A modest proposal for Meizu: open source the firmware!

/me agrees, Meizu's players have great unexploited potential... :-/

Originally Posted by arnaud

As far as I looked into the S2003.2 Firmware, they already make use of some open-source software. I found lots of references to sox (sox.sf.net) messages. The library is LGPL.

If this is the case then they should be forced to make their code avaialble to the open source community. I thought if you used any open source code, you had to expose your code to the community?

hard to say... the LGPL ist the lesser general public licence... thus as long as it is only used by another programm (like a DLL) the programm remains untouched. only if the programm integrates parts that are under LGPL it will also have to provide it's sourcecode...
does anyone know in which way this is used by meizu?

LGPL allows dynamic linking yes, static linking is not allowed. They probably did dynamically link it, however making it part of a firmware-image can hardly be called dynamic linking. I think they operate on the edges of what the LGPL allows. If they did violate the LGPL, we could sue them: http://gpl-violations.org/

I've also been checking the strings in SDRAM_image.bin, and there might be some problems that prevent open-sourcing the firmware:

S5L8700 uCOSII with DOkdo FS 2007.02.05(3.44). uCOSII is a proprietary OS, we would need to use another OS (like rockbox) in the open-source firmware and port all the Meizu-written drivers from uCOSII to the other OS.

Then there are some reverences to a Blues SDK and Microsoft's Janus DRM, of which the last Is not that important at lest for me personally. The Blues SDK might be something for the Samsung SoC chips?

mfb: You touched on a point there.

This is one thing that Meizu would not be able to release: any technology they have licensed. This most likely would include Microsoft's WMA with DRM, and MP3 technology from Thompson. Yes, there are free open source MP3 decoders, but Meizu would have to remove all their MP3/WMA
(flac and ogg are open source already) code before releasing it, as it should be licensed.

I'm not sure if there are open source WMA codecs freely available, probably falls into the same category as mp3.

So, there would be some work involved in re-inventing the missing source code....but most importantly, the source code would be a great stepping stone to making Rockbox run on the M6.

Originally Posted by DChronos

I doubt the M8 is gonna sell better than the M6 after it's released, at $300, and phone/internet/online/etc. functions that probably will be a looong time before they work outside China at all. Until they set a network for THEIR phone all around the largest places in the world, none of the online and wireless stuff will even work. You'll just be buying a $300+ mp3 and video player. They better plan on the M6 and M3 still being their main source of income in the international market, and doing what they are now sure as hell isn't going to insure that.

Lolwhut? Phone: normal 3G/GSM. Wireless: Just normal wireless networking. No need to have any kind of Meizu network at all. I can connect to anything, with any SIM-card from any company with my HTC TyTN, why would the Meizu M8 be any different?

Maybe because internet phone usage is not free, and is run by networks, just like Vonage, and no other phone service is free, either. There aren't wireless towers sitting all over that you can connect to for free. The phone service costs money. At least, in the US, there is no free to anything having to do with connecting someone to another person, aside from WiFi in a few businesses that pay for the service through a network or internet provider, and those only work with any reliability with near direct line of sight and only in a short distance, so in essence, it's still not free. Even talking to someone over chat for free requires you pay for the internet service.

Let me rephrase it... if you get the M8 and expect to just magically have the ability to tap into some cell company's cell tower to use their bandwidth, and just have the ability to get online and look at your e-mail, and view the web, you're wrong. You will have to pay for a service. Either Meizu has to make their own service, which is unlikely, or they will have to make deals, exactly as Apple did with the iPhone. Until you pay for the service to support any online function, you get a $300+ mp3 and video player with a few functions the M6 has already and few it doesn't.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to add this... It's just like any other cell phone. You can go around and buy a cell phone from a whole bunch of places, but without a service provider, it has no phone functions.

I've owned an m6 for the past 48 hours and there are many things firmware wise that keep me from recommending it to my friends. Open Sourcing the firmware would be amazing for both parts involved, consumers and manufacturer.

I agree as well. I don't get mine for another two day. But I like others read quite abit of the firmware issues and I personally could make some firmware updates and stuff for it in a matter of hours if had the option. I think It would be totally awesome if they made it open source :D

Originally Posted by hugoliva

I've owned an m6 for the past 48 hours and there are many things firmware wise that keep me from recommending it to my friends. Open Sourcing the firmware would be amazing for both parts involved, consumers and manufacturer.

i agree, my friends are like "i want to get one, where can i get one?" but i think about the firmware and i tell them about the problems. It's really not a good thing to do...open sourcing the firmware would be awesome. There are some really crazy coders out there...

oh and btw, amd might be planning to open source their ati graphics drivers as well...and even openmoko is having an open source phone

why doesn't meizu join in the fun?

Well, we do know that some users on this board have access to the code, like the programmer for Emgeton(Betacart). LETS BLACKMAIL THEM AND HAVE THEM RELEASE THE CODE :D

hey how about other companies using their firmware to produce meizu-like-players ?? anyone thought of that?

i know if i would be from meizu i wouldn't want any other company to use my firmware and make money from it.

Originally Posted by stranded

hey how about other companies using their firmware to produce meizu-like-players ?? anyone think of that?

i know if i would be from meizu i wouldn't want any other company to use my firmware and make money from it.

You would need exactly the same hardware, in other words: It' won't happen. Making a complete detailed copy of a product is illegal even in China.

yeah but still they could've copy some ideas for making their own firmware

It seems there are some parts of the firmware (OS, etc.) that Meizu won't ever be able to opensource. So why not try to reverse engineer them?
The first thing would be to set up a wiki, or start a new thread, with what we know of the meizu firmware. Then, from there, we can start doing a "new" basic firmware, that meizu can help us with, giving hardware information, showing their code that can be open sourced, etc. If the M6 had a jtag or similar, even better, so that any non-booting firmware can be reset; if not, well, developers will lose some M6s in the process..

Originally Posted by stranded

yeah but still they could've copy some ideas for making their own firmware

For that, it would probably be better for that person to steal into rockbox gives them more choice on the hardware, and is probably far more community-oriented.

Originally Posted by jbernardo

It seems there are some parts of the firmware (OS, etc.) that Meizu won't ever be able to opensource. So why not try to reverse engineer them?
The first thing would be to set up a wiki, or start a new thread, with what we know of the meizu firmware. Then, from there, we can start doing a "new" basic firmware, that meizu can help us with, giving hardware information, showing their code that can be open sourced, etc. If the M6 had a jtag or similar, even better, so that any non-booting firmware can be reset; if not, well, developers will lose some M6s in the process..

that would kill your warranty as it would not be the original firmware

Meizu Does not Open Source its firmware because of other Company's. They will surely Use Meizu's firmware but change it around to make it look like there's Meizu doesn't want it to be stolen. and stranded is right. for all you know it wont be the original firmware and kill your warrenty

Originally Posted by stranded

that would kill your warranty as it would not be the original firmware

If you just overdub with the original firmware, noone will ever notice ...

ohh yea lol