Today on slashdot I stumbled upon an item of (potentially) considerable interest: it would seem some clever folks have succeeded in getting monitor mode to work on Android devices using certain broadcom based WiFi chipsets, including the bcm4330... They only released precompiled APKs for the Nexus One and SGS2, (which won't do us much good), but they also hosted the source on a googlecode project. SO, in theory (if I understand things correctly) all we should need is for someone with a working AOSP build environment for our phone set up to compile the code. I'm new to the dev scene and therefore highly unqualified lol, but I'm sure there are a handful of experienced devs out there with the knowhow to get this up and running!
Here's the link: http://bcmon.blogspot.com/
And the source: http://code.google.com/p/bcmon/source/checkout
This is not my work; I take no credit, just saw it hadn't been posted and thought the community might be interested. At the moment, I am trying to get a build environment set up as a learning experience. (i.e. I would love to compile CM10 from source, thought it would be a great project to get a better understanding and start doing some developing.) Although I haven't hit a wall yet (i've only just begun and still have a lot to learn), as far as I know there are no device-specific guides on how to do this for our phone...any suggestions for good reference material?
Role Summary
Canonical leads the development of Ubuntu. If you’re inspired by the idea of shaping the daily software experience of millions of users, on a variety of devices, want to see your skills and talents make a meaningful difference in the world, and you believe in craftsmanship in everything you do, then read on.
Canonical is seeking a talented, productive and friendly C++ developer, to work in the Display Server development team. You will be developing a technology that is set to replace X.org and will be the foundation for the work on newer form factors.
You consider the singleton as an anti-pattern, but still appreciate the gang of four book and know that knowledge of patterns is a tool, not the target of design. If you are also familiar with the names Sutter, Josuttis, Alexandrescu and Meyers then you may well fit the mould we are looking for.
Key Responsibilities
Take responsibility for engineering delivery to spec and to plan
Design and implement Display Server features
Use test-driven development, ensure code test coverage, add tests for untested code
Create tools and monitor metrics to validate the robustness and performance of features during the development cycle
Design API’s for third-party developers, or other contributors to your application
Manage code branches for features and contributions from third party developers
Provide reviews of code for other team members and contributors
Participate to the release process, by preparing feature releases on a regular cadence
Prioritize and fix bugs in your components or applications, based on management goals
Take proactive steps to ensure the quality of code for which you are responsible
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Excellent C++ programming skills with extensive and diverse experience of client side software development
Knowledge of CMake
Experience with the SOLID design principles
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Experience with Linux as a development platform: editors, compilers, conventions
Experience with OpenGL
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Experience working in distributed teams and of collaborating with remote developers, by IRC, telephone and email
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Working experience with desktop toolkits: Qt/QML and GTK+
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ARM and embedded development experience
Experience with iOS and Android development
Open source and community development experience, with identifiable work and contributions to one or more open source projects.
To apply, please visit Canonical's job listing.
Even though it was said that the Fairphone will be completely open, the sourcecode of the MediaTek chip (MT6589M) is still not available (update: that was true for the time of writing. Luckily as of now, sourcecode is available and a custom ROM is in the making, see Developtment and Original Development Subforums). The link to the linux sourcecode except for the MediaTek part is here:
joemier said:
Here's our next step in providing developer resources. Happy to present to XDA: Fairphone OS Linux kernel source code package. Please let us know issues, problems, questions!
We've put together this package with all our downloads of Fairphone OS and stock Android 4.2.2.
We're eager to see what you all can do with it. Thanks for your patience as we got it up. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great to see that. However, we need MediaTek sourcecode for custom ROMs if we don't want to reverse engineer (which is a lot of hard work and may even be considered a gray area on legality, I think)
Thanks to @dbrgn for bringing this up:
dbrgn said:
@joemier any plans to release the mediatek sources? Without them, not much will happen here...
If I'm not mistaken the mediatek kernel modules were written explicitly for Linux/Android. In which case, according to Linus Torvalds, they would have to be licensed under the GPL license:
That doesn't mean that I would accept just any kind of binary-only module: there are cases where something would be so obviously Linux-specific that it simply wouldn't make sense without the Linux kernel. In those cases, it would also obviously be a derived work, and as such the above excuses don't really apply any more, and it falls under the GPL license.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(source linuxmafia.com/faq/Kernel/proprietary-kernel-modules.html)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So
Petition for MediaTek to release the sourcecode
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/aosp-support-for-mediatek-devices/
Does anyone know if it's possible to persuade MediaTek to release the code, because they use Linux (GPL)?
Why don't they release the code? Can it be exploited or do they think there is a risk this can be used against them by other companies? Or do they just not care to do a little work?
Sony has managed to release the sourcecode of the MediaTek inside the Xperia C
http://developer.sonymobile.com/dow...es/open-source-archive-for-build-16-0-a-0-36/
So we and Fairphone can do it too!
