Re: 2/3: What people want Openmoko to do?

[Aaron Sowry]

On Sat, 2008-10-11 at 16:26 +0300, Risto H. Kurppa wrote:
> I just was able to release the second part of the posts. For full
> version, see 
> http://risto.kurppa.fi/blog/discussion-23-what-people-want-openmoko-to-do/
> 
> 

I, for one, would like to see the elimination of blogspam being
submitted to the mailing lists.

Please keep any shameless plugs to planet.openmoko.org - that's what
it's there for.

Thanks.



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Re: Why qtopia uses framebuffer and ASU can't?

[Aaron Sowry]

> > > Hello!
> > > Somewhere I read that Qtopia is much faster than other distros
> > because
> > > it uses framebuffer. So I have some questions:
> > 
> > misnoma. wrong.


> If I get it right there is no difference in speed between qtopia and
> other distros related to graphics.
> And just for education - what 'misnoma' means?

I think that was 'misnomer', both misspelled and used in the wrong
context :)



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Re: Qtopia 3.33 Volume Too Low

[Aaron Sowry]

I assume you mean Qtopia 4.3.3...

However I've had the same problem. With the "Speaker Playback Volume" at
100 (that's default, and 79% of maximum) the volume is incredibly low,
low as in the person you're speaking to is indiscernible unless you're
in a perfectly quiet room and listening very carefully.

After setting the "Speaker Playback Volume" to 127 (100% of maximum) the
volume is acceptable for a quiet room but would be insufficient for even
a moderately noisy environment. The legendary buzz also increases to a
level just as loud as the voice itself. 2 questions:

1) Why is the default volume so god-awful low on Qtopia? And why, even
on maximum (although I realise the theoretical maximum might hinge on a
number of settings), is it still so low?

2) Is there *any* way to get rid of the GSM buzz permanently? I have
seen the whole 'PIN 4' explanation on the wiki, however basically what
that's saying is that it's a hardware fault which is unlikely to have a
viable resolution. I am at the point now where I would seriously
consider removing the audio jack completely if I knew it would get rid
of the buzz. Would this work?

Aaron

On Fri, 2008-09-05 at 00:16 -0700, yochaigal wrote:
> sorry, it seems a fix was here all along:
> 
> http://n2.nabble.com/qtopia-update-tp832851p835065.html
> --
> 
> I was able to fix this by tweaking the 'Speaker Playback Volume' in
> /usr/share/openmoko/scenarios/gsmhandset.state. Updated this value to 127
> (was set to 100) and the volume is back to normal for me.
> 
> control.4 {
> comment.access 'read write'
> comment.type INTEGER
> comment.count 2
> comment.range '0 - 127'
> iface MIXER
> name 'Speaker Playback Volume'
> value.0 127
> value.1 127
> }
> 
> 
> --Andrew 
> 
> -
> thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> yochaigal wrote:
> > 
> > Just flashed the newest qtopia to a 1gb sd card... any ideas as to why the
> > volume is super low, no matter what I set it to in the control panel?
> > 
> > thanks
> > 
> 

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Re: QtGps for Trolltechs Qtopia

[Aaron Sowry]

On Fri, 2008-08-29 at 11:48 -0700, Jim Morris wrote:
> Radek Barton( wrote:
> > 
> > Do anyone have compiled package for share? Otherwise I would need to make 
> > one 
> > just to try an application :-). Thanks.
> > 
> 
> Yes if you go to the blog, and download the tar file, there is an executable 
> called qtgps, you just 
> copy that to your FR, and run it on the FR.
> 
> http://blog.wolfman.com/articles/2008/08/27/porting-xgps-to-qtopia-for-the-freerunner
> http://blog.wolfman.com/files/qtgps.tar.gz
> 

I get this:

# ./qtgps 
./qtgps: error while loading shared libraries: libQtSvg.so.4: cannot
open shared object file: No such file or directory

Aaron

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Re: stupid guy! thinks it's a train wreck!

