Related
Before we start, it may appear Motorola and Samsung will be the only ones who will have a Honeycomb product until at least May/June. The reasons being:-
1. Honeycomb supply to manufacturers have been delayed until May/June. I dont know exactly what this means except that the manufacturers I work with cannot get access to Honeycomb for their products (but it may be related to the next rumor).
2. Honeycomb wont be open sourced and a major manufacturer is working with Google on trying to secure licensing.
Sorry I cant be more specific than this. The second rumor contradicts everything Google has done so far, but if I mention the manufacturer involved, it lends weight to the rumor.
Does anyone else have any further information to collaborate/debunk these rumors?
EDIT: When I say Honeycomb wont be open sourced, I meant Google plans to close source it and Honeycomb will require a license.
I'm gonna call BS on all of the above.
#1. New member, first post, no sources or company names given.
#2. Honeycomb SDK is already published. Functional installs of Honeycomb can and have already been built from this.
#3. Licensing means they CANNOT closed source it
Either present us with some evidence, or quit spouting rubbish.
FloatingFatMan said:
I'm gonna call BS on all of the above.
#1. New member, first post, no sources or company names given.
#2. Honeycomb SDK is already published. Functional installs of Honeycomb can and have already been built from this.
#3. Licensing means they CANNOT closed source it
Either present us with some evidence, or quit spouting rubbish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ couldn't put it better myself.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
There is a reason why this is a new account, if it isnt obvious to you.
I am not asking for speculative opinions, I am wondering if there is anyone else in the industry hearing either of these rumors.
Atleast give some sources?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Sorry, the market for real Honeycomb products is actually very small at the moment so any hints will reveal too much. Please, if anyone else has heard anything just PM me.
Small huh? There are plenty of devices coming out quite soon. Acer's Iconia Tab A500, for example, has just had its FCC approval granted and will be out mid-April. That's running Honeycomb, so kinda slaps your "rumours" in the chops about it not being available until June.
FloatingFatMan said:
#3. Licensing means they CANNOT closed source it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What licence exactly?
FYI Android itself is licensed under the Apache software license, which is a non-copyleft licence.
If Google so chose, they could keep Honeycomb itself closed source, and their only open source requirement would be publishing the source for the linux kernel on shipping devices.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
What licence exactly?
FYI Android itself is licensed under the Apache software license, which is a non-copyleft licence.
If Google so chose, they could keep Honeycomb itself closed source, and their only open source requirement would be publishing the source for the linux kernel on shipping devices.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because they've already released it under open license.
FloatingFatMan said:
Because they've already released it under open license.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The latest release of Android released under the Apache Software Licence is Gingerbread - that can't be taken back.
However, anything built on top of that source can be closed source if the developer so wishes, and that includes Honeycomb!
I still expect Google to release Honeycomb under the ASL, but the point it - *they don't have to!*.
Regards,
Dave
Seriously guys,do you really think that in times like these we're living,Google will abandon the idea that made their OS so successful?I highly doubt that...
tolis626 said:
Seriously guys,do you really think that in times like these we're living,Google will abandon the idea that made their OS so successful?I highly doubt that...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutely agree with you - I cannot fathom any reason for Google to make Honeycomb close source. This rumor (#2) is from a bigger company than the company that provided the first rumor.
Interesting news ! Thanks for the share !
FloatingFatMan said:
I'm gonna call BS on all of the above.
#1. New member, first post, no sources or company names given.
[...]
Either present us with some evidence, or quit spouting rubbish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same as the troll who claimed Samsung were trying to charge networks for software updates yet everyone was willing to believe that...
I'm not arguing that this looks and smells like trolling, merely attempting to highlight that plenty of people round here seem to be quite happy to 'never let the facts get in the way of a good story'.
Sorry to double-post but Engadget has an article on the matter.
Here's a quote from Google:
Android 3.0, Honeycomb, was designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes and improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization. While we're excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones. Until then, we've decided not to release Honeycomb to open source. We're committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will publish the source as soon as it's ready.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely no mention of licences.
It does, on the other hand, talk of Honeycomb 'not being ready, which ties in to a lot of reviews and impressions of it as an OS.
