Inching further on its Firefox OS project, Mozilla has released a simulator for developers to explore its new mobile platform which can be installed as an addon named r2d2b2g to the Firefox browser and works on all the three desktop operating systems i.e. Windows, Max OS X and Linux.
Mozilla has been developing this addon for quite a while now, but the primary goal behind releasing such a simulator now is to reach stability and basic functionality before it reaches 1.0 release. The simulator also aims at making it easy for developers to try and install the apps that they are developing for this operating system, thus saving time and costs for those who do not have easy access for the actual devices.
[do action=”inside-quote”]The purpose of creating the simulator is to make it easy for developers to try and install apps they are developing for Firefox OS[/do]
Talking about the internal working of the simulator, the blog adds, “The Firefox OS Simulator is different from some mobile environment simulations in that it doesn’t create a virtual computer. Instead, it is actually B2G Desktop, a version of the Boot2Gecko project that is built for desktop operating systems.” This is certainly a new approach to simulation where the underlying simulator does not act like a virtual machine and allows it to execute much faster than what normal hardware emulation can achieve, that too in lesser amount of resources. Assuming this is still an Alpha version, the actual performance at this moment however might not be as good as can be expected.
The simulator can be accessed from the Simulator Manager, which is just a dashboard that allows installation and management of apps. On clicking the “Stopped” button, the simulator starts and actual interface can be accessed.
Mozilla has also put together a detailed article explaining the process of building an app for Firefox OS, take a look if you want. The simulator itself can be downloaded from here, while more information about Firefox OS app development can be accessed here.
