VIA Adheres to GPL Compliance and Releases Kernel Source Code for WM8505

[xaueious]

VIA Technologies, manufacturer of the most popular Android tablet chipset in the market today, the VIA Wondermedia WM8505, has released their source code in compliance with the GPL last week (July 28).

Affected devices include the Eken M001/M002, and the Gome Flytouch (also known as the Epad).

The availability of the kernel source code opens up development for the device and allows for advanced tweaking of firmware. The kernel version is 2.6.29, which officially supports up to Android 2.1 and is used in Android 1.6 as well.

The GPL violation was reported by Angus Gratton, who has been developing custom firmware for his Eken M001 tablet. He comments:

Not all of the WM8505 functionality is available in source form yet, in particular VIA have chosen not to give us the video source for some reason. So there’s still quite a lot of work before this will be suitable for an Android 2.1/2.2 port. But it’s a very solid start.

Also in the letter, it states that Harald Welte is still working on getting the rest of the missing drivers for the device.

For now, developers can start either with the VIA release (in the gpl-vioations response by VIA), or with the github project published by Angus Gratton.

(Clipart from Webdesignguru)

 

[reb1952]

I have a M001 with android version 1.6
kernal version 2.6.29
wmt.sdk version 1.72

It has Skype beta that connects but when I try to call it says calling not in my area ..?
It doesn't have a flash player and you tube does not work ...
Can it be upgraded so it will run these apps.?

Reb