[Aaron Sowry]

Daniel Benoy wrote:
> On Monday 18 August 2008 00:49:52 Flyin_bbb8 wrote:
>   
>> hahahah this guy is really stupid,, check it out.. be sure to check out his
>> comments!!!
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ntUy2eqlk
>>
>> 
>
> Yeah what an eyeroller :p
>   
The guy is notorious.

http://www.lickmyback.com/the-openmoko-freerunner-first-impressions/

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Re: 2008 WTF??

[Aaron Sowry]

Mike Montour wrote:
> Scott wrote:
>
>   
>> Booting up...  Could it be any more confusing??  First the OM screen, 
>> then the standard linux text scrolling, then the boots, then blank, then 
>> the boots again, then some more text, then blank again???  WTF over? 
>> Can't we have just one damn boot screen?
>> 
The thing that annoys me most is an indication that the phone has 
finished booting when it really hasn't. For example, the progress bar on 
2008.8 which leads to another loading screen after it hits 100% (this 
time with NO indication of progress), and the little chime in 2007.2 
which makes you think the phone has finally booted, when really you're 
left waiting another 15 seconds. I don't mind a slightly long boot time 
so long as the visual/audio feedback makes sense!

Aaron

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Openmoko 2008.8

[Aaron Sowry]

...just made it to the front page of Digg. Let's see how the wiki holds 
up to the deluge ;)

Aaron

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Re: Upgrading on Qtopia

[Aaron Sowry]

Matthew Lane wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I've read that opkg can't upgrade qtopia, but it should be able to 
> upgrade my kernel, correct?
>
> Well, when I do opkg update, opkg upgrade my phone will spend about 
> 20-30 minutes updating everything (from the latest qtopia image on 
> trolltech's website) and I need a lot of those packages (such as 
> libc++6) for running other scripts on qtopia.  Anyways, after upgrading, 
> I restart my phone and it freezes on the blank black screen with a 
> cursor in the upper left corner.  The phone won't ever boot!  So I have 
> to reflash the lastest image I just tried to upgrade.  I've attempted 
> this twice, and I can't upgrade my phone!
>
> ___
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> community@lists.openmoko.org
> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
>   
Thank you - I thought I was the only one. I registered this as a bug on 
Trac (https://docs.openmoko.org/trac/ticket/1756) but more or less got 
told to go ask Trolltech about it, which is fair enough I suppose. It 
would still be nice to get a fix for this however.

Aaron

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Re: Openmoko Om 2008.8 Release

[Aaron Sowry]

>>
>> whoa! thanks a lot and outstanding !
>> is the first "h" effect i see truly on my FR :D
>>
>>
>> 
I like this image so far, it's starting to feel like a real operating 
system - a*HUGE* thanks from me to everyone involved. Two questions 
though, related to "h" effects:

1) Is this the first release to incorporate xglamo?
2) Is this about the best graphic performance we can expect from the 
Glamo/Freerunner? (not that it's particularly bad, it's just not perfect 
and I want to know where to set the bar :) )

Aaron

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Opening the Glamo

[Aaron Sowry]

>> So, I think, making pessure to the firm that produce Glamo, is the only
>> possibility to get very open our hardware.
>>
>> 
>
> Given the legal situation, I agree. Let's pester them with a ton of emails! :)
> Maybe we could get the FSF and GNU into this as well? We might as well  
> use all the armies at once, for greater impact... ;)
> Maybe we could collect information about good examples of HW firms who  
> have opened their specs and are gaining market share because of this,  
> and present that data to SMedia.
> I'm just throwing up ideas, I don't have the time to actually execute  
> them... but someone with GNU/FSF connections could.
>
>   
I'm happy to press the case with SMedia as best I can but not 
unilaterally. Before we start doing anything though I think we need an 
official rundown on the Glamo state of affairs from the relevant people 
within Openmoko privy to the NDA and past dialogue with SMedia on the 
subject. Things like:

