[pkg-fso-maint] What software do you (want to) use on your Freerunner?

[Thibaut Girka]

Hi,
As you might know, I will soon be working on debian-installer support for the Freerunner (and probably other "similar" devices) as a GSoC student[1].

Before starting the actual work, I would like to have your opinion on a few points:

1°) µSD, yes, but NAND?
In any case, µSD will be supported, but do you think it is worthy to provide support for Debian on the NAND?
It shouldn't be that hard, but I don't think there is any benefit in it, since there is only 256MB available.

2°) What bootloader should be supported? Qi? U-Boot? Both?
The boot process slightly differs between Qi and U-Boot.
The installation process will use the ROM U-Boot (since it's available on any FR, and provide useful things like DFU),
but once Debian is installed, it should be easier to use Qi.
What about U-Boot support? Is it really needed? Should we assume Qi is installed on the NAND?
Or maybe install it ourselves (but this way sounds far too intrusive)?

3°) Which Desktop Environment should be the default?
Gnome is the default DE for a desktop installation of Debian, but it, of course, isn't suitable for the FR.
I guess the main challengers are:
  * XFCE: quite similar to Gnome, stable, usable, it has been in Debian for a long time and there is already a task for it
  * Illume: faster and finger-friendly, but much more experimental, and available in unstable only

4°) The phone suite
Well, after all, the FreeRunner is a phone.
A quick testing of Zhone, already available in Debian, shows that it seems reliable and relatively fast.
However, it is really simple, and does not provide many features.
Then, do you use your FR as a phone? If yes, what software do you use?


[1] http://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2010/OpenMokoFreePhoneDebianInstaller
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