Openmoko/OpenPhoenux GTA04 jumps off

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Table of Contents

gta04+pcblayout

The Story

All started off after Openmoko Inc. began to ship the Openmoko Neo 1973 (GTA01) and Neo Freerunner (GTA02) in 2007, which are fully open source smartphones. A dream became true for many open source lovers and technology enthusiasts at that time.

Sadly, Openmoko Inc. canceled their efforts for an open smartphone in 2009. But due to their openness (schematics, hardware specifications, software) it was possible for enthusiasts from the Openmoko community, with great support from Golden Delicious Computers (one of the german Openmoko distributors), to develop a new and modern open smartphone – the OpenPhoenux GTA04.

Technical Specifications

DSC00972

  • 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor (DM3730)
  • PowerVR integrated graphics (SGX530)
  • 2.8” resistive VGA touchscreen
  • HSDPA 3G modem (Option GTM601)
  • 512MB RAM
  • 1GB internal memory & SDHC card slot (up to 32GB)
  • WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, FM Transceiver
  • Accelerometer, Compass, Gyroscope, Barometric Altimeter
  • USB 2.0 OTG port, 2.5mm headset port, GPS antenna port, video out

Prototypes & First production run (2012)

om_beagle_hybrid
Golden Delicious Computers and the enthusiasts from the Openmoko community started off with the idea of stuffing a BeagleBoard into a Neo Freerunner case and connecting an USB UMTS dongle to it – this was the first prototype GTA04A1, announced in late 2010 and presented at OHSW 2010 and FOSDEM 2011.

Next, they started to integrate all of this onto a single PCB of the same size as the Neo 1973/Freerunner boards, so it could fit into their cases, use their batterys, antennas, speakers, buttons and touchscreens. This board was then called GTA04A2 – the second prototype, which had quite some problems. A redesign of that prototype resulted to the GTA04A3 “Early-Adpoter” boards, which were shipped to about 20 develpoers, enabling them to start with software development for the platform.
LinuxTag12The next step was to reach out to the people by presenting the project on other conventions like the FOSDEM 2012, Openmobility 2012, Linuxwochen 2012 and the LinuxTag 2012, to produce bigger batches of GTA04s. To finance the first production run of the GTA04A4 (which includes some more fixes over the GTA04A3) Goldelico collected pre-orders from interested people from the Openmoko community. They were able to collect about 250 pre-orders and were thus able to start the first big OpenPhoenux production run.

GTA04 Boards in vapour phase soldering machine
GTA04 Boards in vapour phase soldering machine
Unfortunately, “mass”-production turned out not to be an easy task. Goldelico had to find, analyse and solve a lot of problems within the production line and especially in the soldering process, which took a lot of time. Because of all the troubles the people who pre-ordered in the beginning had to wait about 1 year to finally get their devices. At the end of 2012 all problems were solved and the “Group-Tour” had successfully finished. The GTA04 team is very happy to have reached that big milestone. Now that there are about 300 GTA04s (A3+A4) out in the wild, the interest in the Linux/FOSS community seems to be growing for our project. To satisfy that growing demand Goldelico will happily produce more GTA04s of revision A5 (which will include some minor fixes over the A4).

“Now as we have finally learned everything about mass production […], it is time to kick-start the next [production run].” (Dr. Schaller, Golden Delicious Computers)

Next production run (2013) – Out now!

DSC01512To finance the 2nd production run of about 200 more GTA04 boards Goldelico started to collect pre-orders just recently. The production should run smoothly that time, as there were no big changes and the process is known. Production will start in march 2013 and the boards should ship shortly after that.

If you’re interested in pre-ordering one of those new A5 boards, check out the Handheld-Linux store. If you’re interested in getting a complete “Letux 2804” unit (GTA04 board build into an Openmoko Freerunner case) now you can get it from the first OpenPhoenux reseller Pulster.eu (stock is limited!).

