Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarscn
...I'm wondering if it's possible to install BSD on any of them.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BSDfan666
The possibility of getting one of the free BSD's on your phone is slim, but several phones exist running Linux..
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Given the nature of the OP's questions, I'm taking this comment one step further.
While a number of cell phone vendors may be able to make the claim that their devices run Linux, it is not
stock off-the-shelf Linux
(nor even a stock Linux kernel...) just as the hardware is not identical to off-the-shelf computers. In other words, the operating system used within cell phones is highly stripped & tweaked to the specific needs of the hardware found the device.
Yes, a *BSD can be installed
(Danger is built on top of a NetBSD core...), but it will take an experienced embedded programmer significant time to do the customization
(After all, it is custom hardware...), & the result will not be identical to what can be found on a commodity desktop.
The goal of using a known kernel such as Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD,
etc. as the basis of specialized embedded devices is to take advantage of a vetted code base to provide
basic resource management -- memory management, multiple processes, interprocess communication, providing a working network stack in a minimal environment -- code that doesn't need to be reinvented. Expecting common userland roadmarks such as X
(which is a resource pig...) may be too much in some instances. Constraining costs & physical space requirements are much more important in the embedded world than providing a lush GNOME-friendly interface.
To get a feel for the
added constraints embedded developers must consider, read Dale Rahn's
(one of OpenBSD's developers...) interview on tweaking OpenBSD for ARM processors:
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1393496
Note that the article references Symbian as being a major player in the embedded market. Wind Rivers
(who for a short time provided funding for the NetBSD Project...) is another who provided the base platform for NASA's Mars rovers.