[Maemo 4] Podcasting: gPodder for Maemo 4 (N800, N810)

[thp]

Hello!

I'm the upstream author of gPodder for the Desktop (gpodder.org). Mika Leppinen did a great job in early 2007 with porting the then-recent 0.8 release of gPodder to Maemo.

Since then, many improvements have been made in the original (upstream) gPodder. I've now tried to re-port the original upstream version of gPodder to the Maemo platform. It is just a quick hack, but it basically works and even the tray icon feature works :)

Please give some feedback and tell me if this is of any use to somebody and if you would like to see this port be moved forward or if you would not use it for whatever reason. The UI surely has to be modified a bit more (and stripped-down probably), but with the package below you get the idea how it would look and act like.

You can enter a new RSS URL in the top left field in the "podcasts" tab" and click on the "+" button to add it to your list.

The repository and single-click install file have their own URL now. You can go to http://maemo.gpodder.org/ to download the latest gPodder version (you might have to remove a manually-installed gPodder first). After you installed gPodder from this repository, you can update it via the application manager.

http://gpodder.org/images/gpodder-maemo.png

Feedback _very_ welcome!

Some screenshots (well, photos..) follow:

List of episodes currently downloading:
http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/images/gpodder-maemo-downloading.png

The application's main menu:
http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/images/gpodder-maemo-main-menu.png

A normal main screen situation (podcasts on the left, episodes on the right):
http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/images/gpodder-maemo-main.png

Download progress is shown in the tray icon, if the tray icon is enabled in the preferences:
http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/images/gpodder-maemo-trayicon-download-progress.png

[chrisak]

I'm really excited about the return of gpodder! Sadly the app won't launch for me :(

Trying to launch by commandline results in the following:

~ $ gpodder
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 155, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 113, in main
from gpodder import console
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/console.py", line 20, in <module>
from gpodder import util
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/util.py", line 61, in <module>
import xml.dom.minidom
ImportError: No module named dom.minidom

[thp]

Oh, seems like I've forgot to list a dependency.. Please install the package "python2.5-xml" manually and try again.

[anidel]

Will the tray icon also take care of downloading new episodes ?

What I am looking for is for an option like a generic "automatic podcast update" option coupled with a per podcast "automatically download new episodes" option.

That would make gPodder a must have for me.

:)

[thp]

Will the tray icon also take care of downloading new episodes ?

The tray icon is able to carry out the "update feeds", "download all new episodes" actions. You can configure gPodder to update the feeds every X minutes and also additionally configure it to download new episodes after an automatic update (when minimized).

The "minimized" status detection and the hiding from the task list doesn't work at the moment (so "hide to systray" doesn't work the way it does on the Desktop version), but once this is fixed, I think this is possible :) What I would also like to do is replace the pynotify notifications (from the Desktop version) with the corresponding upper-right-corner Maemo/Hildon notifications, so the user knows when new episodes are available, etc..

What I am looking for is for an option like a generic "automatic podcast update" option coupled with a per podcast "automatically download new episodes" option

The "automatic podcast update" is already available in the "extras" tab of the preferences dialog, you just have to enable and configure them.

The "automatically download new episodes" option is currently global, but could be made per-podcast, if need be.

[chrisak]

That did the trick, got it installed and working. And it's looking great! I'll be testing it more tomorrow, but in answer to one of your questions, I can't imagine not using this app frequently... perhaps only second to browser. I really hope it continues to move forwarrd, and stays with us in the next OS upgrade. Thanks! :)

ps, to others, you also need to have python2.5-feedparser which you may already have if you've got canola I think.

[anidel]

The tray icon is able to carry out the "update feeds", "download all new episodes" actions. You can configure gPodder to update the feeds every X minutes and also additionally configure it to download new episodes after an automatic update (when minimized).

The "minimized" status detection and the hiding from the task list doesn't work at the moment (so "hide to systray" doesn't work the way it does on the Desktop version), but once this is fixed, I think this is possible :) What I would also like to do is replace the pynotify notifications (from the Desktop version) with the corresponding upper-right-corner Maemo/Hildon notifications, so the user knows when new episodes are available, etc..



The "automatic podcast update" is already available in the "extras" tab of the preferences dialog, you just have to enable and configure them.

The "automatically download new episodes" option is currently global, but could be made per-podcast, if need be.


Great to know all of this!
I'll go ahead and install it.
The "per podcast" option would be very welcome on the tablet due to its memory (flash) limits and, usually, because of internet consumption as well (mobile internet, on-the-go WiFi connection and so on...).

With a per podcast option I can fine tune my automatic download tasks.

Also, will it queue the episodes to download or will it try to download a bunch of them in parallel ?

I could see an option where I could tell it to download (general option) 1 episode at a time (embedded devices) up to all of them available at the same time (desktop version).

What do you think?

PS: Installing it right now...

[anidel]

Cool the download queue is there...I'll check it out more before asking other stupid questons :P

[anidel]

Posting issues I found:

gPodder takes a lot of CPU when downloading...
Also a "OMAP McSPI/0" process is taking up CPU when gPodder is running...

Why is that ?

Moreover when I enable the tray icon I get a second battery icon!
And that icon does not react to taps.

update: I think it was the speed of downloading.. it was downloading at 560Kb/s.
The next episode is going at 27Kb/sec and the tablet is much more responsive now...

[thp]

I don't know what that "OMAP McSPI/0" is, but a quick google search revealed this (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8137&page=5) post. And this irc log (http://www.irseek.com/show.php?pageid=fe2968eed01311dc97f9e2a4f0d562a5&hilite=omap%20mcspi) suggests it's something related to the WiFi connection. I guess you could try enabling the download throttling (also in the preferences) if you want to have a responsive gPodder, although then of course you can't download with the maximum speed that the device and network connection could achieve.

The tray icon works for me, don't know what could be wrong here. The code currently uses the gtk.StatusIcon object to show the icon, maybe on Hildon/Maemo there is some different "correct" approach to show a status icon? (like with gtk.MessageBox and hildon.Note)

[thp]

Updated the package with the following changes (list may be incomplete):

gpodder (0.11.1+svn-maemo4) chinook; urgency=low
.
* Support for hardware keys
* Show/hide channel navigator and size/released columns
* Add support for hildon banners (drop-in replacement for pynotify)
* Make the quit dialog work and hildonize it
* change some dialogs to better fit the screen
* set "podcasts" tab title to the currently selected podcast
* Hide channel navigator column header
* Hide advanced properties in the episode info dialog

I've updated the link in the original post to point to the new package :) Have a look!

[chrisak]

Unfortunately, I've been having problems. Gpodder seems to crash after loading. 1st time I launch gpodder it opens and I added podcasts; things worked. The next time I opened the app, it crashed after quickly showing 'loading podcasts' dialog. It does this every time now. If try from term, I see this:

~ $ gpodder
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGlad eApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non- deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domai n)
Segmentation fault
~ $

This is second install (and latest version) ... I had uninstalled gpodder and those 2 depends yesterday .... 1st install had broke in same way. Worked only first launch/time.

Also, gpodder stops respondiing each time I add neww feed, but as long as I don't acknowledge popup message prompting me to close, it will 'respond' on it's own after bout 30 seconds or so.

[chrisak]

Wanted to add that I just removed the gpodder dir from memcard (settings/podcasts) and gpodder then opened. I successfully added 1 podcaast, then closed the app and triedd too reopen; gpodder will not reopen.

Also, cannot change downlooad location via settings dialog.

[thp]

I've now merged the Maemo changes upstream. We should now be able to provide you with Maemo packages for the most recent gPodder version, because it's maintained upstream, so all changes to the Desktop version will be available in the Maemo version, too.

You can grab the code from SVN from this page (http://wiki.gpodder.org/running-from-svn) and get the packaging files needed to generate a .deb file from here: gpodder-maemo-debian-packaging.tar.gz (http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-debian-packaging.tar.gz)

I've updated the link to the new package, please try it out and tell me if it works for you :) gpodder_0.11.1+svn-maemo6_all.deb (http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder_0.11.1+svn-maemo6_all.deb)

[thp]

~ $ gpodder
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGlad eApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non- deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domai n)
Segmentation fault
~ $

Which OS version and which python-gtk2 package version are you using? Please also try to upgrade to the latest package (maemo6) and possibly try to run gPodder with no other applications open and see if this helps.

[chrisak]

I installed your new version but with same results; program will only
launch the 1st time (and works great). I've got OS2008, 2nd to latest release. Not sure about python version question. But it's ok.... I seem to be the only one having problems, and don't want to take up your time. I've uninstalled for now but I'll try again in future. It's looking *really* nice though, incl. most recent visual enhancements in .6! :)

[thp]

Please post the output of "dpkg -l | grep python2.5-gtk2". I get the following:

ii python2.5-gtk2 2.12.1-1osso2 Python bindings for the GTK+ widget set

The important part here is "2.12.1-1osso2". Maybe you are using an old pygtk2 package?

[chrisak]

I seem to have the same version:

Nokia-N800-50-2:~# dpkg -l | grep python2.5-gtk2
ii python2.5-gtk2 2.12.1-1 osso2 Python bindings for the GTK+ widget set

........

Ok, I think I found the problem: the following podcast, while it works fine when first entered, seems to be responsible for crashing gpodder on launch.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AmateurTravelerPodcast

(edited for conciseness, if that's a word)

[thp]

Ok, I've tried to load the feed URL in scratchbox and it seems to produce some error, indeed, although in my case, it was locale-related. Please try with the updated "7" version that I'm now linking in the original post.

You need to pass "--maemo" to enable the Hildon UI changes (the codebase is now the same as Desktop gPodder, so both are included in the source). If you pass an additional "--verbose" to the command line in your xterm, you get debug messages on the xterm console, which might help you track down the problem further.

Please try the new package version and see if this makes the Travelling feed work :)

[chrisak]

Thanks! New changes in .7 seemed to fix :) I'll try more after work. I really like the popup menu controls when you tap episode. And the import/export. Hope many others give this a try :)

[chrisak]

Hello!

It is just a quick hack, but it basically works

That's an understatement :) I think it's working great! And its the neat little things, like the popup controls mentioned earlier, and being able to (esc key) hide the podcast list to view episodes/descrips fullscreen, and still scroll thru podcasts with the +/- keys. Still not able to change the DL location, but this new version seems to have cleared up the other problems.

Thank you so much for your time bringing gpodder back to n8xx :)

[belias21]

OK, I'm stumped. Got this downloaded and installed. When I type in a URL and click 'add' or hit enter, nothing happens. Am I missing something?

[thp]

OK, I'm stumped. Got this downloaded and installed. When I type in a URL and click 'add' or hit enter, nothing happens. Am I missing something?

Please start gPodder in your xterm (or via ssh) and paste the output of the console (after trying to add a new podcast) here. The command you have to type:

gpodder --maemo --verbose

[GeraldKo]

Anybody want to compare how they like gPodder compared to Canola's podcast function and why?

[Laughing Man]

I'm about to try out gPodder myself (been using Canola's podcast function). Let's see..differences of the top of my head.

Well Canola has canola-tuning so you can get podcasts without having to manually enter the url or copy and pasting urls. Just click the feed button and click canola (podcast for podcasts). Not sure if that's the case for gPodder.

However Canola cannot do video podcasts yet. Well technically it can do video podcasts, there just isn't any support if you have problems since your not suppose to use the audio podcasting area for videos (video podcasting is coming).

I'm going try out gPodder since I want something that will hopefully work better with video podcasts. If so I'll just use gPodder for video podcasts.

[thp]

So, I've put in some more work in the gPodder Maemo Port. I've created a repository and added a .install file, so you can install it from your tablet with one click and have application manager update goodness as new versions of gPodder become available.

You might have to remove any manually-installed gPodder packages first (look into the application manager, remove "gpodder" and then click on the "install" link):

http://maemo.gpodder.org/

[chrisak]

I am still unable to change download location, it defaults to the internal card (trying to change to external) ... anyone else with this problem?

[adammelancon]

I can't get it to not automatically check for new episodes on startup. Also, it would be cool if there was a way to only check for updates on one show as a menu selection. Sometimes i'm in a hurry to leave for work, and there is only one show that i know is updated and i want to download. Thanks for a great port!

[thp]

Changing the download location is not really possible at the moment, unfortunately. I'll add support for selecting between internal and external cards soon. In the meantime, you can change the download directory manually:

1.) Make sure gPodder is not running
2.) Edit /media/mmc2/gpodder/gpodder.conf and change "download_dir" to /media/mmc1/gpodder/ (or any folder you like)
3.) Move all folders (ONLY folders, not files) from /media/mmc2/gpodder/ to the new download location, so gPodder can find previously-downloaded files
4.) Start gPodder

[thp]

I've made lots of changes to the UI to make it more finger-friendly (including bigger buttons, tabs and even the episode pop-up menu! :). I have also made sure we can squeeze as much podcast/episodes in the main screen as possible and added a maemo-specific preferences dialog and "add podcast" dialog.

Screenshots are here: http://maemo.gpodder.org/screenshots.html

[samikki]

First, I want to tell that I'm really excited about gpodder. To be able to have podcasts update automatically over wlan to my n810 is something I've wanted from day one.

To make sure you keep up the good work, I made you a donation. Thanks.

BUT: I'm somewhat confused about this new version. I uninstalled the earlier gpodder I had and installed the new one from maemo.gpodder.org. Application manager says it's 0.11.1+svn-maemo15.

But it doesn't look like the screenshots at all. Preferences screen still looks like corrupt, there's no Add podcast window but a textfield instead (and it doesn't add anything).

There's no /media/mmc2/gpodder directory and the startup icon in the menu doesn't work.

Is there something wrong with the install link or did I make a mistake in the installation?

[thp]

Hello, samikki and thanks for the donation!

The new gPodder (any version that was published) should always create the /media/mmc2/gpodder folder. If there is no /media/mmc2/gpodder folder after you have started gPodder, you probably have the wrong version installed (maybe the 0.8-based, old version?).

If you are trying to start gPodder from the command line, you have to use the "--maemo" switch to enable the Internet Tablet-specific changes (this is because we keep in sync with upstream, so bug fixes in upstream are automatically available in the maemo port and vice versa).

Your best bet is probably to try starting gPodder from the command line (osso-xterm) like this: "gpodder --maemo". If it doesn't work out, you have a wrong version installed (you might try to find out with "gpodder --version"). In that case, please remove all gPodder packages that you have on your tablet and re-install by clicking on the green "install" button on http://maemo.gpodder.org/

Just ask again if you can't get it working (and post the output from the above commands, if any), we'll fix that :)

[chrisak]

I wanted to mention that a locally saved opml file (aka podcast/subscription backup) can be imported by going thru the import from web steps, then after you're presented with a list of suggested podcasts from gpodder site, change the http address to point to your local file eg: /home/user/Mydocs/.documents/podcasts.opml and then click download.

Going back to OS2007, gpodder has frequently popped up warnings that it wasn't responding while adding feeds. For new users, should this happen to you, my experience has been that gpodder has almost always corrrected itself and ''responded' if left alone.

However, while just now experimenting with importing local file, I think I fiinallyy managed to frak it up.... I had to restart and after doing so saw that it got my first 5 subs and aavailable eps. Perhaps would have completed if left longer, but it reeally did seem to have died.

Anyway, iss it posssible to have it onnly add/subscriibe, but not update when importing and adding, + have an option to select a single podcast to update?

Good example why this would be helpful are the npr and cnn hourly podcast updates.

Thanks! :)

[adammelancon]

I can't get it to not automatically check for new episodes on startup. Also, it would be cool if there was a way to only check for updates on one show as a menu selection. Sometimes i'm in a hurry to leave for work, and there is only one show that i know is updated and i want to download. Thanks for a great port!

Looks like I was mistaken on the updating on startup, it was just loading the already downloaded episodes. Everything is working just fine now.
Now if I could find a way to update the episodes faster. It feels like it takes FOREVER to update the feed to Buzz Out Loud along with a few other shows.
http://www.cnet.com/i/pod/cnet_buzz.xml

I wish there was a way to have it only check the last 10 episodes of a feed instead of the whole archive within some of these feeds.


Thanks for the excellent work on the new version of Gpodder!

[chrisak]

I'm not sure what's changed yet, but there's a new update available.

[samikki]

Your best bet is probably to try starting gPodder from the command line (osso-xterm) like this: "gpodder --maemo". If it doesn't work out, you have a wrong version installed (you might try to find out with "gpodder --version"). In that case, please remove all gPodder packages that you have on your tablet and re-install by clicking on the green "install" button on http://maemo.gpodder.org/

Just ask again if you can't get it working (and post the output from the above commands, if any), we'll fix that :)

Hi again! That's a good advice - I didn't know about the --maemo switch, so it explains the erratic behaviour I got.

However, I still didn't manage to get software working. When trying gpodder with the right switch, I get this:

~ $ gpodder --version
gpodder 0.11.2
~ $ gpodder --maemo
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 166, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 125, in main
from gpodder import console
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/console.py", line 21, in <module>
from gpodder import download
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/download.py", line 29, in <module>
from gpodder.libgpodder import gl
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 50, in <module>
import osso
ImportError: No module named osso
~ $

Help?

[thp]

samikki: Please install the "python2.5-osso" package. Either through the application manager or via "apt-get install python2.5-osso".

[thp]

The new version hasn't changed much, it's just the "official" 0.11.2 release, so bumped the version number.

[samikki]

samikki: Please install the "python2.5-osso" package. Either through the application manager or via "apt-get install python2.5-osso".

Hi again and thanks!

I installed python2.5-osso (had to learn about Red Pill mode for that but managed to make it) and after having more errors I also installed python2.5-hildon.

After that I managed to get gpodder running and it seems to work quite well!

However, I still get some errors when starting up:

~ $ gpodder --maemo
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domain)
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py:281: GtkWarning: gtk_accel_group_find: assertion `GTK_IS_ACCEL_GROUP (accel_group)' failed
self.itemQuit.reparent(menu)
27.2222222222
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 486, in on_tree_channels_resize
self.cell_channel_icon.set_property('visible', bool(percentage > 24.))
AttributeError: gPodder instance has no attribute 'cell_channel_icon'
29.7222222222

Maybe I still need to install something - but I can't tell what based on these errors...

[thp]

However, I still get some errors when starting up:

~ $ gpodder --maemo
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domain)
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py:281: GtkWarning: gtk_accel_group_find: assertion `GTK_IS_ACCEL_GROUP (accel_group)' failed
self.itemQuit.reparent(menu)
27.2222222222
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 486, in on_tree_channels_resize
self.cell_channel_icon.set_property('visible', bool(percentage > 24.))
AttributeError: gPodder instance has no attribute 'cell_channel_icon'
29.7222222222

I've fixed that in the latest release (which also adds some menu changes and other niceties ;). The other warnings can be safely ignored.

[thp]

Oh, yes: Please have a look at the menu of the most recent version and tell me what you think. It's stil in development, but I think it's an improvement from the previous menu structure. You can now also import and export from/to local OPML files (thanks to chrisak for pointing out that importing from local OPML files does make sense ;).

[samikki]

Installed the most recent version and it looks great. Pretty soon I don't Itunes anymore :) I just wish there would be an easy way to export all Itunes podcast subscriptions to gPodder...

The menu structure looks good and logical to me and I can't yet say if it's missing anything. But I'll keep on using the software and see how it goes.

I haven't yet checked whether gpodder is able to do unattended downloads of new episodes (no confirmation dialogs). That's the most important feature to me: I want to be able to leave gpodder running overnight and have all the fresh podcasts waiting for me in the morning.

Oh, and I found a bug: when I slide open the keypad on N810, gpodder has a segmentation fault and dies.

Sami

[thp]

According to this page (http://www.geeknewscentral.com/archives/005733.html), you can export your iTunes podcast subscriptions to an OPML file. Send it over to your N8x0 and it should work with the new import from OPML file function. Alternative guides: here (http://www.audioactivism.org/2006/02/02/how-to-import-and-export-ompl-from-itunes/) and here (http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/02/export_your_pod.html) :)

For the sefgault: I don't have a clue, as I can't slide out a keyboard on my N800 to reproduce the crash. Does this happen anywhere in the program or just in some certain spot where you are supposed to type something? Does "gpodder --verbose --maemo" tell you anything important when run from osso-xterm and trying to reproduce the segfault?

[samikki]

According to this page (http://www.geeknewscentral.com/archives/005733.html), you can export your iTunes podcast subscriptions to an OPML file. Send it over to your N8x0 and it should work with the new import from OPML file function. Alternative guides: here (http://www.audioactivism.org/2006/02/02/how-to-import-and-export-ompl-from-itunes/) and here (http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/02/export_your_pod.html) :)

For the sefgault: I don't have a clue, as I can't slide out a keyboard on my N800 to reproduce the crash. Does this happen anywhere in the program or just in some certain spot where you are supposed to type something? Does "gpodder --verbose --maemo" tell you anything important when run from osso-xterm and trying to reproduce the segfault?

