Firmware suggestions and contributions


snd-seq module


MIDI apps need to load snd-seq, which asks for your password each session. Could this module be included in the OS? For context, sample script from Sunvox:



Code:
if ! lsmod|grep -q snd-seq;then

  # the module isn't loaded

  if ! grep -q snd-seq /etc/modules;then

	# not loaded automagically

	gksudo -D "load MIDI module on startup ?" "echo snd-seq>>/etc/modules"

  fi

  gksudo -D "load MIDI module" "modprobe -k snd-seq"

fi





[edit] And:



.gtkrc-2.0 customisations



Two small tweaks in here which make XFCE feel a little more polished on the Pandora. Transparent background for desktop icon text, and wider scrollbars.





Code:
# Transparent background for desktop icon text.


style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {

XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 0


#Text colors (delete these if you want you use gtk theme colors):


fg[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"

fg[SELECTED] = "#000000"

fg[ACTIVE] = "#000000"


}

widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"



# Make scrollbars wider


style "scroll"

{

	GtkScrollbar::slider-width		= 25

}


class "*" style "scroll"


I know there are a million tweaks we could add, but these ones really make a difference and are worth making default IMO.


(If people want to try this, paste the above code into a file called .gtkrc-2.0 and save it to your homedir. Log out & in again to see changes.)
 
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It was mentioned in a different topic about buttons for enabling WiFi, USB etc.. I do not quite agree with the idea to have separate buttons for all of those, as it clutters up the tray a lot (in fact, the first thing I do after a reflash is copying over my settings from Hotfix 3.)


I have now written a small icon thingie that launches a pop-up menu with dynamical labels and icons (It will for example say "enable USB" when USB is off etc.) Additional options can be added via plugins. I have yet to write the actual plugins, but I will probably have a beta-PND for WiFi and USB this afternoon.
 
BACKUP & RESTORE DESKTOP CUSTOMISATIONS


This would allow users to backup any customisations to the desktop before updating to a new firmware, e.g. task bar size, task bar positon, task bar auto hide, task bar icons / shortcuts, desktop background etc.


There would then be an option to restore these customisations after a new firmware has been installed.


The more user customisations that could be backed up & restored the better.
 
"THE DISPLAY SUCKS"


:lol: That was exactly the same phrase that everyone of my friends said after looking at the desktop !!


And I wasn't undestanding that at the beginning, but after I show them a movie, they suddenly told "WTF !! Now it's really great !!"... ehm.. "Now ?!"


So I found what was the initial problem !! The blurred image of the default wallpaper !!! They was all thinking it was some kind of low res display or a faulting one !! LOL !!! :D
 
Here's a beta of the applet I mentioned: »» Download ««


Comes with plugins for WiFi and USB-host. No, I was too lazy to find suitable icons for them, but adding them is trivial :p (in fact, two lines of code per plugin.)
 
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Here's a beta of the applet I mentioned: »» Download ««


Comes with plugins for WiFi and USB-host. No, I was too lazy to find suitable icons for them, but adding them is trivial :p (in fact, two lines of code per plugin.)

Nice. Enabling or disabling Bluetooth is the other item that comes immediately to mind for an applet like this.


- Neelix
 
checking the output of hcitool or hciconfig is an option...


op_bluetooth.sh does it by checking the output of hciconfig


- Neelix
 
Try doing that in a non-hackish way inside of C ;)


EDIT: Okay, here is a plugin for bluetooth. Put it in appdata/configbutton, then restart the applet. killall configbutton should make it exit.
 
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based on a quick look at the hciconfig source it looks like sending HCIGETDEVLIST to ioctl might be useful... (see line 68)


Edit: the definition for HCIGETDEVLIST seems to be in bluetooth/hci.h if that helps.


- Neelix
 
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snd-seq module


MIDI apps need to load snd-seq, which asks for your password each session. Could this module be included in the OS?