OpenPhoenux ecosystem

openphoenux
While preparing the next revision of the GTA04 and solving production problems, the guys at Goldelico started to experiment with other GTA04 powered devices. So it is no secret, that there is already an open GTA04 tablet prototype (Letux 7004) and the ready to use GTA04 professional PDA (Letux 3704), which can be used e.g. in logistics (RFID), measurement (GPS) or guiding tasks (big sunlight readable screen & long lasting battery).
The software for the GTA04 is already in a good shape as well. Besides the Debian (squeeze) hardware-validation image, there is the Debian based QtMoko distribution and the FSO based SHR distribution, which makes the GTA04 useable as a daily phone. Furthermore, a port of Replicant (fully open source Android) is in the works. All in all the GTA04 owners in the OpenPhoenux community seem to be satisfied with their devices, so is Nikolaus Schaller from Goldelico:

“[…] I enjoy every day to be member of this OpenPhoenux community. Let’s make the OpenPhoenux fly to new levels next year!” (Dr. Schaller, Golden Delicious Computers)

I really appreciate to see our community grow again and can just second Nikolaus’ sentence. I wish the community a successful year 2013, in which we can satisfy a lot of free software enthusiasts and freedom lovers needs. OpenPhoenux – Free your phone!

Some more Goodies

There are still some more goodies in the pipeline… So stay tuned!


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GTA04 production is processing

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The OpenPhoenux GTA04 production is finally making nice process. All the GTA04A4 (Group Tour 1) preorders should be ready and shipped soon!

This is the lastest batch of devices, which has sucessfully passed Golden Delicious Computers’ QA process and fulfilled the high quality claims.

After a lot of production issues had to be solved in the last months, we’ve now found a method which provides us with a good production yield. After switching to vapour phase soldering [0], we got rid of most the soldering problems.

GTA04 boards in the vapour phase soldering machine (1/2)
GTA04 boards in the vapour phase soldering machine (2/2)

Happy hacking to all new GTA04 owners!

[0] http://lists.goldelico.com/pipermail/gta04-owner/2012-October/003241.html

OpenPhoenux: Letux Smartphone and Tablet

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OpenPhoenux project

The OpenPhoenux project by the german company “Golden Delicious Computers” (goldelico) is creating a fully free software compatible mobile handheld plattform, based upon an open hardware design. The first step was to design a motherboard fitting the Openmoko Neo Freerunner, so owners of Openmoko phones could “upgrade” their devices to state of the art hardware.

To finance the production of the first big batch of GTA04 boards, goldelico collected preorders of interested people [0]. This “Group Tour” enabled them to start production of about 200 boards, which started to ship to it’s new owners in May 2012 and the last ones are going to be shipped in the coming weeks. Now – about one year and a lot of production complications later – the first batch of GTA04A4 boards is finished [1] and the next one is being prepared [2]. It will include the new GTA04A5 board design, providing some minor bug fixes, and a now working production process.

If you’re interested in one of the new GTA04A5 boards, please subscribe to the OpenPhoenux-Community mailinglist, to get notified about the next production batch and the next round of preorder collection.
It is also possible to register your non-binding interest in one of the new GTA04a5 boards, by using the “Wishlist” functionality, this enables goldelico to estimate the demand and thus the next batch’s size.

Register non-binding interest: http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04
Visit the project’s website at: www.OpenPhoenux.org

Letux 2804 – Smartphone

The Letux 2804 is a smartphone providing a 2.8” touchscreen and a GTA04 core. It’s case can be produced by a 3D printer.
Technical Specifications:

  • 800 MHz / 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor
  • PowerVR SGX integrated graphics
  • 2.84” (43mm x 58mm) VGA touchscreen
  • HSDPA 3G modem
  • 512MB RAM
  • 512MB internal memory + micro SDHC up to 32GB
  • WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, FM Transceiver
  • Accelerometer, Compass, Gyroscope, Barometric Altimeter, Camera
  • USB 2.0 port, 2.5mm headset port, GPS antenna port, video out
  • QtMoko, SHR, Android (Replicant), Debian, …

Letux 7004 – Tablet

The Letux 7004 is a free software centric tablet, powered by a 7.0” touchscreen and the same GTA04 core, as it’s small brother Letux 2804. This tablet was developed while solving the GTA04 production problems and is in the prototyping phase at the moment. So it’s not yet ready to order, unfortunately.
Technical Specifications:

  • 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor
  • PowerVR SGX integrated graphics
  • 7” (140mm × 110mm) VGA touchscreen
  • HSDPA 3G modem
  • 1GB RAM
  • 512MB internal memory + micro SDHC up to 32GB
  • WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, FM Transceiver
  • Accelerometer, Compass, Gyroscope, Barometric Altimeter
  • USB 2.0 port, 3.5mm headset port, Ethernet port, GPS antenna port, video out
  • QtMoko, SHR, Android (Replicant), Debian, …

If you’re interested in high quality open hardware, “Made in Germany”, which is fully compatible with you favorite free and open source software, you should definitely track the projects mentioned above and jump in to get one of those great devices once you’re ready. I’m absolutely satisfied with my GTA04A3 early adopter board, which I’m happily using since over one year!

