Phone functionality in GUI applications

Thomas Seiler thseiler at gmail.com
Thu Oct 18 02:19:31 CEST 2007


Am 17.10.2007 um 13:58 schrieb Joachim Steiger:

> please do not overengineer this from the beginning, i think interfaces
> should be added when being implemented.

Yes, sorry for this. I have exaggerated there. I wanted to show that
we are dealing with many interdependent state machines, and my point
is that a DBUS-interface for openmoko should be fine grained and
orthogonal rather than monolithic.

The rationale behind the fine grained idea is that it allows  
applications to
test for availability of specific functionality (i.e. GPS) using DBUS  
Introspection.
So we wont need a capability query layer.

The rationale behind orthogonality is that its easier to get going,  
test and extend.
We can start with a single state machine (i.e. SIM) and add others as we
move forward without changing what was done to drastically.

> also note that gnome already has a way of handling network interfaces
> when it comes to ip connectivity (see
> http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/)

Thanks for pointing that out. I somehow completely missed this.

> i think we should make use of that/extend that functionality before
> reinventing the wheel once again (remember, there are wifi with hidden
> essid, wpa/wep/wpa2 and similar crap which needs to fit in there)

I like the idea to reuse and extend what is already there.
The GPRS IP Connectivity is a bit special, though.
I can see that applications that would benefit to know if network  
access is
"expensive" or "cheap" at the moment and change their behavior.

One other thing to keep in mind is the EAP-SIM Standard (RFC4186)
Its a method to authenticate yourself on a WPA Network with a SIM Card,
many hotspots in main stations and the like do support it.

> i really do NOT wanna discourage anybody, but this just popped into my
> mind while reading this.

Thanks for the reality check ;-)

> [...] first it has to be a
> working phone.

Ok, then lets discuss what is all needed for a minimalistic interface  
to get the phone working:

- GSM: trigger network registration,  get registration infos, signal  
registration info and signal strength updates
- SIM: get state, signal PIN entry required, enter pin
- VoiceCall: call number, end call, accept incomming, reject  
incomming,  signal for dialing, waiting, talking, busy and ringing

Anything else ?

Regards,
Thomas



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