(Mistake by me, it's just the kernel. Thanks chrmhoffmann for pointing it out)
Yes, we definitely need the full sources. One of the reasons why I bought the Fairphone was its alleged openness. If we can't get the Mediatek sources, the promise of a "completely open phone" is nothing but empty words.
That Sony code is just the kernel. It's clearly stated on that page you link to.
Chris
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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More threads about this:
Operation RMD - To Support & Reward our MTK SoC Developers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2164959
OmniROM For MTK Devices: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2483238
MTK 6577 Sources [Complete]: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2560714
MediaTek Contact URL: http://www.mediatek.com/_en/08_info/03_contactUS.php
You guys have to remember any device out of China is not going to be held to the GPL.
Bat cave One
dbrgn said:
Yes, we definitely need the full sources. One of the reasons why I bought the Fairphone was its alleged openness. If we can't get the Mediatek sources, the promise of a "completely open phone" is nothing but empty words.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Promising openness and choosing an MTK chip are completely conflicting right now.
MTK is one of the least open source friendly chipset providers out there.
1) Their kernel is often full of binary blob modules. Sadly, in many cases, blob modules ARE legal. See the infamous Samsung FSR driver on the GalaxyS family.
2) Their kernel source code is a disorganized mess
3) If you have a friendly OEM that will leak MTK's complete Android build tree to you:
a) They will only build as-is with an oddball and VASTLY outdated Ubuntu configuration
b) They're an even more disorganized mess than the kernel sources and will cause severe brain damage if you try to read/understand them without taking breaks to work with a less screwed up source tree
c) Even their OEMs only get statically linked binaries for many components. For example their hwcomposer "source" is just a wrapper around a blob
d) They have yet to support an Android release newer than 4.2 - partly because it looks like they initially wrote stuff for Android 1.x and have never updated their sources properly to fit in with newer versions of Android. (They have been hacking Android sources to be compatible with their junk instead of the other way around). For example, they still don't use device trees.
Even with an OEM that is cooperating significantly with developers (like Oppo), working with MTK devices is slow and extremely agonizing.
Kernel Source ??
Good day everyone,
I was looking around for useful information and I stumbled over this -> https://github.com/varunchitre15/MT6589_kernel_source
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't that what everyone is looking for?
If not... well I'm sorry about pointing out the wrong stuff
Cheers,
ancdix said:
Good day everyone,
I was looking around for useful information and I stumbled over this -> https://github.com/varunchitre15/MT6589_kernel_source
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't that what everyone is looking for?
If not... well I'm sorry about pointing out the wrong stuff
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no
Seriously, did you even bother to read the earlier posts in this thread?
Thank you very much for your kind response.
Anyone wants a Fairphone? Gonna sell mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it's gone Nexus 5 here I come.
There are new sources posted on the Fairphone website. See the thread with technical details.
Hope it is complete now, as the first compilation attempt failed...
FlamingoKid said:
There are new sources posted on the Fairphone website. See the thread with technical details.
Hope it is complete now, as the first compilation attempt failed...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel source is better than many MTK OEMs, but it'll still at best get you custom kernels. AOSP-derivative builds (CM, Omni, etc.) are right now far away.
(In case you haven't figured out - some of the Omni developers have a "complete" MT6589 source tree. I use "complete" in quotes because while it will build 4.2 on a properly configured machine, it is a mix and match of tons of blobs and all sorts of horrible hacks that result in it being a nightmare to integrate into any 4.3/4.4 AOSP-based project. Yes, even with an OEM giving us everything they have access to we're barely able to get 4.4 to boot on MT6589.)
https://gerrit.omnirom.org/#/q/status:open+branch:android-4.4+topic:mt6589,n,z for an example of the terribad hacks required to get it even to boot
Entropy512 said:
...
(In case you haven't figured out - some of the Omni developers have a "complete" MT6589 source tree. I use "complete" in quotes because while it will build 4.2 on a properly configured machine, it is a mix and match of tons of blobs and all sorts of horrible hacks that result in it being a nightmare to integrate into any 4.3/4.4 AOSP-based project. Yes, even with an OEM giving us everything they have access to we're barely able to get 4.4 to boot on MT6589.)
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so this is more a Mediatek issue (provided with full 'sources' it still is a lot of work)? I'm an enterprise developer (JEE) so kerneldeveloping is new to me. Will check the links in your signature though :good:
Sigh. I think that also the new kernel sources don't work. I can't get it to boot. http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=4bv6fyWw
The ringbuffer and/or ram console are quite small, so I don't really get much output. Looks like some problem with the dsi/display.
ARRGGHHH...
