Access Linux Platform
| Company type | Open source software platform |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mobile operating system |
| Founded | February 2006 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo , Japan |
| Products | Mobile operating system |
| Owner | Access Co. |
The Access Linux Platform (ALP) was an open-source operating system tailored for mobile devices, created by Access Co. based in Tokyo, Japan. Positioned as an advanced successor to the Palm OS, ALP supported multiple runtime environments including Java, legacy Palm OS applications, and native Linux apps built on the GTK+ toolkit. The platform was demonstrated at notable industry gatherings such as 3GSM, LinuxWorld, GUADEC, and Open Source in Mobile.
Initially announced in February 2006, the first version of the platform along with its software development kits became available in February 2007. Access partnered with Esteemo, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, and Panasonic to jointly develop ALP as a unified platform incorporating a revised iteration of the i.mode Mobile Oriented Applications Platform (MOAP) (L) APIs, conforming to specifications set by the LiMo Foundation. The debut smartphone intended to utilize ALP was Emblaze Mobile's Edelweiss, planned for release in mid-2009 but ultimately cancelled prior to launch. Likewise, the First Else handset, a collaboration between Sharp Corporation, Emblaze, and other partners, was slated for 2009 but discontinued in June 2010.
Although Access no longer actively promoted ALP on its website, Panasonic and NEC introduced several ALP-powered mobile devices for the Japanese market between 2010 and 2013.
Look and feel
The platform’s user interface embraced the Zen of Palm philosophy, emphasizing straightforwardness and task-oriented navigation instead of the conventional file or document-centric approach typical of desktop operating systems. Its visual design was highly adaptable, allowing differentiation across devices and usage scenarios. Subsequent versions adopted a contemporary aesthetic featuring gesture controls, moving away from the traditional Palm OS styling.
Base frameworks
Similar to Nokia’s Maemo, ALP incorporated elements from the GNOME ecosystem such as GTK+ and GStreamer, along with other open source projects including BlueZ, matchbox, and cramfs. These components were distributed under licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL), GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), among others, establishing ALP as a free and open software platform.
Certain parts of ALP were released under the Mozilla Public License through The Hiker Project. This initiative provided essential mobile application functionalities including management of application life cycles, interprocess communication, structured data handling, security features, and event notification mechanisms.
Application development
ALP offered standardized APIs covering typical functions based on Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) and Linux Standard Base (LSB) guidelines. Since these standards did not address telephony, messaging, device customization, and similar domains, Access created supplementary frameworks and APIs to support those requirements.
Developers could build applications for ALP as native Linux programs written in C or C++, legacy Palm OS applications running inside the Garnet VM emulation layer, or Java-based apps. Additional runtime environments were accessible via a launchpad component managed by the Application Manager within the Hiker framework.
The ALP software development kit featured an integrated development environment based on Eclipse with extensible plug-ins, maintaining continuity with Palm OS’s previous development tools. The toolchain included embedded ARM-targeted GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) compilers supporting the embedded application binary interface (EABI).
Security
ALP employed detailed access management through a combination of a user-space policy-driven security framework and a kernel-level Linux security module. These elements were distributed within the Hiker framework. The security mechanisms depended on the use of digital signatures and certificates; applications lacking signatures were restricted to utilizing only a limited set of designated safe APIs.
Devices
Panasonic mobile phones featuring ALP included:
- P-01E, P-01F, P-01G, P-01H, P-02B, P-03C, P-03D, P-04C, P-05B, P-05C, P-06B, P-06C, P-07B
NEC mobile phones equipped with ALP included:
- N-01B, N-01C, N-01E, N-01F, N-01G, N-02C, N-02D, N-03D, N-04B, N-05B, N-05C, N-06B, N-07B, N-07E, N-08B
See also
External links
- Archive of Official website