SHR first experiences & user manual

Risto H. Kurppa risto at kurppa.fi
Thu Aug 27 14:16:22 CEST 2009


Hi!

Sorry for an ugly post.

Now that I also decided to go for SHR I was requested [1] to check if
the SHR user manual is factually correct.

So here are some comments:

"SHR (Stable Hybrid Release) is here to provide you with Root
FileSystem images that you can easily install onto your Freerunner to
use as a daily phone. It's filled with prepackaged software that can
be installed upon demand by users"

So I can off-line install the packaged apps? No, I bet you mean that
is has stuff pre-installed and you can get more from the
repositories..

Reading http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/SHR_User_Manual#SHR_Specific and
I already have the feeling that this hass too many tech stuff.. 'root
filesystem image', 'ophonekitd' - is that stuff really required here
to be able to use it? I prefer a nice smooth experience, easy for
beginners too. Do I now need to go and find out what's ophonekitd?


http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/SHR_User_Manual#Stability
Maybe the difference of testing and unstable should be written here,
not in the introduction?

btw. a screenshot (or logo when there is one) would be nice to see on
top of the manual page, it just would make it again a bit more
appealing.


http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/SHR_User_Manual#Installation

Maybe the differencies of lite and normal image should be explained
_before_ you tell where to get them? And somewhere later tell how to
upgrade -lite to normal

AFAIK only -lite images are currently available? (ok, dos1 explained
newest fat images were broken and he removed it)

Maybe 'source code' should not be in the 'installation' chapter but
more of 'devel' or something like that.

Image content: it'd be nice if there were links from the items to home
pages. What's illume? What's vala-terminal? What's pythm?

Installation: it might not be a bad idea to remind people to upgrade
the phone firmware and QI/uboot (and maybe tell which one is more
popular - see http://www.doodle.com/svvsubwnyn4zaxd3 )

Anyway, these are the files I flashed:
-rw-r--r--  1 rhk rhk 69992448 2009-08-08 17:49 lite-om-gta02.jffs2
-rw-r--r--  1 rhk rhk    28596 2009-08-26 19:05
qi-s3c2442-1.0.2+gitr243+36bb5c03756268ff15b2d95a043ffb39a919ce5c.udfu
-rw-r--r--  1 rhk rhk  1832764 2009-08-16 23:32
uImage-2.6.29-oe11+gitr119838+2d158aae9d8d36f575504f59884ed8e80802efe2-r3.5-om-gta02.bin

flashing.

I'd like to be able to have a dir on my uSD and mount it automatically
as /home (on om2009 that was the folder bind-home on uSD) but I guess
manually editing fstab will have to do. Maybe that should be explained
somewhere here?

How come the check of version is explained before the booting process?

booting.

Initial setup:
Some lines about the possibilities there would be nice.. How on earth
do I know what profile to select? Or what 'quick launch' is? Or why do
I have to see screens where I only can select one item? ('irc' told me
that the quick launch menu has no effect.. nice...)

rebooting.

Screenshot showing the wrench would be nice.

The manual explains directly the wrench options - maybe SHR settings
would be more important for usual settings instead of double click
stuff etc..

Maybe explaining SHR post-installation SCP commands could be done on
SHR post-installation page instead of the manual. I think it's enough
to explain what is it and why to run it and then link to the page.

It isn't also told anywhere to run opkg update;opkg upgrade.

Post-installation script would run opkg update, not upgrade. And
here's a discussion telling the benefits of the script:

13:41 < rhkfin> Should I run the SHR post-installation script at
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/SHR_post-installation
13:42 < rhkfin> (as recommended in the SHR manual)
13:42 < DocScrutinizer> never heard of
13:43 < dos1> neither me
13:43 < DocScrutinizer> even "SHR-manual" !? wow o.O
13:43 < rhkfin> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/SHR_User_Manual
13:44 < dos1> cellhunter?
13:44 < dos1> ...
13:44 < dos1> use openBmap ;P
13:44 < rhkfin> no, not cellhunter :)
13:44 < rhkfin> yes I will :)
13:44 < rhkfin> (being in ~top5 there :)
13:44 < dos1> Navit is already newest in SHR repo
13:44 < dos1> ffalarms is in image
13:44 < rhkfin> obexpush?
13:45 < dos1> dates/tasks - will be replaced by opimd apps soon and in
shr image by default
13:45 < dos1> obexpush - hmm... i'll look at it and maybe include in image
13:45 < rhkfin> and I won't need them anyway..
13:45 < rhkfin> dos1: ok, great
13:45 < dos1> mokomaze.... why isn't it in fat image by default? o_O
13:45 < dos1> cellhunter - no comment :P
13:46 < rhkfin> dos1: is there a fat image around? I only find lite..
13:46 < dos1> rhkfin: newest fat image was broken
13:46 < dos1> rhkfin: so i removed it
13:46 < rhkfin> dos1: ah, ok
13:46 < dos1> rhkfin: on next regeneration it should be there back
13:46 ::: kvaster [n=kvaster at 93.84.112.80] has joined #openmoko-cdevel
13:47 < dos1> that script is useless
13:47 < rhkfin> I agree..
13:47 < dos1> SHR is open distro, so instead of doing such scripts
they should improve default image ;x