Again, I feel this is very similar to the 'Samsung charging for upgrades' rumour - something takes a little bit longer than normal to happen and a minority start making up ridiculous rumours to try and explain it.
Step666 said:
Sorry to double-post but
Here's a quote from Google:
Absolutely no mention of licences.
It does, on the other hand, talk of Honeycomb 'not being ready, which ties in to a lot of reviews and impressions of it as an OS.
Again, I feel this is very similar to the 'Samsung charging for upgrades' rumour - something takes a little bit longer than normal to happen and a minority start making up ridiculous rumours to try and explain it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure whether my post occurred before the Engadget article or not, but this article certainly validates rumor #1. It would be interesting to see how this affects manufacturers who have announced Honeycomb products (one poster mentioned Acer earlier). I know some are launching Gingerbread instead, which isnt ideal.
While the link between the two rumors is subject to interpretation, the two rumors were taken from different sources. The second rumor is less believable (even to me) however, the source is from a significantly larger company.
No, it doesn't validate rumour number one.
You claimed that manufacturers are unable to get a copy of Honeycomb - there's a big difference between Google publicly releasing the source code and passing copies of it to manufacturers.
Do you really think that when Google released Froyo's or GIngerbread's source code that that was the first time HTC, Samsung etc had seen it?
I really don't.
Also, as has been pointed out already, the fact that there are Honeycomb devices coming from a range of manufacturers goes some way to disproving your point.
As for the believability of your rumours, unless you can back them up with any sort of proof, I don't see any reason to believe either of them.
Well the op might be on to something at least. I'm not buying that top tier manufacturers won't be able to get the code as LG and Acer among others are going to be releasing tablets with honeycomb in the coming weeks.
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-not-open-sourcing-honeycomb-says-bloomberg
Thank you so much for this article - this is another source verifying the difficulty of manufacturers getting honeycomb source code. There is no doubt the Tier 1 companies will get preferential access to the code - the question is, who is seen as Tier 1 by Google.
Perhaps in regards to licensing, this may be just a legal formality for companies to get access to Honeycomb at the moment, and it is unclear whether these licenses will cost anything.
Thank you again, this has been a great help. This is a third party source we can use to explain to our clients why we cannot launch honeycomb at the date we promised.
I am glad Google isn't releasing the code so cheap companies can't just stick Honeycomb on crap devices and make it look bad.
Sent from my Incredible with the XDA Premium App.
There are a couple big issues facing the gtablet currently. One is the apparent end of life for the gtablet and Viewsonic all but ignoring its users. The other is nvidia blatantly leaving harmony behind as a platform and not providing even the basics needed for the open source community to fill the gaping hole in their support. In light of ViewSonic responding maybe lay off of them a bit and let's focus on nvidia
(replace (at) with the actual at symbol... forum wouldn't let me use them in this post).
viewsonic fail:
Support seems to have disappeared for the gtablet. (at)ViewSonic seems to have abandoned its customers. #ViewSonicFail #gtabletFail
nvidia fail:
Tegra2 isnt all its cracked up to be when (at)nvidia states no support for harmony platform no Android 2.3/3.0 ever #Tegra2Fail #nvidiaFail
Tweet away... you don't have to use those specific messages but something using those tags would maybe get us some traction.
Done and Done.
I would also encourage people to sign up at Nvidia and ask for an official explanation why Harmony is being given end-of-life treatment:
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony
it only takes a few minutes to sign up.
Without the drivers for harmony devices the Gtablet will basically be frozen in time at 2.2 (unless you don't need any hardware acceleration)
This is a pretty big issue and something they NEED to at least address WHY they feel that Harmony isn't worth their time supporting.
pr0cs said:
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/fo...eycomb-harmony
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Click to collapse
Fixing your link
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony
Trying to post in their forum is like an act of congress.
Done, done and done.
MC
Adding my voice, as well.
pr0cs said:
I would also encourage people to sign up at Nvidia and ask for an official explanation why Harmony is being given end-of-life treatment:
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony
it only takes a few minutes to sign up.
Without the drivers for harmony devices the Gtablet will basically be frozen in time at 2.2 (unless you don't need any hardware acceleration)
This is a pretty big issue and something they NEED to at least address WHY they feel that Harmony isn't worth their time supporting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done.