[0] http://lists.goldelico.com/pipermail/gta04-owner/2011-November/000679.html
[1] http://lists.goldelico.com/pipermail/community/2012-September/000091.html
[2] http://lists.goldelico.com/pipermail/community/2012-October/000103.html

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LPI Linux Essentials

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I took part in the “LPI Linux Essentials” Beta program at LinuxTag 2012 in Berlin (May 23rd, 2012). Today I got my official certificate, finally. I’m now recognized as an approved Linux and Open Source enthusiast and supporter:

In my opinion the Linux Essentials program is a nice thing, especially it’s intention to get young people at school in touch with the basics of computers and the ideals of Linux and Open Source Software. I hope the Linux Essentials recognition will broaden, now that it is officially started and find it’s way into more schools.

If you’re interested in the LPI Linux Essentials Certificate, please have a look at it’s official website:
https://www.lpi.org/linux-certifications/introductory-programs/linux-essentials

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GTA04 booting SHR in 17 seconds

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Video

This video shows the Openmoko/Goldelico GTA04 booting SHR Linux in 17 seconds.
Note: SHR is not yet optimized for a fast bootup on the GTA04.

Got interrested?

If you’re interrested to participate in this open hardware and free and open source software effort, please jump in:
Get your GTA04 now by participating in the GTA04 Group Buy Tour.

Get more information at: www.gta04.org

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OpenPhoenux – Independent Mobile Handheld

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Goldelico GTA04 – OpenPhoenux

Here is a nice video featuring the Goldelico OpenPhoenux (GTA04), which is the successor of the Openmoko Freerunner (GTA02).

The video shows the GTA04 board booting and running the QtMoko GNU/Linux distribution which is based upon Debian GNU/Linux and optimized for smartphone usage. Furthermore it shows an early version of the 3D printed GTA04 case, which can easily be modified to everyones needs and ordered at Shapeways.

If you’re interresed in this awesome project, please have a look at its project page www.gta04.org and take part in the GTA04 Group Buy Tour.

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[update] GTA04 Installation Guide for SHR

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GTA04 Installation Guide for SHR

This is a step-by-step guide, which should get you from zero to a working SHR on your GTA04 in just a few minutes.

Update Nov. 2012: Updated the instructions to the new default U-Boot enviroment.

Getting the files

Preparing the U-Boot enviroment

uboot multiboot menuThe new U-Boot system (as of November 2012) provides a graphical multi-boot solution.
If your device is shipped after November 2012 you’ll probably already have this system pre-installed.

Otherwise you’ll have to get the latest hw-validation image from  http://download.goldelico.com/gta04 and put it on a specially formated microSD card (using the makesd script). Then boot this special hw-validation microSD card having the AUX button pressed, to flash the new boot system (the screen will trun red while falshing).

After switching back (or reformating) to your normal microSD card you can always access the boot menu by booting the device, having AUX pressed.

Preparing the SHR microSD card

Your microSD card can have several partitions, e.g.:

  • 1st partition: ext3, “rootfs” (e.g. for SHR)
  • 2nd partition: ext3, “system” (e.g. for Debian)
  • 3rd partition: FAT32, “data” (e.g. for music, documents, …)

Installing SHR

To install the SHR image, you have to untar the image you downloaded to the “rootfs”-partition. Then you have to copy the bootargs.scr file to /boot (on the microSD card).

tar xzvpf shr-image.tar.gz --numeric-owner -C /media/rootfs
cp bootargs.scr /media/rootfs/boot/

First boot

shr wizard screen
After you cleanly unmounted the partitions and put the microSD card back into the GTA04 you can boot your device, having the AUX button pressed (to access the boot menu). You’ll be greeted by the graphical U-Boot multiboot selection. Select the partition to boot from (e.g. SD:1 for SHR).

