diff options
| -rwxr-xr-x | www/about.html | 132 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | www/header.html | 3 | ||||
| -rwxr-xr-x | www/news.html | 10 |
3 files changed, 21 insertions, 124 deletions
diff --git a/www/about.html b/www/about.html index 1426221b..887a8dfc 100755 --- a/www/about.html +++ b/www/about.html @@ -73,133 +73,21 @@ kind of nice to have.</p> <b><h2><a name="downloads" />Download</h2></b> -<p>This project is maintained as a mercurial archive. To get a copy of the -current development version, either use mercurial (hg clone -http://landley.net/hg/toybox) or click on one of the zip/gz/bz2 links -at the top of the <a href=/hg/toybox>mercurial archive browser</a> page to get -an archive of the appropriate version. Click -<a href="/hg/toybox?cmd=tags">tags</a> to see all the tagged release -versions ("tip" is the current development version).</p> +<p>This project is maintained as a <a href=https://github.com/landley/toybox>git +archive</a>, and also offers <a href=http://landley.net/toybox/downloads>source +tarballs</a> and <a href=http://landley.net/toybox/bin>static binaries</a> +of the release versions.</p> <p>The maintainer's <a href=/notes.html>development log</a> and the project's <a href=http://lists.landley.net/listinfo.cgi/toybox-landley.net>mailing list</a> are also good ways to track what's going on with the project.</p> -<!-- -<b><h2><a name="why">Why do toybox?</h2></b> - -<p>Because smart phones are replacing the PC, and Android must become -self-hosting to beat the iPhone in establishing the new standard.</p> - -<p>This is the third such major transition in computer history: -(mainframe->minicomputer->microcomputer->smartphone). -The mainframe was replaced by the minicomputer, which was replaced by -the microcomputer (renamed the "personal" computer to make clear you could -access porn through it), which is being replaced by the smartphone. Nobody -needed to wait for printouts from a big computer in another building when they -could use a little one down the hall. Then nobody needed the big computer -down the hall when they had a little one on their desk. Now nobody needs the -big computer on their desk when they have a little one in their pocket.</p> - -<p>The new platform displaces the old when it becomes natively self hosting. -Often they leverage existing technology: just as early microcmputers used -teletypes and televisions for output, phones can use -<a href=http://us.toshiba.com/accessory/PA3575U-1PRP>USB docking stations</a> -to access a bigger screen, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc. Plugging a phone into -USB even charges the battery. But to use the phone as a development -workstation, it needs more software, such as a Posix command line, a native -compiler, and drivers for the USB peripherals.</p> - -<p>The new platform also eventually weans itself off of its dominant language. -Dalvik is to Android what ROM Basic was to the PC: something it must -eventually outgrow. Thus toybox is native C code, not Java.</p> - -<b><h3>So why aren't self-hosting smartphones attracting more attention?</h3></b> - -<p>Because most people are focusing on the legacy platforms, not on the new -stuff. Existing multi-billion dollar industries are getting evicted from their -decades-old established niche, and are trying to spin the transition as an -opportunity instead of a forced march onto reservations. When elephants run -from mice, it's easier to notice the elephants.</p> - -<p>History's our guide here: the previous technology always gets kicked up into -the "server space", moving from "the thing you stood in front of waiting for -your printout" to "that thing you sometimes accessed remotely via the new -computer". This time around they're calling it "the cloud" and pretending it's -a big deal; it's really just a beowulf cluster with a layer of -virtualization/containerization software implementing hotplug hardware and -live migration to provide cheap -commodity processing power that dominant players (like amazon) literally -give away for free. These old machines become secondary, only -accessed through the new machines users now directly interact with.</p> - -<p>Since there's only one server space, the mainframe ate the minicomputer in -the 1980's (when DEC went under), and this time around "the cloud" seems to be -eating the mainframe (IBM ain't happy). The inevitable consolidation leads -to drama, but doesn't mean much in the long run.</p> - -<p><a href=http://landley.net/notes-2012.html#12-07-2012>For more -on this topic...</a></p> - -<b><h3><a name="why_android">Why is Android important?