Wow, thanks for the iTunes info. Actually, I wasn't even expecting it to be possible. But this is really great.

About the crash: it happens every time when I slide the keypad open, no matter what the gpodder is doing. Unfortunately the verbose parameter doesn't give any extra information - the only thing that gets printed when crashing is "Segmentation fault". Closing a keypad that was previously opened doesn't do any harm, it's only the opening.

I don't know if it is related, but I still get two warnings when starting up. They're the same as before, about "Mixing deprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API" and "gtk_accel_group_find assertion".

Sami

[plb]

So when can we expect this in extras? =)

[thp]

So when can we expect this in extras? =)

Don't know how to get packages into the extras repository. There's a gPodder repository, so after adding this to your list, I think there's no difference between that and the extras repository. Of course, if anyone could point to the documentation on how to get software into the extras repository, I'd try to submit it there, too.

[rbrewer123]

I just started using gpodder and it's a very nice app. I think the benefit of getting it into the extras repo is that then it's easier for beginners to find. It gets that much more exposure.

I'm able to confirm the bug samikki reported with my n810. I open gpodder, and as soon as I slide the keyboard open it crashes. Closing the keyboard has no effect. There are some dbus messages generated on keyboard open and close. Perhaps an unexpected dbus message is crashing it?

[thp]

I just started using gpodder and it's a very nice app. I think the benefit of getting it into the extras repo is that then it's easier for beginners to find. It gets that much more exposure.

Ok, I had a look into it and found a guide how to apply (http://maemo.org/community/application-catalog/extras_repository.html). I've applied just now, let's see if they'll accept me :)

I'm able to confirm the bug samikki reported with my n810. I open gpodder, and as soon as I slide the keyboard open it crashes. Closing the keyboard has no effect. There are some dbus messages generated on keyboard open and close. Perhaps an unexpected dbus message is crashing it?

Thanks, that observation seems helpful :) Can you please send (or paste) the output of "dbus-monitor --system" and dbus-monitor --session" when opening and closing the keyboard? Do you know if this happens on any other pymaemo application? Can you please try the same procedure with the tray icon disabled (disable tray icon, restart gPodder, slide out keyboard).

Thanks

[rbrewer123]

I've tried running with the tray icon enabled and disabled, and in both cases gpodder crashes when I slide open the keyboard. I'll post the dbus-monitor output later in a separate reply. I'm not aware of other python apps with this particular issue. Specifically I can say that Gene Cash's PIM apps which are written in python and process some dbus messages don't have this issue.

[rbrewer123]

Nokia-N810-51-3:~# dbus-monitor --system
signal sender=org.freedesktop.DBus -> dest=:1.279 path=/org/freedesktop/DBus; interface=org.freedesktop.DBus; member=NameAcquired
string ":1.279"
signal sender=:1.3 -> dest=(null destination) path=/com/nokia/mce/signal; interface=com.nokia.mce.signal; member=display_status_ind
string "off"
signal sender=:1.3 -> dest=(null destination) path=/com/nokia/mce/signal; interface=com.nokia.mce.signal; member=display_status_ind
string "on"
signal sender=:1.3 -> dest=(null destination) path=/com/nokia/mce/signal; interface=com.nokia.mce.signal; member=tklock_mode_ind
string "unlocked"
signal sender=:1.0 -> dest=(null destination) path=/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_slide; interface=org.freedesktop.Hal.Device; member=PropertyModified
int32 1
array [
struct {
string "button.state.value"
boolean false
boolean false
}
]
signal sender=:1.0 -> dest=(null destination) path=/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_slide; interface=org.freedesktop.Hal.Device; member=Condition
string "ButtonPressed"
string "cover"
signal sender=:1.3 -> dest=(null destination) path=/com/nokia/mce/signal; interface=com.nokia.mce.signal; member=display_status_ind
string "on"
signal sender=:1.3 -> dest=(null destination) path=/com/nokia/mce/signal; interface=com.nokia.mce.signal; member=system_inactivity_ind
boolean false
signal sender=:1.3 -> dest=(null destination) path=/com/nokia/mce/signal; interface=com.nokia.mce.signal; member=display_status_ind
string "on"
signal sender=:1.0 -> dest=(null destination) path=/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_slide; interface=org.freedesktop.Hal.Device; member=PropertyModified
int32 1
array [
struct {
string "button.state.value"
boolean false
boolean false
}
]
signal sender=:1.0 -> dest=(null destination) path=/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_slide; interface=org.freedesktop.Hal.Device; member=Condition
string "ButtonPressed"
string "cover"


I think the screen happened to switch off just when I began this one. I then slid the keyboard open, waited a few seconds and slid it closed.

[rbrewer123]

Nokia-N810-51-3:~# dbus-monitor --session
signal sender=org.freedesktop.DBus -> dest=:1.240 path=/org/freedesktop/DBus; interface=org.freedesktop.DBus; member=NameAcquired
string ":1.240"
method call sender=:1.240 -> dest=org.freedesktop.DBus path=/org/freedesktop/DBus; interface=org.freedesktop.DBus; member=AddMatch
string "type='method_call'"
method call sender=:1.240 -> dest=org.freedesktop.DBus path=/org/freedesktop/DBus; interface=org.freedesktop.DBus; member=AddMatch
string "type='method_return'"
method call sender=:1.240 -> dest=org.freedesktop.DBus path=/org/freedesktop/DBus; interface=org.freedesktop.DBus; member=AddMatch
string "type='error'"


Nothing much seemed to happen for the --session monitor, besides the error messages that happened immediately. I was running both of these from an ssh session started on my laptop for easier cut and paste, if that makes a difference.

[thp]

This thread (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-16969.html) also talks about the D-Bus message. I still can't think of what the culprit might be.

Please try the following: Start gPodder _without_ the "--maemo" switch from an xterm (or via ssh), i.e.:

gpodder --verbose

This will not load all the Maemo-specific code tweaks (and it will look ugly, because it's not the Hildonized UI). When this gPodder is running, try to slide the keyboard open and see if it crashes. If it doesn't, we know that the problem is with the maemo-specific code :)

After closing this Non-Hildonized gPodder process, you can rm -rf ~/gpodder-downloads (the "gpodder-downloads" folder in your home directory) and ~/.config/gpodder (the "gpodder" folder in the hidden folder ".config" in your home directory), because they are only relevant for the Desktop version and will be created when running gPodder like above (without the --maemo switch).

Pleas try that and tell me if this makes any difference when sliding out the keyboard.

[rbrewer123]

I ran 'gpodder --verbose' from my n810 xterm and it did not crash when I slid the keyboard in and out. I then reran it the normal way from my launcher and it once again crashed when sliding out the keyboard.

[thp]

Thanks for testing this out. So, the area where the bug may hide has just shrinked quite a bit. I suspect the osso context being the culprit, at least that's the one thing that I haven't looked that much into recently, because it worked for me.

Do you feel comfortable with trying out changes I send to you on your tablet and see if we can isolate the bug even more, so I can have a look on how to fix that bug?

It would basically involve putting a development version (SVN checkout) on the tablet user's home directory, applying and reverting patches and testing if these fix the problem. I need an N810 user to go through that procedure, as I can't emulate the keyboard open software behaviour on my N800, I think.

[rbrewer123]

Sure... tell me what to test and I'll test it. One thing before I get too deep into it... what data files should I backup so that I can restore my gpodder state when I'm done testing? That probably won't be necessary, but if I can easily revert my data files I'll feel quite comfortable playing with the configuration.

Try writing the "quick power-user instructions" first to save you some time and if something turns out to be too unclear I'll ask.

[thp]

what data files should I backup so that I can restore my gpodder state when I'm done testing?

You can create a tarball of /media/mmc2/gpodder/ (the "gpodder" folder on your memory card) and extract it there to revert all settings, subscriptions, download history and downloaded episodes. If you want to save space, you can exclude the folders that look like md5 sums and you'll just backup the configuration without the episodes.


Now, here's what you should test: Read this guide (http://wiki.gpodder.org/running-from-svn) to find out how to do a SVN checkout of gPodder "trunk" (the development code). You can do the checkout on your Desktop machine. Now, download this patch (http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder_r703_no-osso.patch), go into the folder where you checked out gPodder, and run patch -p0 </path/to/gpodder_r703_no-osso.patch (where /path/to/.. is of course the path to where you downloaded that file, e.g. ~/Desktop/gpodder_r703_no-osso.patch).

After that, copy the whole checkout folder onto your tablet user's home folder via scp. Then, open ssh and cd into that folder you just copied to the tablet. Now run the following command:

./bin/gpodder --local --maemo --verbose

Please note: The command is "./bin/gpodder" and not "gpodder" (because we're running it straight from the checkout folder). The "--local" part makes gPodder run from the current (checkout) folder and not from the system install, the "--maemo" port activates the Hildonized UI and other changes and "--verbose" should give you some messages. After gPodder is up and running this way, please slide open the keyboard and see if this fixes the problem. You won't be able to play back episodes in this patched SVN trunk checkout, as I've disabled all osso-related code (which I believe could be related to the crashes), and osso is needed for the remote procedure calls to the Nokia Mediaplayer.

Thanks for taking the time going through that testing procedure :)

[rbrewer123]

Thanks for the clear instructions. Unfortunately, the patched svn version exhibits the bug. I got a "segmentation fault" message when it happened. Let me know if you have anything else you'd like me to try.

[adammelancon]

The new gpodder is awesome, but should it take 9 minutes to check for updates on 12 shows? The update checking time seems quite excessive. Is it this slow for anyone else?

[drdruish]

I really hate to say anything critical, because the app clearly has so much work put into it, and generally speaking is AWESOME, but does it seem a little slow to anyone else? By slow I mean dog slow. 10 seconds to open, 10 second delay at least between clicking just about anything in the GUI. If I'm updating I have to let it sit there for several minutes, and the whole tablet becomes unresponsive, and if I click a couple of times it crashes. If I'm downloading I have to let it sit for at least a half-hour. (This isn't a function of bandwidth) Am I doing something wrong? Are my expectations too high for a desktop app that's been ported to such relatively slower hardware? Are substantial speed increases expected as the port progresses?

Anyway, my sincerest thanks to the developer for all their hard work and for releasing/porting a really solid app.

Drew

[thp]

rbrewer123: Please apply the following patch (see above for procedure) to your SVN checkout of gPodder and retry on your N810 to see if this fixes the problem (this disables handling of hardware key presses, which might be a problem):

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder_disable_keys.patch



adammelancon and drdruish: We can surely increase the speed of the whole app, but it won't be tomorrow and won't be in one week, but we're slowly (hehe..) getting there. The reasons for it being so slow at times is that code has been added for some years that make even the most cruelsome, ugly RSS feed (missing or wrong information, etc..) and it takes time to let one RSS feed go through that whole chain of checks.

Another reason is that there are some GUI updates done that aren't really necessary, and this just needs optimization. It's not that the code is bad, it just needs someone to sit down for a week or two and optimize the important code paths step by step. There is a bug filed already to which you might want to add information: http://bugs.gpodder.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59.

I experience the slowness of the feed cache updates myself, and I'll have to have a look at it if I might be able to speed it up a little in cases where the feed itself hasn't changed.

[drdruish]

Awesome. I figured it was something like that, and I've done some reading on the topic so I know what a nightmare RSS can be. (Go Atom!) In that case, I'm already enjoying using the app on a daily basis, and I can't wait to see what the future holds!

Thanks again!

Drew

[thp]

Thanks for complaining about the feed cache update - I've had a look at the feed cache update code and traced its speed on my Desktop machine and found some very serious bottlenecks which I quickly fixed in my working copy. I then rolled another Maemo package (which is already available as 0.11.2-maemo3 in the repository - use program manager to update) and tested it with my small (5 podcasts) subscription list before and after:

gPodder 0.11.2-maemo2: 1:43,14
gPodder 0.11.2-maemo3: 0:08,18

That's about 8% the time that it took before ;) If you're curious what I changed: The feed cache didn't handle etags and last-modified well, so it always updated and re-parsed the feed and also the saving of the feed cache happened after every download, so the entire feed cache was serialized after every podcast instead of once after the update.

Then, I also added some more optimization by only converting the feed to the internal structure if it has changed on the server (i.e. use the old, already-generated internal podcast representation if the new one would yield the same result). This should save some seconds, and we should be happier with gPodder's feed cache updates.

The updated package also includes another work-in-progress patch that tries to make the file names of the downloaded files more readable (tries to use URL-based basenames instead of md5 hashes of the whole URL).


Tell me what you think of it :)

[adammelancon]

Thanks thp!!! MUCH faster! Awesome work!
The only thing that would be icing on the cake is if it were possible to tap on the name of the show on the left and hit a button that said "Check for Update" so that it would only check that one feed for a new show. Other than that, gpodder rocks!

PS: Let me preface by saying that I'm no programmer, so go easy on me, but is there a reason why gpodder has to check for feed updates linearly back to back instead of checking the feeds all at once? I know the N800 can download multiple mp3 show files at once, why couldn't it do a parallel check of all the feeds at once, or if not, check like 5 at a time at the same time. Wouldn't this also cut down on feed update time? Just curious...

[samikki]

Hey! The newest version (maemo4) doesn't crash with keypad opening anymore. And it's LOTS faster too. Cool!! :-)

And a questions: what would correct settings be if I want gpodder to check and download new podcasts automatically (without any confirmation dialogs)?

[drdruish]

Holy smokes! That's a huge improvement. Thanks!

Adammelancon, my understanding is that processing each feed is very resource intensive, and doing two in parallel would require twice the resources or twice the time, same as doing them serially. As we're limited by the resources of the tablet and the intensive code right now this wouldn't offer a speed increase. Instead, a way needs to be found to optimize the code to run faster or for anything unneeded to be removed, the latter of which was done today.

Thanks again for the performance boost thp!

Drew

[thp]

I'm glad you like it :)

Are there any other N810 users out there that can confirm that gPodder doesn't crash with the latest version when opening the keypad? I didn't change that much, so I am a bit surprised that this bug went away, but if it doesn't come back, I'm more than happy that we don't have to debug this issue further =)

For the parallel feed cache update: Not at the moment, because of the way the code is structured, but theoretically it should be possible to do the downloads in parallel and parse them one after the other. Won't happen this weekend, and also not next week, I guess ;)

[rbrewer123]

I can confirm that the maemo4 version of gpodder fixes the crash when opening the keyboard on the n810. Thanks!

[drdruish]

No luck for me, I get a segmentation fault when opening my keyboard. (As determined by executing gpodder --maemo --verbose via ssh)

[chrisak]

The ESC key (n800) used to toggle between podcast subs and episodes.... has it been reassigned to 'exit' or am I crashing?

[thp]

The ESC key (n800) used to toggle between podcast subs and episodes.... has it been reassigned to 'exit' or am I crashing?

Sounds like crashing to me, I didn't reassign the key and I can't reproduce this problem on my N800. Can you please send me the contents of your /media/mmc2/gpodder/ folder, with the episodes removed to save space?

[samikki]

Hi again,

gpodder has now grown into a daily tool for me. After setting up the car mount and FM transmitter, I can enjoy podcasts every time when driving.

Which leads me into a question about updating:

I've been browsing through gpodder's preferences and advanced preferences screens, but I still haven't been able to find correct settings for unattended podcast downloads.

I've set:
auto_download_when_minimized: true
auto_update_feeds: true
auto_update_frequency: 60
enable_notifications: false

Then I've let N810 on all night and day with gpodder minimized. However, it hasn't downloaded any podcasts, and when clicking Update, I still have to confirm downloading a bunch of podcasts.

Is it possible to set up gpodder so that it checks and downloads new podcasts automatically without any user input? If so, how can I enable it?

(An option to check+download only when connected to a WLAN would be very welcome too)

--Sami

[thp]

Is it possible to set up gpodder so that it checks and downloads new podcasts automatically without any user input? If so, how can I enable it?

This currently doesn't work on Maemo, because it doesn't detect the "minimized" status correctly. I have to think of something to make that work on Maemo without being annoying to users. Maybe we can include a special option for the Maemo version to make gPodder automatically download new episodes regardless of the minimized status.


(An option to check+download only when connected to a WLAN would be very welcome too)

I've added a bug to gPodder's Bugzilla for this one: Support for Offline mode (http://bugs.gpodder.org/show_bug.cgi?id=107), this is currently targeted for the June '08 release of gPodder. After that, being disconnected should make gPodder not update or download anything.

[samikki]

I've added a bug to gPodder's Bugzilla for this one: Support for Offline mode (http://bugs.gpodder.org/show_bug.cgi?id=107), this is currently targeted for the June '08 release of gPodder. After that, being disconnected should make gPodder not update or download anything.

Actually, the reason I asked for this was that many people (I included) use N810 both via WLAN and GPRS/3G packet data. Sometimes it would be a good idea to avoid downloading podcasts over packet data because it saturates the connection and is potentially very costly without flat rate.

[samikki]

...then again, you can always switch off gpodder while on the move. But I like to keep it on because it has rather good interface for browsing and listening podcasts.

[TTgowings]

I just paged through the last 8 pages and didn't see anything on using Mplayer instead of the default media player, is there a simple way to do this within Gpodder ? I'm trying to DL and watch Xvid & Flv files. Thanks in advance.

[thp]

...then again, you can always switch off gpodder while on the move. But I like to keep it on because it has rather good interface for browsing and listening podcasts.

I'm glad you like the interface. I've even thought about integrating some player code into the UI (that remembers the playback position when stopped, so you can listen to a two-hour podcast in several steps without having to seek in mediaplayer), but this might be too much functionality packed into this application, and people might not like this at all...

[thp]

I just paged through the last 8 pages and didn't see anything on using Mplayer instead of the default media player, is there a simple way to do this within Gpodder ? I'm trying to DL and watch Xvid & Flv files. Thanks in advance.

You can set the maemo_allow_custom_player variable (in the advanced preferences) to True and then set the player (for audio) and videoplayer configuration variables to a command that will be invoked when you play an audio or video file.

Be aware that setting maemo_allow_custom_player to True disables the Nokia Mediaplayer integration - you have to specify the "player" command in addition to the "videoplayer" command to get audio playback working, too.

That said, setting "videoplayer" to "mplayer" should work, although the internet tablets might have a hard time playing back high-quality video content.. flv might work.

[thp]

Since today, gPodder is now in Maemo Extras, so if you have been using gPodder from the special gPodder Repository, you can remove the gPodder repository from Application Manager, update the repositories and search for updates. Update will now be published directly in Maemo Extras.

This also means that new users can simply go into application manager and install gPodder from there without having to add the specific repository :)

[fnordianslip]

I'm glad you like the interface. I've even thought about integrating some player code into the UI (that remembers the playback position when stopped, so you can listen to a two-hour podcast in several steps without having to seek in mediaplayer), but this might be too much functionality packed into this application, and people might not like this at all...

I like. Please do :-)

[adammelancon]

I'm glad you like the interface. I've even thought about integrating some player code into the UI (that remembers the playback position when stopped, so you can listen to a two-hour podcast in several steps without having to seek in mediaplayer), but this might be too much functionality packed into this application, and people might not like this at all...


The gpodder application is WAAAAY to slow already. Almost everything I do in it requires me to wait until it finishes before doing anything else on my tablet. I would focus on making it a faster application first.

[thp]

Good news - resuming audio playback now works.. kind of :)

I've hacked together a small python script that plays back audio files and remembers the playback position on close and pause. This makes it possible to listen to podcasts, stop them, close down the player and later continue to listen where you last stopped.

Download and screenshot: http://thpinfo.com/2008/maemo/#resumingplayer

Instructions for getting this to work with gPodder are also available on that page. Basically, you just download the python file to your home folder, make it executable and then set up the advanced gPodder preferences to use the resuming media player for playback.

[mikeywilliams]

Missing Downloads (June 16th)
I just updated GPodder and most of my downloaded podcasts are no longer listed, even the ones I had marked non-deletable. However looking in the gpodder folder I can see the mp3 files are still there. Any idea why they are not listed and if there is any setting I can adjust.
GPodder is really useful and by far the most convenient way of downloading and listening to podcasts especially with the player modification. Kudos to the authors.

[thp]

Sorry for that bug, fixed in gpodder_0.11.3-maemo1, which should be available on Maemo Extas shortly.

[mikeywilliams]

Thanks for the update.
Partial success.
I have three podcast subscriptions. The second and third now show all the downloaded podcasts. But the first subscription only shows one podcast and there are six in the folder.
Please take another look at it.
TIA

[thp]

After another upgrade to the latest version available in Maemo Extras now, is it working now?

[mikeywilliams]

It's Thursday morning (London time) and no update has appeared since my current version which is 0.11.3. which has the problem mentioned above.

[chrisak]

2 quick questions... I'm unable to edit the podcast's descriptions - thhe keyboard won't come up. Is there a work-arund?

