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Taken from Dailytech:
Many HTC owners have been upset at the poor performance of some HTC devices when it comes to video playback. DailyTech reported in January that some HTC owners had banded together and were threatening a class action law suit if the poor video performance issue wasn’t addressed.
One stated goal of the HTC owners was to get a driver from HTC for the ATI Imageon video acceleration hardware present in certain HTC handsets that was not being utilized. HTC spokesman Eric Lin told DailyTech that HTC is releasing a fix that will dramatically improve the video performance on the Touch family of devices and the TYTN II/Tilt, Mogul/XV6900 devices.
This fix will be in the form of software update rather than a new ROM image. HTC is very specific in pointing out that this fix is not a driver for the Imageon hardware locked away inside the Qualcomm chipset in the devices in question. For a reason why HTC won’t release a driver for the Imageon hardware, Lin provided DailyTech with this official statement:
"HTC DOES plan to offer software upgrades that will increase feature functionality, over the air wireless speeds and other enhancements for some of the phones being criticized, but we do not anticipate including any additional support for the video acceleration issues cited in customer complaints. It is important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and time.
HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products.
To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will not enable every feature or function.
In addition to making sure the required hardware is present, unlocking extended capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx requires in-depth and time consuming software development, complicated licensing negotiations, potential intellectual property negotiations, added licensing fees, and in the case of devices that are sold through operators, the desire of the operator to include the additional functionality. To make an informed decision about which handset suits them best, consumers should look at the product specification itself instead of using the underlying chipset specifications to define what the product could potentially become."
The Imageon video acceleration hardware is present in the devices in question, however, it appears that the reason no drivers were provided has to do with licensing issues.
Wow. I have no complaints for the current speed. I suppose if it's faster, awesome!
bimmerd00d said:
Wow. I have no complaints for the current speed. I suppose if it's faster, awesome!
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I see what they are saying. It may well come down to licensing. If the licensing fee has not been paid for your device,then they CANT update you. If your carrier does not want to buy a device that includes the cost of the licensing fee,then they wont include the driver. Thats how I read it at least.
A class action lawsuit seems rather pointless. HTC has no responsibility to provide any particular functionality in their drivers beyond what is advertised by your carrier. There are many pieces of consumer electronics gear that provide additional functionality with different drivers. Our phones have evdo rev A and GPS as well. They DO have to provide rev A,because they said they would and sold it as Rev A upgradable. We could sue for that if they didnt. GPS however is a bonus.
Take a look at certain linksys routers that have different feature sets with different firmware. Older GeForce cards have advanced features that were locked out in the driver,and only available on Quadro series workstation cards. Many CPUs have features locked out either in the bios or by cutting traces on the actual CPU. Its suspected that some blu-ray readers are actually the writers with a different firmware. (which will be hacked in due time for those lucky bastards if its true =) ) Sound cards,hard drives,modems,stand alone dvd players,televisions video cards,and mp3 players have all been found to have additional functionality either disabled or addable with only firmware changes. None of these manufacturers have any responsibility to provide these updates.
pflatlyne said:
I see what they are saying. It may well come down to licensing. If the licensing fee has not been paid for your device,then they CANT update you. If your carrier does not want to buy a device that includes the cost of the licensing fee,then they wont include the driver. Thats how I read it at least.
A class action lawsuit seems rather pointless. HTC has no responsibility to provide any particular functionality in their drivers beyond what is advertised by your carrier. There are many pieces of consumer electronics gear that provide additional functionality with different drivers. Our phones have evdo rev A and GPS as well. They DO have to provide rev A,because they said they would and sold it as Rev A upgradable. We could sue for that if they didnt. GPS however is a bonus.
Take a look at certain linksys routers that have different feature sets with different firmware. Older GeForce cards have advanced features that were locked out in the driver,and only available on Quadro series workstation cards. Many CPUs have features locked out either in the bios or by cutting traces on the actual CPU. Its suspected that some blu-ray readers are actually the writers with a different firmware. (which will be hacked in due time for those lucky bastards if its true =) ) Sound cards,hard drives,modems,stand alone dvd players,televisions video cards,and mp3 players have all been found to have additional functionality either disabled or addable with only firmware changes. None of these manufacturers have any responsibility to provide these updates.
