Messages

1

Off Topic forum / Can One Get Paid To Develop F/oss?

« on: May 26, 2007, 09:09:50 am »

Keep us posted if you cook up something ya?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159400\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Well, life has been crazy for the past little while.  In short: I worked like mad to finish up my programming tasks before leaving my last company, and on my second-last day I finally got a bite from the resumes I handed out.  Amazingly, a school district wanted to interview me for an IT job.  As I've never done IT professionally, I was surprized that they called.  It hurts to answer questions at an interview negatively (ex. "No, I'm not familiar with Macintosh Terminal services."), but, (miraculously,) I got the job!  Since then, I've been getting the house ready for when my wife and son come out in a few days.

I never did contact TrollTech.  I did monitor the Ubuntu Open Week, and still want to help out with the project.  

I'm very happy to have a new job--I start on Monday.

2

Off Topic forum / Favorite Distro

« on: May 26, 2007, 08:52:54 am »

I've tried a few distros over the years.  I wasn't particularly impressed with Red Hat (7?), Fedora (Core 2?), or Debian (Woody?).  It wasn't until I tried Mandrake 10.0 that I found something I could make my primary OS.

Of course, the whole Linux software ecosystem has improved during this time.  I'm sure the latest versions of those other distros (well, if I were to use Debian unstable) are very liveable nowadays.

Also, the fact that Mandrake uses KDE as its primary desktop made the transition from Windows much easier.  

Nowadays, I'm using and recommend Kubuntu.  It is so great to have a CD you can boot up from, try out the OS, and then install from -- man, does that beat the bad old days!  I've also tried Ubuntu and Xubuntu, and, with luck, with have thin clients working with Edubuntu today.

3

Software / Morse Code Input

« on: April 30, 2007, 03:48:37 pm »

To do the timing on the Z, you'd need to be confident that your userland program would be able to measure the timings of events with 10 to 20mS accuracy - preferably 10mS or better. I lacked that confidence, but I'd be very interested if anyone could prove me wrong.
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10 mS is a long, long time to the computer.  I make video games for a living, and we try to get 60 frames per second.  Every 16.7 mS, the games I work on need to do physics calculations, transform and draw thousands of polygons, process artificial intelligence, and so on.  Granted, the hardware we develop for is designed for this sort of thing, but you can do a whole heck of a lot in twenty milliseconds of computational time.

I would be really surprized if multitasking on the Z would skew your timings too much.  I expect you could use a standard message pump and take for the time stamp the time that you get the callback to process the event, and that the amount of time that this would be off -- probably on the order of microseconds -- would be far less than the amount of variation time your program has to account for when looking at human-provided input.  

[Hmm... It appears that a single task may get up to ten milliseconds in one go, on the high end.  That computing quantum is higher than I thought, and may actually cause you a problem.  I don't know what the actual time is for the Z.  It may be, though, that multiple timings are skewed by the same amount, and, especially since your task will be the only one running, I don't think it'll be an issue.]

Armagon

4

Off Topic forum / Can One Get Paid To Develop F/oss?

« on: April 20, 2007, 03:08:09 pm »

What about Trolltech?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159407\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

That's an excellent idea!

Their careers' page implies that telecommuting is not an option (and I'm nowhere near any of their locations), but I'll send them an e-mail and see what I can learn.

5

Off Topic forum / Can One Get Paid To Develop F/oss?

« on: April 20, 2007, 01:08:57 pm »

Keep us posted if you cook up something ya?
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

All right, I'll keep you posted.

And you are right, 10 000 forum users ... but not enough to pay for a full-time zaurus developer.

I would love to work for Canonical/Ubuntu (particularly on Edubuntu).  Interestingly enough, they are having their second [a href=\"https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek]"open week"[/url] next week, in which (I gather) they talked about how Ubuntu is made and how one can contribute -- I will have to look into that.

Armagon

6

Off Topic forum / Can One Get Paid To Develop F/oss?

« on: April 20, 2007, 01:05:03 am »

Greetings.

I am looking for a new programming job (having programmed video games in C++ for three years), and, it occured to me that I might be able to work on free/open-source software and get paid to do it.  [My wife is supportive of the idea, too!]