Also, one podcast is shown in red colored font, but I can't seem to discover why. Prolly obvious, but explanation escapes me :)

[thp]

It's Thursday morning (London time) and no update has appeared since my current version which is 0.11.3. which has the problem mentioned above.

Please post the console output (gpodder --verbose --maemo) when running gPodder here. Also, try re-downloading the affected episodes and see if this re-adds the file (it should if the file really exists).

[thp]

I'm unable to edit the podcast's descriptions - thhe keyboard won't come up. Is there a work-arund?

The podcast description field (just like the episode description field) is read-only. You cannot edit it. That's a feature, not a bug. You can edit the podcast title if you wish to do so.

Also, one podcast is shown in red colored font, but I can't seem to discover why. Prolly obvious, but explanation escapes me :)

The description of the error appears in the tooltip in the Desktop version, of course it doesn't happen on ITs. Red color means some error with the feed (for example, the server sent the wrong character encoding, etc..). Other errors like 404 are also shown by having a "red" podcast in the list.

[mikeywilliams]

console output:

~ $ gpodder --verbose --maemo
[ 1.739] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 1.740] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.[ 2.096] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 2.396] (ConverterCollection) Could not find "oggdec", ".ogg" files cannot be converted.
[ 2.403] (tagupdate) eyed3 not found -- tag update disabled
[ 2.418] (gpodder.sync) Could not find gpod
[ 2.497] (gpodder.sync) Could not find pymad
[ 2.501] (gpodder.sync) Could not find eyeD3
[ 2.638] Patching feedparser module... (mapContentType bugfix)
[ 3.652] Cannot find pynotify. Please install the python-notify package.
[ 3.653] Notification bubbles have been disabled.
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domain)
[ 5.886] (gPodder) I cannot set has-tooltip/query-tooltip (need at least PyGTK 2.12)
[ 6.936] (gPodder) auto_update_procedure() got called
[ 7.315] (Cache) Using cached feed: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/rss.xml
[ 7.599] (Cache) Using cached feed: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/medmatters/rss.xml
[ 7.810] (Cache) Using cached feed: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/moneybox/rss.xml
[ 8.776] (podcastChannel) Generating TreeModel for http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/rss.xml
[ 9.742] start reader
[ 9.800] (UserAppsReader) Player found: /usr/share/applications/xmms.desktop
[ 9.847] (UserAppsReader) Player found: /usr/share/applications/xmms-pl.desktop
[ 9.856] end reader (benchmark: 0.1133 seconds)

=======================

I cannot redownload the podcasts as they only stay at the bbc for 1 week.

Thanks for you trying to track down the bug.

[mikeywilliams]

BTW, the podcasts not appearing (except for one stored and now the latest download) are the iot podcasts which it says it is generating a treemodel for. There are now 7 episodes in the folder.

[thp]

Hmm, I don't see much from the verbose log output. If you want, you can send me the following information/files, which I need to see why the local files are not added:

* the output of ls -laR /media/mmc2/gpodder/
* all "index.xml" files in /media/mmc2/gpodder/downloads/*/
* the file /media/mmc2/gpodder/channels.opml

Thanks!
Thomas

[manni]

Hi Guys,

Just updated my N800 to Diablo and I was able to install gpodder but the program does not actually run. Can anyone help?

Thanks

[adammelancon]

me too


~ $ gpodder --verbose
[ 1.855] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 1.856] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.
[ 2.051] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 2.218] (HistoryStore) Creating new history list.
[ 2.219] (HistoryStore) Creating new history list.
[ 2.221] (HistoryStore) Creating new history list.
[ 2.288] (ConverterCollection) Could not find "oggdec", ".ogg" files cannot be converted.
[ 2.294] (tagupdate) eyed3 not found -- tag update disabled
[ 2.297] (gpodder.sync) Could not find gpod
[ 2.359] (gpodder.sync) Could not find pymad
[ 2.362] (gpodder.sync) Could not find eyeD3
[ 2.516] Patching feedparser module... (mapContentType bugfix)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 166, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 140, in main
from gpodder import gui
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 44, in <module>
from gpodder import SimpleGladeApp
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py", line 34, in <module>
import gtk.glade
ImportError: No module named glade



It looks like in Diablo Glade was being depreciated in favor of Gtk.Builder.
Monday is really going to suck without Gpodder to grab my podcasts get me through the day!!! ;)
This is the thread I found about glade gone missing.
http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=197414

[thp]

I'm using the chinook extras repository entries for all of my extras repositories (chinook free+non-free in extras + extras-devel). gPodder works fine here on Diablo. python2.5-gtk2 version is 2.12.1-1osso3 and "dpkg -L python2.5-gtk2" gives /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gtk-2.0/gtk/glade.so

Your "dpkg -L python2.5-gtk2" should also print out the glade.so module. Else please try downoading and installing python2.5-gtk2 version 2.12.1-1osso3 from http://repository.maemo.org/extras/pool/chinook/free/p/python-gtk2/python2.5-gtk2_2.12.1-1osso3_armel.deb

And: Yep, the package http://repository.maemo.org/extras/pool/diablo/free/p/python-gtk2/python2.5-gtk2_2.12.1-1osso3_armel.deb from the diablo repository doesn't build the glade.so module. So even if your version is 2.12.1-1osso3, you have to download the python2.5-gtk2 package from the chinook repository and install it on your tablet.

[vjones777]

Is it possible to install gpodder on OS2007? I tried the install link on http://maemo.gpodder.org/ but that gave a version incompatibility error.
With limited knowledge of the OS, I tried to change the web link to bora (http://repository.maemo.org/extras/dists/bora/install/gpodder.install) but that doesn't exist.
If the new version can't be installed on '07, is there a previous version that can? I searched the Maemo site but couldn't find gpodder for '07.
thanks.

[delaroca]

I'm using the chinook extras repository entries for all of my extras repositories (chinook free+non-free in extras + extras-devel). gPodder works fine here on Diablo. python2.5-gtk2 version is 2.12.1-1osso3 and "dpkg -L python2.5-gtk2" gives /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gtk-2.0/gtk/glade.so

Your "dpkg -L python2.5-gtk2" should also print out the glade.so module. Else please try downoading and installing python2.5-gtk2 version 2.12.1-1osso3 from http://repository.maemo.org/extras/pool/chinook/free/p/python-gtk2/python2.5-gtk2_2.12.1-1osso3_armel.deb

And: Yep, the package http://repository.maemo.org/extras/pool/diablo/free/p/python-gtk2/python2.5-gtk2_2.12.1-1osso3_armel.deb from the diablo repository doesn't build the glade.so module. So even if your version is 2.12.1-1osso3, you have to download the python2.5-gtk2 package from the chinook repository and install it on your tablet.

Under Chinook, gPodder fails to launch (though the non-hildonized version seems to work ok).

~ $ gpodder --verbose --maemo
[ 1.795] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 1.796] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.
[ 2.350] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 2.608] (Storage) Setting up SQLite database
[ 2.610] SQLite connection for thread 1073748864 opened.
[ 2.715] (ConverterCollection) Could not find "oggdec", ".ogg" files
cannot be con verted.
[ 2.721] (tagupdate) eyed3 not found -- tag update disabled
[ 2.725] (gpodder.sync) Could not find gpod
[ 2.812] (gpodder.sync) Could not find pymad
[ 2.815] (gpodder.sync) Could not find eyeD3
[ 2.922] Patching feedparser module... (mapContentType bugfix)
[ 3.841] Cannot find pynotify. Please install the python-notify package.
[ 3.841] Notification bubbles have been disabled.
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning:
Mixing d eprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domain)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 166, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 162, in main
gui.main()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 3378, in main
gPodder().run()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 128, in
__init__
SimpleGladeApp.SimpleGladeApp.__init__( self, path, root, domain,
**kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py", line
110, in __ init__
self.new()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 313, in new
gtk.set_application_name('gPodder')
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'set_application_name'
~ $


I am running with Python2.5-gtk2 2.12.0-1osso5, I tried installing the aforementioned version python2.5-gtk2_2.12.1-1osso3 but the applications manager tells me "update available but not installable"... Pyinotify is also installed yet the console claims it can't find it.

-- Denis

Edit: Got rid of all my Python installations and installed them anew from scratch... now gPodder happily starts!

[thp]

[QUOTE=vjones777;206078]Is it possible to install gpodder on OS2007?/QUOTE]

I don't have OS2007 anymore (using Diablo on my N800), and I also don't have an SDK for it anymore, as people seem to have upgraded to at least Chinook already.

Basically, if OS2007 has Python 2.5 and some related modules (feedparser, ...), it should work without problems.

According to http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/installation.html it should work. Maybe you can install the OS2008 package onto your tablet when you enable the red pill mode? What's the exact dependency error message you get?

[tj110158]

HELP

I just downloaded and installed gpodder 0.12.0, and it works GREAT for voice only podcaste, but then I try and run a video podcast (Rocketboom) it download the file and then tries to play it with MPlayer, then give the following error message: "Media Codec Not Supported" Is there a setting in either gpodder or MPlay that need to be set? Is this a bug of some kind? How do I fix this?

[marce_245]

How do I use this with a torrent podcast?, in the advanced options the only thing I see is the use gnome bittorrent option but its not ported to maemo. Is there anyway to use gpodder with transmission or something like that. That way it would be something like Miro.

[thp]

How do I use this with a torrent podcast?, in the advanced options the only thing I see is the use gnome bittorrent option but its not ported to maemo. Is there anyway to use gpodder with transmission or something like that. That way it would be something like Miro.

You set the "use_gnome_bittorrent" variable to False and then gPodder will download the ".torrent" files to /media/mmc2/gpodder/torrents from where they can be picked up manually by Transmission.

For direct Transmission support, we have this feature request in our bug tracker (if you want to subscribe to it): http://bugs.gpodder.org/show_bug.cgi?id=74

[iamthewalrus]

I tried out gPodder today and it works pretty well. But the media players can't handle the videos without stuttering, even with the mplayer-opt script. Would it be possible re-encode the videos on the Tablets? Or select podcasts by bandwidth/resolution?

[thp]

I tried out gPodder today and it works pretty well. But the media players can't handle the videos without stuttering, even with the mplayer-opt script. Would it be possible re-encode the videos on the Tablets? Or select podcasts by bandwidth/resolution?

If mencoder or something like that is available, we can probably use the tablet-encode script and run it after downloads have finished (code for hooking up scripts after a download finished is already available, as "cmd_download_complete").

You can:
1.) Install mencoder/tablet-encode
2.) Write a script that uses the environment variable "GPODDER_EPISODE_FILENAME" to decide wheter or not to convert the file (is it a video file or not?) and then also convert the file
3.) Make this script executable
4.) Set this script in the advanced configuration editor to the variable "cmd_download_complete".

This should work. If not, simply make a script that you can run manually that will search through the gpodder download folder, find all video files and convert them using tablet-encode or something similiar.

tablet-encode can be found here: http://mediautils.garage.maemo.org/tablet-encode.html

What do you mean with "select podcasts by bandwidth/resolution"?

[iamthewalrus]

If mencoder or something like that is available, we can probably use the tablet-encode script and run it after downloads have finished (...)


Great. I guess the re-encoding won't be quick on the Tablets but It's better than watching stutter.


This should work. If not, simply make a script that you can run manually that will search through the gpodder download folder, find all video files and convert them using tablet-encode or something similiar.


Thanks I'll try that.


What do you mean with "select podcasts by bandwidth/resolution"?

I mean a way to see beforehand which subscriptions have video's that will be viewable on the tablets. I guess that requires some kind of metadata in the RSS feed. I don't know if that exists. Otherwise you'd have to download the first couple of frames maybe. But this would be an entire new feature in gPodder.

[steppek]

I am trying to install Gpodder, but I keep getting a "Unable to install gpodder, Application package not found"

What am I missing? I have an N810 with OS updates.

[steppek]

I am trying to install Gpodder, but I keep getting a "Unable to install gpodder, Application package not found"

What am I missing? I have an N810 with OS updates.

Found my answer here
http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=195000&postcount=86

Needed Chinook repos.

[vjones777]

Basically, if OS2007 has Python 2.5 and some related modules (feedparser, ...), it should work without problems.

According to http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/installation.html it should work. Maybe you can install the OS2008 package onto your tablet when you enable the red pill mode? What's the exact dependency error message you get?

Thomas, Thanks for your response.
When I tried to download using the big green arrow on http://maemo.gpodder.org/, I got an error"Unable to install. Application package is incompatible with current software", which was not too surprising as the download link is to chinook and I am running OS2007 (bora?).
I installed x-term and used ssh to switch to root - following the instructions on that page when I did the python2.5 install line it told me it "is already the newest version".
I can't see where to download the binary install file - the only references at https://garage.maemo.org/projects/gpodder/ are to the SVN - which presumably is source code. Compiling from source is a bit beyond me though - I dont even know the package name cf the python2.5 in "apt-get install python2.5-runtime". I'd have to have pretty detailed instructions I fear.

I may just wait until I update the OS seeing as everyone is going that way and its a one click download/install. The only reason I was holding onto OS2007 is that I've read that FBreader doesn't work with later versions.
Thanks again,
Vic

[thp]

Hello!

Please see http://wiki.gpodder.org/wiki/Running_gPodder_from_Git for instructions on how to fetch the most recent version via Git (you can do this on your PC). Then, copy (scp -r) the "gpodder" folder to your internet tablet and make sure "bin/gpodder" in this folder is executable. Then, run

gpodder --local --maemo --verbose

in an xterm and gPodder should happily start on your IT. Make sure to also have python2.5-feedparser installed.

Please tell me if this works for you.

[vjones777]

Thanks for the pointers
Please see http://wiki.gpodder.org/wiki/Running_gPodder_from_Git for instructions on how to fetch the most recent version via Git (you can do this on your PC). Then, copy (scp -r) the "gpodder" folder to your internet tablet and make sure "bin/gpodder" in this folder is executable.
OK, I managed to work out how to get root access and to get scp to work. But where should should I copy the folder to? I tried just putting the whole gpodder folder at the root (/) but thats probably not right.

Then, run
gpodder --local --maemo --verbose
in an xterm and gPodder should happily start on your IT.
I just get “sh: gpodder: not found”.
I get the same thing if I cd to /gpodder/bin first. I even did "chmod 777 gpodder" and also tried it with root access. I keep getting not found. I don't understand why I'm getting a not found error when thats the current directory and 'ls shows it!

Make sure to also have python2.5-feedparser installed.
How do I do that? I don't see it in the installable applications list. Do I need to add a repository? EDIT: I found python2.5-feedparser and python2.5-pyinotify are shown in the application managers list of installed applications.

Thanks & sorry for the newbie questions.

[thp]

Thanks for the pointers

OK, I managed to work out how to get root access and to get scp to work. But where should should I copy the folder to? I tried just putting the whole gpodder folder at the root (/) but thats probably not right.


I just get “sh: gpodder: not found”.
I get the same thing if I cd to /gpodder/bin first. I even did "chmod 777 gpodder" and also tried it with root access. I keep getting not found. I don't understand why I'm getting a not found error when thats the current directory and 'ls shows it!


How do I do that? I don't see it in the installable applications list. Do I need to add a repository? EDIT: I found python2.5-feedparser and python2.5-pyinotify are shown in the application managers list of installed applications.

Thanks & sorry for the newbie questions.

Sorry, that was an instructional error on my side. Copy the gpodder folder to /home/user and then cd into /home/user/gpodder and run ./bin/gpodder --local --maemo --verbose

This should work. Sorry again.

[vjones777]

Sorry, that was an instructional error on my side. Copy the gpodder folder to /home/user and then cd into /home/user/gpodder and run ./bin/gpodder --local --maemo --verbose
Thanks, that's closer. When I do that I get an `ImportError: No module named cairo´ error. I've pasted the complete list below. I get the same whether I enter the command as root or not.

python2.5-feedparser and python2.5-pyinotify are shown as installed.
If the solution's not obvious please don't spend a lot of time on it, as I'm thinking of switching to OS2008.
Thanks again.
Nokia-N800-39:/home/user/gpodder# ./bin/gpodder --local --maemo --verbose
[ 2.729] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 2.732] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.
[ 4.829] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 5.173] (Config) Update: videoplayer = xdg-open
[ 5.237] (Storage) Setting up SQLite database
[ 5.243] SQLite connection for thread 16384 opened.
[ 6.043] (ConverterCollection) Could not find "oggdec", ".ogg" files cannot be converted.
[ 6.143] (tagupdate) eyed3 not found -- tag update disabled
[ 6.151] (gpodder.sync) Could not find gpod
[ 6.158] (gpodder.sync) Could not find pymad
[ 6.280] (gpodder.sync) Could not find eyeD3
[ 6.923] Patching feedparser module... (mapContentType bugfix)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./bin/gpodder", line 166, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "./bin/gpodder", line 125, in main
from gpodder import console
File "/home/user/gpodder/src/gpodder/console.py", line 25, in <module>
from libpodcasts import load_channels
File "/home/user/gpodder/src/gpodder/libpodcasts.py", line 39, in <module>
from gpodder import draw
File "/home/user/gpodder/src/gpodder/draw.py", line 29, in <module>
import cairo
ImportError: No module named cairo
[ 67.489] (Config) Flushing settings to disk
Nokia-N800-39:/home/user/gpodder#

[thp]

Please also install python2.5-gtk and python2.5-cairo and retry.

[vjones777]

Please also install python2.5-gtk and python2.5-cairo and retry.

I found python2.5-gtk at http://www.gronmayer.com/it/index.php. However, according to that site python2.5-cairo is only found in the 2008 repo, it's not listed for 2007.
I installed python2.5-gtk from the debian Nokia extras repo and even reinstalled python per the instructions on Python install page (http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/installation.html). When I try to reinstall it says the packages are already up to date.
Not surprisingly I still get the cairo not found message. Where can I get cairo for bora?

Thanks

[danramos]

Hiyas! I have gpodder installed in Diablo now but it hasn't updated past 0.12.0 (although the official site reports that gpodder is now up to 0.12.2).

Is that intentional (ie problems with running in maemo)? I just wasn't sure if you're aware of it, is all.

[Laughing Man]

Is it possible to get it to sync with the desktop gpodder version (if it wouldn't be to much work?).

I've been checking out the desktop version as of late and I noticed I could sync/transfer with my tablet. Though that would mean that even though my desktop and tablet both have gpodder installed, they would be keeping track of different versions of read, deleted, etc.. podcasts.

[manderss99]

Hi,

gpodder seems to be missing in extras, cant find it and when I click
on the one click install from the web page I get a similar error message.

Mikael

[thp]

gPodder 0.12.2 has just been uploaded to chinook and diablo extras. If it doesn't appear in diablo extras, please check the chinook repository. I just updated my N800 from the repository. Have got gPodder 0.12.2 on my tablet now.


About syncing the desktop version with the tablet version: You can easily set up an rsync job and some symlinks in your home directory on the tablet to get the desired effect of syncing the gPodder downloaded files and program state between the Maemo and Desktop versions. They use the exact same configuration and file layout (i.e. same codebase, only maemo-specific UI tweaks mostly)

[thp]

Just got mail from the Diablo autobuilder. gPodder 0.12.2 is in Diablo now.

[danramos]

hmmmm..... I don't see it so far. Maybe if i give it a stern look? :)

[thp]

garage.maemo.org and other maemo-relates sites are down at the moment.

You can get the latest package directly from here in the mean time:

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder_0.12.2-maemo0_all.deb

[Laughing Man]

About syncing the desktop version with the tablet version: You can easily set up an rsync job and some symlinks in your home directory on the tablet to get the desired effect of syncing the gPodder downloaded files and program state between the Maemo and Desktop versions. They use the exact same configuration and file layout (i.e. same codebase, only maemo-specific UI tweaks mostly)

/media/mmc1/gpodder/

Ok so I got around to looking at it. And it seems the gpodder folder on my mmc1 has the folder downloads, torrents, database.sqlite, gpodder.conf.



While my Linux directory with the podcasts is currently...

/home/user/gpodder-downloads

Then inside that folder is several folders and a torrents folder. I just need to sync the contents of the gpodder-downloads to my /gpodder folder on my tablet? Or do I put it inside the downloads folder inside the gpodder directory?

[thp]

/home/user/gpodder-downloads

Then inside that folder is several folders and a torrents folder. I just need to sync the contents of the gpodder-downloads to my /gpodder folder on my tablet? Or do I put it inside the downloads folder inside the gpodder directory?

Put the contents of your gpodder-downloads folder into /media/mmc2/gpodder/downloads.

[danramos]

Using mmc2 seems like a big no-no to me. I actually have gpodder's config files on mmc2 and keep all my podcasts on mmc1 (where I have MUCH more space and can remove the card more easily).

Shouldn't gpodder be using a ~/.gpodder for its configuration (just like on the desktop)? That way it can have all the database and podcasts identified as existing on EITHER card without requiring mmc2 to be touched at all with the added benefit of getting included in backups when you use the n8x0's backup tools?