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I agree with you except for two small issues. First, HTC's responsibility to provide functionality is controlled by what HTC agreed to provide in the contract between the carrier and HTC, not by the carrier's advertising. If a carrier were to advertise a functionality for which they did not contract with HTC, then that is the carrier's liability, not HTC's.
Second, advertising a device as rev A upgradeable does not necessarily create a commitment to actually upgrade the device, or even the communications system, to rev A. "Rev A upgradeable" arguably means simply "If we decide at some unspecified time in the future to actually upgrade our system to rev A, this device has the technical capability to also be upgraded to rev A, if we actually so decide at some possibly later time in the future". I do not believe that is a definite promise that a carrier can be held to in a normal lawsuit. In the typical scam class action, the carrier would probably settle the case and give you a coupon. It is obviously not something that binds HTC, as HTC has no control over whether or when a carrier upgrades all or parts of their system to rev A, or whether the carrier approves a software upgrade to a particular model device in order to use rev A.
At my work we are evaluating the feasibility of using some Android devices for data collection/modification purposes.
Right now we use the all too familiar (in the retail industry anyways) Symbol/Motorola Windows Mobile PDA. While these devices work, they are stuck in the past in almost every way. The always have awful resistive touch screens, often don't properly support modern WiFi encryption standards, are very expensive, slow, etc... Not to mention Microsoft has all but dropped support for Windows Mobile/CE entirely, and you have to pay Microsoft for the privilege of writing an application for the platform. Maintaining the app we use for that platform is becoming a pain, and its not going to get any better. Instead of putting any more time into the WM app, we feel its time to move on.
We have already been developing a intranet page to replace the functionality of the Windows Mobile app. What really pushed us towards Android was the fact is has a modern internet browser. This allowed us with just a bit of additional html/css/javascript to serve up a version that works fine in the Android browser. Something we tried and failed to do with the Windows CE browser. We where also able to get it working fine with a external motorola bluetooth barcode scanner for input purposes.
Our only issue now is what kind of devices are out there for this type of application? The ideal device would be about phone sized, or maybe slightly larger (small tablet even), would be a bit more ruggedized than your normal consumer electronics and have Wifi/Bluetooth (cellular functionality not required or wanted) Right now the only device I've found that meets those requirements has been the Motorola ET1 Android tablet. Am I missing some others out there?
The test devices we have been using where a modified Nook Color and a original Motorola Droid, obviously such devices would not be suitable in actual use.
In terms of size i'm sure you have heard of the galaxy note, mind you you might kill it in a comercial setting.
You probably want to google for IP67 certified devices. The Motorola DEFY+ comes to mind since it's so cheap, It also has CM7/9 support and possibly MIUI.
What are the chances we'll see the new Ubuntu for phones os running on our hardware anytime soon?
As far as I understand it it should be just a matter of compiling for our specific soc, making a flashable rom and then flashing, right? They say it can run on android kernels so there shouldn't have to be any hardware interface work that needs to be done, right?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
If you don't mind me asking, how would this make any difference to us?
rangercaptain said:
If you don't mind me asking, how would this make any difference to us?
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It would enable us an alternative operating system choice, allowing application developers to create processor native applications (rather than using a java virtual machine that's quite resource intensive than running apps on the bare metal) thus using less system resources, enabling faster multitasking, greater compatibility with preexisting applications, enhanced security, and the desktop mode that they are touting is quite nice as well. connect an hdmi dongle and use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to turn the phone into a desktop computer... there are lots of uses for a bare metal operating system on a hardware platform with restrictive system resources.
there's really nothing wrong with android per se, she's a great OS, but there are a wide number of other approaches to building os's and user experiences. I would consider this pretty similar to choosing to install ubuntu on a PC, or windows on a mac for that matter. it's a matter of widening the variety of application approaches and compatibility. a matter of choice.
I really want to know if this is possible after seeing the demo of it on engadget this morning I'm convinced that this is one os I'd be willing to flash and possibly leave on over android, as amazing as Android is this just better though out in terms of where everything is and speed of access
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
It may take off, if someone is able to best the entire android community as a whole, but the odds of that are "0"...
We would be better served if google took it over, and incorporated the OS into a handful of smart phones. Beyond that prospect, a port for us would be nothing more than a pet project.
