Norayr Chilingarian <nor...@arnet.am> wrote: > just would like to mention my needs, and unfortunately I cannot satisfy > them with your project. [...] > So I don't need a "phone", but a mobile computer [...]
Then my project is not for you. It is for those who specifically want a plain old cellphone (dumbphone) and not a mobile computer. I already have a mobile computer which I'm reasonably happy with - it's a Lenovo X200 ultraportable laptop, running Slackware. But when it comes to my cellphone, whether I use my old Mot V66 (unknown chipset) or the Calypso-based C139 or Pirelli DP-L10, I am currently limited to running Mot's or Pirelli's original proprietary firmware sans source, with no ability to fix bugs or to tweak the UI design to my taste. I am very unhappy with this status quo, hence I am working to fix it in a way that is within my ability: by reconstructing TI's standard fw for modems and dumbphones from pieces (Leonardo+LoCosto+misc) and making it run on the Calypso-based GSM devices I have available. The related project of building a new Calypso-based dumbphone is primarily in response to the exhaustion of the surplus supply of ready-made devices. If there were an infinite supply of Pirelli DP-L10s with full schematics and with docs for that darned SPCA552E chip, or of Mot C139s with unlocked bootloaders, there would be little need to build new hw. But the Pirellis are no longer available, and even the stash I already have is of limited usefulness because this hw is cripped by the lack of schematics and by those extra chips w/o docs. Mot C139s are still somewhat readily available, but they are crippled by the boot ROM being disabled at the board level, so we have to rely on the original fw's bootloader instead. If you buy a C139 on ebay, it will be a gamble whether it arrives with a firmware version that features an unlocked bootloader, or one which allows no known way of loading our own code into the device. Hence I plan on getting FreeCalypso fw running on a C139 and/or a Pirelli as a proof of concept, then switching my attention to the design of a new Calypso dumbphone free of Mot/Pirelli's design flaws. Current status of the project: I've got the tool I wrote that parses TI's COFF objects and produces disassembly listings which take advantage of the symbolic information present in these objects (like objdump from binutils, but more specifically taylored to TI's COFF objects made by the TMS470 toolchain), and I am now working on integrating GPF into my gcc-built FreeCalypso fw. After GPF we'll have L1, and then the bulk of the GSM protocol stack, yay! > Also, routing voice traffic through the Intrenet is a way to not be > obliged to pay to carrier per minute or per text message. So you would rather pay those same carriers per kilobyte instead? I don't know how things stand in your part of the world, but here in USA the carriers only want to sell mobile data services while giving voice and SMS away for free - so it is the direct opposite of what you are picturing: old-fashioned voice calls and SMS are free here, whereas "Internet" packet data costs $$$. > I think that carriers earn too much money just because not all the > people still used to Internet. But it's the other way around - those mobile Internet users are the ones feeding the carriers' revenue stream, while outlaws like me who eschew all that packet data crap and use old-fashioned circuit-switched GSM services (yay CSD!) essentially get a free ride on that carrier! > I believe, if we get Internet, then we can manage the > rest without carriers. But why?? I *like* getting a free ride on my GSM carrier at the expense of all those fools whose sky-high mobile Internet bills pay for the upkeep of the infrastructure. VLR, SF _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community