Let's try to get that thread as long as the Viewsonic one on this board.
Posted. This community should be heard!
Posted this and another link on their Facebook page. 5 minutes later it was gone.
OP - Maybe you could include the link to the Nvidia thread in your post?
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony
I also signed up and showed my support.
My point being - Is what we have really a "Tegra 2"? Then why not support it OR at least give the dev community some help.
Just on twitter
@ViewSonic is standing by the GTablet and is not abandoning our customers. Yes, we are selling new tablet products, but the GTablet is still an awesome piece of hardware that users can continue to enjoy for a long time to come. Please see our updated favorites page: http://bit.ly/eJB4Ob
@8:49 pm EST
clankfu said:
OP - Maybe you could include the link to the Nvidia thread in your post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will update it and add the link once I get enough posts under my belt to be allowed to post links. That's the problem of being a non-posting member since 2009... now that I've started making posts I haven't posted enough to be trusted yet.
I've submitted to reddit.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/go017/nvidia_drops_support_for_tegra2_platform_harmony/
Vote up and make your comments!
Nvidia have updated the tegra developers post:
UPDATE 12 APRIL 2011:
Sorry folks looks like I caused a bit of confusion. Since this is a developer forum my comments
were targeted at Tegra Honeycomb developers and for this we’d like to focus on Ventana. For shipping or production products, customers should contact the device makers directly for OS support plans. They are responsible for the OS shipping on their device.
In relation to our linux kernel git repository, NVIDIA will continue to provide full open-source support for all of our kernel components and will push more of that upstream over time.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Passing the buck I guess. But NotionInk is saying that the Adam will still get honeycomb. Still no word from Viewsonic that I can find
StrangeAttractor said:
Nvidia have updated the tegra developers post:
Passing the buck I guess. But NotionInk is saying that the Adam will still get honeycomb. Still no word from Viewsonic that I can find
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what does all the mean though? will we or will we not get drivers compatable with gingerbread and/or honeycomb?
StrangeAttractor said:
Nvidia have updated the tegra developers post:
Passing the buck I guess. But NotionInk is saying that the Adam will still get honeycomb. Still no word from Viewsonic that I can find
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the Adam is getting honeycomb then I want it too!! Come on ViewSonic!!
Nvidia dropping support for older tegra 2's
Hi all,
Someone just threw this link up in the #epic irc room.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/nvidia-tegra-2-support-stops/
Haven't seen it posted over here yet I figured I'd throw it out there.
skeeterslint said:
Haven't seen it posted over here yet I figured I'd throw it out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you look?
There are at least 5 topics about it on the first page.
This was posted in the Nvidia forums yesterday:
Mar 16 2011 at 12:07 AM #1
NVIDIA is only supporting the Ventana platform for android releases going forward. At the moment we have released Froyo and Gingerbread OS images for Ventana and will release Honeycomb after Google has done so.
UPDATE 12 APRIL 2011:
Sorry folks looks like I caused a bit of confusion. Since this is a developer forum my comments
were targeted at Tegra Honeycomb developers and for this we’d like to focus on Ventana. For shipping or production products, customers should contact the device makers directly for OS support plans. They are responsible for the OS shipping on their device.
In relation to our linux kernel git repository, NVIDIA will continue to provide full open-source support for all of our kernel components and will push more of that upstream over time.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
Funny I did look and didn't see anything about it otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to post it.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
UPDATE 4-13 - Nvidia Tegra 2 Harmony Support
This comes from Andrew over at Nvidia (http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony?page=3):
UPDATE 13 APRIL 2011
A lot has been read into a very short post about a Tegra development kit. I'd like to clear up a few points.
First, nothing changes in what we’re delivering to the open source community or customers. NVIDIA will continue to post the Tegra kernel to kernel.org and publish our Android code to our public git servers. Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners. We will continue to do this and nothing about these processes has changed.
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
In relation to my original reply, that was a response to a specific question about a Tegra 250 Development Kit. Given the confusion, we will work with owners of Tegra 250 Development Kits individually to determine their needs. The term "Harmony" is an internal codename for the Tegra 250 Development Kit. It is not a tablet reference design. Each shipping tablet is a custom design with varying hardware components and requires a custom OS image from the OEM who made the tablet.