This idea is not new, and mention of it can be found in virtually ever forum on this site, and a few devs have met with success on getting a bootable Android device running Ubuntu, but it was a short lived event, as support for the OS is simply not there ATM.
I do agree that a different OS is a good idea, but as a dedicated Android user, I would not be willing to switch at this point, as a stable, functional OS is months or even years away.
Likely the OS would fall the way of RIM, and other OS platforms, albeit, ahead of it's time.....g
gregsarg said:
It may take off, if someone is able to best the entire android community as a whole, but the odds of that are "0"...
We would be better served if google took it over, and incorporated the OS into a handful of smart phones. Beyond that prospect, a port for us would be nothing more than a pet project.
This idea is not new, and mention of it can be found in virtually ever forum on this site, and a few devs have met with success on getting a bootable Android device running Ubuntu, but it was a short lived event, as support for the OS is simply not there ATM.
I do agree that a different OS is a good idea, but as a dedicated Android user, I would not be willing to switch at this point, as a stable, functional OS is months or even years away.
Likely the OS would fall the way of RIM, and other OS platforms, albeit, ahead of it's time.....g
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While I strongly believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, the fact of the matter is that it's already running on the quintessential android test bed for the current generation of phones (the galaxy nexus) which means that it should be very easily ported to other, similar hardware (which is most of the android devices out there right now.). if they made this completely open source (which i'm pretty sure they'd have to given that most of the components of the OS are built on open-source licenses), and allowed the already very good and very diverse linux community expand it's functionality, write good apps for it, I think it has some pretty great promise.
my personal standpoint however, is that operating systems for mobile should work exactly like they do for PC's (and macs for that matter). you should be able to install whatever, whenever, without the approval of the company that happens to make the hardware, and without the approval of the company who provides the data and telephone services for the device... it's a pocket computer, not a dumb phone designed for one thing.
I thought Android was Linux and Ubuntu was Linux. Why is one type better than the other? And to run native, wouldn't hardware manufacturers have to write a butt load of drivers? Like the fiasco of upgrading from win2000 to win7.
Ubuntu won't be released til 2014, will older phones like our note1 be supported?
Keep in mind that by 2014 the note1 would be considered old in mobile years.
rangercaptain said:
I thought Android was Linux and Ubuntu was Linux. Why is one type better than the other? And to run native, wouldn't hardware manufacturers have to write a butt load of drivers? Like the fiasco of upgrading from win2000 to win7.
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hardware drivers always run on the bare metal anyway (usually as part of the kernel, or occasionally as a background daemon service). the point is that android applications are built on top of the java environment which is a virtual machine - it's processes are abstracted and emulated which requires much more system resources than writing in something like c++ for the underlaying hardware. the only compatibility that this would break is that binaries don't work across cpu platforms. if something is compiled for the arm9 architecture for example (what most modern smartphones use, including our note), it wouldn't run on android for x86 or another java virtual machine like bluestacks. in order to get it to run on a different hardware platform you'd either have to emulate a complete device (like the iphone and android sdk simulators), or recompile it for the platform you want to run it on (only useful if you have the source code). the latter method is how linux distributions have been doing things for years. there are virtually identical linux distributions that can run on intel, arm, powerpc, sparc, motorola 68k, etc. etc. they can all run pretty much the same applications (because of the hardware abstraction layer present in the kernel), but in order for it to work, those applications must be recompiled for the appropriate underlaying processor architecture, as the output of a c(++,#) compiler is code that is cpu architecture specific.
also, windows 2000 and windows 7 were designed for the same (or similar) underlaying hardware problems. windows 2000 to windows 7 was mostly a piece of cake. whereas the move from windows 98 to windows 2000 or windows 98 to windows xp was difficult because windows 9x and windows 2000/xp use a different variety of hardware abstraction layer and thus different drivers must be written as drivers designed for one HAL won't work with another. (same thing for major linux revisions. the HAL in the 2.4 series of kernels is different from the one in 2.6 series of kernels which means one has to rewrite device drivers in order to get some less-than-standard hardware working.
So cp....
your a smart guy...
Get it going for us.....
you've got the skills we need to pull it off....g
gregsarg said:
So cp....
your a smart guy...
