Mer (software distribution)
Kernel type | None (not shipped with Mer) |
---|---|
License | Free software[clarification needed] |
Official website | merproject |
Mer was a free and open-source software distribution, targeted at hardware vendors to serve as a middleware for Linux kernel-based mobile-oriented operating systems.[1] It is a fork of MeeGo.[2][3][4]
Goals
Some goals[2] of the project are:
- Openly developed with transparency built into the fabric of the project
- Provide a mobile device oriented architecture
- Primary customers are mobile device vendors, not end-users.
- Have structure, processes and tools to make life easy for device manufacturers
- Support innovation in the mobile OSspace
- Inclusive of projects and technologies (e.g. MeeGo, Tizen, Qt, Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), HTML5)
- Governed as a meritocracy
- Run as a non profit through donations[5]
Software architecture
Mer is not an operating system; it is aimed to be one component of an operating system based on the Linux kernel. Mer is a part of the operating system above the Linux kernel and below the graphical user interface (GUI).
Mer just provides the equivalent of the MeeGo core. The former MeeGo user interfaces and hardware adaptation are to be done by various other projects and by hardware manufacturers, which will be able to build their products on top of the Mer core.
Components
There is support for
Zephyr is an attempt at creating a stack for use by other projects to be exploring lightweight, high-performance, next-generation UIs based on Mer,
Supported hardware
Mer can be compiled for a number of
There are Mer-based builds available for various devices, including
Mer uses Open Build Service: OBS in mer but with one repository per architecture:
Mer port name | OBS scheduler name | RPM architectures | OBS project name in MDS | OBS repository name in MDS | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
i486 | i586 | i486 | Core:i486 | Core_i486 | Generic i486+ X86 port |
i586 | i586 | i586, i686 | Core:i586 | Core_i586 | SSSE3 enabled X86 port |
x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | Core:x86_64 | Core_x86_64 | Generic 64 bit port |
armv6l | armv7el | armv6l | Core:armv6l | Core_armv6l | ARMv6 + VFP port |
armv7l | armv7el | armv7l | Core:armv7l | Core_armv7l | ARMv7 VFPv3-D16 port, softfp ABI |
armv7hl | armv8el | armv7hl | Core:armv7hl | Core_armv7hl | ARMv7 VFPv3-D16 port, hardfp ABI |
armv7tnhl | armv8el | armv7hl, armv7nhl, armv7tnhl, armv7thl | Core:armv7tnhl | Core_armv7tnhl | ARMv7 VFPv3-D16 port, hardfp ABI, NEON, Thumb2 |
mipsel | mips | mipsel | Core:mipsel | Core_mipsel | MIPS32 O32 ABI port, hardfloat |
Products based on Mer
KDE Plasma Active
Mer was used as a reference platform for
Vivaldi Tablet and Improv-computer
In January 2012 a Plasma Active-tablet device, initially known as 'Spark tablet' and soon renamed 'Vivaldi Tablet', was announced.
Nemo Mobile
Parallel to Sailfish OS by Jolla, Nemo Mobile is a community-driven operating system based on a Linux kernel, Mer, a GUI and diverse applications.[15][16][17] Since 2019, Nemo Mobile is no longer using Mer Project as a base but switched to
Jolla and Sailfish OS
In July 2012 Jolla, a Finnish company founded by former Nokia employees involved in MeeGo development, announced their work on a new operating system called Sailfish OS, which is based on MeeGo and Mer's core with added proprietary GUI and hardware implementation layers.[19][20] It was presented in late November 2012. Jolla released its first smartphone using Sailfish in 2013, simply called
Yuanxin OS
In November 2014, Yuanxin Technology in China announced it is working on Yuanxin OS. The company's president Shi Wenyong called the OS "China's own smartphone OS",[21] to be on par with Android and Apple iOS. Mr. Shi explained to a reporter that Yuanxi OS is based on the Mer distribution.[22]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Mer_and_mobile_operating_systems.svg/220px-Mer_and_mobile_operating_systems.svg.png)
Mer's initial aim to provide a completely free alternative to the
It was based on
Shift to MeeGo
Mer suspended development at release 0.17, since focus had switched to building MeeGo for the N800 and N810 devices.[25] By then, MeeGo was available and supported by a much wider community.
