Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - snowfarthing

Pages: [1] 2 3
1
Python / How Do I Export Characters From Python To Opie?
« on: June 04, 2007, 07:34:11 pm »
A few months ago, I purchased a Think Outside Universal IR Keyboard to replace my Targus IR keyboard.  It was so compact, I couldn't help but want to keep it, even though I couldn't get it to work!  I couldn't get kbdd or zkbdd working, so that meant I had to write my own driver.

And I did! sort-of.  I wrote it in Python, and it nicely reads all the scancodes.  It requires python-pyserial to work (which, in turn, requires python-fcntl).  Unfortunately, all it can do is print output to the screen, because I don't know how to "push" data to the operating system.

Is there a python module that will allow me to do this?

In kbdd and zkbdd, the method used is "uinput", but I suspect that one of the reasons it doesn't work on Collie is because it's my understanding that "uinput" doesn't work well under the 2.4 kernel.

My preference, however, would be to emit a Qt signal, as done in opie-jumpx and irk (the one that allows me to use Targus from OPIE's input devices); to do this, however, I would have to load a python script as an input method.

My greatest concern is that, to use either method, I would have to use C or C++.  Besides liking Python (it's especially easy to work with!), I don't have the time to figure out why I can't get BitBake to work.  (I've already spent a couple of weeks trying to figure that out!    )

I have attached my source code (you will need to remove the ".txt" extensions after downloading it); it will need to be drastically rewritten once I can use it as an input method.  It's designed to be flexible, too, so that I could easily convert it to Dvorak when it's convenient to do so.  

Additionally, this information can be used for those who want to extend kbdd or zkbdd to this keyboard, assuming, of course, that these programs work for you  

2
Accessories / Does The New Stowaway Ir Keyboard Work?
« on: March 15, 2007, 08:15:49 pm »
I've received the  keyboard, and the keyboard works!   but not with the Targus driver.  

I had some hope in using kbdd or zkbdd, but after an evening of trying to get it to work,  the best I could get it to do is lock up my Zaurus.     Apparently not enough people wished me luck! (or perhaps they wished me the wrong kind of luck...  )

I'm now left with a dilemma:  do I keep the keyboard with hopes that zkbdd will be fixed to work with Collie?  Or do I give up on this sleek keyboard, and buy a klunky old Targus?  Or do I do both (since these old keyboards are kindof cheap nowadays)?  At the very least, I'll probably end up getting a Targus, because I really would like a keyboard!

In any case, I really like the direction that zkbdd is going:  I like the idea of being able to adjust the keymaps to add new keyboards, or, in my case, to add support for Dvorak, without having to recompile.    

Here's what my daughter thinks:

dffdchu wwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii  mdpctb

(I'm not sure I'd put much trust in her advice, though, since she's only almost 2.)

3
Accessories / Does The New Stowaway Ir Keyboard Work?
« on: March 10, 2007, 05:54:58 pm »
It's been several days since I opened this forum.  Apparently no one has any experience with this!  I'll order the Stowaway, and then see what happens.

I'll make sure I can return it, although if it doesn't work, I think I'll appreciate advice on how to get it working.

Wish me luck!  

4
Accessories / Does The New Stowaway Ir Keyboard Work?
« on: March 07, 2007, 11:06:50 am »
Over the past couple of months my Targus keyboard has begun to fail.  In my efforts to replace it, though, I learned that it's been replaced with a smaller Stowaway IR keyboard:

Stowaway IR keyboard at Amazon.com

Naturally, although I'd like to get this keyboard, I'm also weary of compatibility issues.  I e-mailed Think Outside support, and they told me the following:

Quote
Hello Alpheus,
 
We produced the Targus keyboard and it's the same model as our current IR Keyboard.
 
However, we have not tested or support your device or OpenZaurus, so I wouldn't know how
to direct you further.
 
Think Outside Support

Does anyone have experience with this keyboard that confirms or contradicts this reply?  If so, I would appreciate hearing it; if not, I'll probably be getting one and posting my experience.

5
User Request for Applications / Compilers For The Zaurus
« on: November 02, 2006, 12:54:10 pm »
It helps to know why I need gcc-2.95, which is also why I should probably upgrade to 3.4.5.2-rc1.      (I've decided to wait for >1GB SD card support, though.)

Unfortunately, it turns out that I already have gcc-2.95 installed, which means that I'll now have to hunt down the problem when I get the chance!  (I think this process would be less frustrating if I had more time to devote to it.  As it is, it feels kindof weird to take a week to discover a problem, then another to solve it.)