Get it going for us.....
you've got the skills we need to pull it off....g
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Actually, If i had access to the sources (that by all rights should be open thanks to the way the gpl is designed), I'd be happy to build a rom and help with the development efforts. I'm pretty decent at optimizing linux distributions for arm hardware. we should all petition canonical to release the code post haste.
I would love to see ubuntu ported over to phones. I almost fell off my chair when I heard of the idea that your phone could just connect to a monitor/keyboard/mouse to become a fully fledged desktop computer. This would literally replace almost all of my gadgets into one device. I wouldn't need a laptop, an ipod, a dvd player, or even a gaming console possibly as well.
I've been using ubuntu for a number of years and would be overjoyed to see almost all of my electronics and computing essentially made into one pocket sized device. The possibilities are so great for this kind of leap in technology and it almost seems to be the inevitable succession in personal computer technology. This could possibly be the beginning of the end for laptops, desktops, tablets, and netbooks/ultrabooks. All data would be transmitted using flash memory or transmitted OTA instead of spinning disks or other media.
If the source code is released, and I'm sure it will since Canonical has done a decent job of running Ubuntu lately, I hope someone brings it to the i717 because then I would probably sell a lot of electronic equipment
The release will never happen to allow a single, all inclusive device.
Ubuntu or not, there are too many hands in the pie, and billions of dollars on the table.
The apples, and Samsungs of the world will go at it until the day we die.
They all want the biggest piece, and will squash anyone that gets in their way.
Ubuntu would need a home run piece of code that emulates a magic carpet if they ever hope to slay the beast.
And if they did, I'm not so sure that people would embrace the one stop shop mentality for a single device anyway.
It simply stinks of yet another apple type monopoly in the making.
I support the idea, but it's the logistics that kill the deal, money driven logistics of course.....g
gregsarg said:
The release will never happen to allow a single, all inclusive device.
Ubuntu or not, there are too many hands in the pie, and billions of dollars on the table.
The apples, and Samsungs of the world will go at it until the day we die.
They all want the biggest piece, and will squash anyone that gets in their way.
Ubuntu would need a home run piece of code that emulates a magic carpet if they ever hope to slay the beast.
And if they did, I'm not so sure that people would embrace the one stop shop mentality for a single device anyway.
It simply stinks of yet another apple type monopoly in the making.
I support the idea, but it's the logistics that kill the deal, money driven logistics of course.....g
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Too true, it's all about the money in the end, even with free stuff.
Now that you mention it, it does sound a lot like some sort of Apple type ploy to get you to buy their things... either way I hope it happens someday
Maru OS - providing Ubuntu -like "convergence" feature for our beloved Kenzo/Kate
Hi.
While browsing XDA,
Just came across this great post on xda feed. - https://www.xda-developers.com/maru...-to-nexus-7-2013-flo-other-ports-in-progress/
And I thought - this could be excellent, if, could be developed for our beloved Kenzo with the help of collaboration amongst a few Kenzo Devs.
This could - if implemented - manage to keep us on the excellently compatible Android OS while providing with a feature much awaited by lovers of the same.
@Umang96 @Ashish94 @xyyx @TheStrix @TheDarkStrix @mistercheese @Bitti09 @kairi_zeroblade @Plamb1r @abhishek987
Also, as I could make out, this is based off of AOSP, so maybe, if interested, perhaps @xyyx and other AOSP-based developers could also include just the commits in their own ROMs to make them an even awesome-er experience for themselves and their users!!!
Even though we have neither MHL compatability (I'm not too sure if that's a hardware related additional thing, or if a few commits might solve that issue as well), nor an HDMI slot in our phones, Maru coupled with Chromecast seems like a pure dream come true!!!
Would love it if you guys could please look into this. I know all you wonderful people are already devoting your precious time to other projects, but, and I firmly believe - a collaboration amongst you, if you guys would work together, perhaps as (MaruTeamKenzo), that could certainly make it possible sooner than anyone could expect !!
Cheers, and loads of love to all you amazing people!!!
bumpardo bumperty bump!
shanx_verma said:
bumpardo bumperty bump!
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Bumping after 1 hour? Really?
Bump yet again.
To users who poll - please leave a comment, as I cannot view your names.
It well be a great idea
I want remix os
Nice initiative, I would really like a hybrid OS for kenzo as well.
