New Internet Tablet OS 2007 Hacker Edition released

A new version of the Internet Tablet OS 2007 Hacker Edition for the Nokia 770 is now available for download. This version updates the platform software to the level of the Internet Tablet OS 2007 edition feature upgrade, to the possible extent. We are still working on improving it, but we have covered the basics.

This is not an end-user ready release and it is not officially supported by Nokia.

Main improvements

All the user space libraries have been updated, as well as all the applications. We expect application portability across the Internet Tablet OS 2007 and the Hacker Edition as long as the code is not compiled specifically for OMAP2. Some applications might suffer hardware limitations as well.

Bugs fixed:

• File manager can handle files properly.
• Certifications work with browser.
• Media Player
  
  • Still bugs but it works quite well.
  • Same limitations as in IT OS 2006 because of the same osso-media engine.
• libSDL sound
• Device information (N800 to 770 hacker)
• Device locking and starting with or without power supply.

Known issues

Unfortunately it hasn't been possible to provide the new third party software, due to licensing constraints:

• Skype client support
• Adobe Flash browser plugin

This version of the Hacker Edition is still using the Internet Tablet OS 2006 initfs, so the kernel and device drivers are the old ones. DSP related components are also the same due to licensing and hardware constraints. There is no support for larger memory cards.

The Mozilla based browser is not included in this release, and the current version for the official Internet Tablet OS 2006 has some conflicts with dependencies. However, it shouldn't be difficult to build new packages specific for this Hacker Edition and then install the Mozilla engine manually.

Also:

• Internet calls are not very reliable.
• Occasionally the boot process is interrupted due to issues with DSME, metalayer-crawler and related components.
• Bluetooth connect or to be connected to/as file storage.

What's next

We are continuing the work on the Hacker Edition with the following goals:

• Update to maemo 4.0 Chinook
• Mozilla based engine
• Further bug fixes

We are also populating the bug tracker in the Garage project with the bugs carried from the IT OS 2006 (many of them now fixed). Issues with the Hacker Edition should be reported there and not in bugs.maemo.org. Suggestions to improve this project are welcome as well.