Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

To Qole,

Re the problems I have been reporting with xvbkd -- the keyboard goes in *auto-repeat* mode soon as you hit any key.

It seems related to the "Automatic Click" option. Turning that off in xvbkd's Property panel restored my keyboard to normal. The option is defined as,

"Automatic Click: Set on/off of the automatic click feature and the delay before automatic click is activated. If this feature is set, xvkbd will work as if left mouse button is clicked when mouse pointer is moved on a button and stays long enough. You may want to set Jump Pointer? to OFF to avoid auto-repeating."

Toggling the "Jump Pointer?" on and off did not help... were you not having these problems?

As explained in,

http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/

xvbkd's resources may be re-configured in several ways... one of them is via ~/.Xdefaults. This may be handy to those wishing to make some adjustments to xvbkd's appearance and behavior. Turns out that this v3.0 of xvbkd supports many international keyboard layouts and that is very useful.

If using ~/.Xdefaults to set options for xvkbd keep in mind that it will also affect the Hildon version of xvkbd, if installed.

I also want to ask you if the "/etc/osso-af-init/matchbox.defs" hack is needed by your latest version of the chroot scripts. When opening any of its configuration panels on the Hildon version of vxbkd, upon closing the panels the keyboard window jumps to the upper-let corner... and since hildon windows can't be dragged, the only recorse is to restart vxbkd.

-- Denis

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I can probably set that in the command string of xvkbd in LXDE. To be honest, xvkbd drives me nuts (if it isn't one thing, it's another); I like matchbox-keyboard much better.

I don't understand... the whole point of the hack is to make those kind of windows draggable. The dialogue windows that jump to the upper-left / lower-right corners should be draggable by pressing and holding on the edge of the window.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

My permissions in /home/user/ seemed to be ok, but I ran the chown command anyway... Hallelujah! Everything works :D Those permissions must've been messed up from my last Debian install, and since /home/user/ is mounted on /debian/home/user/ that problem would transcend installs. Thanks!

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

xvkbd is the biggest pain. Yesterday, I (tried) to write a script that would launch xvkbd if it wasn't open and move it down to the bottom-right of the screen, but if it was open call toggle,above via wmctrl. So I could map that script to a button, so it would effectively toggle xvkbd if it was open, and open it to the right spot if it wasn't.

One problem: wmctrl cannot Control xvkbd :rolleyes: It just doesn't work.

BTW, if it weren't for the fact kvkbd were a KDE app, I'd use it as my OSK. Much better than xvkbd...just requires KDE's zillion RAM-hogging processes be open too...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

That window just doesn't drag... same as the matchbox kbd window when launched on the Hildon Desktop.

-- Denis

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Yes, I agree. I considered the KDE keyboard too, but rejected it for the same reason. But if someone installs Debian KDE anyway, I'd recommend the KDE keyboard for them...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Here we go again...

New beta version with powerlaunch replacement!

This version has a menu icon (Extras / Set Debian HW keys) that should make it possible to fullscreen Debian apps with the fullscreen key, and pressing the minus key followed by the menu key will make the matchbox keyboard toggle on and off.

I use xbindkeys to do this, and my initial tests suggest that the keys continue to work properly for their originally intended purpose unless you press them in the right order (minus, menu = keyboard). The only problem I've found is that I have to press the minus key twice sometimes to get it to zoom out, but that's ok.

If anyone can suggest a better key combination for the popup keyboard (keys have to be available on the N800, since they're the ones who really need it) please do! You can try out different combinations by editing /home/user/.xbindkeys.scm and changing the keys using these codes.

Anyway, here's the new version:

easy-deb-chroot-0.9-8

Users of the 0.9 series should just be able to upgrade directly, users of the 0.6 package or below will need to follow the instructions in my post above.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Are you giving for good up on Powerlaunch -- is Bindkeys definitely superior?

-- Denis

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

FYI, I just edited ~/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml and configured my keyboard shortcuts there.