- What impact will opening the Glamo 3362 chip have outside of the Neo? 
i.e. how many other devices use this chip and how might this affect 
SMedia's decision to open it up?
- Has anything in the graphic department been finalised for the GTA03? 
Could we use the possibility of not using SMedia in future and the 
apparent popularity of the Openmoko project as leverage?
- What were the primary considerations in choosing Glamo? Has SMedia 
stood by any obligations they made in this regard or were they misleading?
- Have you discussed binary divers? (yeah, I know, but it's better than 
nothing...)
- What is the status of the "Harald Welte" driver?
- etc...

Over to you

Aaron

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Re: FR at golem.de

[Aaron Sowry]

Jay Vaughan wrote:
>> Yes, but you can use it only if you promise that you will not show to
>> others how to use it (NDA)!
>> So, for me is like it doesn't exist!
>> 
>
> IF only we had OpenGL on the Freerunner by now, imagine the amazing  
> apps we could write .. geeze guys, what a big disappointment the Glamo  
> is ..
>
> ;
> --
> Jay Vaughan
>   

Agreed. Why does nobody seem to be addressing/acknowledging this issue 
(or am I just looking in the wrong places)? An April 2008 post on the 
mailing list suggests that SMedia want $15,000 to release the docs under 
NDA to anyone outside of Openmoko employees. If this is the case, and 
nobody is even prepared to address this issue in other ways let alone 
pay for it, then for the foreseeable future it seems that this chip will 
do nothing more than sit there consuming power and the Freerunner will 
be without any form of graphic acceleration.

It is a crying shame.

Aaron

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Re: FSO ringtone

[Aaron Sowry]

> SIDs for a ringtone?
> .
> .
> .
> *THAT'S*
> .
> .
> .
> *AWESOME*!
> .
> .
>   
I can't wait to have my phone play the Bubble Bobble theme song to me 
when it rings :)

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Re: cpu-speed limitations

[Aaron Sowry]

> Is the glamo graphics stuff the 'most important' thing that should be
> done?  
No, but I don't think it should be ignored. If there are a limited 
number of people with the authority/ability to do this then I think 
that's where their attention needs to be focused. 'Graphics stuff' might 
seem like polish but a smooth and responsive interface would totally 
transform the Freerunner as a palmtop device.
> i.e. in firmware on the glamo chip?  The qtopia image (which uses
> a framebuffer?) seems to get reasonably good performance without
> anything extra.  
It's reasonably good, but not great. You'd never get compositing without 
hardware acceleration (hey, I can dream can't I? ;) )

Aaron

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Re: S-Media's self-damaging NDA-happiness

[Aaron Sowry]

>> Does this scenario work well for S Media?
>> 
>
> No. Their NDA-happiness does seem very stupid, as they don't seem to
> have much of an edge against the bigger players besides their lack of
> overt hostility to free software development. (Okay, possibly cost, but
> I wouldn't know about that.)
>   
It does seem stupid. I know that some larger GPU manufacturers are often 
forced into de-facto NDAs by the film industry and prominent software 
companies (no need to name names) so that people can't potentially write 
drivers to bypass DRM technology, but it's not like people are going to 
be watching 1080p HD content on their Freerunners. Does anyone from 
SMedia subscribe to this mailing-list, or does anyone know how we can 
get in touch with them to ask the relevant questions?

I don't believe that writing direct to the framebuffer solves anything 
as far as graphic performance is concerned, I think we need a graphic 
accelerator that works and can be coded for.

Aaron

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Re: cpu-speed limitations

[Aaron Sowry]

> This is probably the negative effect of Glamo bandwidth constraints.
> All of your examples have some kind of heavy graphical action.  If SD
> Card is being accessed at the same time it'll also make it sluggish.
>
> Glamo has the undeserved unique ability to force the CPU to wait for it,
> and it isn't shy about using it.  I have some patches pending that
> should improve this a bit but how much I dunno
I've noticed laggy scrolling in menus even without graphical 
applications running.

