Software:AsteroidOS

From HandWiki
AsteroidOS
AsteroidOS logo.svg
AsteroidOS - Watchface-default.png
AsteroidOS 1.0 default watchface
DeveloperFlorent Revest[1] and the AsteroidOS community
Written inQt/QML
OS familyUnix-like
Working stateActive
Source modelOpen source[2]
Marketing targetSmartwatch
Official websiteasteroidos.org

AsteroidOS is an open source operating system designed for smartwatches.[3][4] It is available as a firmware replacement for some Android Wear devices.[5] The motto for the AsteroidOS project is "Free your wrist."[6]

Wareable.com reviewed version 1.0 and gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.[7]

Software Architecture

AsteroidOS is built like an embedded Linux distribution with OpenEmbedded.[8] It works on top of the Linux kernel and the systemd service manager.[9] AsteroidOS also includes various mobile Linux middlewares originally developed for Mer and Nemo Mobile such as lipstick and MCE.[10]

The user interface is completely written with the Qt5 framework.[8][11] Applications are coded in QML with graphic components coming from Qt Quick and QML-Asteroid. An SDK with a cross-compilation toolchain integrated to Qt Creator can be generated from OpenEmbedded for easier development.[12]

Asteroid-launcher is a Wayland compositor and customizable home screen managing applications, watchfaces, notifications and quick settings. Asteroid-launcher runs on top of the libhybris compatibility layer to make use of Bionic GPU drivers.[13]

AsteroidOS offers Bluetooth Low Energy synchronization capabilities with the asteroid-btsyncd daemon running on top of BlueZ5.[14] A reference client named AsteroidOS Sync is available for Android users.[14][15] There is also a Companion App for Sailfish OS(Starship) and one for Ubuntu Touch(Telescope), but it has not yet been updated to the current release of Ubuntu Touch. An app for Linux-based smartphones like the Librem 5 distributed by Purism is also in the making(Buran), but cannot be used due to a currently still unfixed bug in QT5.

Shipped Applications

As of the 1.1 nightly release, the following applications are shipped and pre-installed by default in AsteroidOS:[16]

  • Agenda: Provides simple event scheduling capabilities
  • Alarm Clock: Makes the watch vibrate at a specific time of day
  • Calculator: Allows basic calculations
  • Compass: A functional Compass app (only preinstalled on devices with supported sensors)
  • Diamonds: A game, which is inspired by 2048.
  • Flashlight: A simple flashlight app where the screen acts as a light source.
  • Heart Rate: An app for heart-rate-monitor bpm retrieval
  • Music: Controls a synchronized device's music player
  • Settings: Configures Time, Date, Language, Bluetooth, Brightness, AOD(on supported devices), Nightstand, Wallpapers, Custom Launchers, Watch faces and USB Modes (Charging,ADB ,SSH ,MTP)
  • Stopwatch: Measures an elapsed time
  • Timer: Counts down a specified time interval
  • Weather: Provides weather forecast for five days

See also

References

  1. "AsteroidOS is an Open Source OS for Smartwatches" (in en-US). xda-developers. 2016-12-08. https://www.xda-developers.com/asteroidos-is-an-open-source-os-for-smartwatches/. 
  2. "Licenses – AsteroidOS". https://asteroidos.org/wiki/documentation/licenses/. 
  3. "An open-source alternative to Android Wear OS for smartwatches emerges". http://www.pcworld.com/article/3039253/an-open-source-alternative-to-android-wear-os-for-smartwatches-emerges.html. 
  4. "AsteroidOS: An Open Source Alternative to Android Wear". 1 March 2016. http://www.xda-developers.com/asteroidos-is-an-open-source-alternative-to-android-wear/. 
  5. "Install – AsteroidOS". https://asteroidos.org/install/. 
  6. "AsteroidOS Homepage". https://asteroidos.org/. 
  7. "AsteroidOS review". June 19, 2018. https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/asteroid-os-review. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 Brown, Eric (May 23, 2018). "AsteroidOS and OpenWatch Aim to Open Up Smartwatch Market". https://www.linux.com/tutorials/asteroidos-and-openwatch-aim-open-smartwatch-market/. 
  9. "Boot Process – AsteroidOS". https://asteroidos.org/wiki/boot-process/. 
  10. "AsteroidOS/meta-asteroid". https://github.com/AsteroidOS/meta-asteroid/tree/master/recipes-nemomobile. 
  11. "qtcon: QtCon Program". https://conf.qtcon.org/en/qtcon/public/events/366. 
  12. "Creating an Asteroid App – AsteroidOS". https://asteroidos.org/wiki/creating-an-asteroid-app/. 
  13. Prakash, Abhishek (20 January 2016). "AsteroidOS: An Open Source Smartwatch Operating System - It's FOSS". https://itsfoss.com/asteroidos-watch-os/. 
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Wear OS alternative AsteroidOS is available for several smartwatches". May 16, 2018. https://www.xda-developers.com/asteroidos-available-several-wear-os-smartwatches/. 
  15. "AsteroidOS Sync - F-Droid". https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.asteroidos.sync. 
  16. Revest, Florent (2018-05-15). "AsteroidOS 1.0 released - AsteroidOS". https://asteroidos.org/news/1-0-release/index.html.