Finally, while we cannot support or give out third party peripheral drivers or provide the Android 3.0 source before Google does, we do want to explore whether we can assist the open source ROM makers. We will be reaching out to them today.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
UPDATE 13 APRIL 2011
A lot has been read into a very short post about a Tegra development kit. I'd like to clear up a few points.
First, nothing changes in what we’re delivering to the open source community or customers. NVIDIA will continue to post the Tegra kernel to kernel.org and publish our Android code to our public git servers. Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners. We will continue to do this and nothing about these processes has changed.
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
In relation to my original reply, that was a response to a specific question about a Tegra 250 Development Kit. Given the confusion, we will work with owners of Tegra 250 Development Kits individually to determine their needs. The term "Harmony" is an internal codename for the Tegra 250 Development Kit. It is not a tablet reference design. Each shipping tablet is a custom design with varying hardware components and requires a custom OS image from the OEM who made the tablet.
Finally, while we cannot support or give out third party peripheral drivers or provide the Android 3.0 source before Google does, we do want to explore whether we can assist the open source ROM makers. We will be reaching out to them today.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
Now this is a little more in line with what I was hoping for as a response from nvidia.
Robeet, any chance they reached out to you directly?
-Lil'
life02 said:
UPDATE 13 APRIL 2011
A lot has been read into a very short post about a Tegra development kit. I'd like to clear up a few points.
First, nothing changes in what we’re delivering to the open source community or customers. NVIDIA will continue to post the Tegra kernel to kernel.org and publish our Android code to our public git servers. Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners. We will continue to do this and nothing about these processes has changed.
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
In relation to my original reply, that was a response to a specific question about a Tegra 250 Development Kit. Given the confusion, we will work with owners of Tegra 250 Development Kits individually to determine their needs. The term "Harmony" is an internal codename for the Tegra 250 Development Kit. It is not a tablet reference design. Each shipping tablet is a custom design with varying hardware components and requires a custom OS image from the OEM who made the tablet.
Finally, while we cannot support or give out third party peripheral drivers or provide the Android 3.0 source before Google does, we do want to explore whether we can assist the open source ROM makers. We will be reaching out to them today.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonderful news!
life02 said:
This comes from Andrew over at Nvidia (http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony?page=3):
UPDATE 13 APRIL 2011
A lot has been read into a very short post about a Tegra development kit. I'd like to clear up a few points.
First, nothing changes in what we’re delivering to the open source community or customers. NVIDIA will continue to post the Tegra kernel to kernel.org and publish our Android code to our public git servers. Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners. We will continue to do this and nothing about these processes has changed.
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
In relation to my original reply, that was a response to a specific question about a Tegra 250 Development Kit. Given the confusion, we will work with owners of Tegra 250 Development Kits individually to determine their needs. The term "Harmony" is an internal codename for the Tegra 250 Development Kit. It is not a tablet reference design. Each shipping tablet is a custom design with varying hardware components and requires a custom OS image from the OEM who made the tablet.
Finally, while we cannot support or give out third party peripheral drivers or provide the Android 3.0 source before Google does, we do want to explore whether we can assist the open source ROM makers. We will be reaching out to them today.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does this mean that we may get Gingerbread Hardware acceleration after all? (let alone Honeycomb)
CodeNinja said:
Wonderful news!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, which puts the ball back in VS's court.
My reading comprehension may be off, but I took this:
Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners.
As meaning we'll have to rely on Viewsonic to get the GPU driver for GB or Honeycomb.
life02 said:
This comes from Andrew over at Nvidia (http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/honeycomb-harmony?page=3):
UPDATE 13 APRIL 2011
A lot has been read into a very short post about a Tegra development kit. I'd like to clear up a few points.
First, nothing changes in what we’re delivering to the open source community or customers. NVIDIA will continue to post the Tegra kernel to kernel.org and publish our Android code to our public git servers. Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners. We will continue to do this and nothing about these processes has changed.