400MHz is not going to set the world on fire but is certainly not 
sluggish and should be adequate given the task at hand. What is the deal 
with Glamo? Do we have - or will we ever have - meaningful graphics 
acceleration for the Freerunner, given that this Glamo appears to be 
handicapped by a bus that is not only slow to start with, but also shared?

Aaron

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Re: Main page change notification

[Aaron Sowry]

>> Er... I just moved it back to the bottom before reading this email... sorry!
>>
>> I think changing from one language to another inside the page is
>> actually a rare task, as bookmarks can be set directly to the language
>> of choice. It also makes the page look less cluttered :)
>> 
>
> Right but this is the main page which new users see first.  They need
> to be able to select their language easily.  I can see having all
> other pages have it on the bottom or not at all.  The main page should
> have it on the top.  Many people don't speak english.
>   
Ok. For the benefit of those non-english speakers who find it too 
difficult to scroll to the bottom of the page once to change languages 
before bookmarking it, I shall leave it as is. :)

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Re: Main page change notification

[Aaron Sowry]

Brenda Wang wrote:
> Pretty good.
> I move the language template to the top.
> For those non-English native user , put it on the top will make them 
> easy to access their language.
>
>   
Er... I just moved it back to the bottom before reading this email... sorry!

I think changing from one language to another inside the page is 
actually a rare task, as bookmarks can be set directly to the language 
of choice. It also makes the page look less cluttered :)

Aaron

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Re: buildhost.openmoko.org issues.

[Aaron Sowry]

>
> I get 404:
>
> This is a problem since I just decided to reflash and start over. Now
> I can't install anything :-(
>
>   

Deuce. Any mirrors, or word on when it'll be back up?


Aaron

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Re: Edit wiki

[Aaron Sowry]

I think you're doing a great job. A couple of suggestions:

1) Aesthetics: Could anything be done to make the wiki more visually 
attractive? Orange and white are the old 1973 colours - shouldn't we 
have a slick green and black theme or something now that the Freerunner 
has been released?

2) News feed: A prominent news feed makes the site look both up-to-date 
and dynamic (particularly to web crawlers :). Perhaps we could have an 
automated feed updated once a week from relevant RSS/ATOM sources within 
the open-source and mobile industries? This would also be a great place 
for the core team to post announcements that people may miss in the 
mailing lists.

I realise these things probably aren't primary considerations given the 
purpose of the wiki, but I know once the framework is there and the site 
becomes attractive and easy to navigate then the content will quickly 
follow.

Aaron

BrendaWang wrote:
> Hi, guys:
> I am really happy that many people join wiki editing job. And give me
> feedbacks.
>
> I just make these pages.
> EDIT WIKI is a page listed every information for edit wiki.
> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Edit_Wiki
>
> Wiki maintenance agenda is how I plan to reorg wiki.
> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Wiki_Maintenance_Agenda
>
>
> More ideas , feeback and any kinds of editing will make wiki better and
> better.
> Be feel free to give me more feedback about this.
>
>
> Brenda
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>   

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Re: Questions: Daily Use, Community stability?

[Aaron Sowry]

