Hellaphone -- Inferno on Android phones

This is a demonstration of Inferno running on an Android phone. Sandia National Labs has adapted the Inferno operating system to act as a more phone-oriented OS, allowing us to make calls, send and receive SMS, and use the phone data network. For more information, see https://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/...

I apologize for the fuzzy screen view and the slightly muddled audio; I had to sit behind my laptop and hold the camera in front of the screen, making it difficult to see what the camera was actually capturing; it also put me at a bad mic angle.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[gzaloprgm]

Really interesting, came here after seeing the Defcon 20 talk. Has it evolved much after this demo?

I've a couple of questions: Does it manage to "turn off" (stand by mode) and then resume? Is that usually implemented inside the Linux kernel or in the Android layer?

The radio interface exposes a way to dial numbers, but how does it know what to use as "audio in/out"? Are there audio devices and something like a routing table?

[slawmasta]

It goes into "standby" by simply turning off the screen. When the screen is off, the Nexus S seems capable of running for days on a single charge--I think I've seen up to a week. We handle this by writing directly to the Linux framebuffer control, as the Android layer is now completely out of the picture.

The radio interface knows the audio devices by calling into (IIRC) the audio libraries on Android's minimal Linux. These will tell which is the speaker, mic, etc.

[behael]

Those people flamming has no idea what Inferno/Plan9 OSes are ;)

Great job!

[slawmasta]

The problem is that, for security reasons, you can only use official blessed and sanctified cameras to take pictures on-site... and it's hard to find one of those at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. So I went home and used my laptop.

[Roland D]

Is java that bad ? I wrote a few pages of code a few years ago, and I didn't mind it at all. I never used the android dev kit, and I am curious to see why you think it's better to program on inferno. Or is this just for devs already familiar with limbo and not willing to switch to java ?

[HardSoftPro]

Great Stuff! I luv Inferno OS! Now I'll can manage and develop with mobility! Great job! Thank you guys! Keep it fresh! :)

[Eric Seale]

NeXT, a Plan9 launcher?

LULZ

[fmyoen]

I think it's just an experimental UI which will be completely rewritten in case Inferno will seriously move to the smartphones.

[WretchedWinston]

Awesome demonstration! I love the simplicity of Inferno's UI. No distracting candy. I feel proud to know somebody is using the inferno project in such a unique way that is quite relevant to our modern age of mobile phones!

[empdapez]

I hate this, "upgrade your Adobe Flash Player, to view this video."