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Pebble Watch software is now open source
11–20 of 236 posts
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#12> We are trying our best to get into mass production and ship out at most several thousand Pebble Time 2s before CNY [which starts in January]. > Realistically, at this time we’re forecasting that the majority of people will receive their PT2 in March and April. If the factories close for 3 weeks for CNY, then why will the second batch arrive 2-3 months after the first batch?
Good question! (I am the Pebble founder) When factories restart, not all of the workers who were working there before actually come back to work. Some of them stay in their hometowns or they get other jobs. This means that restarting the production line actually means retraining people on how to assemble the product. There is also an entire supply chain behind the assembly line that takes time to restart. Think of al…
Thanks for explaining this. Would you estimate that the January units will be more likely to have issues than the later ones, since they'll be first off the line? Or will there be no changes to the components/process that might make the later units more reliable?
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#13I'm excited that the back will screw off so we can replace the battery. I'm curious about waterproofing. Will that hold? Will we need to replace a gasket or other parts, in addition to the battery?
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#14[flagged]
These watches have an advertised battery life of 30 days. Perhaps you meant to post this in a thread about Apple Watches.
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#15I'm excited that the back will screw off so we can replace the battery. I'm curious about waterproofing. Will that hold? Will we need to replace a gasket or other parts, in addition to the battery?
In the video, the green thing is the gasket. It should be reusable, but nothing's guaranteed in the world of waterproofing.
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#16> Yesterday, Pebble watch software was ~95% open source. Today, it’s 100% open source. You can download, compile and run all the software you need to use your Pebble. We just published the source code for the new Pebble mobile app! Except... > Another important note - some binary blobs and other non-free software components are used today in PebbleOS and the Pebble mobile app (ex: the heart rate sensor on PT2 , Memfa…
The important thing is that all the code written by Core Devices is open source. They can't force third parties to open their code, but they're opening all of their own work. And that proprietary code is not required to use the watches. Most of them don't even have heart rate sensors, and clearly Memfault is not required. They're committing to maintaining a 100% open source version that still allows you to use the wa…
Then say "Pebble Watch Software written by Core Devices Is Now 100% Open Source", or "Pebble mobile app open sourced" (that seems to be the major actual change?), or something like that. The thing they've actually done should be commended, but that doesn't mean ignoring that they've chosen to make a claim in the headline that isn't actually true.
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#17Eric, congrats. Typo in the first photo caption: "in all it's glory" -> "in all its glory"
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Part of this is driven by necessity, for example, cellular network chips are typically binary blobs, etc. as mentioned, the heart rate sensor is a binary blob and that's likely because there are no good OSS solutions for those components. A lot of battery firmwares are closed source, the way that they fixed this for the early pinephone was literally just staring at a memory listing and aiming a heat gun at the batter…
Sure; I'm aware that embedded sucks. And to be clear, this is (IMHO) tolerable so long as the blobs are redistributable. But then maybe don't headline with "100% open source". It's better to be honest about it.
I see that kind of thing more often labeled "open hardware" rather than open source.
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Part of this is driven by necessity, for example, cellular network chips are typically binary blobs, etc. as mentioned, the heart rate sensor is a binary blob and that's likely because there are no good OSS solutions for those components. A lot of battery firmwares are closed source, the way that they fixed this for the early pinephone was literally just staring at a memory listing and aiming a heat gun at the batter…
Sure; I'm aware that embedded sucks. And to be clear, this is (IMHO) tolerable so long as the blobs are redistributable. But then maybe don't headline with "100% open source". It's better to be honest about it.
Yeah, it's weird because they're the ones writing that headline, and the claim is that it's 100% open source. They didn't have to word it that way, they chose to.
Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good question! (I am the Pebble founder) When factories restart, not all of the workers who were working there before actually come back to work. Some of them stay in their hometowns or they get other jobs. This means that restarting the production line actually means retraining people on how to assemble the product. There is also an entire supply chain behind the assembly line that takes time to restart. Think of al…
Thanks for explaining this. Would you estimate that the January units will be more likely to have issues than the later ones, since they'll be first off the line? Or will there be no changes to the components/process that might make the later units more reliable?
They should be identical.