Shawn Thompson wrote:
> Hello Community,
>This is my first time starting a new thread in the mailing list and 
> I felt that before investing $400 on something I should really think 
> it out and ask a few questions. I will start with the questions 
> regarding use as a day to day device. I need a minimum of two things 
> from a phone: the ability to make and receive phone calls reliably and 
> the ability to send and receive SMS messages reliably. From what I 
> have read this is not always the case right now. If someone can verify 
> that they have been using the device for this purpose for a matter of 
> time I would really appreciate that. I have been waiting, patiently, 
> for almost 3 years for this phone, since about the time that the 1973 
> sold out for the last time. I really do want to purchase a freerunner 
> but unless I will be able to make it work as a phone I think I may be 
> tied to my low end POS samsung t409 for the time being.
>
>   My second set of questions revolve around the recent storms brewing 
> in the community list. There has been a lot of fighting going on over 
> ONE feature, the toggle option on the keyboard. Personally I would 
> prefer to toggle mine myself but I am NOT going to get into arguments 
> over that right now. What I would like to know is that if a major 
> usability problem is reported by members of the community that we will 
> not be placing information upon deaf ears. I am NOT a programmer but I 
> love playing with anything Linux so the freerunner really looks like 
> it would be fun to have. So long as I know that major problems (echo, 
> the GPS issue, keyboard toggle option, etc) are going to at least be 
> heard I will be willing to take some minor usability problems while a 
> resolution is in the works.
>
> Thank you for taking the time to read and respond.
>
> -Shawn Thompson
> 
>
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>   
Hi Shawn,

I use the Qtopia image and find it quite usable as an everyday phone for 
SMS and phonecalls - this is not to say it's perfect but certainly more 
usable than the other distributions at present. If open-source mobile 
development interests you, I'd say go for it and buy one. They're cute.

There has been turbulence in the community lately beyond what I would 
call healthy debate, but I think it was mostly just a handful 
individuals doing a bit of posturing early on in the game. Seems to have 
calmed down now. Being an open-source project you can safely assume that 
your considerations will be taken into account, however my opinion is 
that the people hired by Openmoko have been hired because they're good 
at what they do, not because they're intended as a medium for each and 
every personal opinion to be realised in the final product. I think we 
have to trust these people to set the general direction of development 
and design, and the community is there to build upon this framework and 
make it theirs. No open-source project I know of is without this kind of 
structure, and rightly so.

So if people want a manual keyboard button (I happen to be one of these 
people) then they should definately make their opinions heard in the 
hope that they are acted upon, but if not then this decision needs to be 
respected - don't castrate the designer, the design is open-source and 
can be changed later. When enough people adopt these changes then it 
evolves to replace the original, which is how open-source development 
should work.

Anyway hope you decide to take the plunge and become part of the community.

Aaron

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Re: Trolltech/Nokia and QTopia on FR [...]

[Aaron Sowry]

>> How much is open-source and how much is proprietary? 
>> 
>
> Qtopia on the Neo is completely GPL.
>
>   
>> And 
>> if I can finish with a horribly vague question, how much of the 
>> open-source component of Qtopia is contributed back to the Openmoko 
>> project in a usable fashion (i.e. do the open-source components rely on 
>> a proprietary component
>> 
>
> None whatsoever.
>
>   
>> [or Qtopia-specific feature such as writing 
>> directly to framebuffer] to work and therefore are only open-source in 
>> the context of Qtopia development, or are they totally portable to 
>> ASU/FSO with little or no modification?)
>> 
>
> Yes.
>
> :)
>   

Excellent. Until this constant bickering ceases on the mailing lists I 
will be using and developing for the Qtopia platform which so far seems 
to be setting the pace as far as usable software platforms are concerned.

For those who aren't aware, there is a very good Qtopia SDK especially 
for the Neo architecture available from the Qtopia website.

Many thanks,
Aaron

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Re: What will the GTA03 have? and other quick questions...

[Aaron Sowry]

Monkey D. Luffy wrote:
> There were some threads about this... and I spent about an hour
> reading them... but still don't know nothing for sure.
> All I hear is maybes :(
>
>
> This is more or less my wish list... So what will be in?
>
>
>   
My hardware wish list after owning the GTA02v5 for a week or so now:

- A fast, dedicated graphic bus
- GPS/uSD interference problem fixed
- A case WITHOUT BEVELS for the touchscreen. Despite what the iPhone 
fanboys have been saying, I actually like the idea of a resistive touch 
screen rather than capacitive, as it allows you to use a stylus. This 
means you can maximise screen real-estate by having smaller icons etc. 
if you wish, but still use your finger if you prefer smudgy screens ;). 
Also, I am loving the Qtopia handwriting recognition which I couldn't 
imagine using without a stylus!
- HW echo/GSM interference canceling, unless this can be addressed 
sufficiently in software
- As you say, a place to store a small stylus. The main benefit (besides 
cost) of using a resistive touch screen is the ability to use a stylus - 
it should be assumed that people will be using one.
- Longer battery life.