Chris
I just don't understand the ChiCom's thinking here .... You have a small army of intelligent motivated developers willing and able to extend your code AND your hardware for free ..... and you just sh-- all over them? There is nothing going on inside a Mediatek processor that's unique, groundbreaking or proprietary that's worth protecting. I say that as someone who has been in the field of Industrial and Commercial Process Controls since 1997
It's like they don't really want to make money and I'm afraid they've picked up a bad habit that's plagued the US business community for decades
Penny wise and Dollar foolish .... Save a couple of pennies now and throw way several dollars in the future (For instance it is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS cheaper to mitigate Pollution at the source than it is to clean up the environmental and health degradation it causes, I've yet to find a single exception to this Rule and the ChiComs are going to learn it real quick the hard way in the very near future)
Can't they see why the Nexus 7 was such a hit? Can't they see how Google took a device that's Margin was so low it was obviously never meant to make real money but since it was so Open it was embraced by the WORLDWIDE community and became a money making best seller. Cripes the biggest downside to a Nexus 7 is that there are so many ROMs and Kernels out there it's hard to choose and takes a week or more of research to cull your way through them
My only conclusion that they are Thieves at heart and thus think everyone else is out to steal from them like the steal from others .... Another bad habit they picked up from US "Corporate-think" .... Or maybe they do such shoddy coding that they are embarrassed to have anyone see it ... nothing pisses off a so-called Professional more than a bunch of 'amateurs' laughing at them and showing them up ....
Plus like any Corporation it's not the better educated engineers and scientists that call the shots but the poorly educated MBA's who don't know a resistor from a capacitor and couldn't even fix a broken flashlight or change their own oil ....
longjohn119 said:
I just don't understand the ChiCom's thinking here .... You have a small army of intelligent motivated developers willing and able to extend your code AND your hardware for free ..... and you just sh-- all over them? There is nothing going on inside a Mediatek processor that's unique, groundbreaking or proprietary that's worth protecting. I say that as someone who has been in the field of Industrial and Commercial Process Controls since 1997
It's like they don't really want to make money and I'm afraid they've picked up a bad habit that's plagued the US business community for decades
Penny wise and Dollar foolish .... Save a couple of pennies now and throw way several dollars in the future (For instance it is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS cheaper to mitigate Pollution at the source than it is to clean up the environmental and health degradation it causes, I've yet to find a single exception to this Rule and the ChiComs are going to learn it real quick the hard way in the very near future)
Can't they see why the Nexus 7 was such a hit? Can't they see how Google took a device that's Margin was so low it was obviously never meant to make real money but since it was so Open it was embraced by the WORLDWIDE community and became a money making best seller. Cripes the biggest downside to a Nexus 7 is that there are so many ROMs and Kernels out there it's hard to choose and takes a week or more of research to cull your way through them
My only conclusion that they are Thieves at heart and thus think everyone else is out to steal from them like the steal from others .... Another bad habit they picked up from US "Corporate-think" .... Or maybe they do such shoddy coding that they are embarrassed to have anyone see it ... nothing pisses off a so-called Professional more than a bunch of 'amateurs' laughing at them and showing them up ....
Plus like any Corporation it's not the better educated engineers and scientists that call the shots but the poorly educated MBA's who don't know a resistor from a capacitor and couldn't even fix a broken flashlight or change their own oil ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. This is why Oppo has done so well in the West compared to other Chinese manufacturers despite almost no international marketing efforts outside of social media - Instead of crapping on community developers, they embraced them and we became their evangelists.
A little bit desappointed
My first fairphone is about to arrive and I've been looking for sofware news for weeks. Disappointedly, I've found FairphoneOS is not being Open Source and customizable... Is it true my research conclusion?
Thanks in advance
Lupin
Ubuntu Phone and Fairphone
If have read this article on omgubuntu.co.uk http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2014/02/bq-aquaris-ubuntu-phone-specs and if i read this correctly, the Ubuntu Phone by manufacturer bq will use a MT6589 (without M). This is essentially the same chipset as the fairphone but with a higher clocked gpu. This should ease porting ubuntu for phones to Fairphone i guess. It will be interessting how (and if) Canonical publishes Ubuntufor that phone. It might actually include sources to help porting Ubuntu to Fairphone.
What do you think?
Well, and what do you think about Neo900: http://neo900.org/#features
Yes, I consider this could be considered spam; sorry for that.
Hi all,
anybody seen/tried this: gizmochina.com/2014/03/10/finally-android-4-4-kitkat-is-available-for-mediatek-mt6589-chipset
Could that be good news?
supersn0b said:
Hi all,
anybody seen/tried this: gizmochina.com/2014/03/10/finally-android-4-4-kitkat-is-available-for-mediatek-mt6589-chipset
Could that be good news?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's new?
Search right here on xda.
There are currently two cyanogenmod builds (CM 10.2 - jb 4.3) and (CM11 - KK 4.4) for the wiko stairway MT6589.
Check the miscellaneous android development forums
Regards