Openmoko is a discontinued project to create a family of

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

s that are

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

, including the hardware specification, the operating system (

Openmoko Linux Openmoko Linux is an operating system for smartphones developed by the Openmoko project. It is based on the Ångström distribution, comprising various pieces of free software. The main targets of Openmoko Linux were the Openmoko Neo 1973 and t ...

), and actual

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

development implementation like the Neo 1973 and Neo FreeRunner. The whole project was sponsored by Openmoko Inc. The first sub-project was

, a

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

-based

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

designed for mobile phones, built using

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

. The second sub-project was developing hardware devices on which

runs. The first device released was the

Neo 1973 Openmoko is a discontinued project to create a family of mobile phones that are open source, including the hardware specification, the operating system ( Openmoko Linux), and actual smartphone development implementation like the Neo 1973 and ...

, in 2007, which was followed up by the

Neo FreeRunner Openmoko is a discontinued project to create a family of mobile phones that are Open-source model, open source, including the hardware specification, the operating system (Openmoko Linux), and actual smartphone development implementation like t ...

on 25 June 2008. On 2 April 2009, Openmoko suspended development of their third device, codenamed GTA03, to focus on the FreeRunner. In 2010, development of the GTA03 was continued by Golden Delicious Computers under the new codename GTA04, which includes major hardware revision, and the first unit was shipped on 10 October 2011. Unlike most other mobile phone platforms, these phones are designed to provide end users with the ability to modify the operating system and software stack. Other Openmoko-supported phones are also available.

History

Project Openmoko was announced 7 November 2006 by its founders

First International Computer First International Computer, Inc. (FIC; zh, t=大眾電腦股份有限公司, p=Dàzhòng Diànnǎo Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) is a Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer and system integrator for automotive electronics and smart building ...

(FIC). The Initial core team for Openmoko project included

Werner Almesberger Werner Almesberger (born 13 August 1967) is an Austrian free software computer programmer and an open-source hardware designer/maker. He is mainly known as a Hacker (free and open source software), hacker of the Linux kernel. Contributions to Li ...

, Michael Lauer, Sean Moss-Pultz and

Harald Welte Harald Welte, also known as LaForge, is a German programmer. Welte is the founder of the free software project Osmocom and was formerly involved in the netfilter/iptables and Openmoko projects. He is a member of the Chaos Computer Club. Bi ...

Etymology

The name ''Openmoko'' is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for Open Mobile Kommunikations. The codename for the phone product series, ''GTA'', is an abbreviation of "GSM-TI-AGPS" which indicates the main components of the phone.

Software

Originally Openmoko Inc. developed its own operating system for the phones, which was called

or Om. It uses the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...

, together with a

graphical user environment A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of text ...

built using the

X.Org Server X.Org Server is the free and open-source implementation of the X Window System (X11) display server stewarded by the X.Org Foundation. Implementations of the client-side X Window System protocol exist in the form of ''X11 libraries'', which ...

. The

OpenEmbedded OpenEmbedded (OE) is a build automation framework and cross-compile environment used to create Linux distributions for embedded devices. The framework is developed by the OpenEmbedded community, which was formally established in 2003. OpenEmbed ...

build framework and opkg package system were used to create and maintain software packages. The initial version named Om 2007 used the

GTK+ GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary s ...

toolkit and the Matchbox window manager. Om 2008, which was released in August 2008, added support for the Qt toolkit and

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

17. Despite continuous improvements both of these versions did not reach a stable state. As a result, Openmoko started developing Om 2009, which had the goal of providing a stable environment based on the

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software program that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to imple ...

from freesmartphone.org, a project that was financed by Openmoko. However, this version was not finished either, and in April 2009 Openmoko cancelled the development of software. This task was taken over by several efforts of the community. Several groups have created modified versions of the original software or

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

other systems to work on the phones. Among others, the Openmoko phones now support

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

, Gentoo,

Qt Extended Improved Qt Extended (named Qtopia before September 30, 2008) is an application platform for embedded Linux-based mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants, video projectors and mobile phones. It was initially developed by The Qt Com ...

, QtMoko, and SHR.

