Mer 0.15
July 28th, 2009
Mer V0.15 for SmartQ5
Mer V0.15 for SmartQ7
Notable accomplishments and news
- Faster docpurge (thanks to qwerty12)
- glib2.20 now used
- Our USB networking now uses IPs matching USB_networking, Mer/Documentation/USB_Networking and bootmenu. 192.168.2.14 for host, 2.15 for device.
- New webkit browser: Tear, by Bundyo
- E-mail client: Claws-mail
- hildon gconf-editor
- lbt will be presenting at UKUUG 09: see Mer/Events/UKUUG_09
- Stskeeps and zenvoid will be doing a BoF on DebConf9, 2009-07-25 13:00 on Mer
- Changed default language to en_US, and added new open source strings by timeless
- Added Chinese translations (dalin)
- Proper localization on Neo Freerunner
- No more cursor blinking in X-Terminal
- Q5/Q7: Backlight parameter for kernel (zenvoid)
- First boot wizard is now a /etc/first-boot-wizard.d process, like start-hildon.d – easy to add first boot wizard items to run. (epage)
- Removed marquee plugins which were not working or broken
- Add ‘Network Settings’ option to menu that appears when networking is disabled for nm-applet
- Locale picker by qwerty12 and timeless
- Input, About control panel (epage)
- Maemo will be switching to Qt for Harmattan. We’ll probably be going same way – but supporting both toolkits. We already have Qt/Maemo running :)
- How to make your Maemo application compile and run on Mer
Known issues
- If you can’t find an application you want in Application Manager, see http://packages.ubuntu.com – Mer is based on Ubuntu and has 95% of all Ubuntu applications and you can install them with sudo apt-get install packagename, in X-Terminal
- home applets behave oddly when in non-800×480
- Screen should not dim and turn off during first boot wizard
- Magic X menu stretches too far, before adding v ^ buttons.
- Happens occasionally: Initial configuration – Root Password Confirmation Prompt – No virtual keyboard
- No charging screen on flashable image
- modifying panel settings causes HD to sometimes crash
- Control panel may appear to have no menu but it actually doesn’t have one.
- Can not enter an address in hildon-application-manager
- X-Terminal is not localized yet, at all (shows webameedit, etc)
- The task switcher does not appear rightmost as it should
- There seems to be a bit of “air” around windows, near left and right corners, also in marquee.
- Marquee background acts weird.
- Marquee-panel doesn’t scale when rotating the screen.
- Deselecting dropdown menu plugin crashes desktop
- Powerlaunch button prompts not correct (no “Yes” “No”)
- Applications “Organise” dialog unresponsive
- SmartQ5/7 WiFi does not work out of the box
- Hardware keyboard/slider events on N810 when device is in standby only turns on backlight, and doesn’t unblank the screen. Touchscreen events work fine in this respect.
- Text in text fields can not be drag-selected (cursor jumps to start of field instead)
- Applications installed prompt for folder location but are always stored in Extras
- Terminal toolbar Ctrl button non-functional (try Ctrl + d, Ctrl + h, Ctrl + g, Ctrl + c)
- Terminal toolbar (likely other) has significanly misaligned background image when selected.
- Sources are not accessible using apt-get source (for Mer packages), but they are downloadable if you sign up for build.opensuse.org (or just ask us if you don’t want to.) – a problem with OBS not exporting them at the moment
- The weather applet is broken, just disable it
- FineFileManager installed from Application Manager does not display any files nor directories and has missing icon in the bottom toolbar.
- Tear has missing “home” icon in bottom toolbar
- The “Are you sure you wish to reboot?” window is broken. It appears in the upper-left corner, without decoration, the left and top sides of the window are cut off. The strings for Yes and No buttons are missing (“wdgtbdyes” and “wdgtbdno”). By the way, this goes against many user interface guidelines. The buttons should say “Reboot” and “Cancel” instead of “Yes” and “No”.
- The same issue as above applies to confirming shutdown and offline mode. Obviously, the buttons should be “Shut down/Cancel” and “Go Offline/Cancel”, respectively.
- Cannot click on links while browsing with tear under Vmware image (vm bug or tear bug?)
