Opie12PressReleaseDraft

= Opie 1.2 Release Announcement - DRAFT = March 25, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Opie Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 1.2 of the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment, the second major release of the user environment and application suite for portable devices running Linux.

Version 1.2 builds upon the last stable version (1.0.3, released November 2003), and provides a rich graphical user environment and comprehensive selection of applications. Applications include personal information management (PIM), media players for many different audio and video formats, viewers for images and electronic documents, games and many utilities for file transfer, connectivity with other computers, etc. As with previous versions, Opie continues to provide binary compatibility with applications developed for TrollTech's Qtopia environment.

Opie supports synchronization with other computers using KDE's next generation synchronization framework known as KitchenSync, MultiSync and Qtopia Desktop.

Like most Linux software, Opie is able to run on a wide variety of platforms. Opie has direct hardware support for Hewlett Packard iPAQ, Sharp Zaurus, Yopy and Siemens SIMpad devices. Opie is provided in several Linux distributions including: Familiar, OpenZaurus and OpenSIMpad.

New applications

 * PIM data conversion tool - converts contacts, calendar and to-do list between XML & SQLite formats
 * New Opie E-mail client - supports SMTP, POP and on-line IMAP
 * Opie-Eye - advanced image viewer
 * Package Manager - next generation application package installer
 * Wellenreiter II - network discovery tool
 * Opie-Camera - tool for capturing images using the Sharp CF camera accessory
 * Gutenbrowser - electronic book viewer supporting the Gutenberg Project's vast collection of free texts
 * Dagger - viewer for electronic texts using the Sword library

New features

 * Advanced PIM backend - supporting data storage using XML or SQLite
 * Holiday support in ~Datebook
 * New plugin-based security framework
 * Added benchmarking and system log viewer functionality to System Information utility
 * Screen auto-rotation support for Sharp Zaurus C750/760/860 devices
 * Better IRC standard compliance in IRC client
 * Launcher improvements - user configurable number of columns in tabs and static background images
 * Improve PIM application user interface consistency
 * Scroll bars can be configured to be displayed on left side - a popular feature for left-handed users
 * Visual feedback for "tap and hold"
 * New default style, background and icons
 * 4 new themes - !GradE8, ixpe, Lumon Marble and Lumon Wave

Bug fixes
There have been over 90 bug fixes to increase stability and improve the user's experience. For a complete list of bugs fixed, see the ChangeLog.

Screenshots
Screenshots of Opie 1.2 can be found at: http://opie.handhelds.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=opie12

Source
Source code for all software is available on the Opie website at the following location: http://opie.handhelds.org/feed/source/stable

Binary packages
Binary packages for version 1.2 will be provided with the next versions of Familiar, OpenZaurus and OpenSIMpad. For more information about these Linux distributions, please visit their respective homepages (see Links section below).

Links

 * Opie Homepage, http://opie.handhelds.org
 * Familiar Linux, http://familiar.handhelds.org - Linux distribution for HP iPAQ handheld PDAs
 * OpenZaurus, http://openzaurus.org - Linux distribution for Sharp Zaurus devices
 * OpenSIMpad, http://opensimpad.org - Linux distribution for Siemen SIMpad tablet computers
 * KDE, http://kde.org - Desktop environment which includes the KitchenSync synchronization tool
 * TrollTech, http://trolltech.com - creators of Qtopia and Qtopia Desktop, a cross-platform, desktop PIM application
 * MultiSync, http://multisync.sf.net - another modular sychronization tool for Linux systems

Contact
Dan Williams, drw@handhelds.org - Opie 1.2 Release Coordinator

For more information on contacting the Opie Team, please visit: http://opie.handhelds.org/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/Contact