Mozilla Booth @ MWC 2014
The Fox Den inside the Mozilla both at Mobile World Congress 2014 was a popular spot for developers, media and industry players where they had the opportunity to learn more about the future direction of Firefox OS through a number of closed sessions.
Fox Den @ MWC 2014
APC Paper and Rock were featured in their "Firefox OS Beyond the Smartphone" session where Mozilla highlighted their future plans for the OS. Mozilla expressed their excitement at the progress which is being made with Firefox OS on APC and the contribution it will play for future developments. The example of how APC and the Mozilla community have worked together to add in features for a desktop environment provides a great example of how innovation can occur in the open source world and deliver benefits for others.
APC in the Fox Den @ MWC 2014
Also during the session Mozilla introduced their Firefox OS tablet contribution program which VIA has partnered in offering 7" VIA Vixen tablets to those who wish to help work on defining the Firefox OS experience on a tablet. More information can be found in the Mozilla Hacks blog.
VIA Vixen Tablets in the Fox Den @ MWC 2014
At the upcoming Mobile World Congress which will take place in Barcelona, Spain from Feb. 24-27, APC Paper and APC Rock will be shown off for closed presentation sessions inside the Fox Den at the Mozilla booth for select press, industry players, bloggers and developers where they will get an up close look at the progress which has been made with Firefox OS and APC.
In other news from MWC 2014, as part of the Firefox OS tablet contribution program, VIA will soon be offering a 7” Vixen reference tablet for developers around the world to help complete the build of Firefox OS for tablets. Developers can now apply to be a part of this program from this Mozilla Hacks blog post.
Developer Reference Tablet Specifications: VIA Vixen: • 7’’ 1024x600 HD LCD screen • 1.2 GHz Dual Core Cortex-A9 processor • ARM Mali-400 Dual-Processor GPU • 8GB storage • 1GB RAM • Cameras: Front 0.3 MP, Back 2.0 MP • 802.11 b/g/n WiFiIf you are attending MWC this year, there will be presentations showcasing Firefox OS technologies in the Mozilla booth inside the "Fox Den", an interactive area with presentations every day. There, VIA will be carrying out a joint presentation with Mozilla at 4pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which you can register for at: www.mozilla.org/mwc
Firefox OS running on APC Paper and Rock has been released with complete, buildable source codes available to developers on GitHub. In order to continue to encourage community support, free APCs will be rewarded to developers that fix a known issue. A full list of issues is available here.
“Firefox OS puts the power of the Web to the people. This partnership with APC presents an exciting opportunity to help redefine user experiences on desktops around the world,” said Dr. Li Gong, Senior Vice President of mobile devices and, President of Asia Operations. “Mozilla will keep working on new features and enhancements of Firefox OS, and also provide knowledge sharing and technical support for Firefox OS and Marketplace.”
“We are excited to announce this partnership with Mozilla and their enthusiastic support to speed development of Firefox OS on APC,” said Richard Brown, VP of International Marketing, VIA Technologies Inc. “Mozilla's mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the web, aligns with our vision for APC, creating the perfect combination to deliver the best of the web to desktops everywhere. We couldn’t be more excited about the future.”
The first update based on the development efforts from APC and the community of Firefox OS contributors, was recently published with the following fixes: Release v1.02.01
APEX AM-01 APC Case
The latest from famed case modder Jeffrey Stephenson is named Acreo, which is Italian for Maple. Using Birdseye maple and black acrylic as his choice materials, Acero is a simple modernist design which is supposed to be a stylized tower case with top and front vents, button placement and acrylic side window features. Check out all of slipperyskip's builds here.
Little Red Box by Mexel
The "Little Red Box" from Holland modder Mexel is based on a Nexus Psile Mini-ITX case which he has tricked out with custom windows and lighting effects. This build was dedicated to his daugther to enjoy Angry Birds on their living room TV. Check out other mods from Mexel here.
Yoshi by thechoozen
Based on one of Super Mario's beloved friends, Yoshi, thechoozen has come up with this amazing build. Be sure to check out the link to the forum for a step by step of its creation.
Arcade Machine with APC running MAME by Dancemammal
Dancemammal had a true vision for their APC, create a home arcade machine to enjoy the classics they way they were meant to be played. For those who wish they could have this at home as well, you are in luck as Dancemammal has begun selling the arcade cabinets for only £70+ postage. Check out a video of his build with APC running MAME.
Acrylic Case by Mike Thompson
"Inspired by similar cases for the Raspberry Pi, I designed this case for my own APC as I work on the Raspbian/Debian OS port for APC. It snaps together with no glue, screws or other fasteners ans is quite sturdy - assembly instructions are here. I thought others might like to have the same case for their APC and it's now being sold as a family project to teach my kids about design, manufacturing and online selling of items (my wife and I are learning as well.) By giving them the small profit on these cases, my secret hope is they'll be inspired to create and sell their own products -- we'll see!" Mike Thompson.
Cost is $20 US plus $5 dollars for shipping. US only at this time. To order yours go to: http://easycases.miiduu.com/
Laser Cut Case by wim
Wim designed a wooden case for which he used a laser cutting tool for precision and the burnt edge effects. The final touch was the inclusion of an industrial looking power button. His case ended up being about the same size as the original packaging.
Laser Cut Acrylic Case by WIP
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WIP also used a laser cutter to craft his case but used acrylic instead of would as his material of choice. His case design really benefited from the use of the laser cutter to include the custom etchings. If you would like one of your own be sure to drop WIP a message as he is contemplating whether or not to go into manufacturing.
The Netbook Case by Icesnake
"My original plan was to put the APC into a flag case I got from Michael's (a craft store) a few years ago. Well, that case is ridiculously huge in comparison to the APC's circuit board, so then I thought, hey, I have a dead thin client, I'll use that case. Nope. Still huge. So today I went shopping, and I took the cardboard box that the APC ships in along with me for a size check. What I ended up with is a retro-style box made to look like a book (which will fit nicely in my Victorian-themed library," Icesnake.
47¢ APC Case by Bangster
Utilizing an old plastic storage bin he had lying around the house, Maxwell put his Dremel tool to good use to create this nifty case. As a bonus, the power supply and wires can be tucked inside for easy storage when not in use.
APC Packaging as Case by Len and Cyzen
And finally, a few of the first members to join the forum and receive their APC's recognized how easy it would be to use the actual packaging as a case until they had time to find a proper one.
Be sure to keep the amazing designs coming and to share them with us in the forum.
Created by Raspbian developer, Mike Thompson
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You may have seen some of his past outstanding work over on xray-desgin.nl before. Mexel has applied his talents to create "The Little Red Box,” using a Nexus Psile Mini-ITX case and tweaking it out with some custom windows to be able to peer inside and of course to allow all his red lighting effects to shine through. He finished off the design with a custom high-gloss red paint job to truly make it “The Little Red Box.” He has dedicated this build to his daughter so that she can enjoy Angry Birds and her other favorite games on the big screen in their living room. Great work! Check out the full build log here.