6
User Request for Applications / Compilers For The Zaurus
« on: October 09, 2006, 05:23:01 pm »
Quote
It should all be built automatically for you when you issue (in your case): bitbake irk
It took me a while to figure this out, but it should be bitbake irk-targus.  I had to google a little bit and look at stuff/org.openembedded.dev/packages to figure this out.

Nonetheless, I really appreciate the help!  It's taking a while, but bitbake is happily compiling now.
------------------------
Update:  bitbake didn't finish compiling.  It ran into an error, and put out the following output:
Code: [Select]
| make[2]: arm-linux-gcc-2.95: Command not found
| make[2]: *** [constants.h] Error 127
| make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/am9385/open_embedded/tmp/work/collie-linux/openzaurus-sa-2.4.18-rmk7-pxa3-embedix-r23/linux/arch/arm/tools'
| make[1]: *** [dep] Error 2
| make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/am9385/open_embedded/tmp/work/collie-linux/openzaurus-sa-2.4.18-rmk7-pxa3-embedix-r23/linux/arch/arm/tools'
| make: *** [archdep] Error 2
| FATAL: oe_runmake failed
NOTE: Task failed: /home/am9385/open_embedded/tmp/work/collie-linux/openzaurus-sa-2.4.18-rmk7-pxa3-embedix-r23/temp/log.do_compile.18311
NOTE: package openzaurus-sa-2.4.18-rmk7-pxa3-embedix-r23: task do_compile: failed
ERROR: TaskFailed event exception, aborting
NOTE: package openzaurus-sa-2.4.18-rmk7-pxa3-embedix: failed
ERROR: Build of irk-targus failed
Do I need to install the gcc-2.95 compiler then?  It was my understanding that OpenZaurus had moved on to a later version of gcc.  (I'll have to check the documentation when I have the time.)

7
User Request for Applications / Compilers For The Zaurus
« on: October 06, 2006, 11:39:25 am »
Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to try to install task-native-sdk; in particular, I'm finding that my computer is too slow for Zaurus emulation  and I haven't yet found the time to install it directly to my Zaurus.

Quote
Sounds like you want to use OpenEmbedded...
That's what I thought, but when I installed bitbake, things didn't work as I expected.  (I'm trying to compile the source of irk-0.11.0.tgz downloaded from the 3.5.4 feed).  Just today, I found myself trying to install other packages (texi2html and tmake) and am now getting missing qpe errors (I haven't yet figured out what package that is).

Things are made even more frustrating in that I'm generally doing this while I'm supposed to be studying!

I am somehow doing blatantly wrong, and blaming it on a "lack" of tools, when I'm just having a difficult time ferreting out the correct documentation.

(I still have a sense that it shouldn't be this complicated, though! especially if it's my fault that it's been so.)

8
User Request for Applications / Compilers For The Zaurus
« on: October 04, 2006, 11:08:02 am »
Quote
ipkg install gcc-symlinks binutils-symlinks make automake autoconf m4 libc6-dev

that wasn't too hard, right?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=142874\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
I'll be sure to try this, as soon as I get an emulator up and running (or slowly shuffling forward, as my computer is rather old!).

Nonetheless, it would still be nice to have it all in a single gcc-eveything-you-need.ipk to make it obvious as to what needs to be installed! (In particular, it would be helpful for the poor soul--like me--who has to download the files and install them manually due to lack of Zaurus network access...although I personally will remedy that eventually.)

Similarly, it would still be nice to have a gcc-latest-cross-compiler.tar.gz (or even an .rpm and/or .deb) that would allow for easy cross-compile setup!  (Since I'd rather spend time compiling programs rather than trying to figure out how to set the compiler up!)

9
User Request for Applications / Shark And Atomik For Zaurus?
« on: October 02, 2006, 04:48:32 pm »
As I learned more about the Dvorak layout, I stumbled on an IBM research project for improving PDA input called "SHARK" (using a specially designed keyboard called "ATOMIK").  More information can be found on the following link:

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/u/zhai/shapewriter.htm

I think this is a really neat idea, although I can see a couple of issues (patent and closed-source copyright) that could keep this from getting to the Zaurus.  Of course, since IBM has embraced Linux, they might even consider open-sourcing this project! especially since the web-page seems to be about two years old.

But then, since it is IBM, I'm not holding my breath!  

