The reasons for getting root and running custom firmware are many, such as to put in bug fixes, change the splash screen, install Debian or applications such as BusyBox, add useful kernel modules, or to put in multitouch or phone tethering hacks, among other things.
For his part, in a presentation to NYLUG members, Gupta said he believes Google chose Linux as the platform upon which to base Android because there is a critical mass of developers in the Linux community. Gupta highlighted several features of the Android platform that stand out to him and noted that the Android “Cupcake” development branch of the platform brings in new features and bug fixes. Google maintains a public and private branch of the Android code.
“Google says they will always maintain a private branch” to do such things as support new, unannounced hardware, drivers and such, he said.
Gupta said the primary development platforms are Ubuntu Linux, both 32- and 64 bit – though 32 bit is preferred – and the MacOS X environment. He also suggested that developers consider the Android Developer Phone 1 or ADP1, which can be run with not only T-Mobile service but with others.
Gupta also suggested that developers consider the x86 branch of the Android code, which will enable Android to run on netbooks.
Meanwhile, in other phone news, Neowin reported that at the Mobile World Congress, Google demonstrated offline Gmail capability for the iPhone.
Also, Miguel de Icaza, vice president of developer relations at Novell and founder of the open source Mono project, blogged about Mono running on the Android G1 phone.
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I hope smartphone OSes eventually evolve to a concept where there is a common Linux platform with different installable "desktops" (e.g. Android/webOS/Symbian/Blackberry/etc.)...kinda like KDE & GNOME. This would be beneficial because:
1. device vendors would be able to differentiate their devices with a unique user experience.
2. component/chip vendors would have fewer drivers to develop & support.
3. consumers would theoretically be able to change "desktops", without changing devices.
4. the linux platform would be community developed & supported (versus being re-invented for every smartphone OS).
5. the linux platform would be portable to different CPU architectures (e.g. ARM & x86).