Feature requests for HF6

[Blue Protoman]

I wouldn't mind the newest version of Xfce.

 

[WizardStan]

I believe there are a lot of OMAP related patches in newer Kernel.

Not sure lastest mainline kernel have way more patch for us then the 2.6.27 arm linux


But I might be wrong.

A lot changed with 2.6.34 for reasons that I don't understand at all. It's like someone rewrote half the kernel or something for one minor update. That's obviously a gross exasperation, but I don't even know half of what did. Getting things to work between pre-2.6.33 and post-2.6.34 has caused me a few headaches.

Would permit to use the DSP too IIRC.

I'm pretty sure our current kernel could allow us to use the DSP. But are you willing to reserve some memory (say 64M or 1/8 of all currently available) to something nothing use currently ?

Maybe someone could, but I couldn't. The kernel module was written for 2.6.37, I think, and like I said, a lot changed as of 2.6.34 for some reason, enough that the DSP interface (both of them) would need heavy rewrites to make it work with 2.6.27. As far as the memory is concerned, I think there's still a log of argument about how much would need to be reserved. Could be as little as 1MB, as much as 128MB, who knows (Exophase does, I bet); we can get it and just start tweaking until we hit that sweet spot. And yes, I would give up 64MB, since the only time I exceed 128MB used is when I foolishly think there's been improvements in Firefox. And don't say nothing uses it; currently both mplayer and the TI Flash demo have DSP hooks that would automatically give us speed boosts the instant /dev/dsp showed up. I'm pretty sure VLC wouldn't be far behind, and then it's a short trip to getting a stand alone MP3 player running just on the DSP. In theory.

 

[Coldbird]

A nice touchscreen optimized Music Player App preinstalled, LXDE as main desktop, newer kernel and last but not least, lock button support, so we can finally lock controls by shifting this little sucker to the left. :rolleyes:

 

[notaz]

Maybe someone could, but I couldn't. The kernel module was written for 2.6.37, I think, and like I said, a lot changed as of 2.6.34 for some reason, enough that the DSP interface (both of them) would need heavy rewrites to make it work with 2.6.27.

You are talking about dspbridge I suppose? Note that some things need dsplink which is completely different bird.

And don't say nothing uses it; currently both mplayer and the TI Flash demo have DSP hooks that would automatically give us speed boosts the instant /dev/dsp showed up. I'm pretty sure VLC wouldn't be far behind, and then it's a short trip to getting a stand alone MP3 player running just on the DSP. In theory.

Are you sure these run under dspbridge and DSP-side modules are freely available?

 

[Prometheus]

A would appreciate a lot a fix for read/write errors with "problematic" SD cards.

^seconded. I've had a lot of corrupted files.

Thirded. I know it's affecting at least FAT32, ext2, and ext3 (I'm using FAT32 on mine), and I've yet to see anyone report it who isn't using a Class 6 or a Class 10 card.

 

[Eridger]

All of my battery charging hacks.

Is that Better Battery Charging script good enough for regular use now? I've been wanting to try it out.


And plus one for LXDE. XFCE is way too heavy, at least from my experience on x86. If we want to utilize the DSP and it does indeed end up taking a large amount of RAM, it would be a good idea to free some up while we wait.


Oh, and plus one for configuring the DSP to run on 1MB.

 

[second exodous]

Hi All,

This might be the wrong place to do this, but I couldn't see anywhere more appropriate, so I thought I'd start a topic for people to post feature requests for the HotFix 6 that is currently undergoing development.


My own requests are:


1) A working CUPS environment to fully enable printing from the Pandora.


2) More control over button mappings etc from the XFCE GUI eg remap shoulder buttons to mouse buttons


3) GUI creation and maybe auto mounting of swap files on SD cards (I wouldn't want to use swap partitions as this would defeat the SD cards built-in wear levelling)


Thanks to all of the OP team for a fantastic device and to the rest of the community for supporting it long enough to get this far and beyond


Owen

This is something that should be there, I don't know if my right nub is just not accurate but it is extremely hard to get constant mouse clicks with it.


Also, the suspend to RAM would be nice, but I know this is proving to be difficult to get.