Does this have any disadvantages?


What's the memory usage (does it use memory before it's actually in use?)

Two small tweaks in here which make XFCE feel a little more polished on the Pandora. Transparent background for desktop icon text, and wider scrollbars.


I know there are a million tweaks we could add, but these ones really make a difference and are worth making default IMO.

Thanks :)


Let me know any other useful tweaks to include them in the firmware :)

I have now written a small icon thingie that launches a pop-up menu with dynamical labels and icons (It will for example say "enable USB" when USB is off etc.) Additional options can be added via plugins. I have yet to write the actual plugins, but I will probably have a beta-PND for WiFi and USB this afternoon.

That's awesome!


I'd love to get that included in the official OS :)


Would it be possible to add Clockrate and TV Out as well (and maybe enable to user to enable / disable certain plugins)?


That would be great :)


To include it into the OS, the best way would be if the sourcecode would be hosted on a server (GIT?) so we can create a recipe for Angström.

BACKUP & RESTORE DESKTOP CUSTOMISATIONS


This would allow users to backup any customisations to the desktop before updating to a new firmware, e.g. task bar size, task bar positon, task bar auto hide, task bar icons / shortcuts, desktop background etc.

Good idea.


I'll create a small script that will backup and restore the full home-directory of the user.
 
Modules are harmless apart taking memory.


lsmod on my pc :


Module Size Used by


snd_seq_dummy 1271 0


snd_seq_oss 23483 0


snd_seq_midi_event 4540 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_oss


snd_seq 41138 6 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event


I suppose size is in Bytes.


Maybe the load/unload modules should be included in the new applet too? And/or in the new overlay menu ?
 
I have now written a small icon thingie that launches a pop-up menu with dynamical labels and icons (It will for example say "enable USB" when USB is off etc.) Additional options can be added via plugins. I have yet to write the actual plugins, but I will probably have a beta-PND for WiFi and USB this afternoon.

That's awesome!


I'd love to get that included in the official OS :)


Would it be possible to add Clockrate and TV Out as well (and maybe enable to user to enable / disable certain plugins)?


That would be great :)


To include it into the OS, the best way would be if the sourcecode would be hosted on a server (GIT?) so we can create a recipe for Angström.

I have two more features I'd like to add (submenues and sorting hints,) but TV-out and clockspeed is possible. I was also thinking of making my keyboard layout app a plugin for it. Plugins are dynamically loaded, but I guess I could add a blacklist feature. Another option would be to copy the plugins to a folder in ~ and then have a helper-app that copies or removes the plugins from there.


I'll upload the source to github when the main features are there, but you/somebody else will have to take it from there to get it into the OS.
 
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You could try cadaver from angstromrepo for webdav.
I had thought(and almost done) that, but I want to have something that is more integrated with the system. This would allow other programs people make to take advantage of this too.(syncing/reading from) Also, cadaver is CLI based. I'd like something I can use graphically also and ideally make easy to sync.(with having webdav mountable, a simple backup tool could then sync things.) The reason I don't have something compiled on the repo for webdav is that I haven't found much good webdav software. Something like Cyberduck or GVFS/KIO would match closest what I have set up for my other devices.

I use dav2fs on pandora Arch Linux at the moment, because i do not want to reinstall it after new firmware flash


http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/davfs2

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV), an extension to the HTTP-protocol, allows authoring of resources on a remote web server. davfs2 provides the ability to access such resources like a typical filesystem, allowing for use by standard applications with no built-in support for WebDAV.
davfs2 is designed to fully integrate into the filesystem semantics of Unix-like systems (mount, umount, etc.). davfs2 makes mounting by unprivileged users as easy and secure as possible.



davfs2 does extensive caching to make the file system responsive, to avoid unnecessary network traffic and to prevent data loss, and to cope for slow or unreliable connections.



davfs2 will work with most WebDAV servers needing little or no configuration.



davfs2 is developed and tested on GNU/Linux but porting to other free operating systems should not be too cumbersome.
 