Aaron

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Re: Request for help: Would like community applications to show anddiscuss at LinuxWorld

[Aaron Sowry]

> This is not at all what I meant. I will reply to you privately.
>
>-Sean
>   
...thank you!

*removes flak jacket*

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Re: Trolltech/Nokia and QTopia on FR [...]

[Aaron Sowry]

Knut Yrvin wrote:
> Hi Yaroslav and all the good contributors to Freerunner, 
>
> I got a short answer on your second question :)
>
> On Tuesday 29. July 2008, Yaroslav Halchenko wrote:
>
>   
>> another question (sorry if I missed answer in some of the threads) -- I
>> wonder if you are the only person dedicated by Trolltech (or Nokia) to
>> work on qtopia for openmoko? 
>> 
>
> Holger Freyther was working on supporting Qtopia on OpenEmbedded paid by 
> Trolltech for almost half a year, also benefiting the Freerunner effort. 
> He is now contributing through OpenMoko, and I think he's doing a good 
> job. We will increase our effort supporting free software. That will be 
> expressed in actions instead of words. 
>
> I'm planning to invite some of the heavy contributors using Qt in 
> Freerunner to a round table session in Brisbane Australia. There are 
> several things on the agenda, but it boils down to what Trolltech can 
> improve. The only reason I as a community manger has not been faster, is 
> all the work with the Nokia acquisition planning. When you include my 
> usual travelling to free software events, there has been no time left to 
> cover more bases. 
>
>   
>> It is just interesting ;-) also it would 
>> be great if you could summarize in few words (if you feel like it) what
>> are the future directions you and your team are going to accomplish for
>> qtopia on FR? would be there a 'long term support' of any kind for
>> qtopia on FR?
>> 
>
> Trolltech will further develop, improve and enhance Qtopia. When it comes 
> to Freerunner, they are in charge for their plans and actions regarding 
> software development.  Of course there are cooperation with Trolltech 
> engineering, community and some marketing activeties. And we are working 
> on improvements there too.  
>
> Personally I'm a fan of the Freerunner effort. When I got the opportunity, 
> I've sponsored travels and accommodations for persons who present what 
> can be done with Freerunner and Open Source on phones. Ole Tange was one 
> of the speakers[1] at Open Nordic Mobile in June. He did a really good 
> presentation of the Freerunner project and opportunities with free 
> software on phones. 
>
> 1. http://conference.ez.no/eng/Open-Nordic-Conference-2008/Program
>
> We have shown the prover of Qtopia with Neo 1973 since Open Source in 
> Mobile September 2007. We also got a demo called Qt Everywhere with a 
> touch screen program launcher using PictureFlow[2]. We are running that 
> on Neo at all our trade shows and some of the free software events: 
>
> 2. http://qt-apps.org/content/show.php/PictureFlow?content=75348
>
> Several people are working on the program for Mobile Developer Days 2008 
> (MDD) in Berlin 10-14 September (the conference will be from Sept 10-12, 
> the weekend Sept 12-14 will be a code camp). Last year a couple of 
> OpenEmbedded/Freerunner developers participated at MDD in Denmark. We 
> hope that more can join this year in Berlin. I know more people will join 
> from Nokia this year. 
>
> 3. 
> http://mobiledevices.kom.aau.dk/team_and_organization/events/mobile_developer_days_2008/
>
> This was maybe not a short answer, but it shows that we are committed and 
> really pleased with the progress of Freerunner and the use of Qtopia. The 
> question now is when and how to organise our round table trip to 
> Australia :)
>
> Best regards
>
> Knut Yrvin
>   
I very much appreciate the work Trolltech/Nokia have put in to the 
Qtopia release and the support which they have shown for the Freerunner 
project and open-source mobile in general - thank you, I always enjoy 
reading your posts on the mailing lists.