Fullscreen key = fullscreen
Minus = Move Window (yes, even above the screen)
Escape = Close Application
Menu = Toggle Right Click on/off (for QT/KDE mostly)

etc.

That works well for me. Granted, this doesn't work in Hildon WM (Matchbox), but I always run Debian apps in LXDE anyway...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Well, I'm still including the powerlaunch config as part of the Easy Debian package, but bindkeys doesn't break the alarms and it is already included in the Debian package you download -- it doesn't require an outside package. That's always an advantage for me.

If the alarms problem gets fixed, I'll start promoting powerlaunch again.

This bindkeys hack is specifically designed for those of us who run Debian apps right in the Hildon WM.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

A tarball of the Easy Debian Final image rootfs is available for those of you who prefer to use a partition.

debian-final.tar.bz2

I really want some feedback / comments about the xbindkeys hack; does it work for you?

However, if there are no more beta-testing comments, I'm going to push ahead with this version and get it done. I'm in the process of getting all my stuff together to upload to Extras...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Well, I just ditched powerlaunch last night (I hadn't been using it for a while because of potential interference with SSU, and didn't have it set up right, rendering it a pain), so I'll be able to give some feedback on that after I finish this SSU.

One thought: You might push it to extras-devel first, so the installing-from-repos bugs, if any, can be troubleshot among advanced users?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I'm still kinda feeling my way here, as this is the first package I've ever uploaded to the Repositories, but I think that's a good idea...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Hi Qole,

Xbindkeys work for me :) Alarms back to normal. I actually modify it to rotate my screen (minus key follow by plus). The only small issue I have is that the fullscreen causes a different behavior on FBReader software. The bottom row of buttons in FBReader remain visible using Xbindkeys fullscreen (it should hide away under the standard fullscreen).

Do you know what is the keycode (F?) for the swap button (the button above the menu)? I thought of mapping it to some function.

And can you make Xbindkeys automatically start-up upon reboot, instead of starting it manually?

Thank you!

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

That sounds useful! Could you post the command you use?

FBReader must use a non-standard full-screen command. Some other programs will probably display slightly different fullscreen behaviours too. We could make the Debian fullscreen into a two-step process, maybe? Minus then fullscreen?

I assume that is the "home" key on the N800... If so, that's F5.

I don't want to do that, because it opens the Debian chroot, and I'd prefer not to do that automatically; only when the user wants it.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Ok, after working with OpenOffice in OS2008 a bit yesterday, it became painfully clear that I had to have a menu icon for finding OOo when I switched away, because, of course, there's no icon for it in OS2008.

So I've added a new icon, "Find OpenOffice" ... This just runs the following:

ALSO: People keep mentioning insanely short startup times for OpenOffice. The shortest startup time I can get is TWO MINUTES, from pressing the menu button to getting a document on the screen. What am I doing wrong, or are you measuring startup time differently?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Imho it depends whether ooo's nuts and bolts are there ready for working or not - I mean:

• recently booted tablet, first run of oowriter, from click to an usable window --> 140 seconds
• close window, then immediately after
• second run, from click to an usable window --> 45 seconds
• close window, then 3-4 minutes later (the time to write the lines above)
• third run, from click to an usable window --> 85 seconds.

So may it depend on some things being in ram vs. in cache?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

>That sounds useful! Could you post the command you use?

Here is a simple script file to toggle between landscape and portrait mode. You need to install the xrandr (command line program for rotation -- the author has removed it from sse2.net/rotate -- Chinook version).

if (xdpyinfo|grep -c 800x480)
then
xrandr -o right
else
xrandr -o normal
fi


>FBReader must use a non-standard full-screen command. Some >other programs will probably display slightly different fullscreen >behaviours too. We could make the Debian fullscreen into a >two-step process, maybe? Minus then fullscreen?

Yes, I did the same. I mapped debian fullscreen to minus + fullscreen. So the standard one-button fullscreen now behaves the standard way with maemo apps.

