porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

Major Announcement

I've just discovered that the latest version of KDEPIMPI (2.10), compiled for the Open Embedded project, combined with the libqt-mt.so.3 library (for Zaurus qt3 compatibility) produce a working, stable, PIM suite. The menus, icons, and functions are much better, though it isn't Hildonized. The calendar/to-list is much better, the address book is fully functional, and synchronizing works. The mail progam (ompi) and cell-phone data exchange (kammu, based on gammu) each run but are untested.

Many thanks to: Zautrix (the original author of KDEPIMPI), yonggun on OESF for compiling the package, and tz1 for the qt3 library.


Known problems: no Hildonization, the alarm pop-up menu is incorrectly sized, making it easy to suspend an alarm but difficult to cancel one, there aren't desktop launcher (menu) entries, and the installation procedure isn't ready for novices. However, if someone contacts yonggun to get the source code, it shouldn't be hard to rebuild the .deb package with menu entries and the post-install "ldconfig" for the Maemo platform.


Here's a link to the OESF page with a .deb package of kdepimpi.

Here's a link to the libqt-mt.so.3 library which must be installed before kdepimpi.

Note: The installation must be done from the command-line (or possibly via the "red-pill" mode in the application manager). In my case I downloaded the two ".deb" packages and then ran (as root):
The alarms even work if you create a shell script to replace the "playwave" command called by kdepimpi:


------------------------ Original Text -------------------------------
I'm happy to announce some significant progress in getting the KDEPIMPI PIM suite running on the Nokia handhelds. This package is a "pure Qt" calendar/todo-list/contact list/password manager. It also includes a time-tracker and interface to mobile phones. There are Linux & Windows desktop versions, with intelligent bi-directional synchronization. The package has been a popular PIM on the Sharp Zaurus for many years. Despite the package name, there are no KDE dependencies.

The original developer's site for the package is:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/kdepimpi/

With tremendous help from Michael Krelin, there is now a Qt4 port of KDEPIMPI. It compiles cleanly under scratchbox and runs on my N810 (OS2008), but has some problems that need to be fixed by a more experienced programmer than me.

I'm seeking someone to take a look at the package as it is now, and make what are hopefully the small changes needed to be fully functional.

Please contact me directly if you would like a copy of the source code, my compilation notes, installation scripts, and a detailed description of the current problems.

Thanks,

Mark

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

I would love to see this happen.
KDE PIM is a great suite, but KDE on the IT is not the most friendly of environments.
Powerful, yes, endlessly configurable, yes, but stable and friendly, maybe not so much.

You say there are issues. What sort?

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

Um, despite the confusing name, the kdepimpi PIM suite is not dependent on KDE. The name comes from "KDE PIM Platform Independent". This is a Qt application, and runs without KDE libraries.

As far as the "issues"...the contact list app runs, but doesn't load my existing data files. The calendar/to-do app starts, displays on-screen, loads existing data...then segfaults. :(

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

Depends on your hardware, KDE on n800, it runs, KDE on n810, IT SHINES!!!!

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

That's what I'm interested in.

KDE is a lot of fun on my N810, but it'd make me nervous to rely on it.
I'd hope that kdepimpi might be a little more responsive under maemo,
without the rest of KDE hanging about, clamouring for the processor's attention.

That thing were you double click on something,
and then hang about for a bit waiting to see if it took...

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

I should have announced this earlier, but there's now a Maemo Garage project for the KDEPIMPI suite. The source code and a tar file with binaries for testing are available. Please see:

• https://garage.maemo.org/projects/kdepimpi/

The kopi (calendar/datebook/ToDo) program is about 80% functional, and the other elements aren't quite as far along.

I gladly welcome any assistance from developers interested in getting this PIM package into a finished state for the tablet.

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

Is the target of this a standard Hildon desktop with proper integration and looking native (possibly following on from the work on http://qt4.garage.maemo.org/ ?)

Or is it a customisation of it within KDE to better fit the screen etc. and is intended for use of those running KDE on their tablets?

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

Sort of...

My goals for KDEPIMPI, in order of importance, are:

1. Basic functionality fixes (ie., enable scrolling in pop-up configuration windows, display missing icons, enable click-to-zoom on calendar entries, enable audio output from alarm, fix resources issue on kapi)
2. Increased Hildonization (integration with NIT hardware keys (home/full-screen/+ and -/escape), integration with gconf for font selection & changes, moving menu entries into Hildon menus, etc.)
3. Enhancements to KDEPIMI (changes to kopi for improved handling of floating items and "knapsack packing" of tasks into alloted time, generation of Gantt/Pert charts and minimal project management features, improvements in cell phone & SIP integration--cell & SIP dialing & sms from within kapi)
4. Low-level integration with NIT (ie., use of dbus for alarm signalling, integration with Maemo "contacts" shortcut)

KDEPIMPI, despite the name, is not a KDE program--it's a Qt application, with no dependencies on KDE libraries. It does offer integration with KDE programs, just as it can syncronize data with any programs that understand the standard ical/vcal/vcard formats.

I don't run KDE on my tablet, but I do use it on my desktop, with KDEPIMPI. I strongly suspect that the unmodified, X-Windows version of KDEPIMPI, compiled for ARM, would work just fine within KDE on the tablet. (You could use the source code from the KDEPIMPI garage project and compile a version without the minimal Hildon changes and find out for yourself.)

There would probably be issues with font & window sizes, but I'm not sure that those should be solved by changes within the KDEPIMPI source code, since KDEPIMPI is already a mature, stable application under KDE.

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

So do I have to install KDE first?

Just kidding. Does Kdepimpi support synchronization with google calendar at all?

Re: porting Kdepimpi PIM suite to N8*0 (status, help needed)
 

Sure...the MacOS version. :)

I don't know. Personally, I don't use the Google calendar. After about 60 seconds of searching the 'net, I believe it's possible, since the Google calendar can produce an ".ics" (ical) file. I'm not sure what's necessary to get this file, whether a 3rd party piece of software is involved, etc.

I strongly recommend trying kdepimpi on a Linux desktop and figuring out the synchronization process there. You can get kdepimpi for Windows XP or Linux (as an RPM) and source code from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/kdepimpi/.

I'll also be updating the source code on the Maemo garage kdepimpi site so that it's easier to build both a tablet and desktop version from the same source tree (and may start distributing the desktop version too).

When you do get synchronization with the Google calendar working, I'd be very grateful for a detailed write-up of the process, to include in the KDEPIMPI distribution & on-line help.

One outstanding bug with kdepimpi on the tablet is that some sub-windows don't resize correctly or have scrollbars. Because of this, it's very difficult to configure synchronization on the tablet, since important fields in the synchronization config window are off the screen. :(

However, if you've configured the synchronization on a desktop machine, it's relatively easy to copy the files to the tablet and make any changes (typically just the hostname) from the command-line.

Of course, any assistance in fixing up the source code would be gratefully appreciated.