GPL Linux Kernel Sources Releases to Cap Off 2010 - Telechips, Viewsonic G-Tablet

[xaueious]

Good news for firmware developers for Android tablets to cap off this year, we finally have GPL source code from Telechips for the TCC89XX, which is the most viable low-end Android tablet platform today (Coby Kyros, Augen Gentouch), as well as from Viewsonic G-Tablet, the most prominent Cortex A9 high-end platform today. We may see accelerated progress for these two platforms for community development in the upcoming year.

This is still a much more painful process than it was supposed to be. Telechips in particular has been a headache for the last half a year, if you have been following the GPL violations mailing list. The state for Android open development on Android tablets has been grim, with Chinese factories being ignorant of any legal obligations. More and more new Android tablets are approved for sale, but this trend does not seem to be changing, especially with these close-minded Chinese firms. Even the more viable platforms such as the new Samsung PV210 aiming for international markets are tainted by the business practices of these 'shanzhai' manufacturers. Eventually, this is going to have to change for these 'shanzhai' companies to be successful for the long term.

Project Gus wrote up on this a few months ago, but the circumstances are still very similar today with these 'shanzhai' companies. If you haven't read this article already, you really show take a look: Project Gus» Blog Archive » The Sad State of Open Source in Android tablets

Sources
naobsd Twitter (Telechips)
AndroidCentral (Viewsonic G-Tablet)

 

[OffWorld]

Isn't Telechips a South Korean manufacturer, not Chinese?

Either way, this IS good news! Maybe now we'll get some decent Froyo (or dare I dream Gingerbread?) roms for these tablets!

 

[xaueious]

Yes Telechips is Korean, but the Chinese shanzhai companies have been outright irresponsible, with no end in sight

 

[lkcl]

Good news for firmware developers for Android tablets to cap off this year, we finally have GPL source code from Telechips for the TCC89XX, which is the most viable low-end

i don't know if you've checked the page, but the download is actually impossible. the page contains such poorly written javascript that it causes errors on every single browser i've tried. end-result: no means to download the proferred source code.

This is still a much more painful process than it was supposed to be. Telechips in particular has been a headache for the last half a year, if you have been following the GPL violations mailing list. The state for Android open development on Android tablets has been grim, with Chinese factories being ignorant of any legal obligations. More and more new Android tablets are approved for sale, but this trend does not seem to be changing, especially with these close-minded Chinese firms.

http://www.androidcentral.com/viewsonic-g-tablet-kernel-source-released

the only way to hurt them is through money. it is *imperative* that you pursue the GPL violations case against them through the retailers in the countries where the products are being sold.

the second way to hurt them through money is by finding out if the company, if in china, is listed on the Shenzen Stock Exchange. if it is, make a report to the Shenzen Stock Exchange, noting that the company is illegally deceiving its shareholders, by making mis-representation as to its export sales forecasts. the basis for the mis-representation is that the company CANNOT sell the goods claimed, due to Copyright violation, for which the ultimate punishment is impounding, destruction of goods and fines including costs of up to 100% of the value of the goods sold. mis-representation to shareholders is an extremely serious breach of rules for which the Chinese seller will lose one hell of a lot of money.

but - back to the source code. a copy of the relevant source code, in the form of a GPL-violating Board Support Package, has been available for quite some time. the reason why it is GPL violating is because a) the BSP was only available under NDA. this is in breach of the GPL. b) the BSP contains binary-only modules, such as the tcc NAND flash driver. it is NOT acceptable for a GPL package to contain binary-only drivers, and until such time as this is resolved, there is still work to be done and all Telechips Android products are still in a state of blatant GPL violation.

so, this "celebration" is somewhat premature and i would very much appreciate it if people on this forum would keep themselves better informed before making "hurray" announcements.

copy of GPL-violating Telechips Linux Kernel source code can be found here:

https://alioth.debian.org/plugins/s...shortlog;h=refs/heads/tcc8900/v2.6.28/chipper

 

[OffWorld]

@lkcl - um, I'm downloading the files as I write this.

 

[OffWorld]

Ok, got the files. The javascript craps out in Firefox but works fine in Chrome and Safari.