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the Familiar Project

Contents

News!
  • 2007-03-08 -- New [tzdata packages] address US Daylight Savings Time (DST) changes (updated)
  • 2007-02-22 -- Unstable feed [re-populated]
  • 2006-08-20 -- Familiar v0.8.4 [released.]
  • 2006-07-25 -- Familiar v0.8.4-rc3 Release Candidate [released.]
  • 2006-06-30 -- Familiar build tree gets a [setup utility.]
  • 2006-05-24 -- Familiar build tree has [moved.]
  • 2006-05-14 -- Familiar v0.8.4-rc2.3 for h2200 and hx4700 [released.]
  • 2006-05-06 -- Familiar v0.8.4-rc2 Release Candidate [released.]
  • 2006-04-11 -- Familiar v0.8.4-rc1 Release Candidate [released.]
  • 2005-04-13 -- Familiar v0.8.2 [released.]
  • 2005-02-25 -- Familiar v0.8.1 [released.]
  • 2004-12-23 -- Familiar v0.8.0 [released.]
  • 2003-11-13 -- Familiar v0.7.2 [released.]

What is the Familiar Project?

The Familiar Project is composed of a group of loosely knit developers all contributing to creating the next generation of PDA OS. Currently, most of our development time is being put towards producing a stable, and full featured Linux distribution for the HP iPAQ series and other handheld computers, as well as apps to run on top of the distribution. Take a look at our wiki page too.

Currently Familiar's Linux distribution supports some of the following key features:

  • Choice of user environments, both with full PIM suite and other applications
  • Full package management based on ipkg.
  • Many system programs are implemented using busybox, saving space.
  • Dropbear SSH server included by default.
  • Built entirely using the OpenEmbedded build system.
The current stable release versions are:
  • Familiar v0.8.4 for the iPAQ h3600, h3700, h3800, h3900, h5400, and h5500 series, and Siemens Simpad.
  • Familiar v0.7.2 for the iPAQ h3100 series

Screenshots

Screenshots of GPE running on Familiar.
Screenshots of Opie running on Familiar.

People

Here are just some of the people involved in the Familiar Project:

Alumni

See also the HandheldsPeople page on the wiki.

Download

Version Description
v0.8.4 Current stable release. Maintenance update to 0.8
v0.8.4-rc3 Third release candidate for v0.8.4
v0.8.4-rc2 Second release candidate for v0.8.4
v0.8.4-rc1 First release candidate for v0.8.4
v0.8.2 Maintenance update to 0.8
v0.8.1 Maintenance update to 0.8
v0.8.0 Fresh build from source using OpenEmbedded
v0.7.2 A maintenance update to 0.7.
v0.7.1 A maintenance update to 0.7.
v0.7 The latest major Familiar release.
v0.6.1 A maintenance update to 0.6.
v0.6 The previous major Familiar release.
v0.5.3 The update to v0.5.2. Considered stable.
v0.5.2 The update to v0.5.1. Considered stable.
v0.5.1 The long sought after update to v0.5. Considered stable.
v0.5 The predecessor to v0.6.
v0.4 An older release, replaced by v0.5.
v0.3 An aged release. The last of the cramfs images.

Build Tree

The OE tree that is used for Familiar distribution builds has moved to handhelds.org. It currently resides in a Git repository at http://familiar.handhelds.org/git/familiar-build.git/. After installing Git run the following command to get a copy of the tree: 

	git clone http://familiar.handhelds.org/git/familiar-build.git
The repository contains an OE tree along with a matching known-working (but ancient) version of bitbake. Please do not mix it with a more recent version of bitbake as that is known to cause problems.

Also provided is a setup tool to ease the build system setup procedure.

Access to Source Code

For Familiar 0.8.x and newer, source code is available from http://familiar.handhelds.org/source/, patches are contained in the OpenEmbedded metadata or more recently the Familiar build tree.

Most of the Familiar sources for 0.7.x and earlier are currently being maintained in the handhelds.org CVS repository. See this page for a list of some of the modules, or see the handhelds.org CVS howto for detailed guide on accessing the handhelds.org anonymous CVS server.

In general if you are having trouble finding the source your best bet is to look at the source information for the particular package, or failing that, contact the package's maintainer. This information can be found by looking at the package information page on [http://ipkgfind.handhelds.org/].

FAQs

Please see the Familiar FAQ on the wiki.

Bug Tracking

Please report any bugs in images and additional packages shipped by Familiar in handhelds.org Bugzilla.

Mailing List

Feel free to join the Familiar Distribution mailing list. An up-to-date archive of this list can be found here [handhelds.org] or here [gmane.org].

IRC

Feel free to hop on irc://irc.freenode.net, and join #handhelds-familiar. If you don't get a response on that channel, try out #handhelds as well or write e-mail to the mailing list.

Familiar in the Press

Some recent articles on Familiar, and its developers:

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