- Mirage installed from Application Manager does not launch. Crashes on ImportError: No module named osso in /usr/share/mirage/mirage.py line 35 “import osso”
- Issue is due to python-osso not supporting python2.5 (stskeeps)
- Missing icons in Terminal bottom toolbar Screenshot
- Settings app entry should have an icon (not just the default one); Screenshot
- Inconsistency in icon size and style. Example: tear should have a bigger icon. Mer project should define a standard size for icons so that packagers know what icons they should pack in their app. Screenshot
- Installing (through app manager) an app shorcut to any other folder than “extras” has no effect. The app entry always end up in extras (I tried to install Tear in “Internet” -> ends up in “extras”. Same for several apps).
- HomeIP applet installed from Application Manager, cannot be selected to show
- The strings still have “Nokia” and “Maemo” in them. They should be replaced with “Mer”.
- In the panel for changing brightness and volume, the volume icon is repeated in a grid. There should be only one icon there, not four.
- When a reboot or shutdown procedure is taking place, all the applets that change their state show up briefly on the screen, making the process look unpolished and ugly. There’s also a blinking cursor showing through if you leave the terminal open while shutting down or rebooting. Basically, if there is anything on the screen during a reboot or shutdown that changes its state, it shows up.
- “Authorizations” menu element should be hidden. It’s of no use to normal users.
- “Drag Lock” should be renamed to “Lock applets” or a similar, less confusing name.
- Erratic dialog window behaviour. Open up the terminal and hit the Menu key a few times to open the menu and close it repeatedly. It’ll open left-aligned or centered, depending on your luck.
- Error dialog windows (banners on the bottom of the screen with a “stop sign” icon) cannot be dismissed in any other way than hitting the hardware “Back” button.
- Maemopad: Missing translations = maemopad_save_changes_made, maemopadyes, maemopadno. Open files menu is screwed up. Dialog to confirm saving is displayed on top left of screen instead of center.
- Maemopad has no en_US translation. https://stage.maemo.org/svn/maemo/projects/tools/trunk/maemo_testing/maemopad/po/en_GB.po is a possible basis. (Stskeeps)
- Missing text: Settings -> About -> License button
- Desktop Menu Issues
- Calibrate Screen menu item non-functional
- Help menu item non-functional
- NetworkManager Applet 0.7.0.97
- Clicking “NetworkManager Website” errors with “Failed to show url Failed to execute child process “xdg-open” (No such file or directory)”
- Clicking OK Button on above error message is non-functional
- Display issues
- Editing DSL Connection -> PPP Settings tab -> “Available to all users” has the letters “Av” garbled.
- Display issue: Editing DSL Connection -> PPP Settings tab -> Options below Available to all users” is not displayed on the screen.
- Display issue: Editing DSL Connection -> IPv4 Settings -> Button for “Editing IPv4 routes” is not fully displayed on the screen.
- Blueman bluetooth manager works, but you have to click and hold to keep the main menu open, a tap simply opens it up and closes it immidiately.
Q7 – Changing input settings/onscreen/launchfingerboaurd=with finger and stylus causes keyboard loss in xterm
- [Q7] Authorizations app layout flows text offscreen on details pane
- WPA networks are still greyed out.
- Xterm missing scrollbars
- Onscreenkeyboard has no cursor keys
- Hardware power button not mapped
- Application manager – Installed app dialogue box has no “OK” button
- Application Manager – Installed apps default to Extras Menu regardless of settings
- Maemopad – Open File dialogue blank, no text no icons
- Disconnecting external power freezes X (sometimes)
- ts_calibrate fails with “ts_open: No such file or directory”
- [SmartQ7] Application Manager freezes after installing an application or removing an application – success window notification stays on screen and application list does not reload. Have to halt application to continue.
- [SmartQ7] Menu System Problem – Several applications included in the image show up in the Extras menu and should be in other first tier menus instead (example: Network Connections should be in Communications, Tear should be in Internet)
- [SmartQ7] Installing an application results in the new application always being placed in the Extras menu.
- [SmartQ7] SD Card does not mount automatically – needed to add code to /etc/fstab (/dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/sd vfat defaults 0 0) to get it working – please consider adding to image
- [SmartQ7] Arrow keys on the face of the device (up/down) aren’t turning pages in FBReader. Created vim.mod in user home directory with added lines of keycode 73 = Page_Up and keycode 74 = Page_Down. Then created 62xmodap file in /etc/start-hildon.d/ with code – #!/bin/sh on first line and xmodmap vim.mod on second line. This allows keys to work after boot. Hopefully this or another more elegant solution can be added to the image.
