Originally Posted by RevdKathy

Does Michael really have an account here? How the heck did he accrue the requisite karma?

Hello most of you know me but for the ones who don't my name is Andrew F Black and I am from Alabama, USA I have been in the Maemo Community for about two(2) years now and I have jumped right in wanting to find a way to give back. I found this way in theme making. In the past year I have created and released over a dozen themes. I have released themes for every Maemo device including the 770 which I did not get until after I already had my N810. I have tried to help get more people interested in theming for Maemo by publishing how-to guides and helping answer any questions I get from new theme makers.

About a year ago not long after the start of the Mer project I jumped on board to help give Mer some good themes. I knew that at some point it would take the community to keep support for the older devices. I had not planned on getting a N900 and wanted to do what I could to make sure the N8x0 devices had support. In my work with Mer I traveled to several Linux conferences. Including SELF (South East Linux Fest) and the Florida Linux Show last year. I not only advertised and supported Mer at these events I tried to get the word out on Maemo and the Nokia Internet Tablets/Phones all together. At these shows I was able to spread the word and help bring new people into the community.

Due to the success of some of my Maemo4 themes, and because of my travels to the Linux Conferences I was sent a N900 direct from Finland. I was told to use it for testing and designing themes for it months before you could even buy one. I also received it for when I go out representing the Maemo Community at Linux shows I have the Newest Maemo Device. I was very proud and honored to be sent my N900 and I use it often to test new themes or software I am working on.

That was the past now let me tell you what's going on now. I have released five(5) themes for Maemo5 so far and have a few more in the works. The first and most downloaded one is my maemo-org theme that is based off the maemo.org color scheme. I have worked hard on it and have been told by many that it is the best theme I have ever done. A theme of mine that is now in extras-devel that I have yet to really talk about anywhere is my Picnic theme. It is based off a Winterboard theme and is more geared to Woman and Children, but I use it my self and like the bright colors of it. The icons are replaced by these cute little square guys. Also released recently is my Buuf theme that is based of the popular Buuf icon set. I have the base theme for it done but have yet to replace that many icons on it. I hope to have an update to that soon.

Another recent project that I can only really take credit for coming up with the idea for and helping in the design process is themaemo.org Talk application. It is in extras-devel right now since it depends on Qt4.6 which should be out of extras after the next firmware release. The maemo.org Talk application is a simple web browser that loads t.m.o on your n900 using the minimalist theme and moves all links to menu options instead of taking up room on the page. This gives you more space on screen for the sites content. I need to give fiferboy credit for writing the program I just had the idea and helped him plan it.

I am also working with a new way of theming that will allow users to download themes piece by piece and create their own custom themes. This project is in its early stages but I hope to have something out in a few weeks. Keep an eye out on my blog for updates to this project.

One thing that I really want to see happen is the Maemo Community Outreach program. It will allow more people go to Linux or other Trade shows to talk about Maemo and maemo.org. I really think this is a great way of getting new developers involved in out community. I have been working with Texrat and Quim on getting this started. We have been in a holding period for a while with Meego being announced but I really want to see this happen and will work hard see it come to life.

The last thing I will talk about is my commitment to Mer on the N8x0 devices; I think we should push to get it in a stable form that will allow us to run most Fremantle Applications on our older devices. I also think we should work with some of our community developers to port their applications back to Diablo if at all possible. I still use my N810 and want to see some life kept in it for a few more years. If I am elected to the Council or not I will keep working on this project.

Summery of work

Diablo:
Windows XP theme
Buuf theme
LinuxMint theme
Frediablo theme
Mer-Echo theme

Fremantle:
Maemo-org theme
Buuf theme
Picnic theme
Simple-Pink theme
Buildon theme