Next, a first start wizard will pop up, which let’s you choose between some options.

Be aware to choose a scale factor of 2.0 when asked. Other than this you could just keep the defaults.

You can now login via USB networking at: 192.168.7.2

Installing Firmware

If you want to use the WiFi/Bluetooth chip, you have to use a non-free firmware from Marvell.
To get it you have to install linux-firmware-sd8686.

opkg install linux-firmware

Congratulations

shr home screenYou successfully installed SHR on your GTA04.

For further information or if you have any issues, please consult the SHR wiki.

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Building a Case for the Goldelico GTA04

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I just came home from my christmas holidays and found a nice, little parcel from Shapeways in my mail box. It contained my first experiment with the Blender 3D software and the Shapeways 3D printing service.

Update: Follow the efforts here: 3D printed GTA04 Case

The Story

A few weeks earlier I started to work on the original Openmoko Neo 1973 (GTA01) CAD files, as found at goldelico.com, with the intention of creating a 3D printable model, which I could print and use as a case for my new Goldelico GTA04 smartphone. To get started I got a Blender 3D crash course by a friend of mine.

First Attempt

As I never did any 3D work before I started with the easiest part – the battery cover:

   

This first prototype was printed using the “White Strong & Flexible” material offered by Shapeways. As you can see on the pictures, this material is a little rough, but still feels nice in the hands. Furthermore I removed the hole at the bottom, as it was pretty hard to design.

The printed part fits nicely on my existing Openmoko Neo Freerunner (GTA02) case, which contains my GTA04 board at the moment:

     

Future Plans

Now, that my first attempt was pretty successful, I plan to further work on this topic, to acquire a full case for my GTA04, so I can use the old case for my beloved Openmoko Neo Freerunner (GTA02) again.
As a next step I’ll modify the Neo 1973’s middle and front parts to be printable with a 3D printer and I’ll probably try to print them using a less rough material, to compare the results.

How you can help

If you like this effort, I’d be happy if you’d go to my Shapeways site (“SlyParts”) and order the first part of your GTA04 case, which will raise 1€ for myself, which I’ll use to order further prototypes.

If you don’t have a Goldelico GTA04, yet, you should take a look at the GTA04 Group Buy Tour, where we collect a batch of 350 orders which will be produced at once, so the price can get squeezed down.

If you ordered a part at my Shapeways site, please leave a comment here about which material you used and how it feels.

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Updated: Openmoko Community Survey 2011

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Update 9.1.2012: results are updated.

As the year 2011 nears it’s end, we – the Openmoko Community – did a poll [0] about which is the most popular hardware and which is the most popular software in our community. The poll was open for one week now and we got votes from 73 people.

I decided to close the poll now and release the results to the public. To create a ranking I gave 1 point to a “YES” vote and 0.5 points to a “(YES)” vote. The maximum (100%) is 73 points.

Rankings

Software Side:

1. SHR                  112.5 points    (61%)
2. QtMoko                99.5 points    (54%)
3. Debian                75.5 points    (41%)
4. Other Distro          40.0 points    (22%)


Hardware Side:

1. Om GTA02             158.5 points    (86%)
2. Goldelico GTA04       71.0 points    (38%)
3. Nokia N900            34.0 points    (18%)
4. Other Device          26.0 points    (14%)
5. Palm Pre (+variants)  14.5 points    ( 8%)
6. Om GTA01               9.5 points    ( 5%)
7. Google Nexus S         7.0 points    ( 4%)

Conclusion

On the software side SHR is still the most popular distro, directly followed by QtMoko. Quiet a few people commented, that they intend to code their own software/GUI mostly to educated themselves.

On the hardware side the Om GTA02 is the clear winner (which was expected). Surprisingly the Goldelico GTA04 is the 2nd most interesting device in this community, even though very few people have one, yet. Still, most of the developers already own one and you should get yours soon [1], as it seems to become a common target of this community. The Palm Pre, Om GTA01 and Google Nexus S got very few points and thus are probably not worth to support…

Happy New Year

Now, i’d like to wish all you Open Hard- and Software-Enthusiasts out there a good start into the year 2012. I hope the GTA04 project will flourish in 2012 and will help our community to grow and free the phone again!

Links

[0] http://www.doodle.com/sh6insnivnvqyz7h
[1] http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 Group Tour

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