Firefox OS
A whole new opensource operating system for smartphones, tablets, and smart TV Built with Linux, Gecko, and Open Web Standard.
Architecture
There are three parts in Firefox OS
Gaia
License: Apache 2.0 A user interface library built on top of Gecko, written by HTML/CSS/JavaScript. It is a framework that helps developer to make a good user interface and experience on Firefox OS. All graphical components are written based on Gaia.
Gecko
License: MPL 2.0
The core engine of Firefox and Firefox OS. It handles nearly everything like rendering app screen, JavaScript runtime allowing web app to have access to hardware It also provides a compatible layer for all platform, making sure web app runs perfectly on any devices.
Gonk
License: Apache 2.0 Gonk is basically a bundle including Linux kernel and a set of tools based on AOSP(Android Open Source Project). It theoretically allows Firefox OS to run on any devices that supports Android.
Links
Project homepage https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS - Contains very detailed and well organized information for developers https://wiki.mozilla.org/ - Contains other information like Firefox OS staffs and work flow for the project
Repositories
Gonk: https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/B2G
Gaia: https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia
Gecko: https://github.com/mozilla/gecko-dev (Read-only)
https://hg.mozilla.org/
People
Andreas Gal
The Director of Research at Mozilla Corporation
- Originally announce Boot2Gecko project on the mozilla.dev.platform mailing list in 2011
- Gonk Maintainer
- https://github.com/andreasga
- @andreasgal
##Other people that worth to mention
Timothy Guan tin Chien
- Gaia maintainer
- https://github.com/timdream
- @timdream
Vivien Nicolas
- Gaia/B2G runtime maintainer
- https://github.com/vingtetun
Community
- Gaia: 546 contributors
- B2G/Gonk: 73 contributors
- Gecko: 1539 contributors(github)
- A pretty big community especially for Gecko
Tool
Mailling list
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.platform
https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-tech-layout
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.tech.layout
IRC: irc.mozilla.org #B2G
The importance of the project
- Developers are able to create cross-platform mobile application using HTML5/CSS/Javascript
- Thinner abstract layer between WebAPIs and hardware in Firefox OS offers better performance and intuitive experiences
- Helping to produce low cost smartphones for people who cannot afford expensive one
- Spreading the concept of Open Web and Freedom
Who use it?
People in countries
- 24 countries
- Like India, Hungary, Greece, Poland … In Latin America, Europe, and Aisa
- Developers !