From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <4e7404bb.270b650a.3d87.ffffc50c@mx.google.com> Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:46:34 -0700 Message-ID: From: John Floren To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Re: [9fans] Announcing Inferno for Android phones Topicbox-Message-UUID: 2533f996-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 By the way, it's pretty easy to try things out while the phone is running. Just push over /data/inferno, then you should be able to do something like this: % stop zygote # this kills off the java UI % /data/inferno/Android/arm/bin/emu-g ; wm/wm The README.android file should tell you all you need to know about managing the radio. Oh, and if you use the network, it's a good idea to do a "setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8" (at the Android prompt, not in Inferno) first, otherwise DNS doesn't seem to work right. When you're sick of testing inferno, just Ctrl-C the process and run "start zygote". I've found a few things that need to be fixed and will be working on them Monday. However, if you just want to get it running on your own phone, you should be able to do it. You'll need to have the full Android build environment set up, not just the SDK, and you'll need to have adb in your path. You may also need to put "agcc" (provided in the repo) into your path in order to actually build Inferno. I believe README.android has a summary of how to build Inferno yourself down at the bottom. John On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 7:40 PM, John Floren wrote: > We've only had one device with an actual radio in it, so we haven't > been able to test on anything but the Nexus S, but there's probably a > total of 100 lines of device-specific code. Mostly, you have to figure > out: > > 1. The screen dimensions and the color depth > 2. Which devices are for the touchscreen, which are for the buttons > > emu/port/main.c and emu/Android/screen.c contain all the > device-specific code, I think. If there is any justice, the radio > interface will be the same--we talk to "rild", the radio daemon, > rather than directly with the hardware. > > John > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 7:35 PM, Devon H. O'Dell = wrote: >> How difficult is it to get specs and port this to other android devices?= I'd >> love to run this on my motorola droid if I could get all the radios work= ing. >> >> --dho (via said droid) >> >> On Sep 16, 2011 10:25 PM, "paul.a.lalonde@gmail.com" >> wrote: >>> For all these plan9ish things on OSX I run a case-sensitive file-system= in >>> a file; just use the Disk Utility to make one and then mount it. I link= mine >>> into my home directory and use it for all case-sensitive apps. >>> Paul >>> >>> Sent from my HTC Inspire=99 4G on AT&T >>> >>> ----- Reply message ----- >>> From: "John Floren" >>> To: "Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs" <9fans@9fans.net>, >>> >>> Subject: [9fans] Announcing Inferno for Android phones >>> Date: Fri, Sep 16, 2011 7:01 pm >>> >>> >>> One caveat that I just came across: If you're trying to set up your >>> phone from Mac OS X, it's quite possible that the case-insensitive >>> filesystem will bite you. We have two directories at the same level, >>> named "android" and "Android". If you do an adb push from OS X, >>> they'll both end up in a directory called "android". Here's how you >>> can fix it: >>> >>> (run adb shell) >>> # mkdir /data/inferno/Android >>> # mv /data/inferno/android/arm /data/inferno/Android/ >>> >>> There may be other problems lurking, but I'm pretty sure all of the >>> stuff Inferno needs is all lowercase. >>> >>> >>> John >>> >>> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 3:23 PM, John Floren wrote: >>>> We would like to announce the availability of Inferno for Android >>>> phones. Because our slogan is "If it ain't broke, break it", we >>>> decided to replace the Java stack on Android phones with >>>> Inferno. We've dubbed it the Hellaphone--it was originally Hellphone, >>>> to keep with the Inferno theme, but then we realized we're in Northern >>>> California and the change was obvious. >>>> >>>> The Hellaphone runs Inferno directly on top of the basic Linux layer >>>> provided by Android. We do not even allow the Java system to >>>> start. Instead, emu draws directly to the Linux framebuffer (thanks, >>>> Andrey, for the initial code!) and treats the touchscreen like a >>>> one-button mouse. Because the Java environment doesn't start, it only >>>> takes about 10 seconds to go from power