If Linux worked with my phone and TVU....

[Johnsie]

If Linux worked with my phone and TVU i'd prolly use it more often. I really wish Linux had better compatibility with Windows drivers and software. Yeah, i could buy a Linux friendly phone, but that would restrict my choice of phones and I really like my phone. It's an O2 Ice and I cannot access/sync my files with linux :-(

[ssodhi]

The Linux community, Ubuntu included, has a deep seated resentment of proprietary and closed-source, essentialy non-libre, code. This ranges from multimedia codecs to, as you say, device drivers.

I'm no hardware expert, so correct me if I'm wrong (which I very well might be), but cellphones largely vary in what hardware setups that they have, and the essential system on the inside. Thus, most cellphones will require rather advanced drivers. Writing drivers for something like a cellphone is a world away from writing drivers for something more orthodox, such as a mouse. It would take a very good programmer to be able to write a driver flexible enough to meet the needs of even a relatively minor range of cellphones and PDAs out there.

Let's be realistic; why should the developer write device drivers for a phone that only ten people have? The cellphones comptability issue just is not a priority. Those developers that do have the capacity and time to write your drivers are likely already working on projects that are more important to the Open Source Movement, or are on the payroll of varying corporate entities that place a myriad of restrictions on what information can and can't get out. If a coder who works at O2 writes your drivers, chances are he won't be allowed to release them, or that they will not be Open Sourced, which brings us back to the start.

I think your best bet, in all honesty, is to find a way to press manufacturers to start cooperating with the OSI. Dell is taking a leading role in this respect, and I think they just may be signalling change to come. Write to your local office. Get a petition with absolutely everyone who can so much as hold the pen signing, After that, it's good for O2's business to start producing drivers. This change has to come from them, the Open Source community simply cannot sustain a workload that is tantamount to matching the billions of dollars poured into commercial comptability suites and driver development.

I hope you do pursue this, and good luck!

-Sanjay Sodhi

[eentonig]

If windows were not so buggy and followed open standard, I would definitely use it more.

Don't complain to linux/ubuntu because your phone vendor doesn't provide linux drivers (be it open source or proprietary). Complain at your vendor. It's their fault.

[reclusivemonkey]

I sync my phone with ZYB, and online syncing service. I can then download my contacts from there into Evolution. I understand it will do the same with Notes/Calendars, but I use remind for that. You may be able to use this method with your phone;

https://zyb.com/Default.asp

My Nokia N80 doesn't have any native software, but at least when I plug it in, its memory (2Gb SanDisk mini II Ultra) is recognised as a standard USB flash drive.

[prince_niceguy]

I know TVU is a pain in the you know what to install..

well now tvu player is resolved thanks to this post (http://linux4humanbeing.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-install-tvuplayer-on-linux.html)...

[SunnyRabbiera]

If Linux worked with my phone and TVU i'd prolly use it more often. I really wish Linux had better compatibility with Windows drivers and software. Yeah, i could buy a Linux friendly phone, but that would restrict my choice of phones and I really like my phone. It's an O2 Ice and I cannot access/sync my files with linux :-(

I blame those drivers and software more then linux.
If Linux was owned by some crap company that ignored its customers, made crap loads of money, and was founded by Bill Gates then this would not be an issue.
But linux is community developed, it does the best it can.

[BXL]

I don't know why Nokia hasn't ported their Nokia Suite to Linux. My phones (E51, 9300 & 6021) are recognized, I can use them as modems and exchange files but synchronizing contacts, calender, mails etc. is impossible.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I don't know why Nokia hasn't ported their Nokia Suite to Linux. My phones (E51, 9300 & 6021) are recognized, I can use them as modems and exchange files but synchronizing contacts, calender, mails etc. is impossible.

Its called hypocrisy...