I used LXDE Mint and I don't like it, it is lacking a lot of features I'm used to in Gnome. XFCE seems like a toned down Gnome so I've been using it on my desktop. I don't now, on the Pandora the things I miss probably won't bug me as much.


Again, for me the ability to map the mouse buttons to the shoulder buttons would be a dream. I have it set up but it times out, but it makes my desktop usage on the Pandora so nice I can't stress enough how important this is. Like I said, I have no idea if something is wrong with my right nub but mouse clicking with it is HORRIBLE!

 

[snostrebla]

Feature - Automatic routing of audio to bluetooth audio device.


Reference being here.

 

[NebulaUK]

surely getting the DSP working is of utmost importance then people may actually start using it for their homebrew and apps.

 

[EvilDragon]

Most of these features will not happen with HF6, as HotFixes only does small updates. Everything else is just too much work.


Stuff like the new XFCE, Kernel, etc. will come with the next BIG release of the OS, not with a Hotfix. There are already alpha images working of that.

 

[John D.]

Most of these features will not happen with HF6, as HotFixes only does small updates. Everything else is just too much work.


Stuff like the new XFCE, Kernel, etc. will come with the next BIG release of the OS, not with a Hotfix. There are already alpha images working of that.

Very glad to hear the Y***** release is actively being worked on! I had seen much speculation, but nothing definitive.


With so many different ideas coming from various people, i wonder if it is possible or even practical to have a Pandora repository with GUI update/install manager - like Synaptic on Ubuntu. That way if person A is OK with using more memory for DSP usage he can. If person B wants more memroy use for something else, he can not install that DSP library.


Maybe that idea is already possible via Terminal, but a GUI would help non-experts like myself. Even though I like learning, there are some things i prefer visually.

 

[notaz]

surely getting the DSP working is of utmost importance then people may actually start using it for their homebrew and apps.

I consider compiling DSP drivers a lot easier then doing the software for the DSP itself, so this is unlikely.

 

[mhadf]

Stuff like the new XFCE, Kernel, etc. will come with the next BIG release of the OS, not with a Hotfix. There are already alpha images working of that.

I'm sure I'm not the only one willing to test that alpha


as for HF6, SD drivers are the obvious choice at the minute.

 

[WizardStan]

I consider compiling DSP drivers a lot easier then doing the software for the DSP itself, so this is unlikely.

I'll make you a deal, you get the DSP bridge working and I'll write an easy to use and integrate MP3 player for it. A library anyone can take and just call "playMP3(filename);" or something.


edit: on the second condition that someone beats me with a stick from time to time if I forget. I have the tendency to get distracted.

 

[timothee]

I'm not sure what's considered big or small for hotfixes versus full releases but the 3 things on my list:

1. dosfstools: mkfs.vfat should be part of the standard image (on the other hand: mkfs.minix?? really?)
   
2. suspend to ram
   
3. vpn support/enabled (openvpn/vpnc ?)
   

 

[Norfen]

SD drivers, button mapping, and powerVR/DSP drivers are must haves. With the dsp and video chip enabled, the pandora will be even more capable graphics wise.

 

[notaz]

I consider compiling DSP drivers a lot easier then doing the software for the DSP itself, so this is unlikely.

I'll make you a deal, you get the DSP bridge working and I'll write an easy to use and integrate MP3 player for it. A library anyone can take and just call "playMP3(filename);" or something.

Why bridge instead of link? DSPBridge in kernel staging area reportedly doesn't even work at all.

 

[eksasol]

I fear of using OPKG in its current state because its easy to break the system, but I would like a light version of the operating systems where there are not too many preloaded apps, beside the essential ones, so there can be more NAND spaces available.

 

[WizardStan]

Why bridge instead of link? DSPBridge in kernel staging area reportedly doesn't even work at all.

Because for some reason I thought that's what Flash and ffmpeg were setup to use. I can't find the page I thought I remember reading that on now, and everything I'm reading now suggests that it is DSPLink, so yeah, chalk it up to me being an idiot again.

 

[Prosthetic_Mind]

Fix the bug in the default file explorer that causes it to stop responding after a minute or two, support for bluetooth audio (a2dp), and the ability to shut down the Pandora from the login screen would be nice.