(define (second-binding)
"Second binding"
(display "New binding")
(ungrab-all-keys)
(remove-all-keys)
; Minus + Fullscreen = debian apps fullscreen
(xbindkey-function '(F6)
(lambda ()
(run-command "wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b toggle,fullscreen")
(reset-first-binding)))
; Minus + Plus = toggle between landscape & portrait. /home/user/rotate as above script.
(xbindkey-function 'F7
(lambda ()
(display-n "Minus and Plus")
(run-command "/home/user/rotate")
(reset-first-binding)))
...
(debug)
(grab-all-keys))



>I don't want to do that, because it opens the Debian chroot, and >I'd prefer not to do that automatically; only when the user >wants it.
OK, understood.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I got it up (blank document) in under 1min 30sec with your latest turbo charged version. My debian image file is stored on a 2GB 50X card.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I don't understand this.. I do get a generic "app" icon that is accessible when switching away / back. Am I missing something?

Re launch times, it takes 25secs for OpenOffice to launch in my Diablo system: from tap on launch to the display of the OOO menu. The same test with Abiword (which I installed in the easy Debian image) launches in 20secs on my N800.

Re: FBREADER and the problem with Xbindkeys, I am afraid there's yet a more serious problem with this app. It has to do with the matchbof.defs hack. When active, FBREADER menus open way big and overflow the available screen space... and become thus unuseable.

What functionality does the hack truly enable? In LXDE, windows are fully moveable and resizable without this hack being active... so I am curious what do you actually need it for?

Once the Easy Debian image has been installed, is there any reason to keep the contents of ~/image-install around?

Re: Xbindkeys what do you propose now?

-- Denis

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Denis, your record on OOO is amazing. Is it from plain easy debian from Qole? And - are you calling OOO from the lxde desktop or the maemo menu system?

EDIT Aha I bet you're not calling oowriter but ooffice - the one you can choose which file to open or which app to start - hence 25 secs arein line with what I get too. Let me know how long does it take from a "debbie oowriter" to an usable window, please.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I am calling everything from the maemo menu system. You are right, once things are cached oofice comes up in 25s... as for oowriter, the very first time took under 90s, the next time it took a tad over 60s.

Does that match your figures? Yes, I am on the latest Diablo update and with Qole's Easy Debian system. The version of OOO in Qoles package is v2.4.1.

-- Denis

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

FBReader:
Many apps, not just FBReader, have this exact problem when the matchbox.defs hack is installed. You can drag the window untill "you get it in the right spot", but this is a major pain, especially if you frequently use an application that has this confliction.

Personally, I removed the hack because of the reason you stated above. The hack is there so you can drag bigger-than-the-screen debian application dialog boxes around in the matchbox window manager. If you're like me, and use LXDE 99% of the time for running debian applications, I'd say get rid of it, but else, no. I should warn you, if you get rid of the hack, GIMP is no longer useable on a tablet e.g. GIMP + LXDE don't mix :(

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Is this tarball supposed to replace the ".img.ext2" file?
If so - how can i use this tarball?
Hardware: N810 (latest diablo installed)
Software: Chroot.easy.deb 0.9-8 + auto installed the debain.img.ext2 file on my MMC2.
I ran out of space (i did purge the locales first!) after installing & uninstalling korganizer & tried to install evolution. The download of the files was fine - yet while installing it ran out of space.
Therefore i formated MMC2 in ext2 (didn't uninstall the easy.chroot.deb) and tried:

-> Untar the tarball on my ubuntu system:
I need admin rights & it untar's into one folder called "debian final" (something like that at least)
-> Put the folder on my internal (MMC2) Disk on the N810 (the disk is formated in ext2)
=> Doesnt work:
"missing debian.img.ext2 file"

I put the folders (usr, bin, ....) directly on MMC2
=> Doesnt work:
When starting chroot (from task bar) i get a terminal window for less then a second - so i can't even guess what the error msgs might be.