For our partners' Android devices, NVIDIA provides support until the hardware partner chooses to no longer support the device. So, for instance, NVIDIA will support the Xoom on all versions of Android Motorola requests until Motorola ceases to support the Xoom. The same goes for ViewSonic with the G-Tablet, Notion Ink with the Adam, Acer with the Iconia, LG with the Optimus 2X and so on.
In relation to my original reply, that was a response to a specific question about a Tegra 250 Development Kit. Given the confusion, we will work with owners of Tegra 250 Development Kits individually to determine their needs. The term "Harmony" is an internal codename for the Tegra 250 Development Kit. It is not a tablet reference design. Each shipping tablet is a custom design with varying hardware components and requires a custom OS image from the OEM who made the tablet.
Finally, while we cannot support or give out third party peripheral drivers or provide the Android 3.0 source before Google does, we do want to explore whether we can assist the open source ROM makers. We will be reaching out to them today.
Andrew Edelsten
Tegra Developer Relations
NVIDIA Corporation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much more like it.. I guess our voice is being heard.. I am impressed Folks.. lets all keep up the good work and thank our devs for making this all possible.
Thanks again to all of you.
best regards
CodeNinja said:
Wonderful news!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO the real question is, whether any enhancements made to the BSP (codecs GPU drivers) etc made for Ventana for honeycomb, will also be released for the Harmony.
Sure they will not stop the downloading of existing Harmony drivers, but will they enhance them for Honeycomb? Or at least release the codec, driver code to the OEMs (or general public?).
Does "continue to support" mean add enhancements, or merely fix bugs and make available.
If they do not add enhancements to Harmony, maybe they should rename Harmony based products to have Tegra 1.5
--
we need to continue to keep the pressure on until they release new drivers
dfin13 said:
My reading comprehension may be off, but I took this:
Additionally, we will continue to make our BSP (codecs, GPU driver etc) available to all our hardware partners.
As meaning we'll have to rely on Viewsonic to get the GPU driver for GB or Honeycomb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Viewsonic wants to make a Giner or Honey ROM and Nvidia will support them with the proper driver. Hear that Viewsonic...? HEllllloooooooo?
rbansal2 said:
we need to continue to keep the pressure on until they release new drivers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you... We need to stay on top of them to make sure that we are pushing this to the limit.. we want out Gtab with the latest drivers and the latest OS..
cbay said:
IMO the real question is, whether any enhancements made to the BSP (codecs GPU drivers) etc made for Ventana for honeycomb, will also be released for the Harmony.
Sure they will not stop the downloading of existing Harmony drivers, but will they enhance them for Honeycomb? Or at least release the codec, driver code to the OEMs (or general public?).
Does "continue to support" mean add enhancements, or merely fix bugs and make available.
If they do not add enhancements to Harmony, maybe they should rename Harmony based products to have Tegra 1.5
--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Harmony is just an SDK then why can't they just use the SDK codenamed Ventana? He eluded to the idea that the hardware hasn't changed and only the SDK has. If this is the case then Viewsonic would just need to use the newer SDK when coding their new ROM's for the Gtab. No?
UPDATE: So after some research these aren't SDK's they are Dev Kit's which basically seem like barebone tablet making kits.
Harmony:
http://developer.download.nvidia.com/tegra/docs/harmony_hw_setup.pdf
Ventana:
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/devkit-ventana
As you can see from the material, they are very different hardware.
whiplash13 said:
If Harmony is just an SDK then why can't they just use the SDK codenamed Ventana? He eluded to the idea that the hardware hasn't changed but maybe the SDK has. If this is the case then Viewsonic would just need to use the newer SDK when coding their new ROM's for the Gtab. No?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think Harmony and Ventana are the same hardware. The chip is the same (Tegra 2), but the hardware around the chip on the board is probably different. This causes low level software like device drivers to be different (not binary compatible) between Harmony and Ventana.
Based on simple browsing, (and someone may correct me on this), it seems that the codecs and drivers are released by Nvidia are in binary form, and not source code, and are therefore not "hackable". Such things are usually proprietary (not open source) and thus only distributed in binary format.
Not sure if the above is true for release to OEMs.
If the OEMs like ViewSonic get the codec/driver source code, they could theoretically adapt it to the new features of Honeycomb, and the burden would be on OEMs like ViewSonic. But it would be more difficult for OEMs.