The manual should tell the USB-ssh-thing BEFORE suggesting the
postinstallationfail -script.

Replaced gsmhandset with
http://www.kurppa.fi/freerunner/config_files/gsmhandset.state

How about preferring nano over vi? I think nano - telling people what
to press, might be more friendlier. People who know stuff will use vi
anyway..

Edited /etc/phone-utils.conf (btw it all was on one single line..
Don't know if that's good or not..)

opkg was called opkg-cl - I think I saw somewhere that this is a known bug.

apps:
ffalarms - installed by default (-> manual outdated)


Swap - I'll skip that, I'll install another uSD soon with debian..

Init opkg database - the > packages.txt - thing sound's stupid to me.
Maybe explain here some general package management stuff.. like opkg
upgrade.


SHR is shipped without root password (just press enter)  - this should
be told already somewhere near the usb-ssh -part.

Locate lost phone by GPS and openbmap - maybe stuff like this
shouldn't be explained in the manual? Maybe just link to a site with
apps listed (sound's like the future application showroom :)

opkg update;opkg upgrade took looong, maybe an hour or so.

Localization - this is more interesting and important againt!
How about some locale meta packaget to install tangogps-locale- packages etc..

opkg install glibc-locale-fi

opkg list|grep locale-fi returns tens of packages -any changes to get
all required/available finnish packages installed? If I install an
app, do I need to find the locale-package myself..?

opkg install libframeworkd-phonegui-efl-locale-fi shr-settings-locale-fi

shr-settings-locale-fi couldn't be found :/

Adding
export LANG=fi_FI.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=fi_FI
to /etc/profile

root at om-gta02 /usr/share/shr/scenarii $ opkg list | grep illume-dic
e-wm-illume-dict-pl -
1.0-gitr185+cff6bbd4b6773629e4172654a01bef63862f037d-r0 - Polish
dictionary for Illume keyboard
e-wm-illume-dict-pl-dbg -
1.0-gitr185+cff6bbd4b6773629e4172654a01bef63862f037d-r0 - Polish
dictionary for Illume keyboard
e-wm-illume-dict-pl-dev -
1.0-gitr185+cff6bbd4b6773629e4172654a01bef63862f037d-r0 - Polish
dictionary for Illume keyboard
root at om-gta02 /usr/share/shr/scenarii $


Maybe some other languages should be added :)

ran echo "" > /usr/lib/enlightenment/modules/illume/dicts/None.dic

SHR settings - please explain this before any navigation/gps map stuff...

I see that opkg doesn't have tab-expansion. Badly needed, a pain to
opkg list |grep every time!



Between data sync and car navigation you explain 'reporting bugs'? The
best place for it? No..

Navit installation can be done from default repo, no need to add
custom repo or do the libgps trick.

Don't explain navit maps here, it really isn't core SHR. Link to navit
documentation (and fix it there if it isn't good enough). Don't
duplicate..

UI didn't go through the SHR settings part, I'll figure it out myself.

opkg install navit tangogps pidgin openbmap-logger numptyphysics
mokomaze openmoocow omgps gpe-scap coreutils-locale-fi nano-locale-fi
pidgin-locale-fi

Installing software is explained in the very end of the howto. Not good.

Replace dropbear with openssh - why should I want to do this?

System customizing, didn't really read it.

I suggest you split the documentation to more than one site:
'installation' 'applications' 'settings' 'connectivity' or something
like that, and create a wiki category and table of contents or
something, just to make it easier to read.

opkg install navit-locale-fi tangogps-locale-fi
There. Anyway I think I now have a working SHR installed and I hope
thesee comments will help improving both SHR and the howto.

Thanks people for your work! It's great that you've done work on the
manual, it has lots of good stuff in there!

(next I'll try Paroli on SHR.. :)

And sorry for a messy post..


r

[1] http://risto.kurppa.fi/blog/great-news-from-the-openmoko-community/#comments

-- 
| risto h. kurppa
| risto at kurppa dot fi
| http://risto.kurppa.fi



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