I have a couple of questions - I read somewhere on the Openmoko wiki 
that (to paraphrase) "enough of the Qtopia release is open-source that 
you can run it on the Freerunner without the proprietary components". I 
know Qt has gradually migrated to open licenses over the course of 
history, but what is the current licensing status of the Freerunner 
Qtopia release? How much is open-source and how much is proprietary? And 
if I can finish with a horribly vague question, how much of the 
open-source component of Qtopia is contributed back to the Openmoko 
project in a usable fashion (i.e. do the open-source components rely on 
a proprietary component [or Qtopia-specific feature such as writing 
directly to framebuffer] to work and therefore are only open-source in 
the context of Qtopia development, or are they totally portable to 
ASU/FSO with little or no modification?)

Aaron

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Re: Community contributions to core apps & features. (Was: Terminal for ASU)

[Aaron Sowry]

rakshat hooja wrote:
>
>
>
> It is already linked from the front page, but clearly from not those
> places it should be from :)
>
> But you have good points. Openmoko is open, but its development is not
> exposed in the open as much as I'd like for an open source project to
> be. The Openmoko folks are still a bit "mysterious" to me, with the
> exception of the few who regularly post on these mailing lists.
>
> I think the line between Openmoko employee and a contributing, trusted
> community member should be made more fuzzy. More SVN / GIT rights to
> the people, more contributing directly to http://svn.openmoko.org/
> instead of just "external" projects at projects.openmoko.org
>  etc. 
>
>
> You are right but I think that the problem lies in the fact that 
> Openmoko has not been able to provide any entry point where new people 
> joining the list (after the release of the freerunner) can figure out 
> who and where to ask what question. The Openmoko people are pretty 
> open and if you will ask for something long enough you will get an 
> answer/ access from them. Michael Shiloh of Openmoko used to interface 
> with the community and answer their questions after getting the 
> information from the developers in a regular community update. I think 
> Steve and Michael still do that? Maybe we should have a page on the 
> wiki describing who does what at Openmoko and who to address what 
> question to and also an introductory email for new subscribers listing 
> out similar things.
>
> It has been almost an year since I wrote my first email to Openmoko 
> (actually to Sean  to which Michael Shiloh replied) I can assure you 
> that Openmoko people try their "hardest" to be open and responsive to 
> community suggestions/ questions. But often it takes time for the 
> question/ request to reach the correct person who can answer it / 
> respond to it.
>
> Rakshat
>
>
>
> 
>
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This seems trivial but I think it is important. Even though open-source 
communities often strive to be non-heirarchical it is important that 
there be project leaders and that the people involved with development 
know these people and what their roles are. If you've just come on board 
(like I have) you could almost be forgiven for thinking that the 
Openmoko project is a loose-knit group of enthusiasts casually 
meandering from one platform to the next with no real direction for the 
past 12 months, and I think at least having a visible core team who send 
community updates on a regular basis is a step towards getting everyone 
singing from the same hymn sheet. These and other such details need to 
be prominently displayed on the wiki.

I guess the core aim of Openmoko is to liberate the mobile platform and 
put technology back in the hands of the end-user through open-source 
software, however people are only going to get on board if it works. I 
have to say that I am left slightly underwhelmed after a couple of days 
with my FreeRunner - as a development platform it is brilliant and the 
geek in me certainly doesn't regret the purchase, however it is 
frustrating that after a years worth of open development I am still 
unable to use it as my primary phone (purportedly the main purpose of 
the device) due to hardware and software issues. Remember that Linux is 
set to capture the mobile market in a seriously big way over the next 
few years so we are far from the only ones doing this, and I think that 
if Openmoko is to remain competitive rather than be relegated to a 
hobbyist device then progress needs to be made in leaps and bounds 
rather than dribs and drabs, at least in the usability department. 
Perhaps a little cohesion would be a step in the right direction.