[Laughing Man]

Hmm it didn't seem to work (I copied and pasted the contents over). But starting up Gpodder still thinks there's no podcasts added to the list. I added one from the example list provided (rocketboom) but it still doesn't see the other podcasts.

[KilroyPerrywinkle]

Okay first things first...

THANK YOU!!!!!

I love it. But I think I broke it... the MP3 files that I download play just fine but the names are all garbled, the podcast I subscribe to is a radio show where they break down the 5 hr show into 15 tracks... so its kind of important that I know which one is which, but the track info, and mp3 file name when downloaded through gPodder is all nonsense. When I download the same podcast manually, or throught iTunes the mp3 names are fine.

Did I tweak a setting or something and f it up?

Thanks again.

[danramos]

Okay first things first...

THANK YOU!!!!!

I love it. But I think I broke it... the MP3 files that I download play just fine but the names are all garbled, the podcast I subscribe to is a radio show where they break down the 5 hr show into 15 tracks... so its kind of important that I know which one is which, but the track info, and mp3 file name when downloaded through gPodder is all nonsense. When I download the same podcast manually, or throught iTunes the mp3 names are fine.

Did I tweak a setting or something and f it up?

Thanks again.

You know... I've seen that happen sometimes. It's not consistent--more often than not, it looks fine for me with my podcasts but once in a while I'll get a weird name show up as the track's title in the Media player that the N800 came with.

On the other hand, if I tell gpodder to launch xmms as the player--no problems so far for the several days I've been doing that. I'm starting to wonder if it's something in the Media Player.. or if maybe it's something gpodder is doing to the id3 tag in the podcast?

[thp]

Shouldn't gpodder be using a ~/.gpodder for its configuration (just like on the desktop)? That way it can have all the database and podcasts identified as existing on EITHER card without requiring mmc2 to be touched at all with the added benefit of getting included in backups when you use the n8x0's backup tools?

I thought using an external memory card instad of /home would prolong the lifetime of the internal flash memory, that's why I decided to use mmc2. There is no problem using something else, I just have to change the code accordingly.

Do the backup tools backup dotfiles in the user's home folder?

[thp]

You know... I've seen that happen sometimes. It's not consistent--more often than not, it looks fine for me with my podcasts but once in a while I'll get a weird name show up as the track's title in the Media player that the N800 came with.

On the other hand, if I tell gpodder to launch xmms as the player--no problems so far for the several days I've been doing that. I'm starting to wonder if it's something in the Media Player.. or if maybe it's something gpodder is doing to the id3 tag in the podcast?

gPodder saves the file names internally using the md5 of the episode URL. See http://wiki.gpodder.org/wiki/FAQs for a description of the reasons behind that. Sadly, not all episodes include ID3 tags, so episodes without ID3 tags do not get their filename shown as title. You can set the configuration variable "experimental_file_naming" to "True" to get the desired base names for podcasts, but it does not work for all podcasts (that's why it's experimental..).

Please also read: http://bugs.gpodder.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57

[danramos]

The podcast description field (just like the episode description field) is read-only. You cannot edit it. That's a feature, not a bug. You can edit the podcast title if you wish to do so.

The description of the error appears in the tooltip in the Desktop version, of course it doesn't happen on ITs. Red color means some error with the feed (for example, the server sent the wrong character encoding, etc..). Other errors like 404 are also shown by having a "red" podcast in the list.

I've found that if I'm blocked (on my company's network at work or on a wifi hotspot before accepting an agreement or something) and redirected to a page telling me that I'm blocked, the description field will contain text from the page (ie: 'Please wait while you are being redirected...' and then it never goes away).

It also completely shuffled the order of my podcasts, too. I'm not even sure why that is relevant. (On that note... any way for me to do any kind of sorting in maemo?)

Is there some way to fix this?

[danramos]

I thought using an external memory card instad of /home would prolong the lifetime of the internal flash memory, that's why I decided to use mmc2. There is no problem using something else, I just have to change the code accordingly.

Do the backup tools backup dotfiles in the user's home folder?

/media/mmc2 is the internal card
/media/mmc1 is the removable card

And yep--it appears that the backup tool does back up . rcs folders, alright. :)

[Cptnodegard]

Very nice app, i still prefer nokia podcasting for s60 but really nice work

[danramos]

Very nice app, i still prefer nokia podcasting for s60 but really nice work

It's a little bit quirky at the moment.. but it's a better alternative for podcast aggregation than the others, as far as how it's arranged and how it should work.

The only real nagging issue, for me, is not being able to set up a playlist on the maemo version and letting it run through a bunch of podcasts in a single playlist.. and that precarious 'nice' (process prioritization timing) issue just after you choose to update the podcasts, pick one.. and then before it actually starts downloading. There's some kind of busy work going on (database?) that just keeps the tablet busy-busy-busy and on some occasions causes the watchdog to think the tablet has locked up and reboots.

Overall, though, it's still my favorite.

[Cptnodegard]

Im a bit torn between all my devices capable of downlaoding podcasts. The N800 has great speakers and a normal headphone jack. My E51 has a 2.5mm headphone jacks and is unable to bookmark files, but it does provide wifi downloading on a more portaable scale. my sansa clip mp3 player is perfect for podcasts as it seperates them from music and auto bookmarks so you can switch between music and podcasts without losing where you are, but no wifi means i have to connnect it to a computer. also i have to keep track of what ive listened to myself while the e51 marks episodes as old when listened to.

why cant there be ONE device that does it all? :/

[paulgosling2828]

Hello - I love gpodder but for me to make this a killer app it needs to auto-download the latest episodes of some/all podcasts.

So - having read this thread I'm still not sure whether auto-download works with gpodder or not - (it doesn't seem to but maybe that's just my installation) please can this be clarified? There are two key "use cases" for me

1. I'm at home and just want __latest__ episodes to be there ready and waiting when I get up in the morning. The emphasis on "latest" is because some good video podcasts feeds (e.g. Sky News headlines & top story) are updated numerous times a day, with the latest news bulliten superseded all before it, so all you'd ever be interested in is grabbing the latest. Perhaps there could be a per-podcast setting that specifies whether you want to just grab the latest or not.

2. I'm out and about, I go online with wifi, and ideally would like gpodder to grab the latest episodes upon connection.

For subscriptions that do update multiple times daily, the current UI is a bit of work as you have to Select None, then scroll through the numerous offered episodes picking the latest.

Since the automatic download features appear currently not to work, I have looked into trying to use cron to launch gpodder to do the necessary. However... running gpodder -run off the command line says that there are no new episodes to download, whereas running Update from the GUI says that there are 57 episodes to download. Also the command line says there are no current subscriptions whereas in the GUI version I am subscribed to 5 or so podcasts. Is the GUI version supposed to work with the same data as the command line version? HELP!

Many thanks for all the hard work!

Paul

[thp]

paulgosling2828: You have to use "gpodder --maemo --run" on internet tablets to enable the folder handling for N8x0 - i.e. use /media/mmc2/ instead of the user's home folder. Then, it should work with cron, too. For the other feature requests, please see the gPodder Wiki and if you can't find anything, please file a feature request over at bugs.gpodder.org. THanks!

[vjones777]

Hi Thomas,
Firstly, thanks for all your work on this project and all the help you are giving everyone. After being unsucessfull with OS2007, I've flashed my N800 to 2008 and am starting again.

I'm not looking for you to fix my problems, but I think that if I'm having issues, some other people must also be having them and just not reporting them. Anyway I thought you'd want to know.

After flashing, I was hoping I could just click on the big green button on http://maemo.gpodder.org/ to get gpodder installed. It seems it's not that easy. I got an unable to install message when I opened the link (yes, had the maemo Extras enabled - the distribution is blank and components are free and non-free). I must admit I didn't try the 'save' option.

After reading http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=195000&postcount=86
I added a maemo Extras chinook catalogue. Now it seemed to install.

The installation added a gpodder menu item to the Extras menu - but it doesn't seem to do anything. Is this a known bug, or a work in progress?

Manually running "gpodder --local --maemo --verbose" in osso-xterm just gave some errors then hung - I had to ctrl-z it. The details are below. It seemed to have some problems accessing a memory card - I assume /media/mmc2 refers to the external memory card - that was fitted and had 71Mb free. There's no internal card.

I tried just "gpodder --verbose". This time it ran. But it complained about python notify. That struck me as strange as the list of installed applications shows python2.5-pynotify is installed (0.7.1-1osso3). Surely all of the dependencies should, in any case, be taken care of by the installation (the uninstall application tab shows python2.5-gtk2 2.12.1-1osso4, -numeric 2.4.2 1osso5, -osso 0.3-1osso4, -hildon 0.8.9-1osso2 & -cairo 1.4.0-1osso2). Gpodder is shown as 0.12.2-maemo0)
However I did manage to download a podcast. :) But when I try to play it I get a failure to run xdg-open. :(

There's a couple of points I'd like you to consider.
1. If it's necessary to create a new catalogue, could you please add a note on the http://maemo.gpodder.org/ page (or just link to howto do that).

2. If the menu item is currently inop, please add instructions to open an xterm and manually run gpodder.

3. I assume the one-click install should download all of the dependencies and there shouldn't be any need to manually install any other packages. If this is wrong, instructions would be really nice.

4. If some configuration (eg setting a player) is needed, instructions should be provided.

If you need any help with the documentation I'd be happy to help - if I knew what to document.

Thanks again.

Here is the verbose output for "gpodder --verbose"
~ $ gpodder --verbose
[ 2.590] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 2.691] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.
[ 3.158] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 3.377] (Config) Update: videoplayer = xdg-open
[ 3.446] (Storage) Setting up SQLite database
[ 3.449] SQLite connection for thread 1073859456 opened.
[ 3.674] (ConverterCollection) Could not find "oggdec", ".ogg" files cannot be converted.
[ 3.681] (tagupdate) eyed3 not found -- tag update disabled
[ 3.685] (gpodder.sync) Could not find gpod
[ 3.777] (gpodder.sync) Could not find pymad
[ 3.780] (gpodder.sync) Could not find eyeD3
[ 3.784] (gpodder.sync) Could not find Python Imaging Library (PIL)
[ 3.862] Patching feedparser module... (mapContentType bugfix)
[ 4.908] Cannot find pynotify. Please install the python-notify package.
[ 4.909] Notification bubbles have been disabled./usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domain)
[ 7.108] (gPodder) I cannot set has-tooltip/query-tooltip (need at least PyGTK 2.12)
[ 7.544] (Config) Update: paned_position = 225
[ 7.942] (Storage) Channel list read, 0 entries.
[ 8.848] SQLite connection for thread 1131431056 opened.
[ 8.858] (Storage) Channel list read, 0 entries.
[ 8.871] (gPodder) auto_update_procedure() got called
[ 9.375] (Importer) Empty/non-existing OPML file
[ 10.946] start reader
[ 10.973] end reader (benchmark: 0.0272 seconds)
[ 67.814] (Config) Flushing settings to disk



Here is the verbose output for "gpodder --local --maemo --verbose"
~ $ gpodder --local --maemo --verbose
[ 1.708] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 1.709] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.
[ 2.280] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 2.361] Could not create directory: /media/mmc2/gpodder/
[ 2.551] Could not create directory: /media/mmc2/gpodder/torrents
[ 2.553] (Config) Update: videoplayer = xdg-open
[ 2.568] (Storage) Setting up SQLite database
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 166, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 125, in main
from gpodder import console
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/console.py", line 21, in <module>
from gpodder import download
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/download.py", line 29, in <module>
from gpodder.libgpodder import gl
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 490, in <module>
gl = gPodderLib()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 86, in __init__
not db.setup({ 'database': os.path.join(gpodder_dir, 'database.sqlite') })
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 56, in setup
self.__check_schema()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 80, in __check_schema
cur = self.cursor()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 69, in cursor
return self.db.cursor()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 62, in db
conn = sqlite.connect(self.settings['database'])
sqlite3.OperationalError: unable to open database file
[ 63.871] (Config) Flushing settings to disk
Exception in thread Thread-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/threading.py", line 486, in __bootstrap_inner
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/threading.py", line 446, in run
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 261, in save_thread_proc
self.save()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 282, in save
raise IOError( 'Cannot write to file: %s' % self.__filename)
IOError: Cannot write to file: /media/mmc2/gpodder/gpodder.conf
[ 63.953] (Config) Flushing settings to disk
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 265, in __atexit
self.save()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 282, in save
raise IOError( 'Cannot write to file: %s' % self.__filename)
IOError: Cannot write to file: /media/mmc2/gpodder/gpodder.conf
Error in sys.exitfunc:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 265, in __atexit
self.save()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 282, in save
raise IOError( 'Cannot write to file: %s' % self.__filename)
IOError: Cannot write to file: /media/mmc2/gpodder/gpodder.conf
~ $

[danramos]

The problem is that mmc2 is the INTERNAL memory card. You said you don't have an internal memory card and so it's failing to create the necessary directories and so exiting without doing anything.

Remember:
/media/mmc2 = internal memory card
/media/mmc1 = removeable memory card

I've already pointed this out elsewhere and suspect, from previous conversations, that this will be fixed in the future when the gpodder config files will be stored in a resource directory in the user's home and permit you to choose whether to store files in the internal or removable memory instead of forcing you to use internal memory for at least the config files, as it does now.

Pop in an internal memory card to fix the problem with gpodder.

[danramos]

Is everyone else seeing the same thing? Looks like 0.12.3 still hasn't shown up in the repos and I've checked yesterday morning when I saw that there was a new gpodder released and then again now. Just wondering if it's me.. or the repo/gpodder deploy.

[vjones777]

The problem is that mmc2 is the INTERNAL memory card. You said you don't have an internal memory card and so it's failing to create the necessary directories and so exiting without doing anything.... Pop in an internal memory card to fix the problem with gpodder.
BRILLIANT! It's working great now :D
I can't believe it was that simple. There should be a BIG WARNING posted in the notes on the http://www.gpodder.org/ download page.

I put the notes I think are needed there on http://www.internettablettalk.com/wiki/index.php?title=Working_2008_OS_Software#Media_.28 Players_.26_Managers.29

There's a lot of good info in this thread which could do with being added to the tablet wiki (http://www.internettablettalk.com/wiki/index.php?title=Podcast_aggregators_-_watch_and_listen_on_the_go).
I'll try and trawl through the thread for the nuggets to copy as time allows. Thanks again danramos.

[thp]

I've already pointed this out elsewhere and suspect, from previous conversations, that this will be fixed in the future when the gpodder config files will be stored in a resource directory in the user's home and permit you to choose whether to store files in the internal or removable memory instead of forcing you to use internal memory for at least the config files, as it does now.

Actually, the Desktop version of gPodder obviously stores these setting in the user's home directory. For the Maemo version, I thought it would be best to save the user settings on the internal SD card (don't know what mmc2 is on the N810), so the internal flash memory doesn't wear of from all the configuration and subscription changes (i.e. if your SD card would wear off, you could just simply swap your SD card, but in case of the internal memory, I believe your tablet would be screwed.

What I really plan to do is to make the memory card that is used selectable, i.e. mmc1 or mmc2. I believe that every tablet user has at least one memory card, and for purposes like gPodder (i.e. downloading big files from the Internet), the internal memory wouldn't be suited that well, anyway.

[thp]

Is everyone else seeing the same thing? Looks like 0.12.3 still hasn't shown up in the repos and I've checked yesterday morning when I saw that there was a new gpodder released and then again now. Just wondering if it's me.. or the repo/gpodder deploy.

It's me being slow at setting up the Diablo SDK on my laptop after re-installing Ubuntu 8.04, so the blame should go into my direction :)

I will try to get 0.12.3 ready and packaged before the Maemo Summit, though, because I want to have the new version on my tablet to show around, then.

[thp]

BRILLIANT! It's working great now :D
I can't believe it was that simple. There should be a BIG WARNING posted in the notes on the http://www.gpodder.org/ download page.

I put the notes I think are needed there on http://www.internettablettalk.com/wiki/index.php?title=Working_2008_OS_Software#Media_.28 Players_.26_Managers.29

There's a lot of good info in this thread which could do with being added to the tablet wiki (http://www.internettablettalk.com/wiki/index.php?title=Podcast_aggregators_-_watch_and_listen_on_the_go).
I'll try and trawl through the thread for the nuggets to copy as time allows. Thanks again danramos.

It would be helpful if you could summarize all the info you would like to be put on maemo.gpodder.org and send it to me via private e-mail (thp at perli dot net), and I'll make sure that info will make it onto that page. Thanks for your help! :)

[danramos]

Actually, the Desktop version of gPodder obviously stores these setting in the user's home directory. For the Maemo version, I thought it would be best to save the user settings on the internal SD card (don't know what mmc2 is on the N810), so the internal flash memory doesn't wear of from all the configuration and subscription changes (i.e. if your SD card would wear off, you could just simply swap your SD card, but in case of the internal memory, I believe your tablet would be screwed.

What I really plan to do is to make the memory card that is used selectable, i.e. mmc1 or mmc2. I believe that every tablet user has at least one memory card, and for purposes like gPodder (i.e. downloading big files from the Internet), the internal memory wouldn't be suited that well, anyway.

Just a few points of observation and opinion:

If I'm not mistaken, the /home/user directory is the intended target for . rc (resource control) files (as POSIX standards would dictate). By following the POSIX standard, you also get the added benefit of backup tools (like the one included with the tablet) recognizing those files as user configurations and being backed up properly even if the operating system gets upgraded.. so that apps can rely on them existing there.

Relatedly, I've observed that Nokia designed the home directory as a place for things like browser cache, favorites and other resource and config files. If I recall correctly, they pointed out to me (in a bug report) that the filesystem is JFS, which should minimize read/write to the nonvolatile file system and scatter writes, I believe. This should make it last quite a long time.

Most important, though... N800 and N810 both use /media/mmc1 as the removable memory card. The N800 has a removable (but hard to get at conveniently) internal memory card at /media/mmc2. The N810 has a non-removable and permament (fixed) 2GB internal FLASH RAM faux 'card' located at /media/mmc2. By forcing maemo to use /media/mmc2, you're putting much more stress of a non-removable memory card for N810 owners (we N800 owners can always swap it out for a new one.. but it's just inconvenient and unnecessary, I would think).

My opinion is that the maemo port shouldn't place the .gpodder directory on a memory card at all but it SHOULD place the database and podcasts in /media/mmc1/gpodder by default--with the option of choosing to place it elsewhere if the user wishes to choose another path. This will make the app a LOT more like the desktop, a lot more flexible and it will prevent it from REQUIRING either an internal or external card in order to at LEAST start up.

If you want to go over-the-top awesome.. you could have it, only on a first-time run: check to see if a /media/mmc1 and/or /media/mmc2 are mounted ( awk '{print $2}' /etc/mtab will show you a list of current mountpoints, for example) and then, if mmc1 exists, create gpodder and default to that card on that first run.. if it doesn't exist, try mmc2. If one of those two were used, indicate that the gpodder directory was placed there. if neither exists then maybe pop up a dialog to warn the user to pop in an SD card to use before running for the first time. ...but this isn't even necessary--it's just a notch of extra usability. :) Ideally, to be totally awesome, it would auto-detect whether a gpodder directory already exists on either mmc1 or mmc2 and then auto-set the working path to either one.

Heck.. maybe that's all it needs.. just autodetect whether gpodder exists in mmc1 or mmc2 and be done with it?

Say, do you have an N800 or N810 yet, thp? (I'm still getting nag screens despite having entered in the code to stop it.. heh, not a big deal--but it does remind me to ask.)

[danramos]

It's me being slow at setting up the Diablo SDK on my laptop after re-installing Ubuntu 8.04, so the blame should go into my direction :)

I will try to get 0.12.3 ready and packaged before the Maemo Summit, though, because I want to have the new version on my tablet to show around, then.

Awww pff.. okay then. :) I was a little worried since I haven't seen ANY updates to ANYTHING lately.

Danke shoen!!

[paulgosling2828]

paulgosling2828: You have to use "gpodder --maemo --run" on internet tablets to enable the folder handling for N8x0 - i.e. use /media/mmc2/ instead of the user's home folder. Then, it should work with cron, too. For the other feature requests, please see the gPodder Wiki and if you can't find anything, please file a feature request over at bugs.gpodder.org. THanks!

OK thanks, had a look at the Wiki, just submitted a bug report (well it's not a bug, just a feature request actually) for the "only download latest podcast" feature.

Many thanks for your help & effort!
Paul

[thp]

OK thanks, had a look at the Wiki, just submitted a bug report (well it's not a bug, just a feature request actually) for the "only download latest podcast" feature.

Thanks. Will eventually be considered when I have some more free time :) At least we won't forget about it, as it's in Bugzilla now.

[svrkprabhakar]

Hi Thp,

Thanks a lot for building a wonderful application for N810. I really liked it except for the feature that it doesnt have its own internal player. I cant listen to all the podcasts in one go. I would have to click on individual podcast every time. It is a bit time consuming and demands attention when you want to do other thing simultaneously. With an internal player and capability to podcast videos, this would be a great application to pay for (even though it is worth donating even now).

