If you aren’t aware, an open-source version of Google’s Chrome (browser and OS) is the Chromium project. CyanogenMod happen to be an expert at tweaking open-source software, and it looks as though they’ve set their eyes on Chromium now.
The Cyanogen OS has always been about giving the users control over their device. Gello, the Chromium based browser that CyanogenMod has teased, seems to be built on the same principles. Gello seems like an open-source, customizeable version of Chrome.
As you can see from the teaser image, Gello will allow you to take control over what access rights each website is given. You’ll also have features such as offline reading, night mode and other privacy settings at your disposal, so if you’re one of those power users that read a lot on the net, Gello will help you replace a few of your apps.
Gello won’t work on all phones; it certainly won’t on older phones which aren’t very potent with hardware. Take a look at Gello here:
What holds back manufacturers UMI/Elephone/Ulephone/etc. to use CM as a default ROM instead of their own AOSP implementation?
They have the kernel source. They could compile any ROM what they want.
Its not that simple, with hardware there are always some unexplainable problems and weird bugs that end up testing with osciloscope and stuff.. Look at oneplus, they have cm support and year after release we get bug fixes for touchscreen and bluetooth. The real problem is with chip producers, they dont make good linux drivers.
I don’t think you should go that deep to make a different ROM with the same kernel source.
Many people make custom ROMs based on the manufacturer’s kernel source and they don’t need oscilloscope and stuff.
If the manufacturer is able to make a proper kernel with working drivers for one ROM, they could use the same kernel, drivers, board config, toolchain to compile other ROMs (with the same base android version)
I saw many times that there are 1-3 developer working on the kernel, drivers and make CM to work on a phone. After this, many less skilled people are able to compile different ROMs using ROMs source + the developed kernel’s source.
I don’t think this is too hard for a phone manufacturer with skilled developers.
i agree.
drivers: that’s the problem with Linux in general.
Thats the problem with closed source drivers. Theres nothing you can do to customize a rom when all the drivers are closed.
when you release the “kernel” I’m assuming you have the source of the drivers.
proprietary or public, open or closed, we need more skilled people writing drivers.
that’s the bottle neck of Linux IMO
because with CM you have to pay their developers.
you can use it for free but then if you have an issue you have to ask them to fix it at their price.
i don’t understand why they don’t simply release the code and let the community fix and fork it the way they like.
I’ve seen many products selling like pieces of cake once the code was released
Why should I pay for it? I’m a manufacturer, I have developers. If I run into a bug, I can fix it and push the changes back to CM repos and next time I compile, my bug will be fixed. Or I can keep compiling without push back the changes with applied patches. But this could be a mess over time.
I can’t agree more with the open source thing. My dream is still that a manufacturer make the ROM development public eg on GitHub and involve the community in the development.
you don’t have to pay, you can use your developers as long as you make your fix public.
you pay if you use their developers that might be a little more confident with the code they wrote themselves.
they might also have the fix ready and sitting in their drawers 😉
so you pay for the quick fix
They definitely should make it public. I’m waiting for a manufacturer who follow this philosophy. (and whose phones doesn’t cost my monthly income 😛 :