Collapse of MeeGo
The development was silently resumed during the summer of 2011 by a handful of MeeGo developers (some of them previously active in the Mer project), after Nokia changed its strategy in February 2011. These developers were not satisfied with the way MeeGo had been governed behind closed doors especially after Nokia departed, and they were also concerned that MeeGo heavily depended on big companies which could stop supporting it, as was the case when Nokia abandoned MeeGo as part of its new strategy.[26]
This was again proven to be a problem after
Revival with "MeeGo Reconstructed"
After the Tizen project was announced, the revival of the Mer project was announced on the MeeGo mailing list,[2] with the promise that it would be developed and governed completely in the open as a meritocracy, unlike MeeGo and Tizen. It would also be based on the MeeGo code base and tools, aiming to provide just the equivalent of the MeeGo core with no default UI. The APIs for third party application development are included, meaning that Qt, EFL, and HTML5 would be supported on the platform, and maybe even others if widely requested.
The project quickly started to gain traction among many open source developers who had been involved in MeeGo, and it started being used by former MeeGo projects, such as the reference handset UX, now rebased on top of Mer and called Nemo Mobile, and a couple of projects targeting tablet UXes such as Cordia (a reimplementation of the Maemo 5 Hildon UX) and
The aim of the Mer community is to create, in a solid way, what had been unable to be done with MeeGo; Mer is to become what MeeGo was expected to be but has not become. Mer aims to become the MeeGo 2.0 when the Linux Foundation finds that it complies with all of the MeeGo requirements.
Merger with Sailfish
In early 2019 it was announced that they would unify Mer and Sailfish operations under one brand, called Sailfish OS, discontinuing use of the name Mer.
See also
References
- ^ "Mer Project website". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
- ^ a b c Munk, Carsten. "MeeGo Reconstructed – a plan of action and direction for MeeGo". MeeGo-dev (Mailing list). Archived from the original on June 3, 2013.
- ^ lbt (7 August 2011). "Restructure MeeGo: By Installments". Retrieved 20 August 2012.
- ^ Ash (2011-10-03). "MeeGo Reconstructed – Presenting "Project Mer"". MeeGoExperts.com. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ "Mer Project". Mer Project. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Zephyr Mer Zephyr
- ^ "Wayland and Weston 1.3 release notes". 2013-10-11.
- ^ "Mer Community workspace".
- ^ "Plasma Active 3 Improves Performance, Brings New Apps". KDE. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ Why the Vivaldi tablet never came to market. LWN.net 2014.
- ^ Marco Martin. "some more hardware porn". Google+. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ "Spark tablet announcement". Blogspot 2012.
- ^ "Akademy: Plasma Active and Make Play Live". LWN.net 2012.
- ^ "KDE Improv, Tablet Projects Officially Axed". July 2014.
- ^ "Nemo". Mer Wiki. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
- ^ "The Nemo Mobile Open Source Project on Ohloh". Ohloh.net. Retrieved 2013-08-20.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Marko Saukko (2013-02-03), Porting Nemo Mobile and Mer Project to new Hardware, FOSDEM 2013, retrieved 2013-07-29
- ^ "Distribution kit for mobile phones NemoMobile 0.7 Released".
- ^ "Co-creation leading to co-development?".
- ^ "What Is Jolla Mobile / Jolla OS? | Jolla Users Blog". Jollausers.com. 2012-09-26. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ "Homegrown mobile operating system makes debut in China". wantchinatimes.com. 2014-11-30. Archived from the original on 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
- ^ "拆解"首款纯国产手机系统":样机研制刚完成,明年建生态圈来自澎湃新闻". thepaper.cn. 2014-12-04. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
- ^ "What is Mer Project? | Jolla Users Blog". Jollausers.com. 2012-09-27. Archived from the original on 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ Carsten Valdemar Munk. "Mer: Reconstructing Maemo" (PDF). Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "The Mer Project – just a bunch of redshirts?". 19 February 2010.
- ^ lbt (2011-02-12). "Come on in…: What now for MeeGo?". Mer-l-in.blogspot.de. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ "Tizen:Common to Ship with Qt Integrated". tizenexperts.com. 11 January 2023.