The application should launch when i click on a podcast link (just like how rss feed reader launches upon clicking on a rss link). This helps easy addition of podcasts instead of copying and pasting links every time one want to add the podcast.

In addition, I found the application very resource hungry, My N810 almost hangs when I click on download three in a series. Also, the application hangs when there are errors with feed links. I am not sure if this is the case with others as well.

The automatic podcast search option (that comes in the beginning of loading the application for the first time) should provide a search window and it should be able to fetch podcast links by searching a key word such as 'Hollywood' etc. Right now it only shows some podcast examples on linux etc stuff.

The status icon in system tray doesnt appear properly (it takes the shape of its adjacent icon and in this case the system tray time making it to look double) and clicking on it does show any action.

I am not sure if you plan to incorporate above features but it would really be great if you could do that.

Keep up the good work

[svrkprabhakar]

Hi, can any one tell me if gpodder for N810 can allow synchronizing with either apple Itunes podcasts or PC version of gpodder so that I always download podcasts on PC first and synchronize my N810. This is because N810 cannot be connected to LAN cable and wireless is not available at the place I work. Any hint would help.

[thp]

Thanks a lot for building a wonderful application for N810. I really liked it except for the feature that it doesnt have its own internal player. I cant listen to all the podcasts in one go. I would have to click on individual podcast every time. It is a bit time consuming and demands attention when you want to do other thing simultaneously. With an internal player and capability to podcast videos, this would be a great application to pay for (even though it is worth donating even now).

Internal Player: A few days ago, we've created an open source project around a small Python hack I wrote weeks ago to resume long live concerts playback position when re-starting the app. This project ("Panucci" - a Futurama reference) is now being developed by three people at the moment. We will have a release soon, probably. It can integrate well with gPodder already, and we might plan to integrate some of the playback features into gPodder (although we still want to give the users the ability to choose whatever player they like).

Panucci Website: http://panucci.garage.maemo.org/

As far as video podcasts go - gPodder already supports these (there are even example podcasts in the initial OPML file). I can play my video podcasts fine with either the Nokia Media Player or MPlayer installed.

Donating is also possible already ;) http://maemo.gpodder.org/donate.html

The application should launch when i click on a podcast link (just like how rss feed reader launches upon clicking on a rss link). This helps easy addition of podcasts instead of copying and pasting links every time one want to add the podcast.

I've talked with one of the Canola guys at the Summit, because they have already written a "feed handler" (in canola-tuning, I guess) which allows to direct RSS feed clicks in the browser to other apps. I have to talk to the author of Canola's feed handler to work on a solution that will allow other apps to plug into that feed handler, so clicks in browsers can be accepted. But so little time on my hands right now...

In addition, I found the application very resource hungry, My N810 almost hangs when I click on download three in a series. Also, the application hangs when there are errors with feed links. I am not sure if this is the case with others as well.

Will get a bit better in 0.13.0, due to be released in a few days/weeks. There's still lots of potential optimizing for Internet Tablets (remember, gPodder is a Desktop App ported to Maemo), and we are working on it. Slowly ;)

The automatic podcast search option (that comes in the beginning of loading the application for the first time) should provide a search window and it should be able to fetch podcast links by searching a key word such as 'Hollywood' etc. Right now it only shows some podcast examples on linux etc stuff.

I'd be more than happy to do that, but currently, there is no free (as in beer) podcast directory service that has a public API that I can query to do things like a search that returns an OPML I can display for selection. If you know of such a service, I'd be happy to include it. But don't expect me to maintain a podcast directory all by myself ;) Again.. time is the limit here.

The status icon in system tray doesnt appear properly (it takes the shape of its adjacent icon and in this case the system tray time making it to look double) and clicking on it does show any action.

Can you please send me a screenshot of how it looks like? Or maybe you just need to restart gPodder for the tray icon to be displayed correctly? Which version of gPodder are you running? Have you updated to the latest OS2008 version (Diablo)? Because the tray icon works just fine on my N800 running Diablo (or else I would have deactivated that feature long ago).

Thanks for your feedback! As I already said above, most of these features are possible and some of then are even worked on, but all these things need time, and we're just about three or four people who are the main contributors to gPodder. Patches, written documentation and donations are gladly accepted for that reason :)

[thp]

Hi, can any one tell me if gpodder for N810 can allow synchronizing with either apple Itunes podcasts or PC version of gpodder so that I always download podcasts on PC first and synchronize my N810. This is because N810 cannot be connected to LAN cable and wireless is not available at the place I work. Any hint would help.

iTunes is not supported at the moment.

gPodder on the Desktop: Yes, this is supported, although you need to do things manually. Here you go:

1.) Copy the contents of your downloads folder to /media/mmc2/gpodder/downloads/ on your tablet
2.) Copy the following files from ~/.config/gpodder/ to /media/mmc2/gpodder/ on your tablet: database.sqlite, channels.opml, gpodder.conf
3.) Change "download_dir" in gpodder.conf on the tablet to /media/mmc2/gpodder/downloads

This should be all there is to do. Open gPodder on the tablet, and you should have your subscriptions and episodes from the PC available on the tablet.

Please report back if this works for you.

[svrkprabhakar]

Thanks a lot for your elaborate reply. I really appreciate it. I do understand that you guys are working hard and need more hands.

Can you please send me a screenshot of how it looks like? Or maybe you just need to restart gPodder for the tray icon to be displayed correctly? Which version of gPodder are you running? Have you updated to the latest OS2008 version (Diablo)? Because the tray icon works just fine on my N800 running Diablo (or else I would have deactivated that feature long ago).

I have attached the screen shot (mobile picture, sorry my mobile macro mode is very bad) but you can see two minutes in the system tray area. The one on the right side was created by gpodder.

The version I am using is 0.12.3. I don't exactly remember from where I downloaded it...could be from gpodder.org site.

I am still confused about diablo/chinook/debian etc etc though I do know that some of them are names of OS (though I don't know which one is OS2007 and which one is OS2008) but I have OS 2008 with latest update that brings easy updates and browser stability. Thanks a lot for all that feedback. I do hope that you guys will be able to bring new version soon (0.13).

[svrkprabhakar]

Thanks a lot for this procedure, I will try and let you know when I am done though for testing purpose, it is better to download podcasts on N810 only for the moment I guess looking at my skills of manipulating files on N810.

[greenmanspirit]

i just installed gpodder and got this error. i ran it with verbose to get more info, anyone have any idea what is causing it, it seems like i have all the sqlite stuff installed. thanks

~ $ gpodder --maemo --verbose
[ 1.673] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 1.674] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.
[ 2.232] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 2.492] (Config) Update: videoplayer = xdg-open
[ 2.511] (Storage) Setting up SQLite database
[ 2.596] SQLite connection for thread 1073859456 opened.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 166, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 125, in main
from gpodder import console
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/console.py", line 21, in <module>
from gpodder import download
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/download.py", line 29, in <module>
from gpodder.libgpodder import gl
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 490, in <module>
gl = gPodderLib()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 86, in __init__
not db.setup({ 'database': os.path.join(gpodder_dir, 'database.sqlite') })
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 56, in setup
self.__check_schema()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 98, in __check_schema
)""")
sqlite3.OperationalError: disk I/O error
[ 64.329] (Config) Flushing settings to disk

[thp]

i just installed gpodder and got this error. i ran it with verbose to get more info, anyone have any idea what is causing it, it seems like i have all the sqlite stuff installed. thanks

Yep. It is a disk error. Have you inserted your internal SD card, and is it working correctly? Please try removing /media/mmc2/gpodder/ and start from sctatch to see if this fixes your problem.

If not, please file a bug report over at http://bugs.gpodder.org/, because we can more easily and better handle bug reports and progress that way. Forums are not well suited for tracking and discussing bugs. Thanks for your help!

[thp]

gPodder 0.12.3-maemo1, which fixes some UI issues with the toolbar and GTK button rendering, should be available in Maemo Extras soon (Diablo has not yet built, Chinook has been built and promoted already). This doesn't include Nick's performance changes for now (see the other thread for details).

[danramos]

I see that 0.13.1 was released for the desktops some time ago, now.. but nothing's been updated in the maemo repos. I'm still at 0.13.0-1 and still dealing with all the old problems from that version that were posted to the bug tracking.

Any indication of when it'll get pushed up to the maemo repositories?

[thp]

I see that 0.13.1 was released for the desktops some time ago, now.. but nothing's been updated in the maemo repos. I'm still at 0.13.0-1 and still dealing with all the old problems from that version that were posted to the bug tracking.

Any indication of when it'll get pushed up to the maemo repositories?

0.14.0 will be out soon, and I'll roll a Maemo package of that then. I re-installed my Linux environment and have not gotten around to install and configure the Scratchbox/Maemo SDK environment - it's tedious work :/

I hope to be able to get the package prepared soon!

[onion_cfe]

Very interesting project. I gave up on the original gPodder port a long time ago due to the speed issues. I'm having not dissimilar issues in this newer version, but they've been brought up plenty of times earlier in the thread so the reasons are clearly known.

I'm currently using Videocenter for podcatching. It has a major bug in failing to rename some files after download, and now seems to be a dead project with no chance of being fixed. It would be fantastic to be done with it, although it did show promise for a while, and instead use a project that has clearly had some care and attention spent on it - gPodder.

I'd really like to use gPodder. It's much more geared toward audio content, but Videocenter does undeniably handle the RSS a lot faster.

I throw a lot at these applications, so seemingly have a harder time than many others writing here who seem to manage to use gPodder, something I haven't yet managed. I've imported 21 feeds. Most of them have sensible publishers that keep x number of episodes in the feed, but a few insist on retaining all episodes. One such is around the 850 show mark, another around 250. I guess these might be harder to deal with, but the new episodes seem to be at the top of the feeds. Are the whole feeds being parsed regardless of size? Do they need to be? I'm no expert on RSS. Does the mechanism use SAX or DOM style parsing? Is there a guarantee that new episodes will be at the top of feeds or could they be in any order?

Looking at the verbose output it appears that if a feed is unchanged no time is spent reviewing it, but otherwise the same processing that was required when first importing will be required again. Is this the case, because for this list of feeds that takes in excess of half an hour - perhaps longer, and i'd say maybe half of these feeds I subscribe to update daily. Videocenter takes about 5 minutes to do the same. I'm not sure how well it handles bad RSS, but it seems to manage these 21 well enough.

gPodder seems to reread some feeds that episode-wise haven't changed. I can only assume that they must have changed in some other way. Perhaps if somebody is pushing an unchanged XML file to their host every so often the change to a timestamp is enough to convince gPodder that it has changed. If that happens to be the 850 show feed, gPodder now checks each item. Even at 2-3 a second, this obviously still takes some time. Even if there is a new episode in the feed it still seems to need to read all 850 items before it can move on.

It was mentioned some further back in the thread that there was work to be done on the RSS, time permitting. Has progress been made on this? I ask from the standpoint of somebody that can't offer any help (beyond testing and suggesting I suppose) that would really like to use gPodder and get rid of Videocenter.

If anything I've said here is inaccurate then please let me know. I've only brought up so many specifics because they don't seem to have been discussed yet and they seem to be the main barrier to me being able to use gPodder successfully at the moment.

[thp]

Before starting, let me say thanks for this helpful post highlighting some important performance issues :)


Very interesting project. I gave up on the original gPodder port a long time ago due to the speed issues. I'm having not dissimilar issues in this newer version, but they've been brought up plenty of times earlier in the thread so the reasons are clearly known.

Yep. The performance issues are not something that inherently _are_ in gPodder, but something that can be fixed with someone sitting down a week or two and streamlining the code.

I'm currently using Videocenter for podcatching. It has a major bug in failing to rename some files after download, and now seems to be a dead project with no chance of being fixed. It would be fantastic to be done with it, although it did show promise for a while, and instead use a project that has clearly had some care and attention spent on it - gPodder.

Thanks for the kind words ;)

I'd really like to use gPodder. It's much more geared toward audio content, but Videocenter does undeniably handle the RSS a lot faster.

gPodder is running on Python, an interpreted language. Also, it's using Feedparser (feedparser.org) to parse its feed, which makes it (IMHO) more compatible to strange RSS/Atom feeds than other solutions. Sadly, this also means some performance impact.

One possibility would be to have a web service carry out the hard work and make gPodder only "read" the data from the webservice without any heavy lifting done. This would make things really (I mean, really, really!) fast (in terms of checking for updates), but would of course make gPodder dependent on such a web service.

I throw a lot at these applications, so seemingly have a harder time than many others writing here who seem to manage to use gPodder, something I haven't yet managed. I've imported 21 feeds. Most of them have sensible publishers that keep x number of episodes in the feed, but a few insist on retaining all episodes. One such is around the 850 show mark, another around 250. I guess these might be harder to deal with, but the new episodes seem to be at the top of the feeds. Are the whole feeds being parsed regardless of size? Do they need to be? I'm no expert on RSS. Does the mechanism use SAX or DOM style parsing? Is there a guarantee that new episodes will be at the top of feeds or could they be in any order?

Yep, changed feeds get parsed completely from start to end, and you're right - the reason for this is that the episodes can theoretically be in any order (heck, some podcasts don't even provide titles or publishing dates, which makes it really hard to present these episodes nicely in a GUI way).

To my knowledge (and by having a short peek at the source), feedparser uses SAX to parse feeds.

Looking at the verbose output it appears that if a feed is unchanged no time is spent reviewing it, but otherwise the same processing that was required when first importing will be required again. Is this the case, because for this list of feeds that takes in excess of half an hour - perhaps longer, and i'd say maybe half of these feeds I subscribe to update daily. Videocenter takes about 5 minutes to do the same. I'm not sure how well it handles bad RSS, but it seems to manage these 21 well enough.

Oh, by the way: If you are using gPodder on your Linux Desktop, you can also download pocasts there and sync it to your Tablet. Although this is probably not what you want ;)

gPodder seems to reread some feeds that episode-wise haven't changed. I can only assume that they must have changed in some other way. Perhaps if somebody is pushing an unchanged XML file to their host every so often the change to a timestamp is enough to convince gPodder that it has changed. If that happens to be the 850 show feed, gPodder now checks each item. Even at 2-3 a second, this obviously still takes some time. Even if there is a new episode in the feed it still seems to need to read all 850 items before it can move on.

gPodder relies at the "etag" and "Last-Modified" headers/features of modern web browser to detect changed files. This should work most of the time, especially for static file, but of course if the feed author is not taking care of this (e.g. the feed is generated dynamically by a script), it won't work and we have no chance of detecting this.

It was mentioned some further back in the thread that there was work to be done on the RSS, time permitting. Has progress been made on this? I ask from the standpoint of somebody that can't offer any help (beyond testing and suggesting I suppose) that would really like to use gPodder and get rid of Videocenter.

There have been some generic speed improvements to the database code, but no direct work at optimizing feedparser.

If anything I've said here is inaccurate then please let me know. I've only brought up so many specifics because they don't seem to have been discussed yet and they seem to be the main barrier to me being able to use gPodder successfully at the moment.

Have you tried the latest Maemo version (0.13.0) of gPodder yet? If so, is it just the parsing speed of feeds thare you don't like? How would you like gPodder if parsing was blazingly fast (with the added dependency on a web service)? Thanks for your feedback!

[onion_cfe]

Thanks for your detailed response. It feels good to have been drawn into being interested in new apps on the tablet again. I've been taking the thing for granted recently!

One possibility would be to have a web service carry out the hard work and make gPodder only "read" the data from the webservice without any heavy lifting done. This would make things really (I mean, really, really!) fast (in terms of checking for updates), but would of course make gPodder dependent on such a web service.

This did cross my mind yesterday also. I'd definitely try such a service for convenience, but it'd be a bit of a shame to create a single point of failure in something that's otherwise fairly distributed. Syncing with another linux box doesn't really achieve what i'd like as you suspected, since my whole goal is that the tablet does everything. I am playing with the desktop version too though to get a feel for it's speed. Even that sat on the 850 item feed for a few minutes, so I think a lot of this is harsh reality on the imperfections of RSS rather than differences in processing speeds, of course not discounting that entirely.

I definitely like the look and feel of the application. Ironically when I first tried to use it in verbose mode I missed off the maemo flag and launched it with the normal interface and thought it fitted quite well. If there's one thing I dislike about maemo it's the single menu interface which tends to translate to 3 clicks to do anything, though I suppose some of the changes do lend themselves to extra space for the actual content etc.

Have you tried the latest Maemo version (0.13.0) of gPodder yet? If so, is it just the parsing speed of feeds thare you don't like? How would you like gPodder if parsing was blazingly fast (with the added dependency on a web service)? Thanks for your feedback!

I am indeed using 0.13.0. A few points after a few days of use..

- As above, I think i'd like the application a lot with a web aided service, although I wish there was another way. I wonder if maybe a compromise might be a small RPC style service to take a feed, order and/or shorten it, then return it to the application which could process it more quickly, now being able to make some assumptions. Then of course, the fall back to the service being unavailable could be the original method, so it would continue to work. That might not be as lightning fast as having a remote server do all the work, but it might create less of a dependency. The alternative seems to be something updating feeds on server, on a schedule, similar to Google Reader. I'd imagine that would be fastest, but be a huge dependency and be more complicated to code.

- The database stuff (displaying episode lists) has a little lag too although I suspect you've got that as tight as you're going to get it in an interpreted language. That's perfectly bearable and doesn't seem much slower on the larger stored feeds. No slower than Video Center's similar functionality.

- The parsing speed on a morning where only 3 feeds had changed was quite bearable. It's when a lot of people push out content at the same time the time gets harder to take. 5-15 minutes seems to be the range for my now 19 feeds, although this gets done in the hazy first 30 minutes after having woken up so I may be distorting time in my mind :)

- This morning I let it launch into 5 downloads at once. The interface didn't move again until three of the files had fully downloaded, then I saw the final two progress together. I will try configuring it to do 2 at a time tomorrow as I've only just noticed it's an option. It feels more like the downloads are maxing the processor out rather than the connection. Does it/can it yield at all during downloads?

- I am having trouble adding a feed. It failed to add from the OPML (the only one as far as I can see) and now it won't let me add it from the interface. It seems fine in the desktop version. The only thing I can think of is that the domain has a hyphen - it's http://www.manager-tools.com/feed. No other URLs in my list contain a hyphen.

Things I thought that aren't dealbreakers but I'd probably like to see. Feel free to ignore these :) :

- A startup page might be preferable to the top feed in the list being fully displayed. From what I can see this would give the user access to the interface a little more quickly. When in verbose it looked like most of the startup time is spent loading that feed. After a few days I realise i'm barely noticing this delay. Video Center by comparison takes ages to start up, although it didn't in older versions.

- Another thing I like about Video Center is the little list of recent downloads. Again, from a speed point of view, if there was a way to list the four files I'd just downloaded in one view and hit play, it would feel faster than having to display the feed to get to the downloaded episode. Do they need to disappear from the Downloads window as soon as they're downloaded?

Hope some of this is helpful. Thanks again for your response!

[danramos]

This is one of two big peeves of mine with gpodder. I tend to prefer concentrating on the benefits I get out of the app, but there have been these two big problems I keep running into for a long time now:

1:
I have 14 feeds (would be 15, but I can't add one of them in the 0.13.0-maemo1 I have installed.. sigh) and if I have to download more than 10 podcasts after an update, the tablet completely slugs along.. and will almost definitely reboot all by itself (probably thinking that there has been a crash); guaranteed to happen if I have 12 or more podcasts to download. So I've experienced this as well. It's usually not a problem but it does happen and drives me nuts. heh.. I keep expecting it's part of some threading or memory issue (or both, maybe the system memory management, which I expect is a high priority system level process, is getting thrashed about so badly that all other processes have to halt and wait for it to arrange things.. then a system watchdog sees all the processes sitting there and figured there's been a crash or something and reboots to bring back the system).

2:
Playlists! There are none. I can't just highlight a bunch of podcasts, even in the same show--if I'm trying to catch up on a show, and then just tell it to play them all. It seems sort of annoying to dangerous to pay so much attention to gpodder while driving. (Some of my podcasts are short, like the hourly CNN podcasts, which last about 5 minutes each... it would be nice to queue up the last 6 podcasts from that feed to listen for my drive to work.)

There's a third new peeve that I've discovered recently:
3:
When you save podcasts, you get asked where to save them.. one.. by one. Each and every one of the podcasts you highlight produces a dialog which asks for the path. It would be better to ask the first time and save them all there, if you've highlighted a bunch. It doesn't even at least REMEMBER the last path you selected so you have to repeatedly navigate to a folder you're trying to save to. This has been my only other workaround to queuing up a bunch of podcasts for a trip, since I can't set up a playlist in gpodder (see peeve #2, above).

