Another FreeCalypso update

[Mychaela Falconia]

David wrote:

> Is that so? My understanding was that there was still no power control
> etc and that fully liberating the C139 was no longer a primary goal.

The issue is that the code we got from TI (with TCS211) for the above-
the-modem handset functionality layers (UI, battery management, device
turn-on and turn-off control etc) is nowhere close to end user product
quality, instead it is just a half-baked proof of concept.  Transforming
this half-baked proof of concept into something acceptable will require
a very massive amount of work.

This is where I need to be very clear: I am *not* against doing this
work in itself, I do very strongly desire a libre phone in my purse,
and the UI / battery management etc work is a necessary piece that has
to get done in order to achieve that goal, hence I am perfectly willing
to do it.

HOWEVER, the part which I am NOT willing to do is doing all this work
on crippled hardware while being denied better hw because the community
is too cheap to fund the latter.  In particular, I want to see TI's
demo/prototype UI in its native 176x220 pixel size and work on it in
this environment *before* I hack it to pieces to produce a smaller UI
that can fit into the tiny LCD on the C139.  But we don't have any
Calypso hardware with a 176x220 pixel LCD except the legendary D-Sample,
and on the latter we lack the ability to run our own fw because we
only have L1 code for the CHIPSET 10, DSP 36, RF 12 configuration
(source reconstructed from disasm of binary objects) and not for the
CHIPSET 8, DSP 33, RF 10 config that would be needed for the vintage
Calypso C05 DS board.

Unless a miracle happens and we find/obtain another L1 source from
just the right point in history to enable us to target the D-Sample,
the only way to get a Calypso device with a 176x220 pix LCD for
exercising TI's UI code in its native environment would be for us to
build yet another FreeCalypso board of our own, with the right LCD
(it's one of the standard sizes, hence plenty of vendors make such
LCDs) and with the same Calypso+RF chipset version as Leonardo,
Openmoko and FCDEV3B.

Once we have the right development platform and I can do the main work
of bringing TI's UI and battery management etc code up to the standard
of even a minimal end user phone, we'll be able to take it in two
directions from there: for the cheap users who would be willing to
live with the hardware limitations of the C139, it won't be difficult
at all to produce a stripped-down C139 port *after* the main work has
been done on a better platform, whereas for those who desire a libre
dumbphone with better hw specs, we'll be able to start working toward
a complete handset hardware product of our own.

Therefore, if you desire libre phone fw for *any* Calypso target, be
it the C139, the Pirelli or our own dumbphone hw, you can help make it
happen by doing the following:

1. Funding the FCDEV3B board production right now;

2. After the FCDEV3B has been built and I've got the design for our
   next board with a 176x220 pix LCD (or an interface to the TI-made
   handset part of the D-Sample kit), funding that one as well - but
   we need to get past the FCDEV3B first.

As an incentive, if the majority of the community are more interested
in a libre end user phone than in a libre modem for developers and
tinkerers, *and* if the community would be willing to fund the FCDEV3B
not because they are interested in the FCDEV3B in itself, but as a
necessary step before other FC project goals, then in reciprocation I
would be willing to reduce the work I do on the FCDEV3B after it's
been built to a minimum and proceed to the next LCD-equipped board
much sooner.

Toward that end, anyone who donates to the FCDEV3B crowdfunding
campaign can accompany their donation with a note as to which they are
more interested in: the FCDEV3B itself as a libre modem product, or
other FreeCalypso work that will eventually lead to a libre end user
phone.  Whichever camp donates more will determine the direction of
further development.

M~