Openmoko Inc. based hardware

Openmoko hardware aspires to the term

open-source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH, OSHW) consists of physical artifact (software development), artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by th ...

although in various areas the availability of cell phone components and legal requirements prevent full conformance to this term. As do many other vendors, Openmoko Inc., notoriously failed to meet the publicly announced hardware release dates, and postponed releases many times. The first supported phone, the

GTA01 (version: Bv4), was distributed exclusively through openmoko.com from July 2007 to February 2008. The second revision of hardware based on the GTA01 design is the Dash Express, an

automotive navigation system An automotive navigation system is part of the automobile controls or a third party add-on used to find direction in an automobile. It typically uses a satellite navigation device to get its position data which is then correlated to a position on ...

. The Dash Express has a faster CPU (Samsung 2440) and Wi-Fi ability. The third hardware platform, the

codenamed GTA02 is an improved version of the Neo 1973. Both the Neo 1973 and the Neo FreeRunner lack an integrated camera.

Neo 1973

The Neo 1973 (codenamed GTA01) phone was a "developers only" release. The device is named after the first year of

cellular telephone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

communication: the inventor of the cellular phone, Martin Cooper, made the first call in 1973. The phone released was inconsistently-named Neo 1973 or Neo1973. The Neo 1973 was sold from 9 July 2007 to February 2008. It was priced at

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

300 for the basic model, or

450 for a kit including more tools for hardware work. The initial releases of the Neo 1973 were hampered by supplier shortages, which forced the shipping date to slip, and hardware development difficulties exacerbated by the small size of the core team. Furthermore, other platforms have been ported to the Neo 1973, including

Qt Extended Qt Extended (named Qtopia before September 30, 2008) is an application platform for embedded Linux-based mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants, video projectors and mobile phones. It was initially developed by The Qt Com ...

and

. The phone supports the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz

GSM frequency bands GSM frequency bands or frequency ranges are the cellular frequencies designated by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU for the operation of GSM mobile phones and other mobile devices. Frequency bands GSM frequency usage around th ...

. Many Linux and unix programs used on

desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

and server platforms, including utilities and games, have been successfully run on the phone. In addition to Linux, the

NetBSD NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was fork (software development), forked. It continues to ...

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free-software Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD, one of the first fully functional and free Unix clones on affordable ...

and L4 kernels have been adapted by users to run on the platform or are under development. This hardware platform can be emulated in software with a high level of compatibility using a version of

QEMU The Quick Emulator (QEMU) is a free and open-source emulator that uses dynamic binary translation to emulate a computer's processor; that is, it translates the emulated binary codes to an equivalent binary format which is executed by the mach ...

included in the Openmoko software suite.

Release under Creative Commons license

Shortly before the shipping of the successor, the

Neo Freerunner Openmoko is a discontinued project to create a family of mobile phones that are Open-source model, open source, including the hardware specification, the operating system (Openmoko Linux), and actual smartphone development implementation like t ...

, the OpenMoko project released the

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

files, the

schematics A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a designed representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the key information the sc ...

and other development resources of the Neo 1973 and Freerunner under a

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bu ...

, the

CC BY-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bui ...

3.0. The

are available for download from OpenMoko and

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons, or simply Commons, is a wiki-based Digital library, media repository of Open content, free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used ...

under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

Neo FreeRunner

The Neo FreeRunner (codenamed GTA02) was the successor to the Neo 1973. The changes include a faster processor (clocked at 400 MHz), 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, two

accelerometer An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...

s and 3D graphics acceleration. It was released for the mass market on 25 June 2008. It was intended for users with a high demand for customizability. The Neo FreeRunner started shipping on 24 June 2008 and was priced individually at

250 and at US$200 each if purchased in multiples of five. A debug board is available for US$99. The Neo FreeRunner includes features that were not present in the development release of the phone (Neo 1973). The changes include

802.11 IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer c ...

b/g

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

, SMedia 3362

graphics accelerator A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal co ...

, two 3D

s, Samsung 2442

SoC SOC, SoC, Soc, may refer to: Science and technology * Information security operations center, in an organization, a centralized unit that deals with computer security issues * Selectable output control * Separation of concerns, a program design pr ...

, and 256 MB of flash memory.

Functionality

As of the 2008.08 software revision only the GSM phone module is working reliably; the Freerunner's hardware does not yet have fully functional software interfaces. The software development is split between

Qtopia Qt Extended (named Qtopia before September 30, 2008) is an application platform for embedded Linux-based mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants, video projectors and mobile phones. It was initially developed by The Qt Comp ...

under

X11 The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

FSO

.Debian On the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner Phone
Slashdot article. There are also some derivates of the Openmoko main distribution SHR and FDOM (Fat and Dirty Openmoko). The

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

Qtopia distribution is recommended by Openmoko for users not wishing to use early development stage software, and FDOM for those who want to test the latest features and fixes without worrying about stability. It is also possible to run Inferno on OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner.

has been patched to run on the OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner by at least two different developers.