But you can do this already.
Linux Deploy + VNC ( or stream desktop to DLNA if you need it on television )
More advanced personal computing
Hey,
I just dropped by as I to have just stumbled upon! MaruOS.
It sounds interesting, as dies what Samsung have done with the S8 docking mode and what Cannonical had been aiming for with Ubuntu (seems like that's now faded). (even Project Ara/greybus had some promise beyond mobile until it was canned)
However, I actually found Maru while looking for projects that might run more than classic mobile apps on a mobile platform. The current model is fine for a lot of things - games, communications, note taking, productivity, activity tracking etc....
But I want more. I want mobile devices that are active in the web (both local and online). I want IPFS to be feasible. I want to be able to serve up offline content in my locality (a la piratebox).
We can't realistically expect stable platforms is we hack all of that into ROMs, so why not container's?
Containerised server apps on mobile would be unmittigatedly cool.
Sure the hardware, particularly battery, is restrictive, but having run multiple Docker images on both a Pi and a cheap-ish (<80GBP) Intel-based Ubuntu machine (tbh Rasbian on a Pi made 'bunty on Intel look a bit pathetic for Docker usage in performance and stability - possibly storage or chipset limited, but still...) I think we're approaching a time when it's viable.
Imagine flexible, opt-in local cloud apps powered by smartphones & an orchestration tool. The cost of providing infrastructure and hardware to support events/gatherings could drop through the floor....
... obviously that's a bit of a tangent from the aim of Maru right now, but it's (if I understand this correctly) running Debian with android compatibility, so including Docker (or plain LXC) and an orchestrator for managing images/containers, along the lines of an app manager for traditional mobile "apps" doesn't sound impossible (and I'd settle for CLI on a touchscreen if it gave me the ability to fire up a server on my phone, or test a new tool without a laptop).
It does seem to be in line with the original concept of mobile devices being more than smartphones nowadays, with much more potential than we currently use...
p.s.
I know this is a bit of a rambling post, but local webs (potentially synching back to wider web via IPFS or plain old git), the ability to participate personally on line with real tools, not just feeding the advertisment-powered content machines is really appealing to me. It's not likely to be mainstream any time soon, but you've got to start somewhere.
I want remix os
Huawei just finished introducing HarmonyOS and everything looks promising. From HMS core to the updated AppGallery, everything falls into place as Huawei officially unveiled and welcomed everyone to their highly anticipated in-house operating system.
Highlights and Features
HarmonyOS has a lot of new features that makes their system worth checking out.
Combination of Apps and Widgets
HarmonyOS expands the overall functionality of simple app icons and widgets by combining them and creating icons that you can tap/swipe up and see the background activity and convert into widgets if you need to.
One OS for All Devices
As existing Huawei smartphones prepare for their turn on switching to HarmonyOS. Software fragmentation is one of the leading concerns of operating systems in general. This means that some software cannot be easily implemented on other devices because of their difference in terms of hardware and software configurations. An example would be a certain GAME that can be played on DEVICE A which also shares almost the same hardware configuration with DEVICE B .. BUT .. device B is from a different brand. There are scenarios where you can play it on device A but cannot on device B due to this premise.
Harmony OS makes this possible across brands and models and configurations.
Control Everything From Your Huawei Smartphone
As Huawei envisioned HarmonyOS, the smartphone is at the center of almost everything. You can change the temperature on your air conditioning unit, monitor and adjust the air purifier. You can switch in between devices and rooms and control almost every appliance and light bulb in the house. What better way to have a unified and centralized controller other than your smartphone.With this technology, you can even lock/unlock or even start your car.
Smart devices are becoming a main part of the household. Smart coffee machines, toasters, induction cookers, vacuums, bulbs, washing machines, cars and ovens. As technology moves forward, so will smart devices.
Keeping Things "Open" For Everyone
Huawei's goal of keeping HarmonyOS open to all makes things more interesting and more versatile. This allows for more development as well as faster progress and updates not only for HarmonyOS but also for the applications, software and hardware that manufacturers and brands will produce.
Having an open system gives us a bigger ecosystem of devices as well.
Home appliances - Personal equipment - Vehicles - Machines
Everything can be possible. Can't wait to see what HarmonyOS can do more and can't wait to get my hands on it when the update arrives.