10
Accessories / Dvorak For Irk Targus?
« on: October 02, 2006, 04:20:47 pm »
Does anyone have a version of IRK for the Targus that has Dvorak keymappings?  I recently started to type in Dvorak, and I enjoy it a lot! but it is currently not available on the Targus IRK keyboard that I downloaded from the OpenZaurus 3.5.4 feed for my Collie.  I wanted to make the changes myself, but I can't figure out how to compile the driver once I make the changes.

If I had the time (both to make the alterations and to set up a compiler) I'd even put the mappings in a /etc/irk.keymap file so that any keymap could be set up (Qwerty, Dvorak, non-English-language or Custom)!  Perhaps someone else could make that change instead.

11
User Request for Applications / Compilers For The Zaurus
« on: October 02, 2006, 03:50:21 pm »
Zaurus seems to lack straightforward tools for development.

This last couple of weeks I tried to compile an altered version of IRK (so that I could type Dvorak on my Targus and experiment with the layout).  I didn't get very far, though, because I couldn't figure out what I needed to set up a compiling environment in a timely manner.  I'm not even sure whether I could use Bitbake, or how to set up a non-2.95 cross-compiler (since I use OpenZaurus 3.5.4)!

It would be very nice if a tarball could be made that will set up all the needed tools immediately, all in one go, so that all that would be necessary would be to type something like
Code: [Select]
./configure
zmake

or something like
Code: [Select]
gcc-zaurus myprog.cppto cross-compile something for the Zaurus.

Furthermore, I would really like to be able to compile things in OpenZaurus directly, in an emulator, using a native compiler toolchain.  I know from experience that it is very discouraging to try to set up such an environment!  It would be really nice to be able to install a zaurus-compiler.ipk package that will give a hobbyist make, gcc, and so forth, the ability to try to compile whatever programs that tickles their fancy (particularly math programs in my case).

When I originally got my Zaurus, I looked forward to being able to do things like this.  It's a little frustrating that doing this is just out of my reach!  (But I still like my Zaurus; between Python and the fact that I can request something like this makes my Zaurus much closer to that ideal than a Palm or my old Windows-CE Cassiopeia!)

12
Python / Pyqt Won't Display Text
« on: July 29, 2006, 04:34:25 pm »
I've had the opportunity to test a couple of other programs.  Apparently it's a font issue of some sort (since, if I use a listbox, the lists are available but invisible and very tiny); since I have no idea what's wrong with it, I'll probably report it as a bug as soon as I could figure out where I should report it!

13
Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Which Memory Model Is Best For 5500?
« on: July 26, 2006, 10:42:07 am »
Also, another question:  would things be any more stable if I installed Opie or GPE to CF instead of SD?  This might not work too well, since I recently got a SanDisk WiFi/128MB card, but I realized it wouldn't hurt to ask.

14
Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Altboot Problem?
« on: July 26, 2006, 10:36:38 am »
When I tried installing both GPE and Opie on my SD card, I had similar problems.  After some trial and error, however, I tried the following:

First, under my regular Zaurus flash, I opened up "/etc/ altboot-2.4.cfg" using the text editor.

Then I found a line called that stated
Code: [Select]
SD_DEVICE="/dev/mmcda1"
and changed it to
Code: [Select]
SD_DEVICE="/dev/mmcda" .

I don't know if this will help.  For some reason, Altboot had problems recognizing the SD card with the 1 there, but found it just fine without.  Perhaps it's because my SD card has only one partition.

Also, as a caveat, I haven't booted my Zaurus from the SD card for some time, particularly since I lost some files.  I think it's a great idea! but it seems a little unstable to me right now.  I don't know when I'll be trying it again.  (Perhaps I should try running things from my CF card instead of my SD card!  I'll have to see...I'm still trying to figure out what the most stable setup would be.)

15
Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Which Memory Model Is Best For 5500?
« on: July 25, 2006, 10:54:31 am »
While thinking about it last night, that was sort-of the conclusion I was coming to.

In particular, I was thinking that putting all of root on SD was rather unstable; but would it be possible to move a couple of the directories?  In particular, I was thinking I could move /usr to the SD card (probably as /media/card/myopie/usr) and then on the Zaurus itself, remove /usr and replace it with a symbolic link /usr -> /media/etc.

I'd also have to figure out all the places that files are kept.  (I'd imagine that /home would be symbolically linked in this way, too.)

If this could work, then I'd be able to use 64-0 without worrying about the stability problems that come from trying to put all of root on SD.

If I do this, however, how would I work with other SD cards?  I know from experience that Opie doesn't work well without its /usr directory.

Pages: [1] 2 3