OpenWrt OpenWrt (from ''open wireless router'') is an open-source project for embedded operating systems based on Linux kernel, Linux, primarily used on Embedded system, embedded devices to Router (computing), route network traffic. The main components ...

can be compiled for the Neo FreeRunner.

In media

The Neo FreeRunner makes an appearance in

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

's 2010 novel ''

Zero History ''Zero History'' is a novel by William Gibson published in 2010. It concludes the informal trilogy begun by ''Pattern Recognition'' (2003) and continued by ''Spook Country'' (2007), and features the characters Hollis Henry and Milgrim from the ...

'', as the phone initially used by the character Milgrim.

Dash Express

On 2 January 2008 the Dash Express, a

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

device, with hardware developed by Openmoko Inc. was announced running Openmoko Linux. This device, initially codenamed th
HXD8
seems to use little or none of the openmoko user-interface, simply using patches to the kernel developed by Openmoko Inc, and running an application fro
Dash Navigation
on it to provide navigation and a user interface.

3D7K

There is a lack of reference material for what happened to the GTA03 (codename of 3D7K). Openmoko built 3 working prototypes which had capacitive touchscreens and a fully transparent curved case .

WikiReader

The latest product from Openmoko Inc. was the

WikiReader WikiReader was a project to deliver an offline, text-only version of Wikipedia on a mobile device. The project was sponsored by Openmoko and made by Pandigital, and its source code has been released. The project debuted an offline portable read ...

, a device to read Wikipedia articles offline.

Golden Delicious based hardware

The German engineering firm "Golden Delicious Computers" began producing the GTA04 with an 800 MHz Cortex-A8 ARM (1 GHz) processor, an 800 MHz C64x+ DSP (digital signal processor) core, and a 3D graphics accelerator. With those specifications and the 512 MB RAM combined with 512 MB NAND Flash and 32 GB expandable microSDHC, it would have been similar in performance to the

iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the iPhone 4s. Following a number of notable leaks, ...

and

iPhone 4S The is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, fifth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 4 and preceding the iPhone 5. It was announced on October 4, 2011, at Apple's Cupertino ...

Golden Delicious GTA04 board

Golden Delicious GTA04 board is designed to exchange the GTA02 board in the Neo FreeRunner housing - and the GTA01 board in the Neo 1973 housing. This was a release of the Openmoko Beagle Hybrid, a platform using the

Beagle Board The BeagleBoard is a low-power open-source single-board computer produced by Texas Instruments in association with Digi-Key and Newark element14. The BeagleBoard was also designed with open source software development in mind, and as a way of de ...

as a basis for developing and prototyping a next generation Openmoko phone. The following month, Golden Delicious stated their long-term goal of bringing such a phone to market. The new GTA04 board fit into the Neo Freerunner case and connected to the existing display and other components. The first batch of GTA04A3 EA (early adopter) started shipping on 10 October 2011. Version GTA04A4 first batch started shipping on 31 January 2012. The design for the next revision, GTA04A5, contained some minor but relevant upgrades in design and parts, and replacement of end-of-life components. The production was crowd funded. It is also possible to order a ready made phone called OpenPhoenux or GTA04 Complete. Hardware: * CPU: ARM Cortex A8 with 1000 MHz * Memory: 512 MB RAM / 1024 MB NAND * Interconnect: WiFi, WLAN, Bluetooth * WLAN: UMTS module with 3.75G (up to 14.4 Mbit/s) * Sensors (Barometer, Compass, Gyroscope, Accelerometer) * GPS * USB OTG 2.0 * connector for optional camera module * well documented building blocks so user allowed to write their own boot loaders and kernels.

References

External links

* {{Official website
Development portal

Neo Freerunner 3D model, click and drag to rotate

LWN.net: A first look at the OpenMoko Neo1973
August 2007
"Ten years anniversary of Openmoko"
by Harald Welte ARM architecture Linux-based devices Mobile phone standards Mobile software Open-source mobile phones Creative Commons-licensed works First International Computer mobile phones Discontinued smartphones Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery