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Meet MeeGo

Meet MeeGo
Characters Project - htfrom the MeeGo tp://meego .com

Introducing MeeGo: The Other Embedded Linux

Android might get all the headlines, but MeeGo, the little Linux that could, may yet become an important Linux for your phones, netbooks, tablets, and cars. By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

always liked Moblin, Intels embedded Linux, and I thought that Nokias Maemo was interesting, but really did the world need yet another embedded Linux operating system? I thought not, and neither did they. The two technology giants, with the help of the Linux Foundation, merged the two together to create MeeGo (Figure 1). At this point, you might be wondering, What about Android? You know, the number one with a bullet embedded Linux that is now selling faster than Apples iOS devices and eating RIMs Blackberry for lunch? Well, yes, there is that, but there just might be enough room for two important Linux distributions for devices. At least, MeeGos supporters are certainly hoping thats the case.

Why MeeGo?
As Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, which has served as midwife to this move, observed, the merging helped create one open-source uber-platform for the next generation of computing devices: tablets, pocketable computers, net-

books, automotive IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) and more. With MeeGo, you have the worlds largest chip manufacturer and the worlds largest mobile handset manufacturer joining forces to create an incredible opportunity for developers who want to reach millions of users with innovative technology. All true, but whats more important is that its a move toward unity of mobile Linux distributions. One of the big reasons why Linuxs ancestor, Unix, failed in becoming a major operating system except in servers was that there were always half a dozen or more systems that were always competing with each other. SunOS was battling with AIX, which was slugging it out with HP/UX, which was having it out with SCO OpenServer, etc.; meanwhile, Microsoft Windows was left free to mop up on the desktop and start making inroads in the server room. Although no one thinks that Microsoft could do that today in the mobile space with Windows Phone 7, Linux is still divided into factions: the Debian/Ubuntu family; Red Hat Enterprise Linux and its relatives, such as Fedora and CentOS; and Novell with SUSE Linux Enterprise. But unlike the bad old Unix days, its not hard to move applications from one Linux distribution to another on the desktop or the server. On mobile devices, its much harder for ISV (independent software vendors) to move applications between platforms. Mobile ISVs have to deal with a wider variety of hardware and network compatibility is-

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Meet MeeGo

What is MeeGo?
Lets start with that it isnt. MeeGo isnt meant to be a direct competitor for the likes of the iPhone, Android devices, Windows Phone 7 Series, Palms webOS, and RIMs BlackBerry platform. Its aimed at a much broader range of platforms. The Linux-based MeeGo platform is intended to power multiple types of devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets, DVR, Internet-connected TV, and IVI. If it can have an interface and an operating system, MeeGo would like to be considered. Of course thats true of the other operating systems, but each of them have found one or two niches. MeeGo designers would like it to be more universal. You can see this by its hardware support. Unlike other embedded operating systems, MeeGo is designed to run on both the Intel Atom and ARMv7 and v9 architectures. MeeGo is also being designed to look and work the same no matter what platform its on. Thus, once you know how to run your MeeGo tablet, you can run your MeeGo DVR or your cars MeeGo IVI. It also wasnt meant, so Nokia claimed, to replace Symbian as Nokias smartphone platform of choice. Since then, Nokia and other mobile phone original equipment manufacturers have been withdrawing their support for Symbian. The European Union, however, has come to Symbians rescue, but in the meantime, it seems clear that MeeGo is what Nokia plans on using for its high-performance premium mobile phones.