- [SmartQ7] Applications trying to access the file system have issues unless the SD card is mounted correctly.
- [SmartQ7] No method of power off seems to exist
- There might be untranslated chinese and english strings.
[via Mer]
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1,127 views
I can’t access to wifi,i wonder that how can i install app through the usb connect(using my lap top).
thanks.
BTW,why don’t you introduce the v4.0 muti-boot to users aboard?
like this http://bbs.zhiqi.com.cn/thread-4684-1-1.html
呃,好了,不用e语了,练习练习够了。呵呵。我打算写个完整的4.0特有的多启动教程,但还遇到一些问题。
Do WPA networks still appear greyed out? That’s the main reason I haven’t bothered with Mer. All the networks I use are WPA.
@youl
hi
my wifi disappeared for weeks ,i think i need send it back to factory. if you need internet to do something, you can connect to pc by Microsoft ActiveSync, it will connect to internet automaticlly.
sorry , i have no time to try muti-boot in my Q5. i don’t think people want to spend much time on learning it .
@benner
i think so , so i change to WEP to use wifi.
the latest muti-boot is easy,here http://bbs.zhiqi.com.cn/thread-5510-1-1.html
The developers here rely heavily on users as rats. Too many versions and none is final. Many errors and too slow. The devise should have something stable and should not rely on users to learn how to tweak it.
I wonder how many people have enough time to learn new stuff for the sake of this smartq. I do not have that much time.
@memo
that’s enioyable,to me .
btw,the new muti-boot is just like GRUB.
@youl
yes,some are fond of it , but most just want to use it easily.
What is the difference between rootfs and firmware version? Anyway i can multiboot mer, ubuntu and wince in smartq7 ?
@admin I have been following your post but it seems like ubuntu is not your primary OS and also seems the smartq people have crippled the inbuilt ubuntu. If we have a proper 3d driver(which seems to be missing) it could work gr8 with ubuntu or mer.
Anyway your blog is really helpful and i look forward to it for smartq updates.
If there is any other place for technical smartq discusion please tell me the same.
hi,
welcome to our blog .
as i know , the 0.15 will add chinese language . yes, you can multiboot different os , at first , you need install offical linux v4.0 , when you copy wince image to sd card , you will see multiboot menu when starting .
there is one forum , but it is in chinese, you can try to use google translation to visit it. http://www.zhiqi.com.cn
btw testing 10 is out
http://stskeeps.subnetmask.net/mer/0.15testing10/mer-armel-smartq5-image-v0.15testing10.SmartQ5
and if you see some comments about a newer version, just change the 2 names to the good testing rev
@bob doe
thanks for your information
i cant find information about enabling usb host in mer, can someone help me ?
usb host or connect to pc ?
usb host, so i can connect stuff like keyboards on the device
I’m try to flash my smart q 7. Now I see red light and device don’t boot up. Please help, how can i’m reflash it???
@bob doe
the current version doesn;t support usb host
@o6xcc
red light means no power , please charge it
Downloading Mer 0.15 now. I agree that the Linux OS that’s on it is okay, but some fiddly things, like some Linux dialogs being 500+px high (e.g. Pidgin account add screen), make it a pain in the nuts sometimes.
Can’t wait to try Mer out.. vids on U-Choob look awesome. !
I confirmed. I found same problem.
Please help me!!
Same problem here, after a couple of days with Mer, my SmartQ 7 doesn’t bootup, buttons are unresponsive (so it can’t be reflashed) and charging proccess seems to make nothing.
Anyone could get his device out of this freezeing state?
@gas
can’t you flash the v4.0 offical os?
@admin
Nope, my device doesn’t respond to buttons neither reset button. It just has a tiny orange light in the middle of the led all the time.
This is how it looks:
Image
@gas
neither reset button ?
do you insert the power adapter ?
@admin
Yes I do, plugging in power adapter changes nothing. Just that tiny light all the time and a blank screen. Its permanently dead after 5 days using Mer
@gas
i see, now do not charge it , let it run out of power .
format your sd card and copy v4.0 image ,press “move” button and insert power .
@admin
“There is a light and It never goes out”
Then, I’ll try that. Thank you