Nokia 770 (was Re: FOSDEM 2006)

[Nicolas Roard]

On 15 Nov 2005 07:54:18 -0800, hns@computer.org <hns@computer.org> wrote:
> The Nokia has no keyboard, so operation must be based on Touchpad-only
> operation, Handwriting and virtual Keyboard which is not aligned with
> the behaviour of many NSViews...
>
> Why on the Nokia and not show it on a better suited platform like the
> Sharp Zaurus?

Well, first I must say that I didn't even start working on that :-)

But I'll probably try to work on it as soon as possible (eg.. when
things get calmer at work and when I finish the other gnustep things
I'm working on at the moment) -- which can be never, I know me :-) but
well.. ^_^

So, why porting on the nokia ? Well, the obvious reason is that at
least 4 persons in the gnustep community have one (helge, me, damien
and david) and can possibly work together to achieve something on the
nokia. Other than that, the nokia is a good device technically,
particularly with its fantastic screen, and runs linux and X11, so a
port "shouldn't" be too difficult -- I don't see why the Zaurus would
be a much better suited platform. Plus, if I remember well, the Zaurus
uses the framebuffer, and we don't have a framebuffer backend. And
more importantly, I don't have a Zaurus :-D

Lastly, I'm personally interested by working on a pda environment
based on gnustep and étoilé, because I think we could do quite
interesting things (although maemo ui is rather good), and in my
opinion it would be a good "focus" for étoilé. I wrote this page some
time ago http://dromasoftware.com/etoile/mediawiki/index.php?title=PDA
about some key ideas for a pda environment..

So anyway, helge's comment was probably more tongue-in-cheek comment
(particularly considering I didn't even start to do anything ^_^) but
it is an interesting idea.

--
Nicolas Roard
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
  -Arthur C. Clarke