Ian, Great Update thanks! -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael Shiloh Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 10:38 AM To: List for Openmoko community discussion Subject: Re: ASU software - pre-pre-release impressions
Ian Darwin wrote: > I have been using a FreeRunner for a few days with a pre-pre-alpha > snapshot of the ASU software. For those who have been off-list for a > while, or who have not been looking at the Wiki much, the April > Software Update switches the Window Manager from matchbox to > Enlightenment (E17) and the main applications from the GTK-based apps > (developed by OpenMoko and OpenedHand) to QTopia (but using X11, of > course). > > The new phone is in the same case, so it looks and feels a lot like a > GTA01. I think the partition numbers for dfu-util have changed; newer > versions of dfu-util allow you to use the partition names instead of the > numbers. Beware. > > The Home Page (aka Launcher) can now be displayed either in an Icon Grid > (conventional cell phone style, e.g., Blackberry, and the traditional > QTopia format) or a "slider" style (the latter demonstrated by MokoNinja > here: http://people.openmoko.org/ninjutsu/freerunner1.4.swf (flash > required). > > The small home/current-apps menu has been replaced by a larger > slide-down top panel, listing the current apps, and containing the time, > battery panel, GSM on/off, qwerty keyboard on/off, Configuration, and > the Enlightenment menu. > > Neither of the above is, AFAIK, cast in stone. > > I must admit I have mixed feelings about the switch from OM/GTK apps to > QTopia. However, I recognize the need to get something "finished" in a > reasonable time and I infer Sean et al felt the need to go this way; > in hindsight, building the whole thing from scratch is a daunting task, > and something that QTopia has been honing for several years. > > The QTopia apps do have a somewhat more conventional "cell phone" > feel to them (see my screenshot of the Contacts "Overview" page here: > http://www.darwinsys.com/tmp/contacts1.png). > > So, I think we're in good hands here. On to the "experience". > > Short form: functionally, it works. Among other things, the phone wakes > up reliably on incoming rings (assuming it's booted and suspended, of > course), and GSM voice works after a resume. > > There are still some minor glitches. I hope I'm not out of line > reporting these here, given how pre-pre my software is, but Steve has > been asking me to report on this list since my FreeRunner arrived. I > remind everybody reading this to remember that this is PRE-PRE-RELEASE > software. None of this intended as criticism of those who worked under > time deadline to make this early release ready for the show I was > presenting OM at! Nonetheless these are things that I would not like to > have fall through the cracks. > > 1) Incoming calls do wake up the phone, but by the time the dialer > appears on screen, several rings have gone by, and, by the time you > press Answer and get it recognized, the screen hasn't responded, the > Answer button changes to Hangup, so if you double-clicked it, you can > easily hang up on your caller without intending to. > > 2) The ASU software features a qwerty-keyboard. It is switchable between > alphabetics and numerics; unfortunately the gesture needed to do this > (a triangle drawn counter-clockwise from lower left) is a bit hard to > get right; hopefully there will be a button to switch this. As well, > the current version of ASU uses QTopia's input manager, offering what > looks like a predictive style but is actually doing a dictionary > lookup; I find this very distracting compared to a plain do-what-I-type > keyboard, and would welcome an easy way to turn this off (I thought > Lorne Potter posted this once, but I couldn't find it). > > 3) It's easy to accidentally start an application (thus slowing down > what you're trying to really do) while scrolling the home screen in icon > grid mode. > > 4) The Preferences that are in the top slide-down panel's Wrench icon > should presumably be merged with the Preferences App. > > 5) The shutdown dialog does not have a cancel or Back button. > And, it often doesn't actually shutdown. > > All for now. Again, please remember that this is very early access. > And don't let my nit-picking distract you from the fact that it's > looking good for something that was merged only a few weeks ago! > > Ian Darwin > Wonderful feedback, Ian. Thanks very much. And thanks for presenting OM at the show. Michael _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community