OS 2007 v3 released!

As found by kulve on #maemo, there is a new version of OS 2007 available for the N800 on maemo.org.

The changelog mentions the expected video improvements, amongst improved Flash performance, stability improvements and Bluetooth changes.

I've not yet been able to test whether the video/YouTube performance is actually that much better, but it'll be the first thing to try once the download & reflash cycle is complete.

Running Debian proper alongside Maemo

Detlef Schmicker has posted to maemo-developers the first results of his hack to use VNCViewer to connect to a locally running Debian instance on the tablet to solve the keyboard/input issues.

He's had Firefox, Gimp and Xterm all running on his N800 in the IceWM window manager, with VNCviewer providing the keyboard. No network connection was necessary.

It's a very cool hack, it'll be interesting to see if it can be packaged for end-user use.

The Internet is everywhere.... or will be. One day. Maybe.

In a comment to Roger at Internet Tablet Talk, Dr. Ari Jaaksi says he'd like to see developed:

[...] an app or service (it doesn’t have to be inside the device, it could be on the network) that demands online, constant access."

This kind of sentiment has been expressed before about the Maemo-based Internet Tablets:

• "You don't need a PIM, as you use an online calendar."
• "You don't need a good email client, use Gmail or similar."
• "You don't need $X, use $Y online."

Now it's self-evident that we're not in a world of ubiquitous Internet yet. Norwich city centre's free wifi rollout could be considered a start, as could the talk of a non-free nationwide WiMax network.

So, I look forward to the day of ubiquitous Internet access...

• ...which is cheap (or even free) at home and not exhorbitantly expensive when on holiday abroad.
• ...on the train - in a railway cutting or tunnel (both very common on the UK's West Coast Main Line) with no line of site to a base station or satellite.
• ...on a plane - despite existing carriers cancelling the service due to cost.
• ...in the Channel Tunnel - when popping over to a foreign country, incurring roaming charges etc., even when I'm still closer to Great Britain than when in Northern Ireland.
• ...on a boat in the middle of the English Channel.
• ...in the middle of the Dubai desert (roll on mid-March!)

Personally, I doubt the Internet will ever be ubiquitous in these locations without paying a fortune (after all, if an FM radio signal can't be ubiquitous, why would people pay to make a cheap Internet connection available); and why should I have to pay a fortune to check my calendar?

Yes, these are Internet tablets, but I should be able to carry my bits of the Internet around with me.

N800 FM radio

As rumoured on maemo-developers and ITT, the N800 does have an FM radio... and there's a Nokia application to use it. (Found by Jens Becker: here)

It's in the certified tableteer repository, but it can be installed straight from the deb: fmradio_1.2.0_armel.deb.

Once installed, you have to start fmradio direct from an XTerm, or enable the new "FM Radio" home applet. Headphones are required to act as an aerial, but you can choose to output to the built-in-speakers or the headphones with toolbar buttons.

Unpacked OS 2007 sources

As koen did for OS 2006, I've unpacked the Nokia-provided tarball of OS 2007 sources and uploaded them:

http://www.bleb.org/software/n800/os2007-src/

MUD ports of existing packages

keesj asked an interesting question: how do you approach people who've already ported packages to Maemo and say you want to convert them to MUD-Builder? Most packages aren't in the extras repository, so auto-upload to that from MUD is the most immediate and obvious benefit.

My reply included a couple of sample messages; one for the upstream author, which is a bit boring, and one for the current Maemo maintainer:

I've seen your $PACKAGE port to Maemo and though I'd try to add it to the MUD auto-builder. This would allow the Maemo-specific packaging to be done automatically, the upstream source to be tracked and it automatically added to the Maemo Extras repository when it is updated.

I was wondering if you'd mind me doing this packaging, or whether you'd like to take a look? Producing a MUD package is straight forward and means you can concentrate on porting stuff, rather than producing packages.

If you don't mind me adding the package, did you patch the package at all for Maemo? If so, would you mind sharing the patch?

Any suggestions or comments would be very much appreciated. Either here or on the mud-builder mailing list.

P.S. Ferenc re-invited me to the extras upload facility, and my GPG key is now accepted. First MUD-built packages should be uploaded tomorrow!

Resizing GPE Calendar on OS 2007

OS 2007 - as introduced on the N800 - lets you resize home screen applets. The default size of the GPE Calendar, IMHO, is too large and although it can be recompiled to shrink the size, it can also be resized dynamically on OS 2007.

As root:

Nokia-N800-51:~# cat >>/usr/share/applications/hildon-home/gpe-calendar-home.desktop <<EOM
X-home-applet-resizable=XY
X-home-applet-minwidth=230
X-home-applet-minheight=40
EOM

Restart your device and edit your layout to suit.