I bought the FR for what I did not have - freedom (was: Re: funny comment from a user, in response to the question of whether FR works as a daily phone:)
Michael Shiloh wrote: My old phone works as a daily phone. I bought the FR for what I did not have - misery. Sorry everyone, I found that comment amusing and was going to respond in some clever way, then changed my mind, and unfortunately sent the partially composed message. To paraphrase the original poster, we buy the FR for what we don't have - a generic Linux computer in a cellphone, on which we can develop all manner of applications in any language we chose, without the constraints of the carrier or the cellphone provider I appreciate that many of you purchased the FR to use as your daily phone. But I really believe that the magic of Openmoko comes from what we do with this platform that is different from, and way beyond, a mere phone. That is why the discussion about extending the FR with external sensors interested me so much. So what other ideas do you all have of ways to extend the utility of the FreeRunner? In what ways can you make it more than a cellphone? (and I don't limit this to physical extensions.) How can we all rise above the current issues with GSM, SMS, etc. and create the device of the future? My plan: I am going to take the ideas gathered in the discussion about reporting the tides (when they drifted (pun intended) into case modifications and external sensors) and build an extended FreeRunner. I plan to use a Pelican case and either an Arduino, EZ-USB, or MAKE Controller Kit to interface to external sensors and perhaps also actuators, like hobby servo motors. What is it going to be? I'm not sure yet. But I'm sure ideas will come. Michael ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: I bought the FR for what I did not have - freedom (was: Re: funny comment from a user, in response to the question of whether FR works as a daily phone:)
Paraphrasing Michael In what ways can you extend the FreeRunner... I was looking at WiFi IP phones yesterday at Voipsupply.org and they have some in the $300-$600 range. They are targeted at hospitality and healthcare industry. They are just WiFi phones, no GSM no Linux. Both of these apps have staff that are constantly moving around and don't have a desk phone. Build an app that caters to these folks and adds together WiFi + GPS + GSM For a hotel -- from the phone, check status of any room. Use the phone as a master key for cleaning staff. For medical staff that are on call, track their locations via GPS and prioritize contacting staff that are closest to the hospital. Allow staff to locate a patient from the phone -- eg not in room? might be getting therapy. When a phone leaves the building (loses WiFi VOIP registration) switch to GSM and note it in the server. This means you can run across the street to the bagel shop on a break without being out of reach and you don't have to think about it. Just go. You might not be able to locate a smartphone accurately inside a building with GPS but at a large facility you'd know which wifi access point they were connected to so you'd know what building and possibly what floor they were on. There is lots of stuff that goes way beyond what a simple WiFi phone could do and the hardware is in the same price range. All value added most of it server based and relatively easy to protect private information... so while I might not want someone I don't know tracking my location via GPS if it's part of my job it could be very helpful to me. Brian ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: I bought the FR for what I did not have - freedom (was: Re: funny comment from a user, in response to the question of whether FR works as a daily phone:)
Somewhat similar utility to what Brian said: On Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 1:00 AM, Brian Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: They are targeted at hospitality and healthcare industry. They are just WiFi phones, no GSM no Linux. Both of these apps have staff that are constantly moving around and don't have a desk phone. Similar scenario, on which I am working right now, is Disaster Management and Relief Operations and supplementing these activities using the FR. Build an app that caters to these folks and adds together WiFi + GPS + GSM For Disaster management, Sahana is a FOSS web application just made for this purpose which has been used in real world situations. Building a solution that caters to the similar needs of Disaster reporting and data collection could well be very effective and useful for such critical solutions, with such a handy and powerful device. For a hotel -- from the phone, check status of any room. Use the phone as a master key for cleaning staff. The central Sahana server can keep track of On Field relief workers, broadcast them instructions or alerts based on their GPS location. Like, need to relocate and assign a different task ? Or say, urgently address a situation at a nearby location e.g. a victim who needs immediate help. When a phone leaves the building (loses WiFi VOIP registration) switch to GSM and note it in the server. This is a very kool thing to have, ideally we can communicate to the Sahana server over Wifi, GPRS, and SMS too. I wrote the SMS server side part, which i am still expanding. So you could just have a daemon running, which sends the GPS location of the Field Reporter, via an SMS in a timely manner. Acting like a real time GPS tracking for Sahana's system keeping track of all volunteers. Moreover, there is currently a new module in development, by Dominic on the Sahana project, which is the Dead Body Tracking and Disaster Victim Identification (in short: DVI) for Sahana. This would include body search on the scene, one thing you would preferably carry a GPS-enabled