer electronics devices. [TI PDF]

With an 800×480 screen, keyboard, Wifi and expansion ports it will be interesting to see what sort of performance it reaches running Firefox and what sort of battery life it returns.

I’m doing a lot of reading on Cortex at the moment so if anyone has any pointers to other Cortex-based projects or reading material, please let me know and i’ll add them to my watchlist.

Via Engadget and a tip from TSO, thanks!