Wiki application list.

John Locke mail at freelock.com
Fri Jul 27 17:36:53 CEST 2007



Frans Grotepass wrote:
> I want to order a GTA-01, but some questions still remain.
>
> 1: What is the status of various developments in the applications. The wiki 
> lacks enough informaiton. Is something like this list possible?
>
> http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IriverPort#Write_low_level_code_and_drivers
>   
Nice... I can add something like this to the wiki over the weekend, if
nobody gets there first.

In the meantime, here's what I'm finding works:

Sending calls: Works for a few calls before crashing, but you need to
adjust things like volume through a shell (restore the alsa sound
profile for what you'd like--headset volume, other speaker volume, ear
speaker volume, etc).

Receiving calls: Crashes for me when I accept call. No audible ring --
you need to be watching screen when the calls come in, or you'll never know.

Voicemail indicator: doesn't exist.

Contacts: Can copy evolution addressbook.db and see all contacts. Can
edit contacts. Dial button on contact does not work, but otherwise this
application is getting close to usable.

Calendar: Can copy evolution calender and have it show up as main
calendar, but the device does not have a concept of local time--all
times are UTC. Because Evolution itself isn't consistent with calendar
entries, individual items are listed in the top panel with the correct
time, but in the calendar views offset back to UTC. Can create/edit
events. Events in list appear in order created, not in order of time.
Lower calendar display shows date but not month, and you cannot scroll
forwards or backwards. It's also very easy to move a calendar event (too
easy, this could happen accidentally and you'd lose track of when the
event should happen!). There is a GUI for adding additional calendars,
but adding a new web calendar does not actually do anything. (didn't try
adding a local calendar).

Calculator: Works fine. Basic arithmetic only.

GPS: CLI drivers/application got nuked in my initial flash (I put a note
of a way you can actually back this up before flashing on the
wiki--previously the instructions for backing it up required the device
to be running, but you couldn't boot without flashing) -- no idea.
(OpenMoko team--how can we get a copy of the GPS drivers?)

Mail: Dummy program only. Has hardcoded list of messages, but can't be
configured or used.

Tasks: This is a task manager program, and mostly works, but the main
area doesn't resize to make room for the keyboard.

RSS reader: Works, but not configurable--the list of subscribed news
feeds are compiled into one of the source files.

Web: Can load unencrypted pages by direct URL. Some links and form
submissions crash the browser. Can't add bookmarks.

GPRS: Can't figure out how to do this--I don't know if this is
implemented at all. I don't have a data plan yet with my carrier, though.

Bluetooth: Can turn on and see other devices with hcitool. Others have
gotten Bluetooth Dund working, and I see instructions for a headset
profile. I haven't verified this yet.

Terminal: Works great! Has screen and lots of other decent Unix stuff.
Control characters/backspaces appear as boxes in the device (not in
remote shells)--needs slight tweaking of termcap files...

SSH-server: Works fine, though I notice I can't seem to mount the
filesystem using sshfs. rsync to and from the device works. Was able to
use an ssh key, and set a root password.

Application manager: Seems to work, but the specified ipkg repository
doesn't exist, so it's mostly useless at the moment.

GSM Antennae/Status applet: Seems to alternate between on and off on
each boot. Seems to generally work, but click it a couple times and the
whole status panel crashes.

Media player: CLI application only (madplay). No ability to control
playback.

Volume control: CLI only (alsamixer), stored alsa volume profiles.

> 2: To what extent is it possible to use the phone as my daily phone? Are the 
> basic apps good enough?
>   
I tried it out with my sim card, then moved it back to my old phone. I
think it's actually good enough to use as a very basic PDA right now, if
you're just looking to make your contacts and calendar portable (my #1
need). Definitely can't replace a normal phone for daily use right now.
> 3: How long does the device run on a battery?
>   
Don't know. Though I notice the screen backlight actually shuts off
after about 5 minutes of inactivity when plugged in, and about 20-30
minutes of inactivity when running on battery (the opposite of what you
would want)!
> 4: is the uboot bootloader stable enough to make a basic model sufficient?
>   
Seems to be. I've had 0 problems with the boot loader. I followed the
guidance on the wiki that says "with a phase I phone, don't flash the
boot loader unless you know what you're doing"... so I'm not touching it
until there's a substantially good reason.

It's definitely fun to play around with, and there's lots of stuff to do
in a shell. But there are some strange missing pieces, like no cron, no
timezone support...

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

-- 
John Locke
"Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems"
published by Charles River Media, June 2004
http://www.freelock.com





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