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Android is Linux?

Yes, Android is a Linux distribution as well as a telephone operating system and apps. Android is a great success story for consumers and for Linux! Some people don’t know these simple facts but they are true. Android users, please inform your friends that using an Android phone makes them a bonified Linux user. Linux is turning up in consumer devices all over the world. Two devices i want to talk about today are the Nook Color Tablet & Huawei IDEOS phone.

First, I hope the 4th Sunday meeting today at Bobby G’s pizzeria in Berkeley goes well. I am sure a wrap up of the Solano Stroll that coincided with our 2nd Sunday meeting will be top on the agenda along with our usual sharing of Linux related news, events and answering questions.

I find it sad that consumer electronics companies try to lock out innovation from their users but rooting consumer devices is possible most of the time with a little time and effort. Some companies are better at encouraging this than others. We would be happy to try to help users getting started with Android by responding to your comments below.

Several of our members have purchased Barnes and Noble Nook Color devices for our own uses. When rooted they make a great $250 tablet with reasonable performance. While the specs are modest (like the price) this is an adequate way to get started. Let us know your experiences.

As I am traveling and since I needed a new phone I picked up the Huawei IDEOS U8150. I had heard of it and tweeted about it before I arrived in Kenya. Of course I rooted it immediately with CyanogenMod 7 and it’s much faster than my almost three year old Google G1, the first Android phone. I’m happy with it so far but it’s only been a few days.

I am almost three weeks into my 13 week stay in Nairobi, Kenya in East Africa working with dreamfish.com. We have made quite a bit of progress already designing and assembling open source software for the next website with a group of Nairobits graduates. I have to say I do miss the yummy pizza there at home. While ugali and sukuma wiki (kale) are wonderful it is not a fair comparison to me!

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