Wishlist For Hf5

[Drack]

[*]Fix the time date timezone bugs (saving locations rather than GMT +-values)

This might not be easy, but I'll try. GMT+xx doesn't work? Isn't that how Gentoo does it, too?

This affects Anki syncing. I had to set my Pandora's /etc/localtime to a city instead of GMT+/- for it to sync properly. Otherwise it would return that my clock is off and cancel the sync.

Also, Gentoo's manual says this:

Please avoid the /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT* timezones as their names do not indicate the expected zones. For instance, GMT-8 is in fact GMT+8.

It may be as simple as swapping the sign on the GMT value while keeping the displayed date constant. Even so, this would generate counterintuitive output for the "date" command... City-based timezones are best, imo.

 

[Polossatik]

3. Debug the whole cards thing properly. I still have occasional weird glitches with my SD cards (new entries in ~/media was the latest).

Ed said in this thread (corruptions when copying from SD1 to SD2) that Notaz will have a look if he has time.
Would be nice if someone else with decent skills could look into this.

 

[j6cubic]

• Fix the time date timezone bugs (saving locations rather than GMT +-values)

This might not be easy, but I'll try. GMT+xx doesn't work? Isn't that how Gentoo does it, too?

The Gentoo handbook tells you to copy a file from /usr/share/zoneinfo to /etc/localtime. /usr/share/zoneinfo contains both entries like "GMT+1" and like "Europe/Berlin".

 

[Blue Ion]

2.6.35

and fsck.vfat

(hate having to use a computer just to check them after a crash)

 

[Prometheus]

^ +1 for dosfsck, please. It would be incredibly handy.

 

[Blue Ion]

wget dosfstools package from angstrom repo and install it with sudo opkg install dosfstools.....ipk

One I send the pandora for repairs, and receive it back, I'll definitely check it out. I've lost too many things to file overlaps, corruption and the like.

What about "sudo opkg update; sudo opkg install dosfstools" ?

Want to avoid storing the package manager database on the nand?

I thought it went to tmp, so it vaporized on the next reboot. If it doesn't, perhaps an other feature request is to move the database to a ram location, or optimally move it to ram, and erase it after some time to free up some precious ram, though that last suggestion might be trickier.
Still, this is interesting if we are going to rely more on the package manager in the future.

 

[Karel Jansens]

3. Debug the whole cards thing properly. I still have occasional weird glitches with my SD cards (new entries in ~/media was the latest).

Any more info about that?
I never have had any problems with my SD Cards since HF2, and I constantly remove, reinsert, change, etc. them while testing things (like Chromium, etc.).
Never had a faulty mount or lost data, etc.

Here´s what happened: I started my Panda, and suddenly fbreader would not reload my last book, but start with its splash screen. In the file manager, I found that /media now showed

8GB
8GB-1
8GBVIDEO
8GBVIDEO-1

with the two "-1" entries having the actual cards contents. Weirdly enough, the first card has all my PNDs and they showed up and started normally, but contents on that card (books and music) were invisible to said programs. The second card could only bee seen in its "-1" incarnation.

I pulled all my cards, and sudo-deleted all the entries from /media. Upon reinserting, the "normal" entries reappeared, but they now show "unknown" in the date modified field.

Another thing that is slightly worrying me, is that my NAND has now dropped to 44.6 MB free, but I cannot say whether this has anything to do with the upgrade to HF4 (I installed beta 4 last). It used to be above 75 MB, and I´m pretty sure I haven´t done anything with it (I haven´t used any of the internet-related apps, and all my mail is at Google´s mercy).

4. Low-power mode needs to be seriously improved. As I said earlier: The Nokia N800, with an earlier processor and a 1500 mAh battery, manages 9 to 10 days on standby. We should not be content until the Panda manages one month!

This is a LOT of work. Basically, each driver has to be checked and coded to work with Resume on RAM. Could probably take weeks or months to do that.

Is there any grunt-work a non-programmer could help with in this area? It´s pretty important to me, as I intend to use my Panda as I did my N800: always in the pocket, ready to be fired up for reading a few pages. Rebooting is such a bore and if I leave it in low-power, I have to recharge every night (which inevitably will shorten the battery life as well).


On a totally unrelated note, would it be possible to implement "remember last position" in Mplayer? I know it can be done and it proved to be a godsend on the N800, having the computer remember where you stopped watching your last video.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, that's something that can't be fixed at all - if you remove the card while a program (like fbreader) is accessing a file, it won't unmount.
You should only remove the card if no program accesses a file on that card at the moment.

 

[Karel Jansens]

Well, that's something that can't be fixed at all - if you remove the card while a program (like fbreader) is accessing a file, it won't unmount.
You should only remove the card if no program accesses a file on that card at the moment.

