New Libraries

I built some new versions of some libraries for use with Zaurus

libexif 0.6.20
- you can use this with December
libgdbm 1.9.1
- I expect to use this in my next project

ipks should be available via my feed or website.

These are the latest versions.

Keyring

Is anyone here still using Keyring, the password manager ?

New Blog: Helux

I have been trying to start a new blog on Handheld Embedded Linux with an emphasis on Zaurus.

I post about tips, software, etc anything interesting that I come across or that I do with my Z. I don't have a lot of spare time to update it so I was hoping that other Z users might be willing to check it out and submit a short post from time to time.

The blog is called HELUX and you can find it at http://helux.tumblr.com/

December

I would like to announce a new project that I have been working on for a little while now: December.

For a long time I have been taking the SD card from my camera to browse photos using my Zaurus. I'm not keen on PhotoStorage (clunky interface even if it was translated). I'm been using the Qtopia imageviewer but I have always suspected it doesn't take advantage of the EXIF thumbnail. Furthermore, if the photo is in a different orientation to the screen then it always comes out bad: squeezed to fit rather than rotating it because a user can just use his hand to turn the Zaurus.

I was thinking it would be cool to have something like a camera OS on the Zaurus to flip through images quickly. Also, whenever I go somewhere with my other half as soon as I take a photo she wants to check it out and make sure it is "satisfactory". If you go to get a coffee or lunch she wants to get the camera out and review all the images. This kills the camera battery so if I could do this on the Zaurus then it would save battery and the screen is better too.

So here it is, the first release of December. It's not perfect but it doesn't crash and it's mostly complete. Please be aware that when opening the grid view December has to load up to 16 thumbs into memory and Zaurus memory is not particularly fast. Video files don't have thumbs so they must be generated and opening the full screen view means generating a scaled image which can be slow if you are looking at a several megapixel image.

Efika

The Efika MX smartbook (http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/smartbook) is a small and lightweight device. Much bigger than a Zaurus but still quite nice. Soon they will have a version with built in 3G.

Or, you could try their Efika smarttop (http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/efika) which is the same thing but without a screen. It is bigger than a Zaurus but not a lot bigger. I can definitely foresee myself owning one of these, I just need to find some spare cash.

They have an active developer program too with some interesting projects (http://projects.powerdeveloper.org/program/imx515/blogs).