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HP releases Android test kernel for TouchPad to CyanogenMod team

HP releases Android test kernel for TouchPad to CyanogenMod team

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After accidentally selling TouchPads with an internal build of Android, and subsequent complaints about GPL violations, HP has released its unpublished Android test kernel to the CyanogenMod team as a gesture of goodwill.

By Jeff Blagdon

Source CMTouchpad (Google code), CyanogenMod RootzWiki, and GitHub | Via webOS Nation

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cyanogenmod touchpad

When HP was getting rid of the last of its TouchPad stock in a $99 fire sale last year, it accidentally got rid of a few tablets running an unpublished, internal build of Android (the TouchPad runs webOS natively), immediately drawing the attention of the hacker community. Following complaints about the company not living up to its obligation under the GPL to release its code, the company has sent its Android test kernel to the CyanogenMod team in a gesture of goodwill. The CyanogenMod team develops the most popular Android port for the TouchPad, and the new kernel will be used to help improve efforts toward quality ports of Android 2.3 and 4.0.

The people who wrote the kernel presumably knew a lot more about running Android on the TouchPad than the enthusiast community, and people are hoping the software release can be used to fix some of the problems involved in shoehorning Android onto the device. The source that was released is apparently missing the Wi-Fi driver — which is believed to be derived from GPL code — but hope runs high that HP will release it shortly.

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