Sony PRS-T1 specs!

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Of course they do. For example:
App developers: Our Doors are Open!

When it comes to creating NOOK Apps, the possibilities are as endless as the titles in our bookstores. Our Android-based platform provides the perfect canvas for you to deploy your rich and interactive apps and content. If you have an app that is ready for NOOK Color, sign up for NOOK Developer™ and learn how you can qualify to distribute it to millions of readers.

from here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook...pps/379002750/

They did, later on, after the number of people who started rooting it became more than a blip on the radar. At first it was not widely advertised. Even now, they don't push it much.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well to be technical correct, Android is not an operating system. It runs on top of Linux.

It runs on top of the Linux kernel, but more than a kernel is needed to be considered an OS. This is the basis for the technicality in the name of GNU/Linux for most desktop distros, since those are the Linux kernel wrapped by GNU applications.

Originally Posted by kennyc

Clearly you DO want to split hairs.

No it's not. It's called a platform. It is not an operating system.

Take a look at the android site.
If take a look here you'll see each release designated as a "Platform"
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

Actually at one point they do say O/S:
Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.

but most everywhere they call it a Platform...

You seem to want to exclude the kernel, but it really is the O/S and I'm pretty certain there must be more on top of that kernel that is not part of android.

Android is just a java program that runs in a virtual machine.

Android is more than an OS, thus them stating that it is a platform. Platforms are the whole kit and kaboodle (OS, Apps, and Framework). An OS is software that manages hardware, and provides common services for running application software. An OS is not a kernel alone. Android has additional middleware (drivers, memory managers, the VM you mention, API libraries, etc) that forms the rest of the OS that the Linux kernel does not provide. Android becomes more than an OS, because of the applications and services are provided (like the Android Market, Maps, etc), as well as tools to develop for it (the SDK). Many companies only use the OS portion of Android, like B&N on the nook and Nook Simple Touch, and do not use the apps and services available from the Android platform.

[charleski]

Originally Posted by thebestjeter

What I find really, really, really weird is that Sony has never mentioned the word "Android".

Because if they did, then people would expect more than just an ereader. At the very least they'd expect it to come with a fully-fledged web browser, which doesn't seem to be the case here. I think Sony doesn't want to appear to be advertising more than they'll deliver. And, of course, there's the fact that Sony are going to be selling a line of 'proper' general-purpose tablets which will no doubt cost quite a bit more.

Originally Posted by snarkophilus

This behaviour is the same as I see with PRS+ on my 350 now. If I change font via the user CSS setting then then I get a funny little squiggle symbol instead of my hand written annotation.

The handwritten annotations require a link to the bitmapped character data, and anything that breaks that will produce the same result. You don't even need to change the font, just changing the font size will result in a handwritten note turning into a squiggle on my 650. So I don't think it's a big deal.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

....

Android is more than an OS, thus them stating that it is a platform. .....

all depends on where you draw the line I guess. I've only been working with this stuff 30 years or so I probably don't have a clue yet

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by kennyc

all depends on where you draw the line I guess. I've only been working with this stuff 30 years or so I probably don't have a clue yet

I just draw the line at where the definitions are. I've been dealing with this stuff for nearly as long, starting with a ZX81. Plus, this isn't the first time I've seen the argument over the difference between a kernel and an OS. Also as someone who is going back to school for this (woebegone are these days when mere experience means nothing, yet a piece of paper from a school means the world), with current books to show what the definitions are.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

I just draw the line at where the definitions are. I've been dealing with this stuff for nearly as long, starting with a ZX81. Plus, this isn't the first time I've seen the argument over the difference between a kernel and an OS. Also as someone who is going back to school for this (woebegone are these days when mere experience means nothing, yet a piece of paper from a school means the world), with current books to show what the definitions are.

Hope yer having a good time with the classes. This is on field where one must constantly update knowledge and skills. I've been spending a bit of time learning/programming android over the last year.