I just don't even know where to begin, and figured that if ever there was an on-topic post for an off-topic forum, this is it

I expect that there are not many paying F/OSS jobs, but there must be some.  (Right?)  It seems likely that one could work from home, provided they had a decent computer and a broadband connection.  I've done some google searches (and will do some more) but haven't really found good information yet.

Unfortunately (no, please don't look at me like that!) I have not contributed anything to the F/OSS movement, and am unfamiliar with software development on linux.  I know that this is a large and poorly specified question, but, does anyone have any insights on how to best (and quickly) develop the skills I need to be a F/OSS contributor (even if there is no job to be found)?

As you can see, I don't even really know which questions to ask, or if it is at all reasonable to look for gainful employment in this sector.

I appreciate any insights.
Armagon

7

Zaurus - pdaXrom / Pkg Manager - Double Entries [solved]

« on: April 12, 2007, 07:02:27 pm »

Since no one has come up with a solution for this, I decided to edit this "Packages" file manually.
Using textpad, which opens and saves UNIX files, on my windows box, I search for duplicates and delete the entries, one by one.
This will probably take me a week to do, since I only have patience to do about 50 entries in one sitting.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=158653\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I'm afraid I don't know much about the package database, and really don't know the answer to your question.

I am worried, though, that all your work might be lost when you update the package list -- it is worth testing.

If entries are just one line each, you may be able to do something like this from a linux command line.  (I don't know if the Z has these tools installed, but you'll find them on any desktop system.)

cat PackageList | sort | uniq > NewPackageList

Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

8

Linux Applications / Q: Queue It Up, Quickly And Quietly

« on: April 05, 2007, 10:46:41 am »

Greetings.

Here is a handy script that I wrote to make it convenient to start X applications from a terminal, which is really handy on the Zaurus, as well as being useful on a normal PC running X windows.

The script is as follows, and is attached:

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
#
# Queue it up, quickly and quietly
#
# Runs a program in the background and suppresses all output.
# Particularly useful for starting X applications from
# a terminal.
#
# Useage: q some-application some parameters
#     ex: q dillo myfile.html
#
# Written by Armagon, 2007-04-05
#
# You are welcome to use this however you see fit.

$* > /dev/null 2>&1 &
After downloading the attachment, you will want to install it (as root):

Code: [Select]

cp q.txt /usr/bin/q
chmod +x /usr/bin/q

Cheers,
Armagon

9

Zaurus - pdaXrom / No Sound; Pdaxii13 And C1000

« on: March 07, 2007, 12:41:32 am »

Well, as I haven't seen this in my searches, I wonder if it is specific to my Z.

I just flashed my C1000 with pdaXii13.  I believe it is the latest and greatest; it identifies itself as "pdaXii13 build5.3.2 'Sally'" if I exit X-windows and try to log in.

Unfortunately, I don't have any sound output.

When I try to load up an ogg in XMMS, I get the following message:

Couldn't open audio

Please check that:

Your soundcard is configured properly
You have the correct output plugin selected
No other program is blocking the soundcard

<snip>

Armagon
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

After more searching, I came across an old thread: [a href=\"https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=9743&hl=dsp]https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=9743&hl=dsp[/url]

Turns out that all I needed to do was go to XMMS's options and set OSS to be the sound device, as per post 8 in that thread.

Armagon

10

Zaurus - pdaXrom / No Sound; Pdaxii13 And C1000

« on: March 06, 2007, 03:16:39 pm »

Well, as I haven't seen this in my searches, I wonder if it is specific to my Z.

I just flashed my C1000 with pdaXii13.  I believe it is the latest and greatest; it identifies itself as "pdaXii13 build5.3.2 'Sally'" if I exit X-windows and try to log in.

Unfortunately, I don't have any sound output.

When I try to load up an ogg in XMMS, I get the following message:

Couldn't open audio

Please check that:

Your soundcard is configured properly
You have the correct output plugin selected
No other program is blocking the soundcard

If I do an 'lsmod', I see that the following modules are loaded: mousedev, pxa27x_bi, storage_fd, usbdcore, usbdmonitor, usb-monitor, sharp_mmcsd_m, bvdd.  Noteably missing are any sound modules.