I expect this stuff can be dealt with.. but I haven't had the time to work on a lot of things lately (barely even get to visit ITT anymore lately, work on my podcast again, etc.) much less take time to help out.. so I can't really 'scratch my own itch' to fix this and take the time to learn Python and participate--which would ultimately be the best solution for all involved, I think.

In the meantime, I'd hobbled along looking forward to each new release and hoping I can throw some donations at it, at least, when I can spare some money again. I think it's an excellent app for the N800 but I'd rather not see it depend on a web site to offload processing... a little too 'cloud computing' for me. I would prefer to avoid that.. and it would seem to defeat the whole purpose of RSS anyway.

Anyway.. Kudos on the project and my apologies for ranting. I seem pretty good at ranting. :)

[thp]

This did cross my mind yesterday also. I'd definitely try such a service for convenience, but it'd be a bit of a shame to create a single point of failure in something that's otherwise fairly distributed. Syncing with another linux box doesn't really achieve what i'd like as you suspected, since my whole goal is that the tablet does everything. I am playing with the desktop version too though to get a feel for it's speed. Even that sat on the 850 item feed for a few minutes, so I think a lot of this is harsh reality on the imperfections of RSS rather than differences in processing speeds, of course not discounting that entirely.

850 item feed? Man, what kind of messed up feeds are you using? ;) Just kidding. People should get their feeds straight, that's one of the problems. If all feeds were perfect, gPodder would not have to do so much error checking that it currently does.

I definitely like the look and feel of the application. Ironically when I first tried to use it in verbose mode I missed off the maemo flag and launched it with the normal interface and thought it fitted quite well. If there's one thing I dislike about maemo it's the single menu interface which tends to translate to 3 clicks to do anything, though I suppose some of the changes do lend themselves to extra space for the actual content etc.

It's a pity that so much space is wasted around the window. You can see this especially good in the browser when browsing to a non-white background website. it's a Maemo UI problem, really. Maybe this gets fixed in Fremantle ;)

- As above, I think i'd like the application a lot with a web aided service, although I wish there was another way. I wonder if maybe a compromise might be a small RPC style service to take a feed, order and/or shorten it, then return it to the application which could process it more quickly, now being able to make some assumptions. Then of course, the fall back to the service being unavailable could be the original method, so it would continue to work. That might not be as lightning fast as having a remote server do all the work, but it might create less of a dependency. The alternative seems to be something updating feeds on server, on a schedule, similar to Google Reader. I'd imagine that would be fastest, but be a huge dependency and be more complicated to code.

That is planned. Currently lacking resources. my.gpodder.org just started out. Podcast list up- and downloading already works.

- The database stuff (displaying episode lists) has a little lag too although I suspect you've got that as tight as you're going to get it in an interpreted language. That's perfectly bearable and doesn't seem much slower on the larger stored feeds. No slower than Video Center's similar functionality.

This "feels" a bit faster in 0.14.0. Please try it!

- The parsing speed on a morning where only 3 feeds had changed was quite bearable. It's when a lot of people push out content at the same time the time gets harder to take. 5-15 minutes seems to be the range for my now 19 feeds, although this gets done in the hazy first 30 minutes after having woken up so I may be distorting time in my mind :)

Maybe an optimized feed parser based on SAX that does not do the expensive feed fixing that feedparser does might help here. Lacking resources/interest.

- This morning I let it launch into 5 downloads at once. The interface didn't move again until three of the files had fully downloaded, then I saw the final two progress together. I will try configuring it to do 2 at a time tomorrow as I've only just noticed it's an option. It feels more like the downloads are maxing the processor out rather than the connection. Does it/can it yield at all during downloads?

Please file this as a bug at http://bugs.gpodder.org/ We definitely have to look into this.

- I am having trouble adding a feed. It failed to add from the OPML (the only one as far as I can see) and now it won't let me add it from the interface. It seems fine in the desktop version. The only thing I can think of is that the domain has a hyphen - it's http://www.manager-tools.com/feed. No other URLs in my list contain a hyphen.

Should be fixed in 0.14.0.

- A startup page might be preferable to the top feed in the list being fully displayed. From what I can see this would give the user access to the interface a little more quickly. When in verbose it looked like most of the startup time is spent loading that feed. After a few days I realise i'm barely noticing this delay. Video Center by comparison takes ages to start up, although it didn't in older versions.

- Another thing I like about Video Center is the little list of recent downloads. Again, from a speed point of view, if there was a way to list the four files I'd just downloaded in one view and hit play, it would feel faster than having to display the feed to get to the downloaded episode. Do they need to disappear from the Downloads window as soon as they're downloaded?

Please file these things as feature requests on http://bugs.gpodder.org/ but please also see if some of these don't already exist. If they so, please post a follow-up comment and subscribe yourself to that bug/vote for it.

[thp]

I have 14 feeds (would be 15, but I can't add one of them in the 0.13.0-maemo1 I have installed.. sigh)

Adding that feed should be possible in 0.14.0, now available in Maemo Extras.

and if I have to download more than 10 podcasts after an update, the tablet completely slugs along.. and will almost definitely reboot all by itself (probably thinking that there has been a crash); guaranteed to happen if I have 12 or more podcasts to download.

Please check if this still happens in 0.14.0. If it does, please file a bug with reproduction instructions over at http://bugs.gpodder.org/

Playlists! There are none. I can't just highlight a bunch of podcasts, even in the same show--if I'm trying to catch up on a show, and then just tell it to play them all. It seems sort of annoying to dangerous to pay so much attention to gpodder while driving. (Some of my podcasts are short, like the hourly CNN podcasts, which last about 5 minutes each... it would be nice to queue up the last 6 podcasts from that feed to listen for my drive to work.)

gPodder is the wrong place for this. This should (and will!) be implemented in Panucci most likely. Lacking time, interest and resources at the moment.

When you save podcasts, you get asked where to save them.. one.. by one. Each and every one of the podcasts you highlight produces a dialog which asks for the path. It would be better to ask the first time and save them all there, if you've highlighted a bunch. It doesn't even at least REMEMBER the last path you selected so you have to repeatedly navigate to a folder you're trying to save to. This has been my only other workaround to queuing up a bunch of podcasts for a trip, since I can't set up a playlist in gpodder (see peeve #2, above).

I've noticed this too a few weeks ago. gPodder 0.14.0 now remembers the last path that you selected for saving (only remembers it during the session, not after you have closed down gPodder).

I expect this stuff can be dealt with.. but I haven't had the time to work on a lot of things lately (barely even get to visit ITT anymore lately, work on my podcast again, etc.) much less take time to help out.. so I can't really 'scratch my own itch' to fix this and take the time to learn Python and participate--which would ultimately be the best solution for all involved, I think.

It's not just about learning Python (although that too would be great). Testing, giving hints on where the UI is bad or slow (specific hints like "when I play an episode, the episode list reloads - is this really necessary?", not like "ugh! it's so slow! fix it!") is also very, very important.

By the way: What happened to your podcast?

In the meantime, I'd hobbled along looking forward to each new release and hoping I can throw some donations at it, at least, when I can spare some money again. I think it's an excellent app for the N800 but I'd rather not see it depend on a web site to offload processing... a little too 'cloud computing' for me. I would prefer to avoid that.. and it would seem to defeat the whole purpose of RSS anyway.

Yep, if we implement some web service, it will be open source (so anybody can install it on their server as well) and gPodder will always function without that web service. Donations and contributions, bug reports, etc.. are highly appreciated :) But most of all, have fun, take a coffee break and give your spouse a kiss every time gPodder updates its feed. That's the real reason why there is some unnecessary delay when updating feeds. To make users socialize a bit more.

Nah.. just kidding. It's just plain slow. You can still use that time to do something social or useful ;) Enjoy!

[thp]

And now just for a small non-reply post: gPodder 0.14.0 is out! With better UI feedback, so it does not look so freezingly freezing and you know what it's doing.

Release announcement on http://gpodder.org/news

Should be in Maemo Extras already (or in some hours). Enjoy!

[danramos]

Thanks! ...and of course, moments after posting my last message, I immediately had imagined the ghostly visage of an iconic software developer virtually slapping me in the face to tell me to file those peeves off as bugs. :) I need to keep reminding myself that that's what the bug tracking/feature request site is for.

By the by, congrats on your interview on Linux Outlaws. It's one of the podcasts I listen to anyway so it was kind of neat! Thanks for joining up with them for the interview and for mentioning the maemo platform in there too. Responding to your RSS feed comment about your accent: from an American listener perspective, I believe your Austrian accent wasn't difficult to understand at all and your English seemed fine to me. I didn't sense any difficulty despite the hint that it might be difficult to understand.

As for my podcast, I've put a pause on it for the moment but it will be back after some work and planning. (I've also had some very severe time/money issues offline that are interfering.) I'm hoping to at least shoot one out soon to fill in the gap, since there's been quite a few things to talk about since the last program (Fennec, ITT changes its name, Maemo 5 (Betrayal or Not? Debate!), etc.) and it seems a lot more people were listening than I'd expected, for a program that was only just launched. ...maybe I should seek a sponsor. :) **rubs chin**

Anyway, thanks for the new release, excellent interview and for your continued interest in my podcast!

[danramos]

I've upgraded to the newest version and played with it for a few hours now.. and WOW.. it is generally MUCH, MUCH more responsive and just better. The only time it still seems to be slow is during downloading.

MUCH, MUCH appreciated upgrade--thanks Thomas, Nick, and everyone involved!! :)

[namtastic]

Oh geez, this is soooo much better!

A little off topic, but is there a special flag to use with Panucci to make sure it resumes? I've had maybe 50% success with podcasts actually resuming in the player vs. starting at the beginning, and I haven't found anything definitive on how Panucci should be configured in gPodder's settings.

[thp]

A little off topic, but is there a special flag to use with Panucci to make sure it resumes? I've had maybe 50% success with podcasts actually resuming in the player vs. starting at the beginning, and I haven't found anything definitive on how Panucci should be configured in gPodder's settings.

I've noticed this too. You probably should not pause the file (let it play while closing panucci). It's a bug in the current version (of Panucci), and we're going to fix it in the next version. As a workaround, you can try to make a bookmark before closing and then closing, so when it starts at the beginning, you can go to bookmarks and choose the bookmark you want.

[jcharpak]

Just wanted to say version .14 is great. The UI feels much cleaner and everything seems to make more sense.

I know gpodder has an opml import. Is there anyway to import feeds from Nokia's video center. I could retrieve the rss URL's one by one but that's tedious.

[danramos]

I know gpodder has an opml import. Is there anyway to import feeds from Nokia's video center. I could retrieve the rss URL's one by one but that's tedious.

Does Nokia's Video Center have an export function?

[danramos]

It's been well over a day now, btw, and it has been a magnificent success. Just before leaving the house today, I had expected to have to stand and wait for the podcasts to download onto my N800. My expectation was happily disappointed when I saw that they had all finished downloading before I even finished getting prepared to leave.

Brilliant showing, guys! :)

[namtastic]

I've noticed this too. You probably should not pause the file (let it play while closing panucci). It's a bug in the current version (of Panucci), and we're going to fix it in the next version. As a workaround, you can try to make a bookmark before closing and then closing, so when it starts at the beginning, you can go to bookmarks and choose the bookmark you want.

Ugh. Tried that twice with gdgt weekly this morning and both times Panucci forgot the position. I can't wait for this bug to be fixed since that's kind of the whole point of the app :)

[thp]

Ugh. Tried that twice with gdgt weekly this morning and both times Panucci forgot the position. I can't wait for this bug to be fixed since that's kind of the whole point of the app :)

Does one Pause/Play cycle (so that the progress bar shows the time) fix the problem?

[namtastic]

(Sorry for hijacking the gPodder thread) Both times I quit Panucci while the app was playing the track and displaying a time in the progress bar, and when I opened it afterwards the player started at 0:00 instead of the previous time.

[jcharpak]

Does Nokia's Video Center have an export function?

You can email the url's one at a time. Hence the "doable but tedious"

The url's are stored in a sqlite database I think.

[thp]

Please use this newly-created thread for Panucci-related problems (please re-post your problems there, so I don't have to look through this feed to find problems):

http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25584

[danramos]

I saw there was another update very, very recently. I didn't notice any difference, though. What was the update pushed out to fix?

[thp]

I saw there was another update very, very recently. I didn't notice any difference, though. What was the update pushed out to fix?

Just the description and app name in the Application manager, according to instructions on http://maemo.org/community/council/maemo_packaging_features_you-re_missing_out_on/

[thp]

Dear usability-loving gPodder users. I've got some special UI loving for you tonight. This is a video to show you some of the UI things that are going to come in the next release of gPodder for Maemo:

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder_new_maemo_ui-20081217.ogv

My tablet was a bit under load at the beginning of the video, but it was fine at the end, so that's the speed you can expect currently.

Highlights:

* No big scrollbars (everything finger-scrollable!)
* Better UI feedback when loading episode list
* Better UI feedback when playing back episodes
* Gestures! (swipe left over an episode = open shownotes, swipe right = playback)

What do you think of this compared to the current UI?

[buhao]

Like the video. I can't wait to try it out. Kinetic scrolling is not my top priority, but as long as you don't make many speed sacrifices, I will take it. For me, as long as you can do it without the stylus, it works well.

If I had anything to say for feedback on the current version, they would be speed issues when adding new feeds sometimes it seems to take forever, but still a very usable program that gets the job done. Keep up the good work and thanks for making good software.

[onion_cfe]

Looks great. I particularly like the right swipe to start playback.

It looks faster than the current version in overall responsiveness... Unless that's normal and i've bogged my tablet down without realising it. Quite possible. Since autoupdate i'm flashing it clean less often..

Going back to the 850 item feed point of recent days, it might be interesting to stress test your new interface with that to see how this reacts to a list of that length, perhaps when trying to swipe fast to get it to quickly scroll way down the list quite quickly. The feed in question was katg.com/rss.xml .

Looking forward to playing with this interface.

[danramos]

Want. My only concern is pop-ups getting in the way and stealing presses and swipes.

[daperl]

I regularly use a darkice -> icecast2 chain to distribute icecasts from my computer's TOSLINK input. I'm wondering if you guys know of a similar setup (small and light, not mythtv) that can create podcasts by using both the TV/video capture card AND the TOSLINK input. Time shifting would be a preference, not a requirement. I've had some below-average success (dropped frames AND not time synced) with gst-launch RTP scripts on both computer and n800, but I'm looking for a much more usable solution. I can post my client/server gst-launch scripts if you think you can help improve those, but I'm looking for a more robust, out-of-the-box solution for starters. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[thp]

I regularly use a darkice -> icecast2 chain to distribute icecasts from my computer's TOSLINK input. I'm wondering if you guys know of a similar setup (small and light, not mythtv) that can create podcasts by using both the TV/video capture card AND the TOSLINK input. Time shifting would be a preference, not a requirement. I've had some below-average success (dropped frames AND not time synced) with gst-launch RTP scripts on both computer and n800, but I'm looking for a much more usable solution. I can post my client/server gst-launch scripts if you think you can help improve those, but I'm looking for a more robust, out-of-the-box solution for starters. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

I think this questions belongs to another thread. Please open a new thread to discuss this. gPodder is a podcast client, e.g. a program to download and subscribe to podcasts, not to produce them. That said, there is Dan Ramos on this forum from which I know that he is also producing a podcast, so you might want to ask him this question.

The question does not belong in this thread in my opinion, so please open a new thread (maybe also in another category than "Apps"?). Thanks!

[thp]

Want. My only concern is pop-ups getting in the way and stealing presses and swipes.

You mean the menus popping up when you would really want to swipe and do some other action? That's probably something that we have to tweak, but hopefully it will work well enough as soon as we get the details right.

The only problem I currently see is how to make it obvious that this list supports "swiping" other than showing some first-time dialog saying something like "you can use swipes on the episode list - here is how...". Any ideas?

[daperl]

I think this questions belongs to another thread. Please open a new thread to discuss this. gPodder is a podcast client, e.g. a program to download and subscribe to podcasts, not to produce them. That said, there is Dan Ramos on this forum from which I know that he is also producing a podcast, so you might want to ask him this question.

The question does not belong in this thread in my opinion, so please open a new thread (maybe also in another category than "Apps"?). Thanks!

Oh, I'm sorry, did I taint your pretty little thread here? Let me see if I understand things correctly from your condescending, repetitious response: you would like me to start a new thread and you don't think I know what gpodder does. Am I close?. You do realize the title to your thread starts with the word "Podcasting?" If I wanted to make a thread hijack attempt I would have chosen a topic other than "Podcasting." I thought maybe at the "Podcasting" thread I might find some "Podcasters." My mistake.

I think THP could use a little THC.

[danramos]

You mean the menus popping up when you would really want to swipe and do some other action? That's probably something that we have to tweak, but hopefully it will work well enough as soon as we get the details right.

Yeah.. that's part of it. Also things like the download dialog box or other pop-up windows from your (or others') applications stealing focus too. I'm pretty sure that there's only so much you can do, though, but it's a concern with multitasking touchscreen applications that depend on gestures. A general concern.

The only problem I currently see is how to make it obvious that this list supports "swiping" other than showing some first-time dialog saying something like "you can use swipes on the episode list - here is how...". Any ideas?

On thinking about this while using gpodder recently.. I started to reconsider whether it's a good idea. I think kinetic scrolling is a good idea, absolutely, and should continue to be implemented. It saves a LOT of space and it's a good interface for a touch-screen scrolling method.

But!... I do think that gestures might not work well for a bunch of reasons, now. If you DO implement it, be sure to put a toggle so that users can choose to enable or disable that functionality. My big concern goes back to the pop-ups and also the idea that it might not be as accessible to some people if it's forced on users (ie: users who might not be very precise or patient).

But!!... I also started looking at the real-estate being used by the icons for the music note/trashcan/star spot and wondered if, instead of a music note--you replaced it with a PLAY button on new podcasts, that would be intuitive enough.. and if a user tapped to the right of the icon (the episode list beside the icons) would bring up the old menu of choices. (This would be in addition to the gestures, not as a replacement). It would allow for a quick and much more intuitive way to immediately play a podcast and can free up the toolbar area if the user prefers to not have a toolbar at all (as I do.. I need all my screen real-estate).

[danramos]

I think THP could use a little THC.

Hey hey, now.. I'm the DR, no prescribing anything here without my say-so! Besides, it sounds to me like someone needs some TLC! :)

In all seriousness, and with my apologies to Thomas for a short diversion of topic, it DOES say podcast in the title, but it also drills down to the specific topic of gpodder. But I'd like to know more about this question you have. I'm not sure I've seen this done before and it might be interesting to get more information from you. Can you post about this in a new ITT thread so we can concentrate clearly on your topic?

Thanks!

[thp]

I've cleaned up the mokoui-based testing release (with lots of other improvements from the git version that make gPodder faster and not so freezing) and put together a .deb file for the fearless to try:

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-testing/gpodder_0.14.0-2~thpmaemo0_all.deb

Some remarks:


The version number is chosen so that the app manager will see the current release (0.14.0-2) as newer, so that you can always go back to the latest "official" release by "upgrading" via the app manager to the stable version in Maemo Extras
Toolbar is always visible (because of the "Update feeds" button)
Only one episode can be selected at a time now
Swiping is disabled by default, enable with "maemo_enable_gestures" in the advanced preferences
The main menu is now also finger-friendly, baby!
Episode descriptions are disabled in the main view for performance reasons


How do you like it?

[danramos]

I've cleaned up the mokoui-based testing release (with lots of other improvements from the git version that make gPodder faster and not so freezing) and put together a .deb file for the fearless to try:

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-testing/gpodder_0.14.0-2~thpmaemo0_all.deb (http://khan.thpinfo.com/%7Ethp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-testing/gpodder_0.14.0-2%7Ethpmaemo0_all.deb)

Some remarks:


The version number is chosen so that the app manager will see the current release (0.14.0-2) as newer, so that you can always go back to the latest "official" release by "upgrading" via the app manager to the stable version in Maemo Extras
Toolbar is always visible (because of the "Update feeds" button)
Only one episode can be selected at a time now
Swiping is disabled by default, enable with "maemo_enable_gestures" in the advanced preferences
The main menu is now also finger-friendly, baby!
Episode descriptions are disabled in the main view for performance reasons


How do you like it?

I tried it out.. here's my experience:

Installation

I first tried to install it via the Application Manager, and it warned me: 'Unable to update gPodder Podcast Client (thp's Test Release). Some application packages required for the update are missing.' When I hit details and looked up Problems, it says, 'Unable to update gPodder Podcast Client (thp's Test Release) Application packages missing: python-mokoui'

So I dropped to xterm and did an apt-cache search mokoui' and I saw python-mokoui listed. So my guess is that there's something missing in the deb that would tell Application Manager to also install python-mokoui when gpodder is installed.

At the terminal, I ssh'ed back to localhost as root and then entered 'apt-get install python-mokoui' ...permitted it to install along with the libmokoui2-0 that came along for the ride to support it.

