Edit: Although I didn’t realize it until seeing it mentioned in the Ars Technica forum discussion just now, Access also makes the Garnet emulator for Maemo (Nokia 770/8XX) that I previously reviewed here; presumably a version of this emulator is the one that will be integrated into the platform.
Although Android is the platform that generally come to mind when someone mentions “mobile Linux” these days, Ars Technica’s Ryan Paul has had some hands-on interaction with another contender, the Access Linux Platform. According to its creators, “ALP is well-suited for low-end feature phones, business-oriented smartphones, and rich multimedia devices.”
Unlike Android, which is going to be a “highly-insular Java-only platform,” Access can run versions of traditional Linux desktop applications—which, for e-book-lovers, means FBReader. But it can also run Java cellphone applications and even boasts an integrated Garnet emulator for running Palm apps (such as eReader or Mobipocket). A development SDK is under development, though Paul had some trouble getting a preview version to work on his PC.
Although Paul was reasonably impressed by the platform, he does caution that since parts of it are based on proprietary software, it will not be as free as another portable Linux contender, OpenMOKO, and may be more vulnerable than Android to crippling and fragmentation by cellphone carriers.
Still, for those looking for a good portable Internet tablet and e-reading platform, the “access” this one provides to Linux, Palm, and Java apps seems very promising. (And as an avowed scooter rider myself, I really like the logo.)
On the Nokia 770/N800 the Garnet emulator supports eReader but not MobiPocket Reader for Secure ebooks. Perhaps MobiPocket will change its mind about supporting Garnet if it is more widely available.