Figure 1: Welcome to MeeGo! Qt is powering up this simple-to-use interface.

sues than their server and desktop programming counterparts. That is why MeeGo is an important move. By presenting mobile ISVs with one less platform to support, it makes life easier for them to support mobile Linux. As Zemlin also pointed out, MeeGo will not focus on just the desktop (Figure 2) or smartphone, but on a wide variety of devices, and that takes full advantage of the superior computing power of each device category longer battery life, better screens, location services, touch, 4G broadband, new vehicle technology, and stronger processors [Its] not an OS designed for a legacy purpose that is being crammed or expanded into a new device form. In other words, this is not a square peg in a round hole MeeGo is a next generation mobile operating system designed for the next generation of mobile devices. To quote Zemlin, Intel and Nokia understand true innovation in computing is not restricted to private silos, no matter how big. They are opening up this platform to the broader community. MeeGo, as Linux Foundation project will be helpful for Linux as a platform. It combines mobile development resources that were recently split in the Maemo and Moblin projects into one wellsupported, well-designed project that addresses cross-platform, cross-device and cross-architecture development. Android, Chrome OS, the Palm Pre, Bada, and dozens of traditional Linux desktop efforts use many of the components in MeeGo. In other words, MeeGo, like Linux, will serve at the common foundation for many Linux-based mobile operating systems. This, in turn will make all embedded Linux distributions much more attractive to application designers.

Deeper MeeGo
The first released version of MeeGo, Version 1.0, was purely for developers. As Imad Sousou, director of Intels Open Source Technology Center, blogged at the time, This release provides developers with a stable core foundation for application development and a rich user experience for Netbooks. The MeeGo Netbook user experience is the first to appear, with the development of the MeeGo Handset user experience moving to the open in June. Sousou was optimistic. MeeGo 1.1, the version for users, didnt show up until October 2010. The 1.0 release was for programmers, not ordinary mortals. The plan is for the next version 1.2, which will include a Handset release with a complete set of applications, and support for other device usage models, to appear in April 2011. In practice though, MeeGo devices are already scheduled to start showing up in the 1st quarter of 2011. Even in its early days

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Meet MeeGo
though, with 1.1, it is an interesting operating system. The first thing that will strike anyone is that, instead of Androids Java Virtual Machine-based View interface, MeeGo uses a more traditional Unix/Linux X11based and Qt 4.7 structure for its front-end. Combine this with other more common Linux desktop APIs (application programming interfaces), and you have a system that Linux desktop developers will be able to pick up much more quickly than they can Android. With Android, you have to develop for Android and your code wont be portable outside of the Android family of devices. If you develop for MeeGo, you can port your code from existing Qt-based Linux desktop applications and vice-versa; you should be able to move MeeGo programs without too much trouble to a Linux desktop. While MeeGo doesnt go so far as to port the Qtbased KDE desktop to its smaller screens, KDE developers will find MeeGo quite familiar. Indeed, Novell has created the first netbook version of MeeGo, with its oddly named Smeegol (Figure 3). This is the MeeGo netbook user interface and MeeGoadapted Linux applications running on top of openSUSE 11.3. As such, it runs such ordinary desktop applications as Firefox, the Mono-based Banshee for music, and NetworkManager for networking. Its still MeeGo, but its MeeGo with an openSUSE spin. Ordinary MeeGo is built on the Linux 2.6.35 kernel and uses DeviceKit and udev for working with hardware devices. Thus, it also supports gUPnP, a universal plug and play framework. For voice and data connectivity, MeeGo uses the Connman connection manager, Ofono telephony stack, and BlueZ Bluetooth. The operating system also comes with Googles Chrome, complete with such goodies as its newly integrated Adobe Flash Player for its main web browser. If you would rather use the purely open-source Google Chromium, you can download and install it as a Chrome replacement. Most users, however, who will only see MeeGo as a device operating system, are likely to stick with Chrome and MeeGos other default applications. Like Android phones, the iPhone, and the iPad, MeeGo does have its own App Store: AppUp. This, said Rene James, senior VP and general manager of Intels Software Services Group, lets customers buy software for their mobile devices on a try-before-youbuy basis. Games are already available from Konami and BigFish, and Sega is planning

Figure 2: Ease of use and a common interface, no matter whether its a phone, a car, or a netbook that MeeGo is sitting on, are two keys to this Linux.

