The elusive kernel source will be put to good use by the community

Feb 8, 2012 08:57 GMT  ·  By

Last year when several HP TouchPads were shipped with Google’s Android platform on board, everyone thought it’s a mistake, or a miracle

Although HP said it had nothing to do with the Android build development and the port of the ROM on its TouchPad tablet. In the end it turned out that the company knew all along what’s happening.

Moreover, rumor has it that HP had two different teams working on both Android and webOS ports for the TouchPad, but in the end the company decided to bet on webOS, which, sadly, was a bad strategy.

Even though the whole HP mobile division is a thing of the past, their TouchPad still stands as one of the controversial devices that were launched on the market in the last few years.

In this regard, the Android community that supports the TouchPad will be happy to know that HP decided to opensource its Android ROM for the tablet.

Due the fact that there’s nothing to gain from continuing to support a dead device, the company was kind enough to provide the community with Android kernel source and several other GPL components that were modified to work on those few TouchPads that were launched with Android on board.

The CyanogenMod Team is the first to take advantage of HP’s move, as the source provides them with the possibility to tinker with various custom ROMs that are now easier to cook.

However, according to RootzWiki, the kernel source released by HP misses the Wi-Fi driver, but developer green points that both webOS and Android Wi-Fi drivers are GPL.

On the other hand, HP said it’s looking into the matter and will provide a proper response as soon as possible, so rest assured that the problem will be solved within the next few days.

More details on HP’s release of its custom Android source code can be found here.