Along the lines of my above desire to have the screen lock when the unit goes to standby or lid-closed...


How about login via specific values on the two nubs combined?


I.e. if I simultaneously:


put the left nub to 20+/-10% at 315+/-15 degrees


put the right nub to 80+/-10% at 110+/-15 degrees


then it would know it was me and log me straight in.


Essentially using the analog nubs as a combination lock with 4 inputs.


Instant log in, but decent security?


OK, so that's dreaming a bit - can we at least have a setting to lock the user to the log in screen when the lid is shut or the switch is slid over? Please?
 
You could try cadaver from angstromrepo for webdav.
I had thought(and almost done) that, but I want to have something that is more integrated with the system. This would allow other programs people make to take advantage of this too.(syncing/reading from) Also, cadaver is CLI based. I'd like something I can use graphically also and ideally make easy to sync.(with having webdav mountable, a simple backup tool could then sync things.) The reason I don't have something compiled on the repo for webdav is that I haven't found much good webdav software. Something like Cyberduck or GVFS/KIO would match closest what I have set up for my other devices.

I use dav2fs on pandora Arch Linux at the moment, because i do not want to reinstall it after new firmware flash


http://savannah.nong...projects/davfs2

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV), an extension to the HTTP-protocol, allows authoring of resources on a remote web server. davfs2 provides the ability to access such resources like a typical filesystem, allowing for use by standard applications with no built-in support for WebDAV.
davfs2 is designed to fully integrate into the filesystem semantics of Unix-like systems (mount, umount, etc.). davfs2 makes mounting by unprivileged users as easy and secure as possible.


davfs2 does extensive caching to make the file system responsive, to avoid unnecessary network traffic and to prevent data loss, and to cope for slow or unreliable connections.


davfs2 will work with most WebDAV servers needing little or no configuration.


davfs2 is developed and tested on GNU/Linux but porting to other free operating systems should not be too cumbersome.

This could work as long as it was bundled in the system image. The outcome would be similar to having GVFS/KIO.
 
Something I'd like to see is a way to shut down the pandora from the login screen. Currently if I'm logged out and want to shut down I have to login first which seems kind of pointless. :)


Is there any chance of adding a locale selection dialog? I haven't been able to find a way to correct the default US locale selection except by modifying config files directly.


- Neelix
 
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Would some way of adding user selectable boot sounds or animations be a possible OS addition?


Sounds can be added via Chris C's method http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/58505-boot-sound/page__view__findpost__p__937739


So could a script with a GUI be made to allow for this, with timings to mess with (but no default sound sets provided to save NAND space) and the creation of an appdata folder to deposit the users own .wav files within? Perhaps another script to allow for boot animations, or replacement of the default splashscreen?


There was a lot of creativity on offer from the community when such ideas seemed potentially viable and I have to wonder, what would get created and showcased now, if personal customisations were possible and easily shared.
 
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snd-seq module


MIDI apps need to load snd-seq, which asks for your password each session. Could this module be included in the OS?

Does this have any disadvantages?


What's the memory usage (does it use memory before it's actually in use?)
I came across an old post from Notaz, he didn't really like the idea due to memory use.
Maybe the load/unload modules should be included in the new applet too? And/or in the new overlay menu ?
Sounds cool, but probably no more convenient than the current method (entering password on app launch). MIDI users can load the module permanently if that bothers them, so maybe it's good enough for now.
 
We could make better use of the touchscreen:


I was thinking about something like "mypaint" does.


Different responds depending on how hard you press the screen.


Verry low somply moves.


Little harder is left klick.


Hardest is right klick.


Of course there has to be a menue option to disable it and set it back to what it is now.


You also should be able to change the sensitivity of each klick option.


I know it sounds strange but it would be a nice feature.


With some practice it might be pretty nice to use.
 
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