Post deleted.
NVIDIA drops support for Viewsonic, Advent and Notion ink tablets, falls prey of new Google rules
NVIDIA has announced that they're dropping driver support for their Harmony line of tablets. This affects the Viewsonic gTablet and ViewPad7, Advent Vega, Toshiba Folio 100, and Notion Ink Adam, as well as the many users that jumped on the mostly cheap-ish tablets, not wanting to wait for Honeycomb. The announcement seals the fate of the above mentioned tablets, as without drivers, no future version of Android will get hardware acceleration. Not that the heavily customized UI they employ that mostly damages the eyes of customers would have ever gotten Rubin's blessing, but this leaves the dev community out of luck, too, pretty much. More info past the break.
Some of the tablets are merely months old and smiten with some pretty ugly UIs, Adam tablet aside (though it looks nicer than it's actually useable), but none are more than a year old. That's a very short shelf life, even for high-tech devices, especially considering a lot of users were hanging on for future updates to finally be able to start enjoying their tablets instead of living with compromises. Sure, there's a bunch of development around these tablets, mostly the Viewsonic and Advent, since they're based on the same exact hardware and fugly UI, but without hardware support, there's not much more coming but bug-fixes. Andrew Edelstein, an NVIDIA employee, posted the following on the developer forum
targeted at Tegra Honeycomb developers and for this we’d like to focus on Ventana. For shipping or production products, customers should contact the device makers directly for OS support plans. They are responsible for the OS shipping on their device. [...] In relation to our linux kernel git repository, NVIDIA will continue to provide full open-source support for all of our kernel components and will push more of that upstream over time.
The Ventana platform refers to the XOOM, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Eee tablets and all other newer tablets for which support will, quite obviously, continue. Older models of phones often get neglected with updates, but nothing of this magnitude so far. NVIDIA's move is pretty clearly a reaction to Google's new policy on who gets updates ; after all, why should they continue spending money on the development of tablets that are never going to see an update again. Of course, Advent and Viewsonic could renounce their Tap-n-Tap UI for something more AOSP-like and beg Google for mercy, but at this point, it seems to late.
Hy guys and gals, i have done some digging on the nVidia developers forums and have found a thread requesting info on if/when nVidia plans to drop the source for the HAL that we need so our amazing developers can get A2DP working
I'm posting the link below, maybe if enough of us go into the thread requesting this info nVidia will comply
EDIT: nVidia updated their forum and our topic was tossed into the archive and not brought over, to remind them that this is still a valid issue I have re-created the thread, please if you want to try at getting A2DP to work with non OTA based rom's go voice your opinion
New nVidia developers Forum
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Link not working, im all for it a2dp would make cm7 perfect.
This would be great! Then I could finally buy a Bluetooth Stereo Headset.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
I'd love to see this happen, but I don't see it anytime soon. Nvidia has been historically bad at releasing their source code.
fcisco13 said:
Link not working, im all for it a2dp would make cm7 perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Link worked perfectly fine for me, both on my TF101 earlier and just now on my g2x.....not sure why it didn't work for u
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Lets get this moving
Sadly, they aren't required by any license to release their source code, which is why I have no idea if/when it'll ever happen. Their drivers for their own chips are definitely not gpl, so bugging them will not put any pressure on them at all.
lawsuit??? Lol worked for lg...
It'll never work. You can't sue them because they won't release their source code. That's like saying "Hey let's sue microsoft because they won't release the source to their kernel." It's their property, and they can do what they like with it. If android didn't run on top of the linux kernel, which is gpl licensed, I'd almost guarantee that no vendor would ever release the source for it.
Not trying to be a buzz-kill or anything, I want the source code as much as anyone else. But no amount of threatening lawsuits, bugging them through email, forums, or phone calls will change their minds. If they intend on releasing the source, they'll do it in their own time, if not, we're SOL.
mstrk242 said:
Sadly, they aren't required by any license to release their source code, which is why I have no idea if/when it'll ever happen. Their drivers for their own chips are definitely not gpl, so bugging them will not put any pressure on them at all.
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Then it is probably a bad move to use Nvidia hardware on an open source platform like Android.
