Pdaxrom Ideas Options

[rmrfchik]

Hi. After sitting on pdaXrom for a long time I have the following ideas for future versions:
1. Make "pdaXrom on diet": base system shouldn't contain gnumeric, abiword, games and so on.
2. Split core and userspace applications. pdaXrom should behave much more like other distros (Debian): you should have possibility to upgrade most of the systems without reflashing.
3. Get rid off cursor: it doesn't provide any info on touchscreen.
4. Use prelink massively.

What do u think?

[pgas]

1 - It has a "wow" effect for first users and it is easy to remove the unwanted application. There has been a lot of request for a minimal pdaxrom rom. It should not be too difficult to build such an image with the builder, one question is how small should be this image. only console with libc and bash? minimal X?

2 - I agree, I think the main problem here is time, you need to test the upgrade process, track the changes, write more intelligent scripts in the ipks that take into account previous ipks etc ... It is much easier to reinstall from scratch.

3 - there is unclutter, as a workaround here www.pdaxrom.org/unstable. Though I agree it's not very usefull, and even cause me some trouble when
the cursor is on the way, I like to know where it is. I should try to use unclutter to see If I really miss the cursor or not.

4 - Interesting, have you tried to use it? does this change the size of the executables? Does it really make a difference?

[rmrfchik]

1 - It has a "wow" effect for first users and it is easy to remove the unwanted application. There has been a lot of request for a minimal pdaxrom rom. It should not be too difficult to build such an image with the builder, one question is how small should be this image. only console with libc and bash? minimal X?

As name is pdaXrom, I think image should consist of X11 + system utilities and configuration tools.

2 - I agree, I think the main problem here is time, you need to test the upgrade process, track the changes, write more intelligent scripts in the ipks that take into account previous ipks etc ... It is much easier to reinstall from scratch.

Reinstalling is not easy process. Much easier "ipkg update; ipkg upgrade". I know, it some harder for developers. And this is because of used "builder" which build all used software at one time.
When main efforts will be spent to core (kernel, X11, libc, locale...), userspace software can be maintained by other people. Indeed, I think, if sashz & laze will be free of support of gnumeric/abiword it will more usefull for process.
All they will need is to support kernel/libc.

3 - there is unclutter, as a workaround here www.pdaxrom.org/unstable. Though I agree it's not very usefull, and even cause me some trouble when 
the cursor is on the way, I like to know where it is. I should try to use unclutter to see If I really miss the cursor or not.

Why do u need cursor at all? I don't need to track cursor, because I alwas can click on needed place (there is no cursor in any other systems -- palmos, wince, cacko, u-name-it).

4 - Interesting, have you tried to use it? does this change the size of the executables? Does it really make a difference?

I never tried it on ARM (can't get compiled). But use it on dekstop. It change size (exec some bigger). Result executables are faster to load.

[sashz]

cacko is SHARP ROM with Qtopia, no real system

[rmrfchik]

cacko is SHARP ROM with Qtopia, no real system

Sure, I know it.

[Laze]

We agree with the slimmed down version :-) But basically sash is busy building and fixing and yes its pretty easy to uninstall all the big apps. When we think its "good and stable" we will begin on work like that you mention - until then we like the idea we build everything to make sure it works and is compatible with latest releases.

[ViV]

3. Get rid off cursor: it doesn't provide any info on touchscreen.

don't forget about usb mice

[jcabrer]

Being able to see the mouse pointer gives an indication of whether or not the GUI has locked up or not. It also shows how badly the touchscreen tracks when I overclock my 6000.

[adf]

The external mouse needs a cursor.
I suppose unclutter (with which I am not familiar) holds some hope.
I guess you could set the cursor to appear when a mouse is connected, though i'm not sure how I'd go about it.

Prelink makes a difference in Fedora load times. i have no idea if the difference would be amplified or muffled on the much slower (than a current desktop) z.

[cortez]

I like the idea of pdaXrom lite, although I don't mind removing stuff after a reflash. My C750 has *very* little space left after flashing a new image. Most of the time I move some of the applications (and the abiword dictionary) to SD and symlink them to create some space. This helps a lot

The removal of the cursor would be great. It's annoying, and always in the way (I don't have a USB mouse). And I don't need to see it just to to make sure the GUI hasn't locked up, because this never should happen Anyway, I will certainly give unclutter a try!

[MONVMENTVM]

hmm... i also like the mousepointer. couldn't live without it now.

[pgas]

another link with infos to "hide" the X cursor:

http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/sources/utils/

[gojira]

The external mouse needs a cursor.
I suppose unclutter (with which I am not familiar) holds some hope.

unclutter is a necessity for any X server, IMHO

[MONVMENTVM]

the only thing i really dont like about pdaxrom is that the battery discharges very fast. in sharp rom the battery lasts for ages. but in pdaxrom i think the battery discharges about 4 times faster. i dont know if it really discharges. i think that pdaxrom or the kernel at least just THINKS that the battery is getting low and so it gets into suspend automatically. i.e. it never happened to me in pdaxrom that the battery discharges until the end. it gets into suspend when it shows it is low (but doesnt turn completely off) and after plugging the zaurus to the adapter to charge the battery again and pressing the "on" button just takes the zaurus out of the suspend... and everything is the same as before the battery got empty. in sharp rom it was different. if the battery got empty there first were some warnings and suddenly it turned off. you were not able to turn it on again (the battery was really empty). after plugging the power adapter into it and pressing the "on" button the zaurus had to boot now... it was not in suspend.

so is there a possibility to turn this feature of pdaxrom off so it doesnt automatically turn into suspend when it "thinks" the battery is nearly empty? it would be nice if we could improve the lifetime of the battery because it is the only thing dissapointing in pdaXrom... else it is the best rom ever!

btw. i am using a c3100... its my first zaurus with pdaxrom. i tried it because it was the first rom released for it... so i thought i give it a try. and i am so lucky i installed rc11. there were some bugs but the rest of the rom was so impressive. now with rc12 its nearly perfekt. i think i never change again to sharp rom or cacko. not that they are bad roms but i think that cacko is more for users wanting their zaurus more as an pda, where pdaxrom makes the zaurus a micro-notebook.

i think its the right time to say: thanks guys... great work !

[Sna]

i had the same problem
...er i think i had the same problem

so i've tried a full discharge of 3 roms at my disposal
cacko sharp and pdaxrom
and the uptime for the 3 roms were exactly the same
sharp rom 7h15
cacko 7h02
pdaxrom 7h17
all test were made at minimum brightness, the hard disk mounted, a memory cf and a memory sd in the slots, no overclocking and no activity

but i've seen a really different behavior of the battery between the sharp rom and the 2 others roms
the battery applet in the sharp rom stay at 100% for more than 3 hours, but a little time less at each battery level, to rapidely decrease from 50% to 0 in like 2 hours (i alway recharge the battery at 50% level)
the battery applet in the 2 others roms decrease more constantly and reflect more the time left on battery, but the level seems to be lower (i recharge the battery only at 25%)