Open source hardware alternatives

Thursday 18 January 2007 - Filed under Hardware

iPhone lock-in got you down? iPod don’t do the video you want? PSP too hard to hack? Tivo monthly subscription price hike bothering you? Let’s check out some open source alternatives to these hardware devices.

First up, the phone. Both FIC and Trolltech (of QT fame) have promised Linux-based phones. Of course, Nokia has the 800, Motorola has theirs, and a number of other players are in this market, but these two look pretty promising.

The Qtopia Greenphone looks pretty cool, and is the candy-bar variety. QVGA touch screen, keypad, tri-band GSM and Bluetooth. Yum. No wifi? Oh well. Mix in some Qt and a Linux 2.4 kernel, $695 and you are all set. Oh, and it’s really, really, green. Cool, I say.

FIC is releasing their FIC-GTA001 (another link). 640×480 touch screen, assisted-GPS, quad-band GSM, Linux 2.6.x, X.org, and GTK+ 2.x. Tasty. iPhone-ish, for sure. Coming in February, we hear for just $350.

Now, how about a recording device for television? I built an HDTV MythTV box, and there are plenty of software packages in FOSS-land for that. But how about some pre-packaged hardware? Neuros is offering their OSD for just $229. Records and plays back right on the device, and makes your media available on the TV over the network. Very cool.

Okay, so all this media crap isn’t for you. You want handheld gaming. Enter the venerable Game Park GP2X. This thing has been around for a while in various forms, but this latest version, for $199 through Dynamism.com is extra yummy. Dual-core ARM processor, dedicated graphics hardware, 3.5″ LCD for 320×240 playback, SD expandability, and a Linux development environment. Runs MAME, user-contributed games, plays your MP3s and OGG files, your videos, and can connect to your TV. Why don’t I already have one of these things?

2007-01-18  »  mark