Still not getting it...(was: New Topic: Learning how to write for OpenMoko)

[michael at michaelshiloh.com]

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007, Ryan Kline wrote:

> I have looked at numerous websites and I am still very confused about what I 
> need to write stuff for OpenMoko (Mostly UI). I use Mac OS X, and I don't 
> have a whole lot of prior coding experience. I learn pretty quickly, though. 
> Does anyone know of tutorials, etc. that will get me on the right track. I 
> especially want to make themes for the phone. I have Photoshop, so I would 
> probably use that for the actual tweaking, but I would have no idea how to 
> make it run on the phone. Any help is appreciated.


Ryan, have you looked at my two recipes? One is for setting up the
OpenEmbedded development environment, one is for writing your first trivial
application. Both are fairly detailed step-by-step instructions, including code
and commands you can cut and paste into your shell.

   http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/OpenEmbedded/SettingUpOEForUbuntu
   http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/OpenEmbedded/OETrivialApplication

I spent a fair bit of time on these and really hope they are useful.

Now I recognize that you are on Mac OS X, and things are a bit different. At
some point I hope to add recipes for doing this on OS X, but that's not at the
top of my todo list, Meanwhile, I recommend you get access to a Linux account
somehow. For your first lessons, this should be a simple shell account, as
there is a fair bit you have to learn before you get to the graphic stuff.

There are a number of inexpensive ways to do this:

(1) Install Linux on an old computer you or your friends have lying around.
Linux is very good with old hardware, hardware that is no longer suitable for
modern versions of Windows. A friend of mine found an old, discarded computer
out on the street one day. Within 15 minutes he had it running Linux.

(1.5) Need help doing this? Where are you located? There are local Linux user
groups almost everywhere in the world, and they help people like you get
started.

(2) Get a shell account somewhere. Some ISPs and hosting companies provide
this as part of their service. Many schools provide them - see if a local
community college offers any Unix/Linux classes. Perhaps for the price of
registering for the class you can get an account.

(3) Have any friends in the Linux/Unix world? Ask one of them for a shell
account. Your local Linux user group may help you here as well.

(4) I will gladly give you a shell account on my computer. Write me offline if
you are interested. I've taught both Linux and programming and can help you
get started. I'm sure many others on this list can help too, although it's not
our primary focus.

I know that you are mostly interested in graphics, but I think you need to
take these baby steps first. Pretty soon I'll have a recipe for setting up the
GTK environment (you can help me test it) and then you can start working with
graphics.


Please let me know what you think of these suggestions. I'm happy to take your
response offline if you prefer.

Michael