to port some of its titles to MeeGo. Barnes and Noble is also expected to release its Nook e-reader software to MeeGo. MeeGo users will also be able to load applications using the operating systems Manage Apps functionality. Although you can run MeeGo on virtual machines, ala VMware or VirtualBox, neither is recommended. Trust me on this. Been there, ran that, didnt like it. If you cant wait for a MeeGo device to call your own, the MeeGo team recommends that you boot a suitable PC with MeeGo from a USB thumb drive. You can, however, run and install Smeegol on most 32- and 64-bit architecture PCs. I wouldnt plan on using MeeGo, or Smeegol, quite yet for day-to-day work or fun. At this point, while the operating system and core applications for netbooks is ready to go, the rest isnt quite there yet. The IVI and Handset parts are still technology snapshots and the SDK (software developer kit) is still, in early November, in beta. Indeed, as far as Nokia is concerned, unless youre a serious developer, you should stay well away even from MeeGo 1.1. The Finnish telecomm giant noted that, although a Nokia N900 device (with a firmware update) can run MeeGo 1.1, Nokia recommends not trying it. This isnt a finished product for you to load up on to your phone and use on a day-to-day basis, wrote Nokia Conversations blog editor Ian Delaney. The user interface is neither finished nor is it representative of what the experience will look like on future Nokia devices (were creating our own unique experience using Qt). What it is, is a generic version intended to allow developers and device

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open-source developers with Linux desktop chops will find it relatively easier to program for tomorrows smart cars. As Zemlin, said about this development, MeeGo has been built from the ground up for these types of applications. Because MeeGo is a truly open platform, the work GENIVI will do to extend the platform can benefit the project and all who use it. For developers, this is a great opportunity to harness the power of the MeeGo APIs (application programming interfaces) to target a variety of devices and architectures and extend their work on handset applications toward vehicles. As for phones and tablets, while Nokia may be doing its best to chase would-be users from the MeeGo 1.1 release, there are reports that Nokia is preparing a Z500 tablet in either a 7 or 9 panel version to compete with Apples iPad. If that is the case, it seems likely that it will first appear early in 2011. Be that as it may, it has been confirmed that MeeGo will be the operating system in Nokias next generation of its N-series smartphone, the N9. The N9 is said to have a 4 organic light emitting diode (OLED) screen with a 800x400 resolution. Under the display, theres a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 processor, an ARM-7 processor. It is also said to include 512MB of RAM, 1GB of system storage, 64GB of internal storage, and HD 720p video recording. To talk to the rest of the world, it includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi support, HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access), GPS, and Bluetooth 2.1. Heck, if Nokia can actually deliver all that with MeeGo and an affordable price, the troubled phone OEM may yet make a come-back. Nokia isnt the only company scheming to build MeeGo-powered tablets. Texas Instruments (TI) is also working on MeeGo-powered tablets. According to Greg Delagi, senior vice president and general manager of the TIs wireless business unit. TI is developing what Delagi calls the next general natural user interfaces that

Figure 3: Simple as MeeGo is, you can still set it up to reflect a specific distributions look and feel. Here, anyone whos spent a lot of time working with different Linuxes can tell at a glance that Novell SUSE lies at the heart of this take on MeeGo.

manufacturers to get familiar with the code and the capabilities of future devices.

Where is MeeGo Going?

I would be willing to bet a dollar that you wont be able to guess where MeeGo is most likely to be a major player? Netbooks? Maybe, maybe not. Phones? That one will be tough with all the success that Android has been having. The answer, believe it or not, is in cars. GENIVI, a non-profit auto industry alliance committed to driving the adoption of an open-source IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) reference platform picked MeeGo to be its operating system of choice (Figure 4). With members like BMW, GM, Peugeot Citroen, and Renault this is a big deal. These arent hangers-on in the car business; these are core car companies. MeeGo will now officially be the next IVI reference release, Apollo. As such MeeGo will supply the Internet-aware multimedia in IVI, such as rear-seat entertainment and built-in navigation and entertainment. Yes, you might even be able to Twitter by voice while driving your car if thats what makes you happy. More likely, though, you will be using MeeGo as a combination of built-in phone, music system, and GPS. MeeGo wont be providing just the Linux. According to Dirk Hohndel, Intels Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist, MeeGo provides not just Linux, but the full client Linux open-source software stack. Android, by the by, uses its own Javabased middleware and interface instead of the more familiar Linux. This means that

Figure 4: The car version of MeeGo takes the interface to an even simpler level since the last thing you want to do while driving is puzzling over a display.