I went back to Application Manager to try to install the test gpodder again and it worked fine.

Using gpodder

It started up well enough--no problem there!

First thing I noticed was that the shows are, indeed, without their descriptions (which I'm VERY fine with.. always thought they were unnecessary) but that there is a lot of white space over and below each title. I support the entries' boxes could be sized to fit the title and icons better.. but it would make finger-based functions less reliable. I would rather opt to slightly increase the text size a little (maybe with a TALLER font instead of the same font currently being used) so that there's less white space.

I worried that a permanent toolbar will use up space, since I always turned that off, but this actually looks fine. There's space freed up by putting the update button in there. My suggestion might be remove the text beside icons and instead put a legend for the icons under help.. so that this way you can make finger-sized buttons (about teh same height as the toolbar now, same icons (logically double-wide, but visually the same width with white space between them to make them to finger-differentiate them apart). That way you can put the refresh button, preferences, play (triangle right), download (arrow down), details (circle i) and a lot of white space, putting the TRASH icon (delete old/played episodes) and QUIT door icon all the way to the right. This will eliminate the need for any pressing of the list to have to generate any menus at all. To make it more inuitive, the music-note icon should probably be a button that toggles the episode status (so you don't need the other options in the menu) and the icon status for a downloaded episode can cycle between played, unplayed or locked (prohibit deletion).. and a non-existant episode can cycle between being marked for download or not (as opposed to the trash/deleted and star/new paradigm you currently have). This would also eliminate the need for the 'download' option since it'll mark it for download during the next update.

Performance on changing from show-to-show is vastly improved! EXCELLENT experience with that, now.

Scrolling is a bit wonky, however. When I try to scroll up and down, the first thing I'm struck with is that it's not kinetic. If I slide my finger up or down and let go, it doesn't continue to scroll until it slows down like I expected after using many apps that scroll this way. The way it works now can be tolerated but it's inconvenient, especially while driving, and requires a lot of repeated finger dragging to scroll way down to the last shows. I expect it's just a matter of putting in some logic that measures how quickly you drag your finger during the scroll and continuing to scroll at that speed with a decay. Not sure if kinetic scrolling can be handled by the library already but if you see anything in there to that effect, please use that instead.

Also, another quirk of scrolling is scrolling above or below the first or last entries in the lists, respectively. Weirded me out for a moment until I realized I had scrolled off the edge of the lists and was just seeing it snap back into place. :)

When I hit the UPDATE FEEDS button, I get back the old status line under the show titles. I'm not sure I want to see it anymore, now that the toolbar is there. Since we have to wait for it, can we replace the entire length of the toolbat with that, so it doesn't take up space above and prevents other things from being done while it's updating the feeds? It also lets you actually SEE the update text better that way too. Keep the CANCEL button all the way on the right side, though, since we don't want to get stuck.

Downloading is MUCH improved. Things get sluggish but nothing is STUCK like it always had been before.. and the progress bars in the DOWNLOADS tabs are actually useful now since you can actually watch them move (instead of waiting for the screen to refresh for several minutes just to find that everything was already done by the time the screen was updated). So this is EXCELLENT progress on preventing blocking operations! Thanks MUCHLY!!

Playlist and selection

The loss of selecting a bunch of podcasts will sadden me. Muchly. Maybe a non-scrolling tap on a show can select shows and a new tab (in addition to podcasts and downloads, a PLAYLIST tab) keeps track of a playlist. As shows get tapped, they are added to the end of the playlist immediately or removed from anywhere on the playlist if that show is already listed. When you go to the PLAYLIST tab, the toolbar at the bottom can change to reflect this tab's operations such as PLAY (send the m3u to a player), MOVE UP, MOVE DOWN, REMOVE FROM PLAYLIST, a lot of white space and the same DELETE PLAYED FILES and QUIT icons I'd suggested earlier. This doesn't eliminate the DELETE OLD in podcasts tab, but once a playlist is PLAYED, the files in the playlist can be marked as played and so ready for being deleted later.

If you ever implement panucci as a built-in player for gpodder, this could be redone some to be much more intuitive and smarter.. but this might be a much more convenient way to handle queuing up programs and letting them just GO and then being able to mass-delete those shows once they're listened to.

Summary

So far.. I like this new test version a lot. I'm going to be nagged by that big flashing BANG sign telling me I'm using an older version for a while. I'm not sure I want to go back to the previous version already.

I'm a big fan of gestures for the scrolling but it needs to be kinetic scrolling that hits the edges and stops. The new toolbar is VERY nice but could double as both status and toolbar by switching when it's pointless to have a toolbar. Screen real estate is important on such a small device but if things need to be finger sized, make them do something useful to toggle things, select and unselect things or do things. I've not been a big fan of drop-down menus--so I would like to see more of those go away... they're small, not finger friendly and they're not something you want to tackle while you're driving. Playlist functions would elmininate a LOT of the need to even bother to fiddle with the screen whether you're driving, walking or working--I don't see a downside for that.

If I had to choose prioritizing these things, I'd prioritize on the kinetic scrolling, then the status bar ui/icons and selections (with planning ahead for marking things for the playlist).. and then finally, a playlist tab.

Tabs are good. I definitely would love a playlist TAB so we have space to organize.


Hope this was helpful feedback. I certainly appreciate all these new tweaks and changes. I'd wager that a LOT of this work will be MUCH more important on ANY touchscreens devices that end up using gpodder (maemo, pandora, laptops with touchscreens, smart-phones, etc.) even if the tag being used is '--maemo', this code could always get tweaked to be enabled for other platforms.

And for someone like me who wants to learn Python (when I get time.. grr), I now have this magnificent project to look at for a bunch of examples of great ways to do things.

Thanks again!!!

[danramos]

Good God, man! My post was huge! My apologies. ^.^;

[onion_cfe]

My experience has been very similar. Unquestionably mostly positive. The performance of the application has gone from prohibitively slow to faster than I believed possible in just a few weeks, so a big thankyou for that. I think it's now faster than Videocenter in item browsing and feed switching, though it's hard to recall since I haven't ran that since joining in here!

I had the same feelings about the scrolling. At first I had expected it to only be an issue on rare occasions on which i'd like to scroll a long way down an episode list, but actually when driving today scrolling from A down to T took 4-5 swipes in my 20 feed list. If the truely kinetic scrolling is possible, it would be preferred. It's very intuitive especially on an alphabetical list.

I love the gestures. When I remember to use them it all feels very slick.

The only problem i'm having now, and I think this kicked in before the test package was installed, is the heavy load rebooting when updating feeds. I have experienced this three times now, once when also playing audio in Panucci and twice when the device was otherwise idle. This is a very nasty bug, as there's potential data loss. I don't feel safe pressing update feeds if I have anything unsaved now. It seems particularly strange as previously the updating process froze the entire tablet up, whereas now it doesn't seem anything like as intense, however it never rebooted for me back then, but it will now.

I also think i'm seeing it happen when I have the power plugged in, if that could mean anything?

I've heard this get mentioned before. Is there an existing bug I can tag on to?

[danramos]

My experience has been very similar. Unquestionably mostly positive. The performance of the application has gone from prohibitively slow to faster than I believed possible in just a few weeks, so a big thankyou for that. I think it's now faster than Videocenter in item browsing and feed switching, though it's hard to recall since I haven't ran that since joining in here!

I had the same feelings about the scrolling. At first I had expected it to only be an issue on rare occasions on which i'd like to scroll a long way down an episode list, but actually when driving today scrolling from A down to T took 4-5 swipes in my 20 feed list. If the truely kinetic scrolling is possible, it would be preferred. It's very intuitive especially on an alphabetical list.

I love the gestures. When I remember to use them it all feels very slick.

The only problem i'm having now, and I think this kicked in before the test package was installed, is the heavy load rebooting when updating feeds. I have experienced this three times now, once when also playing audio in Panucci and twice when the device was otherwise idle. This is a very nasty bug, as there's potential data loss. I don't feel safe pressing update feeds if I have anything unsaved now. It seems particularly strange as previously the updating process froze the entire tablet up, whereas now it doesn't seem anything like as intense, however it never rebooted for me back then, but it will now.

I also think i'm seeing it happen when I have the power plugged in, if that could mean anything?

I've heard this get mentioned before. Is there an existing bug I can tag on to?

I keep thinking that this feels a lot like a blocking problem in a cooperative multitasking OS (like the older MacOS, Windows 3.x, GEM on Atari's, etc.) instead of feeling like a preemptive multitasking OS (like MacOS X, UNIX, Linux, Windows 95 and newer, AmigaOS, MiNT on Atari's, etc.).

I can understand the GUI seeming sluggish and locking up within the same GUI frame of the blocking operations.. but not the whole system's GUI. It's like when I first started learning to write GUI interfaces in Perl/Tk for my old job and I kept making sloppy apps that would pause and wait until things were done before updating the window. Then I learned how to let the GUI have some slices of time to update the interface and allow the user to manipulate the interface while my app was busy.

But it seems as if the WHOLE OS is doing it on the Nokia. Makes me wonder if there's something really wonky about the way the Xwindow manager is coded that makes everything act as if it's cooperatively multitasking.

[thp]

Good news everyone: I've just added a new menu item to support importing subscriptions from Nokia's Video Center application, so in one of the upcoming releases, you can easily upgrade from Video Center to gPodder without losing your subscriptions :)

[thp]

New testing version:

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-testing/gpodder_0.14.0-2~thpmaemo3_all.deb

Changes from the previous testing version:

* Upgrading from Video Center to gPodder (Menu->Subscriptions->Import subscriptions from Video Center)
* Re-designed toolbar ("update all", "update selected" and feed update progress now inside toolbar)
* The "no new episodes" info now appears in the toolbar, too

Enjoy this little christmas present and give some feedback how you like it and what should be changed in your opinion.

[danramos]

New testing version:

http://khan.thpinfo.com/~thp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-testing/gpodder_0.14.0-2~thpmaemo3_all.deb (http://khan.thpinfo.com/%7Ethp/tmp/gpodder-maemo-testing/gpodder_0.14.0-2%7Ethpmaemo3_all.deb)

Changes from the previous testing version:

* Upgrading from Video Center to gPodder (Menu->Subscriptions->Import subscriptions from Video Center)
* Re-designed toolbar ("update all", "update selected" and feed update progress now inside toolbar)
* The "no new episodes" info now appears in the toolbar, too

Enjoy this little christmas present and give some feedback how you like it and what should be changed in your opinion.

My observations:

Toolbar missing if it was disabled in stable version
The last time tested the test version, the toolbar showed up despite the fact that I had set the toolbar as disabled in the older version. I 'upgraded' back to the stable version and the toolbar still appeared so I disabled it again.

Now that I installed this newest test version, the toolbar isn't showing up. Since the new app has no 'view' options, I can't re-enable the toolbar. My guess is that the new version needs to check whether you're using maemo and override the config's setting to enable the toolbar, since it's going to be a necessary part of the maemo UI interface going forward.

I went back to the stable version, but it seemed the toolbar was enabled on my without my needing to do anything. I suppose I should have tried exiting the test version and going back in to see if maybe the toolbar magically appeared. Anyway, once I re-installed the test version, the toolbar appeared fine.

Severe bug: I don't want to go back to stable :)
I pressed UPDATE ALL and it took off as expected, with a nice big readable status bar. (MUCH LOVE!!)

Other than that...
Pretty much all the same observations as last time are still in effect.

For a test version working towards all those laundry lists of suggestions, this is pretty freaking good progress! Looks clean, runs very well! Going back to stable is killing me. :) (Except that I DO miss being able to select a bunch of things to save and then letting them play one after another during a long drive.. but that would be fixed by a playlist tab.. *nudge*) :D

Enormous thanks, Thomas! I hope you're having an excellent Christmas!

[thp]

Thanks for your feedback. I'll have a look into the toolbar issue. It _should_ do what you said (always enable toolbar regardless of setting), but it looks like this does not yet work correctly.

For all your other suggestions that you have reported/suggested, please file a bug report for each of them at http://bugs.gpodder.org/, so we can track them easily.

I do not yet have an idea how to set up the interface so that finger scrolling is possible AND multiple selections are possible. But, please consider this:

Download: It does not really matter if you add files separately to playlists and then "download" that playlist

Delete: You can use the menu item "Delete old episodes" to get a "playlist" of downloaded files that can be deleted - this way, you don't need to delete files one by one, and it even works for _all_ your podcasts at once.

Playback: Adding multiple episodes to a playlist ("enqueue") should not be handled directly in gPodder, but it will be handled in Panucci soon, and then you get the desired playlist feature (as far as i understand) "for free" due to Panucci's feature set.

Locking: Due to Anders Kvist's patch that allows locking of whole podcasts (in addition to single episodes), you can lock a podcast and automatically lock all the episodes, even not yet downloaded ones

That's about all the operations that I can think of that you can carry out with multiple episodes. So, I think in the long run, we will not need multiple selections or playlists _inside_ gPodder. I fear that this will make the currently very slick interface too complicated.

[danramos]

Feel free to just say, 'Clue stick!' and bat me with the exclamation mark, seeing as how I should know better by now. :) hehe.. I'll go log in and make a few entries for feature requests and bug fixes.

Thanks again, THP! :)

[ltrinh]

First off, thanks for the great program THP! I've used this program everyday since I installed it on my N810. There are however a few things I noticed. One is, certain podcasts play well with the designated default media player. Some of these shows are webalert, geekbrief, and the buzz report. Other shows like tekzilla, system, and hack require that i change the default player to mplayer and then it works fine. Is there a way to specify defaults for each podcast instead of having to change the entire system default every time i switch from show to show? The other thing is is it possible to have gpodder download the shows to specified folders for each podcast? For instance, webalert in the webalert folder and geekbrief in the geekbried folder which is how Miro does it?

Either way, keep up the good work.

[danramos]

Bigger question is... why wouldn't those play in the default media player at all? ...are you downloading mp3 versions of those podcasts, or are you downloading them as ogg files?

It would probably be simpler to just add ogg support to your tablet than it would be to re-engineer the gpodder db to be any less efficient by storing a whole new field per podcast just for what player to use. Not to mention, it is simpler and intuitive not to do that, I would think. Plus--it wouldn't actually fix your problem. It would just add a more complex band-aid. It would work--but I would think we're all going to give up a smidgen of performance for something that's better off being fixed at the player side.

[ltrinh]

Danramos,

The podcasts that I am downloading are video podcasts. Tekzilla is xvid i believe. I installed ogg support from the repository and now media player says that its playing but no video or sound is coming through. The play button is greyed out in fact. Before I installed ogg i got a message that the file is an icompatible format.

Are there any other drivers that i should try to install? Ogg did nothing for me.

thanks

[danramos]

Danramos,

The podcasts that I am downloading are video podcasts. Tekzilla is xvid i believe. I installed ogg support from the repository and now media player says that its playing but no video or sound is coming through. The play button is greyed out in fact. Before I installed ogg i got a message that the file is an icompatible format.

Are there any other drivers that i should try to install? Ogg did nothing for me.

thanks

I think you might be confusing a few things (labels for different video and audio formats). "ogg vorbis" is an audio format and codec ("ogg theora" is video, though) but "xvid" is a video codec and has nothing to do with ogg at all.

You said that Tekzilla is video, for example. Can you give me exactly what RSS feeds you're using in gpodder so that I can try them out as well and see what the problem might be?

[ltrinh]

Sure can...

Here is is: http://revision3.com/tekzilla/feed/xvid-small/

Again, for me to play that in gpodder I have to change over to mplayer in the settings. Once done, it plays very smoothly.

Thanks

[danramos]

Ah.. those are .avi container files encoded with xvid video codec and mpeg audio (mp3?) codec. I expected that should work in the built-in media player but it doesn't.

But here's the thing! It's video.. and you only need to change the default VIDEO player in gPodder.

Here's how! Press the MENU key (or tap the drop-down menu on the top-left corner of the gPodder window). Go to "Podcasts", then choose "Preferences". Tap "Advanced..." and in the "Search for:' bar, type "player". Scroll down and be sure to put a check mark next to "maemo_allow_custom_player" then scroll down some more to the very bottom and look for the entry labeled "videoplayer". Tap on the right side, where you can enter in the path to the video player, and put in "/usr/bin/mplayer" (be sure to hit the ENTER key to enter it in when you're done... hitting CLOSE right away won't enter it in).

Once you've done that, hit the CLOSE button and give it another go. You'll notice that the video will play just fine from gPodder and your audio (mp3, ogg, etc.) will continue to play with the system default player.

If you ever decide you want to use another player for audio, you can change the value in the advanced preferences for the "player" (not "videoplayer") to whatever you prefer to use (I, for example, use /usr/bin/panucci now) and your VIDEO podcasts will still use /usr/bin/mplayer.

Let me know if this worked for you or if you're running into something else.

[ltrinh]

Thanks Danramos,

That's pretty much I've been doing already except I changed the player option to mplayer as well but i guess i didnt need to. Also, you can just type in mplayer for the video player option rather than the whole path.

A radial button to toggle between the two different players would be useful but I definitely don't want to slow down the program any more than it already is.

Thanks for your help man.

[thp]

A radial button to toggle between the two different players would be useful but I definitely don't want to slow down the program any more than it already is.

Would be nice if you could file this at http://bugs.gpodder.org/ so we don't forget to add this at some point in the future :)

The Desktop version has a separate combo box for video and audio players, and it even reads the correct applications from the application list. I have not included something like that on Maemo yet, but I might do so in the future (at least switch between "Nokia Media Player for everything" and "Panucci for audio, MPlayer for video").

Please, report a bug, so we don't forget about this here :) And thanks for your feedback!

[TR6C]

Hello.

I've been using gPodder 0.11.2.maemo6 for awhile now on old OS2008 N800. Love it.

I finally got around to upgrading to Diablo and the latest gPodder.

Unfortunately, during the database transition on the first boot my n800 crashed hard (self reset) and now I can't see most of my already downloaded files - the files are in the folders but they do not appear in gPodder.

Is there a way to rebuild the database using the already downloaded files? Or, can I go through the new database rebuild process again (is the old database still there)?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

-TR6C

[thp]

Unfortunately, during the database transition on the first boot my n800 crashed hard (self reset) and now I can't see most of my already downloaded files - the files are in the folders but they do not appear in gPodder.

Is there a way to rebuild the database using the already downloaded files? Or, can I go through the new database rebuild process again (is the old database still there)?

You can force a new database rebuild (given the old files are still there) by removing the "database.sqlite" file in both /home/user/.config/gpodder and in /media/mmc2/gpodder.

After that, start gPodder and it should do the database migration again.

Of course, all changes since the last migration are lost (except for the subscriptions, which should be saved in the .opml file and will have the latest status, because the .opml file is updated even with the new database).

Sorry for having caused some inconveniences, but using the database instead of the old, file-based methods increases performance, code clarity and reliability.

To backup your subscriptions in case of a future error, you can use my.gpodder.org that is integrated into gPodder 0.14.0.

[jcharpak]

thp, Is there anyway you could merge just the "import videocenter feed list" code with the version of the code in extras and promote the result to extras? I don't want to use extras-devel, and it sounds like the current version in extras-devel is going to get tied up with testing more major changes (gestures etc). Meanwhile, the "import videocenter feed" functionality should be non-controversial.

[TR6C]

Thank you very much for responding!

I'm only seeing "database.sqlite" in /home/user/.config/gpodder ??? Deleting only this one forces rebuild at start, but it looks no different when it is done.

What do the old files look like? Where are/were they? Are they normally destroyed as part of the upgrade?

Is there a way to rebuild the database using the already downloaded files? Many of the podacsts are no longer available…

Thanks.

[ltrinh]

Oki dok THP,

I will file a bug report as soon as i get a link for my new user account from the gpodder bug tracker site. BTW, love panucci too. Just used it today during a road trip. Awesome two programs man! Keep up the great work!

[thp]

thp, Is there anyway you could merge just the "import videocenter feed list" code with the version of the code in extras and promote the result to extras? I don't want to use extras-devel, and it sounds like the current version in extras-devel is going to get tied up with testing more major changes (gestures etc). Meanwhile, the "import videocenter feed" functionality should be non-controversial.

As a matter of fact, the development version with gestures, etc.. is not in extras-devel, but only available as a .deb here.

Because the .deb here has a lower version number than the package in extras, installing the .deb from here, carrying out the videocenter import and then "upgrading" to the old version via application manager should work.

I'm currently quite busy at University, so sadly no time to prepare a package with just that patch cherry-pick'ed from the repository.

Feel free to jump in: Get scratchbox, "apt-get source gpodder", then grab the patch that is known as commit 35c55b37b0076ae943941284d5d863af86fdf04d in the repository (repo.or.cz/w/gpodder.git), "dch -i", write a log message, "dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -S" and send the corresponding source files to me and I'll check it and upload it if it works. You can also use "dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b" to build a binary package for you to install on your tablet.

The source is there. Use it! :) I'll jump back in once I have a bit more time to spare.

