Porting OpenInkpot: the Hanlin V3

Ten days ago, I received device that will monopolize my summer: the Hanlin V3. The performance of this e-reader — or rather the lack thereof — is the primary motivation for my project. According to the OpenInkpot community, this device has a slow processor and little memory. My project's goal is to reduce the memory footprint of OpenInkpot in order to improve its performance on devices like the V3. I decided to purchase the V3 to better empathize with the benefactors of my project and to help motivate myself. If I want a faster e-reader OS, I must build one for myself!

I'd like to write about the V3 soon, but I haven't used it enough to make a fair assessment. Thus far, it appears that the device deserves its reputation for sluggishness; however, I won't speculate on the source of the poor performance. I'll write more later.

GSoC project status update

Now that I've finished this semester's final exams, I've started working on my GSoC project: porting OI to uClibc, the featherweight C standard library. I'll post project updates periodically, saying what I'm doing and relaying what I've learned. I promise they won't all be this boring.

The first step of my project is adding my new architecture, Linux based on uClibc, to dpkg, the foundation of the Debian package management system. dpkg plays a part in packaging code, installing applications, and compiling binary packages; it's a very important tool. Before I start modifying dpkg, I plan to learn about dpkg and the relevant build systems; I'm starting by reading the Debian New Maintainer's Guide.

I'm a GSoC student!

After months of hard work, I was chosen by the OpenInkpot organization to port OI to uClibc. I will be spending my summer reducing the memory OI consumes to allow it to run on e-readers with little memory. If you're curious about the Google Summer of Code, check out the official FAQ.