"Dear OpenMoko community, the FSO packaging team of the Debian project is happy to announce that we have started to provide installation procedures and packages required to have your FreeRunner run Debian-powered. This means that you can use your favorite tools such as apt-get and the other >20.000 packages on your FreeRunner, including the freesmartphone.org software stack.

"OpenMoko's FreeRunner went on sale on July 3. I ordered early that day and my FreeRunner arrived today..."

Olympics aside, summer 2008 will be remembered for at least two other reasons. It will be seen as a time when the noise over Linux as a platform for mobile devices reached a crescendo. Second: it marked Debian's fifteenth anniversary. Bringing both together, Debian developers have delivered a version of their Linux distro for Openmoko's FreeRunner handset.

Openmoko, creator of the first completely open mobile computing platform, today announced agreements with five distributors for the Neo Freerunner Open Source mobile phone. Today, Openmoko will begin shipping the next generation Neo Freerunner to Pulster, Golden Delicious Computers and TRIsoft located in Germany, Bearstech in France and IDA Systems based in India.

Fans of the OpenMoko Neo1973 open-source Linux handset will be glad to hear that they'll soon be able to get their hands on the Neo1973's successor in the near future. The OpenMoko FreeRunner sports a faster processor than its predecessor and adds three-axis motion sensors to the mix.

Last we heard form Openmoko, it was packing and shipping the open-source FreeRunner for an early July release. So, here we are in early July and wouldn't you know it, the FreeRunner will be available for order starting Friday, July 4 with shipping to begin on Monday, July 7. As for details, we got 'em.

Learn how to install Debian GNU/Linux on the OpenMoko Freerunner.

Out in the blogosphere (which we believe is somewhere near "the Internets,") the OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner is getting unpacked, photographed, and examined. On Holden Karau's blog, he describes difficulties getting the FreeRunner working with an AT&T SIM card, but dubs the voice quality "pretty awesome."

Less that one week after going on sale via its own e-commerce site, the 900MHz version of OpenMoko's Neo FreeRunner Linux phone has sold out, but don't despair yet as more are on the way.