Hopefully this is seen as constructive and not a whiny rant - I figure 
that this mailing list is intended for this type of discussion?


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Re: Volume?

[Aaron Sowry]

Timo Jyrinki wrote:
> 2008/7/24 Aaron Sowry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>   
>> I would also like a solution to the echo that people hear when calling
>> the phone - anyone found a fix for this?
>> 
>
> I've not seen any post about having the echo fixed. It seems the
> discussion always stops at that point, or goes to another direction
> like about the mic volumes etc., which would sound like no-one has
> figured how to fix the echo issues.
>
> (not everyone has those, apparently depending on whether operator is
> also doing some echo cancellation, but a very large amount of Neo
> users do have the issues)
>
> -Timo
>
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Right - perhaps something to add to the list of hardware issues?

Everyone I have spoken to using the GTA02 handset has mentioned large 
amounts of echo when calling to/from another cellphone, landlines don't 
seem to exhibit the same behaviour in my experience. Disappointing, as 
it limits the device's usefulness as a phone which is a reasonably core 
funtionality...

Aaron

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Re: Purchasing Neo Freerunner in the UK

[Aaron Sowry]

I purchased mine through TrueBox (shipped to Sweden) and found them very 
good, they offer a 12-month warranty too - would recommend.

Aaron

Ross Woodruff wrote:
> Hope this is the right mailing list to ask this but I am just wondering 
> where people in the UK purchased their FreeRunners from. I'm thinking of 
> getting one in the near future and just wondering if anybody has used 
> the TrueBox distributor or if you bought yours elsewhere, perhaps 
> somewhere else in Europe...
>
> I'd just like to see which would be the best place for me to purchase a 
> FreeRunner if there is anywhere else that ships to the UK and will work 
> on a UK phone network (I'm on O2).
>
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Re: Volume?

[Aaron Sowry]

I would also like a solution to the echo that people hear when calling 
the phone - anyone found a fix for this?

(I know this is really just repeating the question already asked by Dan, 
but I just signed up to the list and wanted to test it out - so hello 
everyone)

Aaron

Staley, Daniel L wrote:
> I have the mic volume working alright at the moment...but the speaker output 
> in the earpiece seems rather low, as well as the person I'm calling hearing 
> themselves echoed and of course the constant gsm interference sound as well.
>
> Can anyone post their .state files that are working well? (If anyone has 
> found a good setting)
>
> Also, I heard people were getting good results from the FSO image when 
> calling people.  Can anyone who has tried this report on if the sound 
> problems persist in the FSO?
>
> Thanks,
> -Dan Staley
>
> 
> From: Brian C [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:02 AM
> To: List for Openmoko community discussion
> Subject: Re: Volume?
>
> Bastian Muck wrote:
>   
>> julien cubizolles schrieb:
>> | Le jeudi 17 juillet 2008 à 17:53 +0200, papa-piet a écrit :
>> |> Hi,
>> |> I didn't tested it yet but maybe this will help:
>> |>
>> |> http://freeyourphone.de/portal_v1/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=170&start=75#p3277
>> |
>> | I thinks it's the original one. I adjusted this one (increased the Mic2
>> | from 0 to 50) and nobody complains anymore when I call them...
>> |
>> No, it is not the original one. I adjusted the mono-volume, so everyone
>> can understand me but without echo. Before the adjustment, everyone
>> complained, that i was not loud enough.
>>
>> Greetings Bastian
>> 
>
> I've read this entire thread a couple of times and there are just so
> many options in alsamixer that I cannot figure out how to turn up the
> volume enough so that I can be heard by the person I'm calling.  Would
> someone who has figured this out please place very simple instructions
> on the wiki?  Thanks.
>
> Brian
>
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