Has ZSI died?, no updates since Aug 7 Options

[dhns]

And here the thread from April on integrating Killefiz/ZSI into ZUG.

http://www.oesf.org/forums/inde...732&hl=killefiz

There, I had made some proposals. DZ, could you please have a look there?

And an other idea: I think as soon as the new database is running, it could be possible to copy some entries from ZSI to the new one. Maybe, the Killefiz author is even willing to provide his database table scheme for extension.

And one more. Can the new database be made "open source" (on Freshmeat :-) )? It will probably be written in PHP and MySQL - so there would be some developers here who would be interested in downloading and trying out pre-releases on a local host. And probably providing patches. Just an idea where I think DZ must decide if he needs that type of development support (which can slow down development of simple applications but speed up complex ones).

-- hns

[dz]

Ahh, it's good to see community support for this. Ok, if I may answer some questions now:

As far as integrating into the ZUG, I think it'd be ok to integrate a little bit, but not too much. Like I said before, having one central point of failure is never good. One thing I was thinking of though, for example, would be that if you are subscribed to any projects in the ZSI and that project is updated, it'll automatically message your account here on the ZUG and let you know. You simply set in the options of the ZSI your ZUG username and it'll do the rest.

Editing screenshots: that's not a problem.

As far as comments, that was already definately in the pile. User comments definately help when you're trying to choose between a bunch of different programs, so I had already thought of adding those. I never thought of ratings though. Are they actually used? If you guys would actually use them, I have no problem adding them in. To prevent abuse, I'd obviously make it so you have to have an account to vote for a project. An idea I though might work is maybe letting you vote for a project only if you comment on it. Let me know what you guys think of this.

As far as making the zsi open source, I dont see why that would be a problem at all. If you don't mind, I'd like to get a somewhat functional version first and up and running, and then I'll provide it to the world. It's just a lot easier to get something up and running on your own, and have people come in eventually rather than having everyone start it up at the same time.

And finally, the naming conventions. I read the devnet post, and they make a lot of valid points. I'm going to try and save the naming of the file for last, because I think we should all agree on a standard before we implement it. The one I liked most is this one:

<app-name>-<major>.<minor>.<rev>-<build><rom>-<proc>.ipk

I think that includes most everything you need in the filename. Remember, the programs will have their own page where they will be able to list any dependencies they might have, so it doesn't all need to show in the filename. As well, debate this and let me know what you guys think.

If anyone else made any points and I missed them, sorry about that. I started some of the coding last night, and I'll work on it some more tonight. I made sure the whole site will fit in 640x480, for those of us that have the clamshells. I'm also going to try, eventually, to make a version that fits in 320x240 for the zaurus owners with that size screen.

As usual, let me know any ideas you come up with.

Roy

[tumnus]

With regards to ROM/model compatibility, perhaps there could be an entry for the developer to say what it has been tested with and then when users are giving comments/ratings they can say what ROM/model they are using and the results can be summarised.

It would be good if a list of models and ROMs could be maintained so that developers and users are given a drop down list of ROMs/models to select from for this, instead of a free text box. Then the data would be much more consistent and people could do searches on software that is known to work on their Zaurus model and/or ROM.

[lardman]

perhaps there could be an entry for the developer to say what it has been tested with and then when users are giving comments/ratings they can say what ROM/model they are using and the results can be summarised.

It might be good to have a separate section (away from the general comments - "yeah it's great"; "no it's crap", etc.) where the users can say what hardware & ROM they are using and what they had to do to get it to work - that way people won't have to trawl through the comments to work out how to get stuff working on their ROM. Can this be wiki style, as people often make typos, or forget exactly what they had to do and write these things from memory?


Si

[dz]

I like the idea of having to enter what Zaurus / Rom you are using when you enter your comments. I can just have a 'statistics' link at the top of the page where it will break down what models and whatnot have used the program.

Here's a different scenario though: People have been saying I should make it a repository for all kinds of Embedded Applications; not just a Zaurus. Any objections to that, or should I just stick to the Zaurus?

[Guest_tapjpa_*]

As far as allowing developers host their own files I'm not real keen about that.
My biggest reason being if the link gets broke temp or permenently a great piece of software could be lost forever.
This whole idea is great and despiratly needed. IF you need an hand in anything just shout.

Jim

[offroadgeek]

Here's a different scenario though: People have been saying I should make it a repository for all kinds of Embedded Applications; not just a Zaurus. Any objections to that, or should I just stick to the Zaurus?

Personally, I'm only interested in a zaurus software repository. In general, I think the overall embedded software repository is a neat idea (this is exactly what Sven, who runs the current zsi was planning on doing), but the scope of that and the eventual cost of supporting this might be more than I can commit to for now.

This narrow mindedness of mine might be due to my general lack of knowledge of the overall embedded space.

[tumnus]

Have you had a look at http://www.zaurusoft.com/ ? I thought they used to host their own files while the creating company still funded them.

Anyway, I can perfectly understand offroadgeek only wanting to host Zaurus stuff on his home SDSL connection. But how about automatic bittorrent links for all packages over 1MB? I guess the biggest problem with this is most ipks are under 1MB and I don't know how effective bittorrent is with small files since the server has to seed each download with a small chunk to begin with.

[Fromwithin]

Best system I've ever used is Aminet, the Amiga software collection. All files are stored on FTP. Submissions are not accepted unless they have an accompanying .readme file that conforms to the template. There are many mirrors, it's very easy to search. It's very much in the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) mentality of design. CDs used to be sold containing the latest submissions.

A version of Aminet for the Zaurus would be ideal. It is a great system.

[omro]

How about a subscription fee to download the files? If Every Zaurus/Linux embedded handheld user subscribed and paid, say 5 dollars (using american cause that's a global currency too) a year, to download as many ipk files as they wanted in that year, wouldn't that theoretically pay for hosting?

5 dollars a year is a pretty minimal investment to make. Any excess could go into open source projects like OE/OZ etc.

Just an idea.

[Zuber]

Is this still progressing.

Not downloaded/played with much "New" software of late...

[dz]

Is what still progressing?

Work on the ZSI2, or programming for the Zaurus?

[charlie]

ZSI seems to have been updated on 11th October - still a lot of stuff in the back end though.

Charlie

[iamasmith]

Hi, I know that you have a which 'platform' category, however, in the case of PDAXROM RC5 all the new stuff that has floating point requires some very specific Kernel functionality to run at all.

I would suggest that we encourage applications posted at least for X distribution to have a direct link to a source file tarball too so that people using XQT or GPE stand a fair chance of getting them up for their systems too.

[Zuber]

I was referring to updated list of Zaurus apps.

But since ZSI has been updated with a few entries, hopefully, it will be getting back on track as well...