off to a fully-booted Inferno >>>> environment. >>>> >>>> As of today, we have Inferno running on the Nexus S and the Nook >>>> Color. It should also run on the Android emulator, but we haven't >>>> tested that in a long time. The cell radio is supported, at least on >>>> the Nexus S (the only actual phone we've had), so you can make phone >>>> calls, send texts, and use the data network. >>>> >>>> The Inferno window manager has been re-worked with cell phone use in >>>> mind. Windows are automatically sized to fill the whole screen. The >>>> menu has been moved to the top and the menu items have been made >>>> significantly larger. Physical buttons on the phone are now used to do >>>> many common tasks: >>>> >>>> =A0 =A0(these keys are for the Nexus S, different bindings are used fo= r >>>> the Nook, which has different keys available) >>>> =A0 =A0* Back: Close the current window >>>> =A0 =A0* Menu: Toggle the onscreen keyboard >>>> =A0 =A0* Home: Minimize the current window >>>> =A0 =A0* Power: Turn off the screen >>>> =A0 =A0* Power+Volume Up: Open the screen brightness widget >>>> =A0 =A0* Power+Volume Down: Turn off the phone >>>> =A0 =A0* Power+Home: Restart Inferno >>>> >>>> Installation is reasonably simple. You'll need the Android SDK >>>> (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html), with the platform-tools >>>> package installed for the adb and fastboot utilities. We also strongly >>>> recommend installing CyanogenMod on your phone before >>>> proceeding--that's what we use to test. >>>> >>>> First, make absolutely sure you have the "adb" and "fastboot" >>>> commands in your path--see the previous paragraph regarding the >>>> SDK and try running "adb" to be sure. Download the tarball from >>>> http://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/downloads/hellaphone.tgz and >>>> unpack it in your root. You should end up with a /data/inferno >>>> directory (we put it there because of the Inferno build >>>> process). Then, go to the /data/inferno/android directory and run >>>> the Reflash-Nexus-S.sh script (assuming you have a Nexus S. Run >>>> Reflash-Nook-Color.sh if you have a Nook). This will >>>> automatically set up the phone to boot into either Inferno or the >>>> regular Java environment--during bootup, the screen will go solid >>>> white; if you touch the screen at this point, it will boot into >>>> the regular Android environment, otherwise it will timeout and go >>>> to Inferno. However, at this point you're not yet ready to boot >>>> into Inferno, so reboot the phone and touch the screen to go into >>>> the regular Android UI. The final task is to run the command "cd >>>> /data/inferno; ./parallel-push.sh". Reboot, let it boot into >>>> Inferno, and you're ready to go. >>>> >>>> You can also clone the repository >>>> (http://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/) and build it yourself, but this >>>> is a significant effort. I do not recommend it if you wish to simply >>>> try the system, but if you want to do development you should get the >>>> repository. >>>> >>>> Disclaimer: If you break your phone, it's not our fault. Don't email >>>> us, don't come knocking on our door, and don't call us--oh wait, you >>>> won't be able to do that anyway, your phone is broken! >>>> >>>> Credit where credit is due: Ron Minnich came up with the initial >>>> idea--we've been kicking the idea of a Plan 9/Inferno phone around for >>>> years. Our summer interns, Joel Armstrong and Joshua Landgraf, did the >>>> lion's share of the work of making Inferno into a usable cell phone >>>> OS--no small feat, considering that neither had any Limbo or Inferno >>>> experience before the start of the summer! They re-wrote the UI, >>>> puzzled out the undocumented cell radio interface, figured out audio, >>>> worked to make Inferno more portable across phones, and generally >>>> figured out how to make Inferno and the Android kernel coexist >>>> peacefully. Andy Jones, another intern, also did some very early work >>>> with Android that helped us figure out the Android init process and >>>> how to build for Android. I took care of getting Inferno running on >>>> the phone in the first place and have been adding things occasionally >>>> since then. We would also like to thank Andrey Mirtchovski for >>>> providing the OLPC framebuffer code (which ported to the Android >>>> phones relatively easily), and of course Charles Forsyth for keeping >>>> the Inferno torch lit all these years (and helping me figure out some >>>> puzzling problems throughout the summer)! >>>> >>> >> >