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

I just draw the line at where the definitions are. I've been dealing with this stuff for nearly as long, starting with a ZX81. Plus, this isn't the first time I've seen the argument over the difference between a kernel and an OS. Also as someone who is going back to school for this (woebegone are these days when mere experience means nothing, yet a piece of paper from a school means the world), with current books to show what the definitions are.

The problem is the "definitions" are super blurred these days. And I'm talking in the opposite direction from the kernel.

One major purpose of an OS is to "abstract/hide" the hardware, aka give you a standard way to access hardware: "read a file" is the same OS call even though it works totally differently underneath for an SSD or an internal HDD or a USB HDD. But the "OS" is not the only thing doing abstraction any more.

On the UNIX OS, the GUI has been provided by X11 (X Windows), which interfaces with the graphics driver so you don't have to directly ("abstract/hide" in action). It's not considered an OS, but it performs a lot of the basic functions of an OS, just specific to graphics: "draw a line" is the same call even if you have an ATI Radeon or NVIDIA graphics card. X11 acts just like a graphics-specific OS, but it's not called an OS.

On top of X11, you can have things like Motif, GTK, KDE, ETC. that make it even easier to do graphics: X11 doesn't provide a "button," but GTK et al. do. So in that sense, they're like an OS, but they aren't accessing hardware directly any longer: "put a button here" is the same call in GTK regardless of OS, graphics card, or computer ("abstract/hide" again in action!). These are called "Toolkits" but they are doing a very, very similar job to an OS, just completely in software at this point.

Apple calls their OS "Mac OS X," but in reality that's Carbon or Cocoa Graphics Toolkits on top of the Darwin OS, on top of the Mach Microkernel... much of which was originally NeXT. Same goes for iOS, which his a heck of a lot more than an OS.

So Android is an "OS" like Mac OS X (or iOS) is an "OS." But there's a lot of simplifying going on when you call them that.

One thing is certain, calling it "Sony Software" is not talking about the OS!

-Pie

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Hope yer having a good time with the classes. This is on field where one must constantly update knowledge and skills. I've been spending a bit of time learning/programming android over the last year.

I'm hating the classes. I'd much rather just work. Some of the classes are obscenely out of date (such as the assembly class I am in now, the program we're forced to use for the pseudo assembly language we have to use was last made in '86, and the final printing on the book was in '91), others are mindnumbing because the material is old hat for me, and what bugs me the most is the number of unrelated classes I have to take. Degree requirements have had me take management courses, accounting courses, sociology courses, psych classes, etc for a BS in Computer Science. I even was forced to take a semester long class on dorm living, despite being a commuter student with my own place (and this is a school with a large portion of commuter students).

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by EatingPie

..

One thing is certain, calling it "Sony Software" is not talking about the OS!

-Pie

I think we can all agree on that.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I think we can all agree on that.

Most definitely. Saying "Sony software" can mean pretty much anything, and confirms or denies nothing, other than Sony made something installed on the device. That could be anything from a script that displays a splash screen with a Sony logo during boot, to everything.

[carpetmojo]

Gosh, tings is gettin' compelcated.....

More fish is obviously needed..........

[Rizla]

So is the OS Sony or Android? Lmao

[kennyc]

Yes.


.

[log]

Wow, wasn't expecting this. Don't want this thread to get any more sidetracked so will respectfully not continue this kernel vs OS discussion, this is a e-reader forum after all.

In any case if the new Sony Reader is indeed running on top of Android -- it makes this the most attractive e-Ink Android device for the modding community. It has all the hardware buttons required, as apposed to the Nook STR which requires an overlay of icons on the screen when running Android applications.

I'm curious what kind of CPU it will have and how it will compare with Nook STR.

[ring0_event]

Originally Posted by log

In any case if the new Sony Reader is indeed running on top of Android -- it makes this the most attractive e-Ink Android device for the modding community. It has all the hardware buttons required, as apposed to the Nook STR which requires an overlay of icons on the screen when running Android applications.
I'm curious what kind of CPU it will have and how it will compare with Nook STR.

log, you said it. I can't wait till this is finalized. If it is indeed Android I will buy it for the rooting possibilities despite the fact that I have a 950 already.

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yes.

-Pie