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Meet MeeGo MEEGO LICENSING
MeeGo is not your ordinary Linux distribution when it comes to licensing. Oh its open-source all right. You cant get much more open source, but its not your usual GPLv2 fits all Linux. The MeeGo software stack has two major parts: the MeeGo Operating System and MeeGo User Experience subsystems. There is a difference between the license type emphasis of the two. The operating system license is GPLv2, like Linux. The User Experience license policy, though, according to the MeeGo developers,is driven by satisfying the needs of operating system and device vendor users of MeeGo to help them in fast adoption and in providing the best value to their customers. A policy of primarily permissive BSD-style open source licenses and secondarily copyleft licenses meets these needs best. So far, so good, but were not done yet. There are two exceptions to the User Experience licensing policy. First, libraries that extend the MeeGo Operating System API, aiming to provide adaptation to the particular usage model or device segment, should be licensed under the same license with the underlying API they extend. For choice, the MeeGo community would prefer it if you were to use GNU LGPL version 2.x. This first exception is to discourage fragmenting the MeeGo API. The second exception is just the usual one that well established and mature independent applications, such as the browser, mail client, etc., can be under any OSI-compatible license. The reason for this is practicality. So, for example, Mozilla Firefox is still under the Mozilla Public License.

will include gesture-based touch screens and interaction gaming. These features will be supported with TIs next wireless CPUs, OMAP 4. (Open Multimedia Application Platform). MeeGo smartphones and tablets with OMAP 4, which is a dual-core, ARM Cortex?A9 processor, will come to market in early 2011. As MeeGo gets into the market, we will support it. We believe MeeGo runs best on OMAP, said Delagi. Intel, although its been taking more and more of a leadership role in developing MeeGo, is a bit more cautious about its vision for MeeGo. Intel VP Dough Fisher predicted that MeeGo-based handsets wont hit the market until the first half of 2011. What will ship this year, though, according to Fisher, are Internet-connected televisions and netbook devices instead of tablets or handsets.

MeeGo Futures
It hasn't all been smooth sailing for MeeGo. Ari Jaaksi, who until recently was running Nokias Meego project, went over in October 2010 to HP to help with its own Linux-based webOS, which it purchased as part of its Palm acquisition. For all of the excitement over MeeGo and tablets, I think you cant ignore that there was no tablet-specific version of MeeGo in the MeeGo 1.1 release. Yes, a single glance at the interface makes it clear that it looks like it could be used for a tablet, but looking like a tablet and acting like one are two entirely different things. There is, in theory, one MeeGo tablet that will make it to the market in 2010: the WeTab from the German firm Neofonie. In early November, though, it still

hasnt appeared. Indeed, for all the talk about MeeGo, and the few engineering samples I've seen, I have yet to see a product that looked market-ready for 1st quarter 2011, never mind 2010. That is likely to change in January 2011s CES (Consumer Electronics Show). For MeeGos sake, I hope so. This, combined with Androids roaring success, worried me. I rather like MeeGo. I like the idea of a universal Linux interface for devices based on Qt. It reminds me of what Ubuntu is trying to do for PCs, netbooks, and tablets with its Unity interface, which is due out with Ubuntu 11.04. That said, delays in getting the operating system out the door, the loss of Jaaksi, and the fact that MeeGo 1.1 was still very rough from early reports, makes me fear that MeeGo might be another flash in the pan operating system despite its powerful backers and attractions to both users and developers. To borrow a phrase from Project Runway, Intel, Nokia, and all the rest of MeeGos friends are facing a Make it work moment. Hopefully, they will do just that.

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