[thp]

I'm only seeing "database.sqlite" in /home/user/.config/gpodder ??? Deleting only this one forces rebuild at start, but it looks no different when it is done.

What do the old files look like? Where are/were they? Are they normally destroyed as part of the upgrade?

The old files are either in ~/.config/gpodder/ or directly in /media/mmc2/gpodder/. The old files are named "channelsettings.pickle.db" (in the gpodder dir) and "index.xml" (in the podcast-specific downloa dir) and are converted to the single database.sqlite file by gPodder.

Is there a way to rebuild the database using the already downloaded files? Many of the podacsts are no longer available…

If you have the downloaded files in their old location, and your podcast list converted, trying to download one of these files should result in a check if the file already exists, and if it does, it just gets marked as "downloaded" and no downloading is done. I think this still holds true for 0.14.0, too, so please give it a try.

[jcharpak]

As a matter of fact, the development version with gestures, etc.. is not in extras-devel, but only available as a .deb here.

Because the .deb here has a lower version number than the package in extras, installing the .deb from here, carrying out the videocenter import and then "upgrading" to the old version via application manager should work.

I'm currently quite busy at University, so sadly no time to prepare a package with just that patch cherry-pick'ed from the repository.

Feel free to jump in: Get scratchbox, .

Um, yeah, problem. I had scratchbox more or less installed on my Ubuntu machine and even tried to go through the tutorial, but it spouted a lot of errors at me. It's also an old machine and started wheezing and making other strange noises, so it's retired until I get it fixed.

No rush, just thought it would be easy. Even though, as a fellow programmer I should know better.

[TR6C]

Thanks, but I’m still stuck…

If you have the downloaded files in their old location, and your podcast list converted, trying to download one of these files should result in a check if the file already exists, and if it does, it just gets marked as "downloaded" and no downloading is done. I think this still holds true for 0.14.0, too, so please give it a try.

The problem is that I have many episodes that I have downloaded, that are in the correct gPodder podcast folder, and are listed in the.xml file in the same folder, but are no longer available as an episode download through the podcast subscription. gPodder misses all of these older podcasts that are no longer available to download - exactly the ones I most want to be able to keep.

Can I manually add these using the .xml and file information? Or, is there some other way to get these back into gPodder?

Thanks for all of your help on this!

[thp]

The problem is that I have many episodes that I have downloaded, that are in the correct gPodder podcast folder, and are listed in the.xml file in the same folder, but are no longer available as an episode download through the podcast subscription. gPodder misses all of these older podcasts that are no longer available to download - exactly the ones I most want to be able to keep.

Can I manually add these using the .xml and file information? Or, is there some other way to get these back into gPodder?

One more idea I have how to fix this: Remove (once again) the ~/.config/gpodder/database.sqlite file. Move all _files_ (not folders or folder contents, just the top-level files) from /media/mmc2/gpodder/ to ~/.config/gpodder/. Make sure the download folders (with strange md5 filenames) are direct subdirectories of /media/mmc2/gpodder/. Start gPodder and chose to migrate the database. This should work.

If not, and if you don't mind me seeing what you are subscribed to and what you have downloaded, please tar up your /media/mmc2/gpodder/ folder (with the file names intact, but you can replace "big" mp3 files with zero-length files by doing something like echo -n "">file.mp3 - obviously BACKUP all your files first, because they will get truncated with this command!), make sure the index.xml files for each folder and the *.db files (from the old, file-based structure) and the channels.opml file are all included, and I will see if I can spot the problem locally here.

[TR6C]

This latest suggestion made no difference, but I did notice something that maybe helps...

I've noticed that each time I delete the .sqlite file and let gPodder rebuild the database at startup I get different results. I had almost all the episodes back after one restore, but got greedy and now am back to missing most of them...

Thoughts?

Thanks,
TR6C

[thp]

This latest suggestion made no difference, but I did notice something that maybe helps...

I've noticed that each time I delete the .sqlite file and let gPodder rebuild the database at startup I get different results. I had almost all the episodes back after one restore, but got greedy and now am back to missing most of them...

Thoughts?

I'm out of ideas here.. sorry. That's one of the reasons why I keep the "0." version prefix even after four years.. It should get better once you started using gPodder with the SQLite-based database format.

[thp]

By the way: gPodder 0.14.1 has been released some days ago, and I've updated the Maemo package today. Chinook is already built and promoted to Extras, Diablo is still in the auto-builder queue, waiting to be built for Extras-Devel (and then being promoted).

0.14.1 is just a bugfix release. The real UI improvements (as seen earlier in this thread - with mokoui finger scrolling) are to be released with the next version.

[nextus]

hi all
I have two problems with gPodder:
1. I don't have a finger like scroll on main window as here:
http://maemo.gpodder.org/images/gpodder-medium-channel-bar.png
My screen:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2892/screenshot02hy4.th.png (http://img440.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot02hy4.png)
2. Also I can't set the default player as panucci. When I change from 'default' to 'panucci' in preferences, it continue to run in default player (
I use the latest version from maemo extras (0.14.1)
btw, sorry for my bad english )

[thp]

hi all
I have two problems with gPodder:
1. I don't have a finger like scroll on main window as here:
http://maemo.gpodder.org/images/gpodder-medium-channel-bar.png
My screen:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2892/screenshot02hy4.th.png (http://img440.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot02hy4.png)

This has been removed so there is more space to view text in. The next version will have even tighter scrollbars, but will allow finger scrolling.

2. Also I can't set the default player as panucci. When I change from 'default' to 'panucci' in preferences, it continue to run in default player

You also have to set maemo_allow_custom_player=True. I agree that that's not really obvious to the casual user. Maybe we'll fix that in the next release. Would be helpful if you could add a bug report: http://bugs.gpodder.org/

[nextus]

Thank you for answers. I create a bug report here (http://bugs.gpodder.org/show_bug.cgi?id=354)
I also found bug in panucci (https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=3466&group_id=769&atid=2876)

[danramos]

By the by--it's been a while since my last posting of any sort--but I feel an urgent need to tell you.. that I truly, TRULY appreciate the way gpodder works now that you've moved the database and the config to the ~/config/gpodder/ resource control path.

I've had my SDHC card become corrupt TWICE now.. in VERY VERY big ways--both times while I was far from home (once, two hours away! on a long trip).

I was able to literally just.. FORMAT the SDHC card clean.. and connect to a wifi connection.. and gpodder puts those little red x marks for downloaded but missing files. I was able to just swipe them and instruct gpodder to re-download them.. and VOILA! As if NOTHING ever happened.

Thank you.. thank you... THANK YOU!!! :)

[danramos]

PS - apparently, my MOTHER has stopped using Amarok to sync podcasts to her iPod recently and started using gpodder. I was sort of surprised to find out that, given she's VERY VERY much non-technical.. and she had ALWAYS asked me to help her Amarok, she hadn't said a PEEP to me about gpodder because it 'just works'.

Just another reason to throw you some congrats, THP & Co! :)

[deter3]

i installed gPodder v0.15.0-1 but unable to launch it at n810. anybody successfully luanched already ? previous version works fine .

[Laughing Man]

Nope, there's something wrong.. I need to paste the contents of the terminal later on..

EDIT: Posted

gpodder
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/Si mpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing dep recated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API i s not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, roo t, domain)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 185, in <mo dule>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 182, in mai n
gui.main()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/gui.py", line 4581, in main
gp = gPodder(bus_name)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/gui.py", line 353, in __init__
GladeWidget.__init__(self)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/gui.py", line 140, in __init__
SimpleGladeApp.SimpleGladeApp.__init__( self, path, root, domain, **kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/SimpleGladeApp.py", line 110, in __in it__
self.new()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/gui.py", line 698, in new
self.update_feed_cache(force_update=gl. config.update_on_startup)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/gui.py", line 1863, in update_feed_ca che
self.updateComboBox()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/gui.py", line 1556, in updateComboBox
gl.config.podcast_list_icon_size)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/libpodcasts.py", line 1006, in channe ls_to_model
color_dict, cover_cache, max_width, max _height, True)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/libpodcasts.py", line 993, in update_ channel_model_by_iter
pixbuf = services.cover_downloader.get_ cover(channel, avoid_downloading=True)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/services.py", line 204, in get_cover
(url, pixbuf) = self.__get_cover(channe l, custom_url, False, avoid_downloading)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/services.py", line 226, in __get_cove r
if not async and avoid_downloading and not os.path.exists(channel.cover_file):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/libpodcasts.py", line 531, in get_cov er_file
return os.path.join( self.save_dir, 'co ver')
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/libpodcasts.py", line 482, in get_sav e_dir
wanted_foldername = self.find_unique_fo lder_name(fn_template)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/libpodcasts.py", line 455, in find_un ique_folder_name
current_try = util.sanitize_filename(fo ldername, cls.MAX_FOLDERNAME_LENGTH)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gp odder/util.py", line 1025, in sanitize_file name
return re.sub('[/|?*<>:+\[\]\"\\\]', '_ ', filename.strip().encode(e, 'ignore'))
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/encodings/iso885 9_15.py", line 12, in encode
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't deco de byte 0xbb in position 69: unexpected cod e byte
~ $

[thp]

I am uploading a fix for that UnicodeDecodeError bug right now.. the version will be 0.15.0-3 once uploaded and promoted to Extras.

[Laughing Man]

I don't think the problem was fixed?


BusyBox v1.6.1 (2008-09-18 09:43:17 EEST) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

~ $ gpodder
/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py:337: GtkWarning: Mixing deprecated and non-deprecated GtkToolbar API is not allowed
return gtk.glade.XML(self.glade_path, root, domain)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 185, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 182, in main
gui.main()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 4581, in main
gp = gPodder(bus_name)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 353, in __init__
GladeWidget.__init__(self)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 140, in __init__
SimpleGladeApp.SimpleGladeApp.__init__( self, path, root, domain, **kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/SimpleGladeApp.py", line 110, in __init__
self.new()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 698, in new
self.update_feed_cache(force_update=gl.config.upda te_on_startup)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 1863, in update_feed_cache
self.updateComboBox()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/gui.py", line 1556, in updateComboBox gl.config.podcast_list_icon_size)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libpodcasts.py", line 1006, in channels_to_model
color_dict, cover_cache, max_width, max_height, True)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libpodcasts.py", line 993, in update_channel_model_by_iter
pixbuf = services.cover_downloader.get_cover(channel, avoid_downloading=True)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/services.py", line 204, in get_cover
(url, pixbuf) = self.__get_cover(channel, custom_url, False, avoid_downloading)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/services.py", line 226, in __get_cover
if not async and avoid_downloading and not os.path.exists(channel.cover_file):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libpodcasts.py", line 531, in get_cover_file
return os.path.join( self.save_dir, 'cover')
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libpodcasts.py", line 482, in get_save_dir
wanted_foldername = self.find_unique_folder_name(fn_template)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libpodcasts.py", line 455, in find_unique_folder_name
current_try = util.sanitize_filename(foldername, cls.MAX_FOLDERNAME_LENGTH)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/util.py", line 1025, in sanitize_filename
return re.sub('[/|?*<>:+\[\]\"\\\]', '_', filename.strip().encode(e, 'ignore'))
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/encodings/iso8859_15.py", line 12, in encode
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xbb in position 69: unexpected code byte

[danramos]

Yipes! It's broken for me too! Whenever it gets to the point where it's about to download, it's in perpetual 'queued' status for downloads.

[danramos]

Yipes! It's broken for me too! Whenever it gets to the point where it's about to download, it's in perpetual 'queued' status for downloads.

Ehrm... okay. Nevermind me--turned out to be a wifi network problem on my end.

Nothing to see here. Move along. ^.^;

[torsen]

I just updated and my gPodder is broken too, it just hangs on start up. The old version worked fine :(

Is there a fix for this?

Edit - I unchecked the auto update on startup box in the settings as it was hanging when updating the feeds. Restarted and now it wont even load up!

[thp]

New version 0.15.0-3 promoted to Maemo Extras. Please test.

If it still does not work, please send the output of running "gpodder --maemo --verbose" in X Terminal *after* upgrading to 0.15.0-3. Thanks!

[Laughing Man]

It works, takes a while to start up though. (I had thought it wasn't working anymore until I opened up the terminal and then the gpodder window popped up).

[torsen]

It works for me now too, but as stated above it is a little slow to start.

Wow, losing gPodder was a real drama to me, can't do without my podcasts!

Thanks

[piecafe]

I'm still having problems with 0.15.0-3 :(

gPodder as working fine on my N800 OS2008 until yesterday's update, after which it would not start. I've picked up 0.15.0-3 tonight but it still won't start from the app menu. Using the terminal I get...

~ $ gpodder --maemo --verbose
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 45, in <module>
import dbus
ImportError: No module named dbus

Tried uninstall/install but no better. Thoughts?

[delaroca]

Same problem here, N800 & Os-2008!!!

--denis

[thp]

I'm still having problems with 0.15.0-3 :(

gPodder as working fine on my N800 OS2008 until yesterday's update, after which it would not start. I've picked up 0.15.0-3 tonight but it still won't start from the app menu. Using the terminal I get...

~ $ gpodder --maemo --verbose
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 45, in <module>
import dbus
ImportError: No module named dbus

Tried uninstall/install but no better. Thoughts?

Please install the package "python2.5-dbus" - a missing dependency that I did not spot - sorry about that :( I'm going to upload 0.15.0-4 right now with the right dependency added, so either wait for that or simply do the following in an X terminal (I guess you need the "rootsh" package installed for this to work):

sudo gainroot
apt-get install python2.5-dbus

[piecafe]

I'm going to upload 0.15.0-4 right now with the right dependency added,

Hi, I thought it might have been a packaging issue. I didn't get to install dbus by hand but I've picked up the new gPodder build tonight and it's looking good. Many thanks!

[delaroca]

Please install the package "python2.5-dbus" - a missing dependency that I did not spot - sorry about that :( I'm going to upload 0.15.0-4 right now with the right dependency added

Thanks! Updated to this newer version and things arre back to normal.

--denis

[a-c]

I did a new install of 0.15.0-4 and it would not run at first. It seems that it has trouble with the .conf file or folder not existing. I manually created them and then it started fine.

[TR6C]

Is it possible to get the scroll bars, multiple selection ability, and podcast descriptions back?

[chrisak]

I like the extra space without the scrollbars but have to agree would like them back. Last night I started a sci-fi old-time radio podcast with 100+ episodes... it was painful trying to scroll all the way down to the bottom for 1st show. The menu would often pop up. A scrollbar toggle in settings should satisfy.

Overall gpodder seems to be working quite well these days... I've dumped it many times in the past out of frustration but have always tried again.

edit: wanted to add that I really like integration with pannuci... it doesn't seem to be working right just yet (bookmarks) but I suppose it will soon get there.

[Laughing Man]

Going try to use gpodder again and try to sync folders between laptop and tablet now that I got syncing working.

[Kolyan]

hey guys,
i've been having problems loading gpodder for a while this is the output that i get when i try to launch gpodder --maemo --verbose

~ $ gpodder --maemo --verbose
[ 2.298] Using ISO-8859-15 as encoding. If this
[ 2.301] is incorrect, please set your $LANG variable.[ 2.850] (gPodderLib) Creating gPodderLib()
[ 2.959] Could not create directory: /home/user/.config/gpodder
[ 2.963] (gPodderLib) Cannot move channels.opml from /media/mmc2/gpodder/ to /home/user/.config/gpodder!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 68, in __init__
shutil.move(os.path.join(old_dir, filename), os.path.join(gpodder_dir, filename))
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 199, in move File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 91, in copy2 File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 47, in copyfile
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/user/.config/gpodder/channels.opml'

[ 3.110] (gPodderLib) Cannot move database.sqlite from /media/mmc2/gpodder/ to /home/user/.config/gpodder!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 68, in __init__
shutil.move(os.path.join(old_dir, filename), os.path.join(gpodder_dir, filename))
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 199, in move File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 91, in copy2 File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 47, in copyfile
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/user/.config/gpodder/database.sqlite'

[ 3.181] (gPodderLib) Cannot move gpodder.conf from /media/mmc2/gpodder/ to /home/user/.config/gpodder!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 68, in __init__
shutil.move(os.path.join(old_dir, filename), os.path.join(gpodder_dir, filename))
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 199, in move File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 91, in copy2 File "/usr/lib/python2.5/shutil.py", line 47, in copyfile
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/user/.config/gpodder/gpodder.conf'

[ 3.306] Could not create directory: /home/user/.config/gpodder
[ 3.582] (Config) Update: videoplayer = default
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 185, in <module>
sys.exit( main())
File "/usr/bin/gpodder", line 140, in main
from gpodder import console
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/console.py", line 21, in <module>
from gpodder import download
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/download.py", line 29, in <module>
from gpodder.libgpodder import gl
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 517, in <module>
gl = gPodderLib()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/libgpodder.py", line 123, in __init__
not db.setup({ 'database': os.path.join(gpodder_dir, 'database.sqlite'), 'gl': self })
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 60, in setup
self.__check_schema()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 148, in __check_schema
cur = self.cursor(lock=True)
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 131, in cursor
return self.db.cursor()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/dbsqlite.py", line 123, in db
self._db = sqlite.connect(self.settings['database'], check_same_thread=False)
sqlite3.OperationalError: unable to open database file
[ 64.996] (Config) Flushing settings to disk
Exception in thread Thread-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/threading.py", line 486, in __bootstrap_inner
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/threading.py", line 446, in run
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 296, in save_thread_proc
self.save()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 317, in save
raise IOError( 'Cannot write to file: %s' % self.__filename)
IOError: Cannot write to file: /home/user/.config/gpodder/gpodder.conf

[ 65.091] (Config) Flushing settings to disk
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 300, in __atexit
self.save()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 317, in save
raise IOError( 'Cannot write to file: %s' % self.__filename)
IOError: Cannot write to file: /home/user/.config/gpodder/gpodder.conf
Error in sys.exitfunc:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 300, in __atexit
self.save()
File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gpodder/config.py", line 317, in save
raise IOError( 'Cannot write to file: %s' % self.__filename)
IOError: Cannot write to file: /home/user/.config/gpodder/gpodder.conf

[liberum]

I know this was talked about before a little, but thought I would bring it up again in case I missed something. Can gpodder autodownload podcasts on maemo yet? Like it does in linux desktop. If not, is there a time table? Just curious since I could leave my n800 in my car at night in the garage and have the podcasts go directly over wifi into the n800 for me in the morning. Alternatively if a cron job with gpodder --run in xterm would work then let me know. Thanks for a great app, also Panucci too! love it

[thp]

I know this was talked about before a little, but thought I would bring it up again in case I missed something. Can gpodder autodownload podcasts on maemo yet? Like it does in linux desktop. If not, is there a time table? Just curious since I could leave my n800 in my car at night in the garage and have the podcasts go directly over wifi into the n800 for me in the morning. Alternatively if a cron job with gpodder --run in xterm would work then let me know. Thanks for a great app, also Panucci too! love it

This is going to be easier once the new downloading code is more stable and we have implemented offline mode (i.e. gPodder should know when the tablet is on a WiFi connection and when on cellular and when with no connection). After that, enabling auto-downloading should be an easy exercise.

[fattomm]

I'm wondering if I'm missing something here. I've setup things so that mplayer is used, but find that any MP3-based (probably any non-video based) Podcast now claims "The selected application cannot be found."

All video podcasts (xvid/avi, mov) seem to play as intended. Am I missing a magical flag to mplayer?

(thanks! In the throes of converting to gpodder now!)

[GeraldKo]

I'm wondering if I'm missing something here. I've setup things so that mplayer is used, but find that any MP3-based (probably any non-video based) Podcast now claims "The selected application cannot be found."

All video podcasts (xvid/avi, mov) seem to play as intended. Am I missing a magical flag to mplayer?

(thanks! In the throes of converting to gpodder now!)

I don't really know the answer to your question, except to ask Why aren't you using Panucci for mp3's with gPodder?

And maybe I know the anwer to your problem: "You also have to set maemo_allow_custom_player=True." (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=264646)

[fattomm]

I don't really know the answer to your question, except to ask Why aren't you using Panucci for mp3's with gPodder?

And maybe I know the anwer to your problem: "You also have to set maemo_allow_custom_player=True." (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=264646)

Actually, I looked at Panucci -- but all it talked about were MP3s -- obviously I'm looking a quite a few "vidcasts", and a single (audio) podcast. My presumption was that it doesn't do Video. There didn't seem to be an option for seperate Audio/Video players.

WIthout "maemo_allow_custom_player", the old MediaPlayer was all that would start up -- I'm getting mplayer (even with command-line options) working for quite a few Video formats (which is why I'm using it); it just on audio that things are hurting.

I'd like to use it on my N810 -- I use it on my Fedora box (0.11.1) with VLC -- but it seems to (ahem) have challenges on Maemo.

[GeraldKo]

I don't do videos myself, but I think if you look through the thread you'll find that you can send the audio to one place and the videos to another.