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Pebble Watch software is now open source

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Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#141

Post by drunkonvinyl »

mkhalil wrote: post #69

I'm sure its happened before, but this is the first time i finally get to see some sort of modern hardware in KiCad. Pretty cool to see all 6 layers, paste layers, and adhesive layers as well. I've always wondered how the cake was made and if big projects do/could use KiCad. Seems like a lot more work relative to those Single Layer PCBs on YouTube for things like emulators and custom PCBs. Glad I now know for sure, t…

Depends on any project ideas, but as a newbie to hardware dev and with my own small scope eurorack module idea, I am having a lot of luck with flux.ai. Even got a small order of 5 PCBs printed for under $200.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#142

Post by consp »

zorgmonkey wrote: post #137
Larrikin wrote: post #118

A little surprised there has been no mention of the app being Kotlin multiplatform. https://github.com/coredevices/mobileapp I had heard of many smaller apps using Kotlin for their iOS app, but this may be the biggest all in multiplatform app I've seen. It would be awesome if there may eventually be support for writing Pebble apps in Kotlin.

Pebble watches run on Cortex-M microcontrollers which have less than 1MB of flash storage and RAM, I like Kotlin multiplatform but getting it to run on them is extremely unlikely. I assume that for the foreseeable future Pebble apps will be only written in languages which are traditionally used for MCUs like Rust and C\C++

Calling rust traditional is a bit of a stretch, while it is being done it's pretty much bleeding edge (though if you do not use any of the manufacturer supplied code and libraries to begin with you should be fine).

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#143

Post by rav3ndust »

MangoToupe wrote: post #29
weinzierl wrote: post #27

"Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, You hereby grant to Core Devices and to recipients of software distributed by Core Devices a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Your Contributions and such derivative works.…

Pebble was bought a long time ago by google yea? So this already happened

not exactly, fitbit acquired pebble in 2016, and google acquired fitbit in 2021. so while google did end up with the IP in the end, they did the Right Thing this year and open-sourced PebbleOS.

i don't normally praise google, but i am glad their open-sourcing of pebbleOS here enabled this new revival of Pebble devices.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#144

Post by darkwater »

paxcoder wrote: post #133
ddlsmurf wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the Pebble specific parts are. This is an unfortunate state of affairs from hardware manufacturers, they are very late to the open source game, if at all.

From the article: >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 , Memfault library, and others). Optional non-free web services, like Wispr-flow API speech recognizer, are also used. These non-free software components are not required - you can compile and run Pebble watch software without them.…

If they are not mandatory it's 100%. Otherwise according to your standard, Debian is not 100% free software either.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#145

Post by tomhow »

ls-a wrote: post #127
tomhow wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't post grumbly swipes like this on HN. The guidelines ask us not to be curmudgeonly. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Ok Rumi. It's my opinion if you don't agree just say I don't agree. Im doing you a favor by giving you an alternative more truthful reality. If you prefer to be in bliss then that's fine but stop acting so sleazy.

We don't need a mini-sermon. We just need you, like everyone, to follow the guidelines. Criticism is fine. Emptiness and thoughtlessness is not. You're welcome not to participate here if you're unwilling to put a little effort and substance into what you post.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#146

Post by bloppe »

ddlsmurf wrote: post #131
paxcoder wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So not 100% open source. Thanks for the info

Well the Pebble specific parts are. This is an unfortunate state of affairs from hardware manufacturers, they are very late to the open source game, if at all.

Surprising because you'd think the hardware itself would be their primary moat.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#147

Post by gf000 »

paxcoder wrote: post #100
mid-kid wrote: post #99

For some of us software freedom enthusiasts it is worth noting that PebbleOS contains some proprietary blobs for some peripherals in the watch[1]. This is not just firmware you upload to the peripheral but also properietary .a libraries that run on the main core. Though to be fair to OpenDevices, this is source code they don't have acces to either. [1]: https://github.com/coredevices/pebbleos-nonfree/tree/57a94e2...

So not 100% open source. Thanks for the info

Above a certain complexity, there is basically no 100% open-source hardware out there.

Like none of the Pinephone, Librem, Framework laptops are "open-source" to the bone.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#148

Post by rnewme »

paxcoder wrote: post #133
ddlsmurf wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the Pebble specific parts are. This is an unfortunate state of affairs from hardware manufacturers, they are very late to the open source game, if at all.

From the article: >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 , Memfault library, and others). Optional non-free web services, like Wispr-flow API speech recognizer, are also used. These non-free software components are not required - you can compile and run Pebble watch software without them.…

100% of their own software.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#149

Post by bayindirh »

ddlsmurf wrote: post #131
paxcoder wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So not 100% open source. Thanks for the info

Well the Pebble specific parts are. This is an unfortunate state of affairs from hardware manufacturers, they are very late to the open source game, if at all.

Between the cross-licensing of hardware IP blocks and 3rd party software which never sees the light of the day, hardware manufacturers work like a secretive three letter agency to be able to control every part of their ecosystem.

I tend to understand where this comes from. It's part business, part continuation of old customs and the way they did it and being able to control obsolescence to be able push new things to the market.

However, if the periphery of the software you put out is closed source, even though this periphery is optional, it's not fair or ethical to say it's 100% open source.

From my perspective, it can be said it's open core, and it's pretty fair, and acceptable in my case, but writing 100% Open Source* (*: 100% of the open part of the software stack, exceptions apply) is not fair game. It's misleading.

Re: Pebble Watch software is now open source

#150

Post by bayindirh »

darkwater wrote: post #144
paxcoder wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: >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 , Memfault library, and others). Optional non-free web services, like Wispr-flow API speech recognizer, are also used. These non-free software components are not required - you can compile and run Pebble watch software without them.…

If they are not mandatory it's 100%. Otherwise according to your standard, Debian is not 100% free software either.

Debian doesn't advertise itself as 100% open source, either.

Main and Contrib has to obey DFSG guidelines, and there's an optional non-free repository which you can enable if you prefer.

Firmware is a gnarly can of worms though, and while I prefer 100% free firmware myself, companies are not brave enough to open that part of their ecosystem, yet, if ever.

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