Eh?

I hadn´t removed anything. When I started up the Panda, the entries were just there in /media.

 

[Dead1nside]

Bluetooth DUN support would be greatly appreciated. You should get it with Blueman and the latest NetworkManager.

 

[davidgro]

4. Low-power mode needs to be seriously improved. As I said earlier: The Nokia N800, with an earlier processor and a 1500 mAh battery, manages 9 to 10 days on standby. We should not be content until the Panda manages one month!

This is a LOT of work. Basically, each driver has to be checked and coded to work with Resume on RAM. Could probably take weeks or months to do that.

Please keep in mind that Karel doesn't actually mean "standby" on the N800 (There is a hack to enable standby on them, but it's unsupported) - the 9 to 10 days figure (which I can confirm) is for simply Idle! As in the CPU/Ram is still on and programs are still running, but the screen and maybe some other hardware (don't know what it would be... Input I guess) is off.

 

[WizardStan]

Well, that's something that can't be fixed at all - if you remove the card while a program (like fbreader) is accessing a file, it won't unmount.
You should only remove the card if no program accesses a file on that card at the moment.

Eh?

I hadn´t removed anything. When I started up the Panda, the entries were just there in /media.

The new entries are created because the old ones weren't properly unmounted and deleted. This could be for a number of reasons, such as removing the card while it's in use (even if only because something is holding a file open, not even transfering) or sudden power loss. The next time you insert the card or reboot, it'll try to mount, see that those directories already exist (whether they're in use or not) and create new ones with the -1 appended.

 

[peca]

I have bunch of directories in /media too. It is created when mounted a card and stay here even if card is removed. I renamed my cards and old entries stay in /media dir. I can delete it manually.

 

[Karel Jansens]

4. Low-power mode needs to be seriously improved. As I said earlier: The Nokia N800, with an earlier processor and a 1500 mAh battery, manages 9 to 10 days on standby. We should not be content until the Panda manages one month!

This is a LOT of work. Basically, each driver has to be checked and coded to work with Resume on RAM. Could probably take weeks or months to do that.

Please keep in mind that Karel doesn't actually mean "standby" on the N800 (There is a hack to enable standby on them, but it's unsupported) - the 9 to 10 days figure (which I can confirm) is for simply Idle! As in the CPU/Ram is still on and programs are still running, but the screen and maybe some other hardware (don't know what it would be... Input I guess) is off.

So it shouldn´t even be as difficult as I feared, then? B)

 

[Karel Jansens]

The new entries are created because the old ones weren't properly unmounted and deleted. This could be for a number of reasons, such as removing the card while it's in use (even if only because something is holding a file open, not even transfering) or sudden power loss. The next time you insert the card or reboot, it'll try to mount, see that those directories already exist (whether they're in use or not) and create new ones with the -1 appended.

I could buy that, were it not for the fact that, since the last fiasco with my cards (the one that made a card unreadable and almost unformattable), I´ve become really paranoid about my Panda and its cards. I never ever pop out a card unless the machine has completely stopped (as in: turned off stone dead) and I can´t think of a scenario where the OS would hold a file open when it´s not running...

 

[Letalis Sonus]

/media could be mounted as tmpfs, this way the old folders would at least disappear when it goes off.

By the way, what exactly is responsible for auto mounting? A small check whether something is actually mounted in that directory (and maybe whether the directory is empty, in case someone is using /media for other things...) before creating a new folder could fix it as well.

 

[peca]

EvilDragon: Is possible to add better LCD brightness adjusting? I'd like if brightness can be set way lower then now and if it continue in changing when key for up/down brightness is still pressed (now I must pressing key repeatedly).

 

[mrdremel]

Working bluetooth tethering for the iPhone would be nice....

 

[zapman]

updated list and added

• update pidgin from version 2.6.6 (very crashy) to version 2.7.3 (hopefully more stable)
• update claws mail from version 3.6.1 to version 3.7.6

Both programs are really fine but could use an update; they crash fairly often...

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, mounting and unmounting with Thunar is now fixed and works fine

EvilDragon: Is possible to add better LCD brightness adjusting? I'd like if brightness can be set way lower then now and if it continue in changing when key for up/down brightness is still pressed (now I must pressing key repeatedly).

Brightness can't go lower, that's the lowest the LCD supports.

updated list and added

• update pidgin from version 2.6.6 (very crashy) to version 2.7.3 (hopefully more stable)
• update claws mail from version 3.6.1 to version 3.7.6

Both programs are really fine but could use an update; they crash fairly often...

Okay, I'll try to see if they are within the lates OE tree and build fine.