</h2></b> - -<p>Major hardware transitions introduce -<a href=http://landley.net/notes-2011.html#26-06-2011>new software -standards</a> which are extremely sticky once -established, due to network effects.</p> - -<p>Last time around, the PC was stuck with -a proprietary operating system (DOS/Windows) which is still dominant on that -hardware platform's descendants 30 years later. This time around, the choice -is between Android (a Linux derivative) and iPhone (a closed BSD fork ala -SunOS, put out by a company already engaged in multiple aggressive IP lawsuits). -The main difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple is competent.</p> - -<p>And yes, it has to be Android, it won't be vanilla Linux any time soon, -for three reasons. 1) <a href=http://landley.net/notes-2010.html#13-08-2010>Open -Source can't do user interfaces</a> for about the same reason wikipedia can't -write a novel, 2) it's too late to the -party (a 5 year headstart is forever in computers), 3) preinstalls matter -(GPLv3 spooked all the hardware vendors, Android has a "no GPL in -userspace" policy which is rigidly enforced).</p> - -<p>And "any time soon" is important: attempting to displace an existing -entrenched de-facto standard is what linux has spent the last 20 -years trying (and failing) to do on the desktop. Spending another 20 -years fighting for less than 1% of the phone market would just be sad.</p> - -<b><h3><a name="how_google">How is Google less evil than Apple?</h3></b> - -<p>Because Android isn't Google's core business, attaching advertising to large -scale data searches is. Android and Chrome and such are Google's way of -"commoditizing their co-factors" to drive down the price of ingredients -to their core business.</p> - -<p>Thus Google is pursuing a commodity market and encouring as many vendors as -possible to participate, not to control the new space but to hold it open, -so that its search products are widely available without requiring the -permission of some other monopoly gatekeeper. Apple is attemping to corner the -smartphone market and extract monopoly rents, excluding all -vendors except itself.</p> - -<p>So if Google wins we get a commodity market in smartphone/tablet software, -and may be able to open it further in future. If Apple wins we get a proprietary -smartphone/tablet OS with a single monopoly vendor, which is likely to close it -further.</p> - -<b><h3>Why not just use BusyBox?</h3></b> - -<p>Android can't. Busybox predates android -by many years; if they were ever going to ship it they'd have done so by -now. Android has had a "No GPL in Userspace" policy ever since GPLv3 -came out (before the first Android phone shipped), and they mean it.</p> - -<p>Toybox also has a better design and simpler code. I did both -and this is the one I enjoy banging on; I tried to contribute a few things -to busybox and it was like crawling through a thornbush of #ifdefs. Busybox -development is just no fun anymore.</p> - ---> +<b><h2><a name="why" />Why is toybox?</h2></b> + +<p>The <a href=http://landley.net/talks/celf-2015.txt>2015 toybox talk</a> +starts with links to three previous talks on the history and motivation of +the project: "Why Toybox", "Why Public Domain", and "Why did I do +Aboriginal LInux (which led me here)?".</p> <b><h2><a name="toycans" />What's the toybox logo image?</h2></b> diff --git a/www/header.html b/www/header.html index 83f1bf1a..0059dac0 100644 --- a/www/header.html +++ b/www/header.html @@ -22,8 +22,7 @@ </ul> <b>Download</b> <ul> - <li><a href="/hg/toybox">Mercurial Repository</a></li> - <li><a href="https://github.com/gfto/toybox">Git mirror</a></li> + <li><a href="https://github.com/landley/toybox">Source control</a></li> <li><a href="downloads">Releases</a></li> <li><a href="bin">Binaries</a></li> </ul> diff --git a/www/news.html b/www/news.html index c9bf1236..084d7538 100755 --- a/www/news.html +++ b/www/news.html @@ -8,6 +8,16 @@ a development environment. See the links on the left for details.</p> <h2>News</h2> +<hr><b>April 5, 2015</b> +<p>Since <a href=https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/toybox/>android</a> and +<a href=https://git.tizen.org/cgit/platform/upstream/toybox.git>tizen</a> +and <a href=https://github.com/kraj/meta-musl/tree/master/recipes-core/toybox>openembedded</a> +and <a href=https://packages.gentoo.org/package/sys-apps/toybox>gentoo</a> +and so on have all been using Georgi Chorbadzhiyski's git mirror rather +than the mercurial repository, I bit the bullet and switched the project's repo +<a href=https://github.com/landley/toybox>to git</a>. Georgi's +<a href=https://github.com/gfto/toybox>mirror</a> is now pulling from that.</p> + <hr><b>February 25, 2015</b> <blockquote><p>"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of |