handy data input device and a hand full of labels with you .The module should be enabled to mark found items on a scene map, e.g. a grid, that's what the search team usually does. The phone, could well be used for such a purpose, if it had a camera too, it could take pictures. And an app to generate Bar codes for each body. Later it can be connected to a printer to print the bar codes and fix them on the bodies. Just few more possibilities to the list :-) I am working on this project, which aims to use the FR as an effective Disaster reporting tool for Sahana, a FOSS Disaster management system [ www.sahana.lk]. GPS, Wifi are key hardware components to start off for this, and later we can use the other modes like SMS, GPRS to exchange data between the Sahana server and the phone using a client application. Providing the field volunteers with an easy to use, touch input based phone to do all the data activity saves a lot of hassles and increases effiency thus saving time. An important *thing* in such situations.. Regards, Ajay Kumar ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: I bought the FR for what I did not have - freedom (was: Re: funny comment from a user, in response to the question of whether FR works as a daily phone:)
Usable as a day phone??? I think the Fat and Dirty distro is completely usable as a day phone... I should know (I use it every day with minimal changes... any issues I have I just reflash). Ajay Kumar wrote: Somewhat similar utility to what Brian said: On Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 1:00 AM, Brian Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: They are targeted at hospitality and healthcare industry. They are just WiFi phones, no GSM no Linux. Both of these apps have staff that are constantly moving around and don't have a desk phone. Similar scenario, on which I am working right now, is Disaster Management and Relief Operations and supplementing these activities using the FR. Build an app that caters to these folks and adds together WiFi + GPS + GSM For Disaster management, Sahana is a FOSS web application just made for this purpose which has been used in real world situations. Building a solution that caters to the similar needs of Disaster reporting and data collection could well be very effective and useful for such critical solutions, with such a handy and powerful device. For a hotel -- from the phone, check status of any room. Use the phone as a master key for cleaning staff. The central Sahana server can keep track of On Field relief workers, broadcast them instructions or alerts based on their GPS location. Like, need to relocate and assign a different task ? Or say, urgently address a situation at a nearby location e.g. a victim who needs immediate help. When a phone leaves the building (loses WiFi VOIP registration) switch to GSM and note it in the server. This is a very kool thing to have, ideally we can communicate to the Sahana server over Wifi, GPRS, and SMS too. I wrote the SMS server side part, which i am still expanding. So you could just have a daemon running, which sends the GPS location of the Field Reporter, via an SMS in a timely manner. Acting like a real time GPS tracking for Sahana's system keeping track of all volunteers. Moreover, there is currently a new module in development, by Dominic on the Sahana project, which is the Dead Body Tracking and Disaster Victim Identification (in short: DVI) for Sahana. This would include body search on the scene, one thing you would preferably carry a GPS-enabled handy data input device and a hand full of labels with you .The module should be enabled to mark found items on a scene map, e.g. a grid, that's what the search team usually does. The phone, could well be used for such a purpose, if it had a camera too, it could take pictures. And an app to generate Bar codes for each body. Later it can be connected to a printer to print the bar codes and fix them on the bodies. Just few more possibilities to the list :-) I am working on this project, which aims to use the FR as an effective Disaster reporting tool for Sahana, a FOSS Disaster management system [ www.sahana.lk]. GPS, Wifi are key hardware components to start off for this, and later we can use the other modes like SMS, GPRS to exchange data between the Sahana server and the phone using a client application. Providing the field volunteers with an easy to use, touch input based phone to do all the data activity saves a lot of hassles and increases effiency thus saving time. An important *thing* in such situations.. Regards, Ajay Kumar ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/2008.9-Basic-questions-tp1106131p1107120.html Sent from the Openmoko Community mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: I bought the FR for what I did not have - freedom (was: Re: funny comment from a user, in response to the question of whether FR works as a daily phone:)
On Saturday, September 20, 2008 17:55:09 yochaigal wrote: Usable as a day phone??? I think the Fat and Dirty distro is completely usable as a day phone... I should know (I use it every day with minimal changes... any issues I have I just reflash). Same for me, minus the reflashing. I've flashed the 20080913 version of it had haven't had to reflash it since that. The battery lasts about an entire day with it (I charge it every night and have not had an issue). The keyboard is rough to use though (with fingers); it takes me about 5-10 minutes to type up a proper text message. I'm pretty sure it would be faster with a multi-tap keypad (I have tried the Qtopia one though, and can type _really_ fast on it; probably faster than on my iPod touch). I have had to reboot it probably 3-4 times during this one week period, though. -- Kelvie Wong ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
