Freerunner ships; new framework; interesting uses; Openmoko interns

So much going on in the past couple of weeks:

1. Freerunner is now shipping, although I doubt that anyone reading this blog doesn’t know this already. Buy yours at www.openmoko.com, join a group purchase to save on shipping and get a better price, or check out our growing list of worldwide distributors.

2. The Python-based FSO Stack, also known as the Openmoko Framework initiative, is available for very early viewing. Called FSO because it’s an implementation of the freesmartphone.org APIs, the goal of FSO is to make programming the phone as easy as programming a web page.

3. Joseph Reeves of Oxford Archeology pointed me at a great blog detailing the use of gvSIG Mobile on Jalimo on a Freerunner. Joseph is a regular contributor to Openmoko, and Oxford Archeology is soon to become an Openmoko distributor.

4. Mickey Lauer writes (excellently, as usual) about the three different major software stacks for the Neo family and how to decide which one is best suited for different applications. For anyone interested in experimenting with these stacks, note that both ASU and FSO are pre-alpha.

5. Clarification on external antennas:

1. The socket on the exterior of both the Neo 1973 and the Neo Freerunner is for an external GPS antenna.

2. The connector for an external GSM/GPRS antenna is under the rear cover, accessible when the battery cover is removed.

3. More details here.

6. A brief story about the Freerunner and Openmoko in general appeared on ABC TV here in San Francisco and also went to Associated Press. To see the video, just click 2 of 2 below the picture. Note that it takes a while to get to the video, but eventually it comes up.

7. Openmoko for robotics! There have been a (small) number of mentions about this, and I’d like to showcase these. Peter’s project a “… solar powered autonomous boat project … using a Openmoko as the on board computer. Peter’s post includes links to a number of video clips.

8. We have summer interns at Openmoko. Read their introductions here, here, and here.

Michael