Spread the word...
I was kidding about it, we can wait for 2.3.4-5 ota...
It may be Nvidia's right to keep it's code proprietary, but I can't imagine buying another Android device with one of their chips in it unless something changes.
We are evolving very fast, I don't know if nVidia can assume the Windows GPU market will always be there for them. If Android dominates the next decade or so the way that Windows did the last then manufacturers are obviously going to have to adapt or perish.
No way, there will always be a market for high end video cards on windows, simply for gaming if nothing else. Sure, they may not make it in the cell phone market (although I doubt that too, just because they are very good with hardware, they'll work out the kinks.)
You have to remember, the vast majority of people who buy these phones don't even know what a rom is, let alone the fact that they can customize it. The modding community is a small (albeit very vocal,) minority.
Also, please no one read between the lines on these posts I've made. I'm no insider, I have no information what so ever from nvidia. I'm really only basing these educated guesses based on my experience with nvidia and linux drivers. They may very well open the source, but I'm just trying to say don't hold your breath, and screaming at nvidia is absolutely pointless.
bump for updated link
None of the companies release their proprietary drivers to the public. It is their right as the intellectual property owner to keep it secret. The only thing that is open source is the Android Kernel and the AOSP files. Everything else is proprietary and not made public. Even Google Apps are proprietary and Google never releases the source code for them. Also, only members of the Open Handset Alliance can license them and legally put them into their rom builds. Any efforts contrary to this (i.e., getting companies to release proprietary driver source) is simply futile and a waste of time. They could care a rat's ass about hackers. If you don't like it don't buy their products, but then you have to stop buying everyone's product as they all have proprietary code that is never released.
Spyvie said:
Then it is probably a bad move to use Nvidia hardware on an open source platform like Android.
Spread the word...
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You are right-on here. I will be looking at this when I eventually upgrade down the road, and will probably select a lesser device with different hardware (as long as the manufacturer doesn't ship it with a locked bootloader - lol).
Real open source is the only way to go. But as many posters have mentioned. we represent a very small group of potential customers - most whom would never dream of messing around with their devices.
gaww said:
You are right-on here. I will be looking at this when I eventually upgrade down the road, and will probably select a lesser device with different hardware (as long as the manufacturer doesn't ship it with a locked bootloader - lol).
Real open source is the only way to go. But as many posters have mentioned. we represent a very small group of potential customers - most whom would never dream of messing around with their devices.
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Click to collapse
Then you want to get the MI Millet MIUI phone when it is available in your country. It is a dual core 1.5Ghz Scorpion processor and they expect you to update it weekly with new MIUI builds. It is an awesome device for the low price point (1,999 Chinese Yuan or about $300.00 US).
http://product.xiaomi.com/features.html
Go salivate.
jboxer said:
None of the companies release their proprietary drivers to the public. It is their right as the intellectual property owner to keep it secret. The only thing that is open source is the Android Kernel and the AOSP files. Everything else is proprietary and not made public. Even Google Apps are proprietary and Google never releases the source code for them. Also, only members of the Open Handset Alliance can license them and legally put them into their rom builds. Any efforts contrary to this (i.e., getting companies to release proprietary driver source) is simply futile and a waste of time. They could care a rat's ass about hackers. If you don't like it don't buy their products, but then you have to stop buying everyone's product as they all have proprietary code that is never released.
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Click to collapse
Not refuting what your saying but why do other phones seem to not have this problem if they all do this. Only tegra 2 devices have development ****ed because of this.
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They deleted my account. WTF?
xsteven77x said:
Not refuting what your saying but why do other phones seem to not have this problem if they all do this. Only tegra 2 devices have development ****ed because of this.
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I'd imagine its for the same reason our devices and other tegra devices can only play the tegra games hence incentive tobuy a tegra phone. I think if they released code then any dev could hack their phone and play tegra games without having a tegra chip. Just a hunch.
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Nvidia is notorious for not releasing source codes for community development. My phone has Tegra 2 but we may never see a fully functional CM9 on it because Nvidia is witholding the device driver sources. What I am wondering now is their stance on developments for Tegra3 like the Infinity. Community development such as Ubuntu for this platform would be much easier if devs had access to driver sources.