After finalizing DOF Calc 0.1.0 yesterday, I've decided to push new version of GePeS as well. The update utilizes new Meego loader, so application should start much faster, add azimuth calculation for sun (set, rise and current) as well as compass is utilized for showing this azimuth. You can check all new features on screenshots page.
New version is currently available in git and tarballs, binary version will be in Nokia store as soon it passes QA tests there.
I've been doing some updates to DOF Calc in last days and today I decided it's time to push new it to public. The application has been switched to dark theme (which seems to be preferred one) and got working settings module. This means you can now configure list of cameras, lenses and apertures it offers, so that only choices you really use will be show.
New version is currently available in git and tarballs, binary version will be in Nokia store as soon it passes QA tests there.
Besides that, application got new homepage with screenshots (what is true for GePeS as well).
Continuing on my Hackweek project, I've polished GePeS a bit today.
I started with better display of GPS coordinates and added some more GPS details to separate page. Adding images for moon phase was also part of the plan, though it force me to learn how to switch application to black theme, which looks much better with moon image.
Rest of time was spent on cleaning up the code and adding preferences (for now only refresh rate).
Updated screenshots:
PS: Some numbers look weird (altitude and speed), though I'm pretty sure this is what phone reports me.
With no clear plans for Hackweek this year, I decided to play even more with N950. As I quite lack some GPS application I decided to write it :-). The feature set will be based on things I would use, though I still think it will be useful for others:
I've named the application as GePeS and you can find sources on Gitorious: https://gitorious.org/gepes
During first day I've managed to implement basic things, check screenshots:
As people on Gammu mailing lists probably already noticed, I don't have enough time for Gammu in past months. Simply mi priorities have shifted and can not spend so much time there anymore.
I've decided to make clear cut what I'm going to do and what not.
First of all I'm not going to put any extra effort on support for platforms I don't use. Today's release of Wammu no longer includes Windows binaries (they were broken anyway). Gammu releases will include them as long as they do not need extra effort. The very same applies to Ubuntu packages. Sorry, but backporting packages which are using up to date tools from Debian sid is more effort than I can put into it. Of course volunteers are welcome for both areas.
For phones support, I will limit my attention to things I'm interested in or use daily (what means AT phones, Meego and possibly Symbian). Others (especially S40 Nokia phones) can not expect much support from me.
And of course I still plan to maintain the projects themselves, Debian packages and packages in openSUSE Build Service.
As our GSoC students are approaching quite well, we've already numerous features included in current master, which are worth mentioning. You can try all bellow mentioned features on our demo server.
Grid editing provides really simple way of editing data, by simply clicking on it while browsing table. Just try it on some table.
Performance suggestions are part of completely reworked server status and can give you valuable information how to tune your server. You can see it on demo server.
Another nice addition to server status page is live monitor, which charts basic server information in real time. Again, try it on demo server (you need to press start for now, this will probably go away soon).
Other big, thought not that fancy change is complete support for routines. This includes stored procedures/functions, triggers and events. For example see routines in sakilla database.
Of course there is much more to mention, like improving of AJAX in lot of places, GIS support.
On the other side, we've also recently decided to remove support for Microsoft Excel import and export as used PHPExcel library seems to suffer some licensing issues, which prevented phpMyAdmin from being included in Fedora. You can still use CSV or OpenDocument formats though.
As I hav ethis toy for more than week, I can share a little more information about it. Please note that some experiences are based on fact that this is my first "big" phone with touchscreen.
The big screen is great for reading. Much better than my old Nokia E52. It is also much better readable on direct sun light. The dark side of this is of course power consumption, but I think this might still get improved for production pieces.
Having Linux on the phone is nice, ssh to phone and you can do anything comfortably with real keyboard (N950's QWERTY keyboard is great, but still quite small). Having Debian based system there is even better, though I felt a bit strange when I first ran apt-get upgrade on my phone :-). Well there are some changes from standard Debian system like extented fields in debian/control for icons, but generally it feels pretty much as Debian.
There are lot of things to try on N950, you can find some hints on N950 landing page, I still need to try most of that :-).
My first MeeGo application called DOF Calc today got in much better shape and actually is closer to being really usable.
First I've implemented landscape view, so it now looks correct when you rotate the device:
Another missing bit was configuration handling. I have not found something for simple configuration storing and everybody seems to suggest using Database API for that, so that's what I did as well.
For now only camera selection is persistent, for the others I have to consider whether it is really expected. Besides selection persistence, the database should allow to configure list of cameras/lenses/apertures, because I'm sure not everybody will like my predefined set :-). For now only camera definitions are stored in database and there is no interface yet for changing that.
After some troubles I finally managed to write first usable application for MeeGo. The first thing I have choosen was intentionally simple as I more or less wanted to get used to Qt Quick. However I still think it can be useful (after some polishing), at least I used similar application on my older phone :-).
The application is meant for photographers who don't remember hyperfocal distance for all their lenses and apertures or want to calculate depth of field:
Code is released under GNU GPL on Gitorious: https://gitorious.org/dofcalc
Remembering not so far away history, I'm always a bit afraid when I'm about to use new hardware with Linux. It used to be troublesome to make some devices work.
After getting Linux based phone last week, I've also received new notebook, where I want to run Debian as well. I expected various troubles, but surprisingly everything works like a charm without single line of configuration. Wireless networking, docking station, card reader, webcam, fingerprint reader and so on.
All I had to do is to pull SSD out of old X60 notebook and put it into new X220. The only (though unnecessary) change was installation of 64-bit kernel (I currently see no big benefit in migrating to 64-bit userspace) and everything is working. Can your operating system do this?
Thanks to all people who have helped in this.