I tried to run alsamixer, but it isn't installed; indeed, I don't appear to have any *alsa* files on my system.

One last thing.  Among the startup messages, the following are displayed.

IrCOMM protocol (Dag Brattli)
cramfs: wrong magic
FAT: bogus logical sector size 381
jffs2_scan_inode_node(): CRC failed on node at 0x05374fec: Read 0xffffffff, calculated 0x0bee2a6b

If it matters, when flashing, I fixed the 64MB limit, and set the root partition to be 85 MB.


Any ideas what is wrong or how to fix it?  I'm happy to reflash, as I've not installed anything yet.

Armagon

11

C1000/3x00 Hardware / Sharp I/o Connector On C1000/3x00

« on: November 29, 2006, 01:03:43 pm »

Good thread.  My first thought on seeing a related post was, "What?  The C1000 has a serial port!?"

... there's also the serial
port functionality left. The funny thing is, that it only works well
with the original SHARP CE-170TS. We read a lot of reports that
the ZThinCableM/F and the ZBPDB9M/F fail.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=147501\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I just want to be sure I understand correctly:  If I get a CE-170TS cable, I have physical access to the serial port, and the signals it provides are correct for use with a PC.  [Does anyone know how do the other cables differ?  Are they just straight connections, or are there electronics inside?  I imagine that I could get one of them and hack the connector off, but it seems like a lot of work since the original cable is still available.]

Do any of the current ROMs provide access to the serial port on a C1000 or C3x00?

Thanks,
Armagon

[Edit] PS.  Does the cable act as a null-modem cable?  Which is to say, if I plug it directly into my Z and into my PC, can I establish communications, or do I need a null-modem cable between the two of them?

12

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Akita To Xp ... Are You There?

« on: November 26, 2006, 02:38:39 am »

Yes, OpenZaurus-devel would be a good start. Some iPAQs also have PXA270 processors iirc, so it's not necessarily going to be confined to Zaurus only, but the openzaurus list is a good place to start.

Adding a bug to http://bugs.openembedded.org will get exposure to all of the groups using OE and may turn up some ideas/fixes


Si
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=147036\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I wrote up bugs 1619 and 1621, and have sent an e-mail to the OZ dev list.

Armagon

13

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Bug Server Is Down?

« on: November 25, 2006, 02:42:50 pm »

Hi! the bug server of openembedded is down or full ¿? I can't.
thanks

http://bugs.openembedded.org isn't running today......
[div align=\"right\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Wait a sec.  Does that mean that [a href=\"http://bugs.treke.net/]http://bugs.treke.net/[/url] (as linked from http://wiki.openzaurus.org/Bugtrackers) is not the OE bugtracker?

14

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Akita To Xp ... Are You There?

« on: November 23, 2006, 12:29:26 am »

If there's no bug then they are probably not being addressed. Many/most of the devs don't have a Windows box, so they may not even know about it.

I'm interested, but don't have a PXA270 machine. See this thread for a link to a possible patch: https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...ndpost&p=143173

I'm not sure what RP's thoughts are on it, but posting a bug and mailing list question may provide more info.


Si
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=146713\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Thanks, Lardman.  Writing up those bugs is on my todo list, and with any luck I'll be able to scrounge up the time to do it on Saturday.   Would the mailing list you had in mind be the openzaurus-devel@lists.sf.net list?

Armagon

15

Angstrom & OpenZaurus / Akita To Xp ... Are You There?

« on: November 21, 2006, 11:33:46 pm »

What about sending the data as a file attachment via email to somewhere like google: think the workaround was/is called Gstore or somesuch....
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/198

Otherwise, why not just reformat a FAT partition for transfers onto your SD card and use that?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=146660\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Wow.  That's really neat that I could mount gmail space under linux.  Very cool.  E-mailing data from home is certainly a possibility on some occasions.

I've wondered about having a FAT partition.  Do PCs like to work with partitioned cards? The biggest problem is that I can't safely remove the card without unmounting it, and I don't believe that you can unmount a card that you are altbooting off of ... well, not without shutting the Z off.  (Not just suspending, but actually powering down.)