Notices

Yeah, it saves me a heck of a lot of hassle by doing that. I'll take a look at offering a "high-power Morse code" option, but I'd prefer to stick with the torch mode for now...

Honestly, I'd prefer not to do that. I'm just too nervous about turning Lanterne into a "N900 Self-Destruct Tool" if I did that...

Ah, that would be the "non-blocking mode"! I was kinda amazed I could get away with using that when accessing the device driver. (If both Lanterne and another app start using the LEDs at the same time though, the results might be a little odd.)

Actually, I know there's a sensor somewhere to detect whether the cover is open or not, but I don't know how to access it yet, so I kinda just didn't bother. I should probably put a test in for that sensor, but I'll make sure that it can be disabled.

Shouldn't be tough. If you want, pretty much all the code involved in accessing the LEDs can be found in the LanFlashLED class, in the following files:

https://github.com/jpietrzak8/Lanter.../lanflashled.h
https://github.com/jpietrzak8/Lanter...anflashled.cpp

So you could go ahead and set up something yourself, without having to wait for me. But yeah, putting together a command-line interface to Lanterne should be a heck of a lot easier than for Pierogi, so it might not take me forever to get it done.

Ok, will do; shouldn't be too hard to read input from a file. I'll look in to what it takes...

Ok, Lanterne version 0.2.0 is now on its way up to extras-devel. In this version:

* A "continuous SOS beacon" feature has been added. Press the "SOS" button on the main page to start it running; press again to stop it. Note that the beacon uses the dot-duration value set in the Morse Code page, so you can speed it up or slow it down if you want.

* I've given up on trying to play with the torch parameters, so I've gotten rid of the Torch window and replaced it with a simple Torch On/Off button on the main page.

* The UI buttons have been modified to be (hopefully) a bit more finger-friendly.

* All parameter values are now stored persistently via QSettings.

* The strobe timer has been fixed to strobe first, not pause first.

* The package meta-data has been improved slightly (setting up links to the Github website and bug management pages).

Please note that Lanterne is a very young project, and will certainly contain bugs! Thanks.

Pretty, pretty please, maybe with some one-time warning? It's really not practical to keep button on screen pressed, just to get 500 ms ON and 100 ms OFF strobe light. From my experience with LEDs, I really doubt that such parameters could damage anything, and if yes - well, the risk is *only* for diodes itself, and it's user choice, after all.
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Thanks a lot for your updates, this is real whirlwind of development! Just a little remark - after starting morse code output, there is no way to cancel it, except for closing whole program. Even going back and enabling torch mode result in torch getting activated, then deactivated by still-running morse code.

Some way to cancel it would be great

/Estel

// Edit
[Off-topic] I've noticed, that you're gathering donations for 2nd N900, for development purposes. I have some ideas, but I need to know your needs - is this device required to work 100%, or you could go with something like broken USB (for practical purposes, can be replaced by other communications channels, if you're not developing for USB hostmode, that is)?

Asking in public instead of PM, as I'm still not sure if I'll be able to come with something meeting your criteria - so, I would like others to also get aware about need for a development device for such a friendly and, overall, great developer
[/off-topic]

Well, there are users, and there are users, right? You I trust, but we've just recently seen that there are some users (<cough>TheoX</cough>) who have rather strange notions of what activities are and are not healthy for an N900 to endure. I'm really nervous about someone grabbing an app like this, cranking up the parameters all the way, and leaving the thing running until something fails.

Let me make one more appeal: I personally keep a little LED flashlight on my keychain for when I really need a portable light. These things provide far brighter light than the N900 can, for a longer period of time, and are disposably cheap. For example:

http://www.amazon.com/Cree-300LM-Min...ref=pd_cp_hi_0

Couldn't something like this work for you? Thanks!

Ack! Sorry, didn't consider that; yeah, I set the timer off and running without any way to control it... I'll fix that in the next update.

[Off-topic]
Actually, I did already pick up a second N900 a few months back (although the donations I've gotten only covered about half the price, so I'm still hoping to get a few more ). It has, in fact, helped me quite a bit for development work, as I still use my main N900 as my phone; I can now put experimental stuff onto my test N900 without worrying about messing it up.

I am considering whether a third N900 might be helpful; I could more easily play around with alternate OSs like Nemo or Arch, without the worry of interfering with either of my primary N900s...

But in any case, I want to make sure that people don't think there is any sort of obligation tied to this app (or to Pierogi). This is free software (both in terms of money and of freedom), to do with as you please. Thanks![/Off-topic]

Lanterne 0.3.0 is now making its way up to extras-devel. The big addition this time is the ability to load text files into the Morse code transmission window. It's pretty bare-bones right now, you just click on "Select Text File" and choose a file. (By default, it looks into the directory "/home/user/MyDocs/.documents".) (By the way, the contents of the text editor are _not_ stored persistently.)

If you prefer, you can still just type directly into the text editor box to create a message.

You can also now pause a running transmission by hitting the "Pause Transmission" key.

I've also added a warning message at the start of the app, telling users not to look directly into the flash LEDs. This warning should only show up once.

And, I did finally manage to reproduce that rotation-button error. I've made a change that I think will fix it. (In any case, it looks like Qt is not very happy about managing UI components during a rotation, so more problems may crop up. I suppose it might be better to catch the signal that the app is rotating, and just shut down the entire UI until the rotation finishes...)

As always, beware of new bugs! Thanks.

I installed 0.0.1 with HAM but I didn't see 0.0.2 and I can't see 0.0.3 now, either. Using FAM, however, I see 0.0.3 now. The extras-devel repository is set up the same way in both HAM and FAM, and I can see an update for another extras-devel application in both (Opera Mobile, which I don't want to update). Please advise.

[idea/request]
how about a sound detection mode that makes the led flash with music input from the mic like react to the beats, also have mic sensitivity adjustment for it, or an option to play a music track and to flash in time to the beat would be cool.
thank you for your work

Yes, I seem to be having some trouble with HAM this morning as well; the repository contents I'm getting appear similar to what they were during the transition away from Nokia servers earlier this year. I suppose such issues will continue to crop up as the aftereffects of the transition are dealt with...

Hmm, let me take a look at the audio device stuff. I've never played with audio before myself, I'm not entirely sure how you pull beat information out of an audio stream. (Just look for raw volume spikes or something?) I'll do some investigating.

An option to quit or switch off the light on lens cover closed will be handy.
I was using the torch yesterday and automatically closed the lens cover.
An hour or so later I spotted the battery drain and light from the gap in the cover. Oops.

This is habit from using flashlight application TBH.
I am starting to use lanterne as a replacement for it.

FYI I have been having the issues with updates not coming through either.
I have been installing with terminal and apt-get.

Get root and "apt-get install lanterne --version 0.3.0" (or latest number)