Whoever is eagerly looking forward to Firefox OS, the open-source mobile operating system for smartphones, can now try it on laptop or desktop PC.
The Mozilla Foundation has created a simple Web browser plugin for your Firefox that lets you test its mobile operating system, Firefox OS. Mozilla has been revealed some small, but consistent, details of Firefox OS since it was announced in July. The special browser extension for Firefox allows you to cast an alpha version of the operating system on Windows, Mac or Linux.
The add-on is actually a simulator that developers need help to write apps for the upcoming platform. Firefox OS is still at an early stage, but the foundation plans as early as possible growing enthusiasm for his new discovery.
Mozilla wrote in its blog post announcing the simulator add-on at version 0.7. The foundation hopes that by version 1.0 will be stable enough to let developers easily create apps for the new OS.
“We’re angling for a “1.0″ release of the Simulator soon. Our main goal with 1.0 is to make it easy to run B2G and install apps that you’re working on into it, and we’re a good way toward that goal right now. You can try out the Simulator right now by downloading it from Myk’s r2d2b2g page,” noted the blog post.
After downloading, simply select “Firefox OS Simulator” from the Web Developer menu (Tools > Web Developer > Firefox OS Simulator) and click the start switch on the left. A separate application window will then pop up, and the OS will boot.
Mozilla says that unlike other simulators, Firefox OS Simulator does not create a virtual machine. The extension provides B2G Desktop Browser, a version of Boot2Gecko project (code name Firefox OS) designed for desktop operating systems. This allows faster execution.
There is also the fact that Firefox OS is designed for emerging markets, and, thus, allows developers to test the OS without the hardware. Considering that Mozilla has as a target group for Firefox OS especially for emerging markets, this could be a tremendous help for local developers who have limited access to multiple mobile devices.
Firefox is a Web OS designed for smartphone and tablet. Based on Gecko Linux, it supports applications designed in HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. Download Firefox OS simulator prototype from here.