I'll try another complete reinstall (aprox the 10th this week) in about 2h.
Maybe one can tell me until then, how to propper use the tar file. I dont want to be limited to the img file.
BTW - why the img file after all? why not just a formated ext2 (ext3?) partition & not being dependet on the size of the img file anymore?
As a side effect, i can imagine it should bring some speed boost too, as the program doesn't need to work in a filestructure, packed into an img file, or am i wrong?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Qole, do you think that putting both the maemo rootfs *and* the debian rootfs (under /debian) in the same partition, *without* mounting, could bring some more speed? This could be done with 8gigs or 16gigs transflash cards with ease...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

2beers: Please see this thread on setting up your Easy Debian in a partition using the tarball. One important thing to remember when reformatting; always leave a small fat32 partition at the beginning of your mmc, and then format the rest as ext2.

Because this project is about making it easy, and as you have found out, formatting partitions is hard.

That used to be true, but the latest version uses the dm-loop which is almost the same speed as a partition.

debernardis: It definitely would work, but the only way to find out how much faster it is (if it is any faster at all) ... is for you to try it! ;)

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Building another deb for testing. This one will have some more refinement in the area of the matchbox keyboard. I spent some time hacking on the XML definition file, making the keyboard work properly in all environments. I also have developed an experimental one-line mini-keyboard, trying to get the most useful keyboard possible in the least amount of space. I want people to install it and try out the keyboards. This especially means I need help from any N800 users out there, who have no recourse to a slide-out hardware keyboard.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Hey, if you're re-releasing, mind making sure /home/user/.xbindkeysrc.scm is not owned by root this time? :p I'm still hacking on that, but should have some suggestions by the weekendend.

And I look forward to the better keyboard as well... but I've got one thought: We might be able make application windows avoid it, either by setting it up as a panel (with some WM hints, I guess...) or by making a panel under it of an appropriate size? Just a thought I had yesterday, and I can't be the first, so there's probably a good reason it's not been implemented yet...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Yeah, I discovered that omission. Will be fixed.

I for one have no idea how to do that with the tools available to me. Show me, and I will make it so!

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Me either, really. ;) Once I get happy with my keybindings, I'll take a look at it.

Say, what are your feelings on including another program, specifically xte? It appears to be playing a role in my solution... although while typing this I suddenly thought of another option that might be tidier anyhow.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I don't want to update the big tarball anymore, so if the app you want is installed in there, you can use it.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

New version!

- 'find openoffice' icon: get back to openoffice in maemo when you 'lose' the window
- improved HW keys, with new virtual keyboard stuff:
-- minus then menu: toggle keyboard
-- minus then plus: switch between full keyboard and mini one-line keyboard
-- minus then fullscreen: fullscreen any application

0.9 beta testers: just install easy-deb-chroot-0.9-9_armel.deb easy-deb-chroot-0.9-10_armel.deb

0.6 or previous: uninstall, reboot, install.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Hi Qole,

I got "unable to install ...." at the end of installing 0.9-9. I am running 0.9-7 (turbo charged) version.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Sigh. Ok, fixed above. Stupid typo in my package. Please try again!

easy-deb-chroot-0.9-10_armel.deb

Another little note: When using the 1-line keyboard, hit the "^1" key and then the "Ctrl" key to get a list of useful ctrl keys for terminal use. Or just hit the "^1" key and then "y" and "return" if you need to answer yes to a prompt...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Unfortunately, on the whole I haven't liked running real Debian on my N800. I've tried at least three or four variants. My favorite was Penguinbait's Window Maker, but few others seemed to appreciate it. I wonder if much of this effort might be better spent improving the regular environment, rather than putting a pig in a suit.

In real life, not on a tablet, I run Sidux, which is a version of Debian, and I was a fan of LXDE before it began to be used here, but I I just haven't found this stuff that graceful compared to the Hildon environment.

I'll keep trying from time to time.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I'm confused; you're talking about two different things here, the window manager / desktop environment (LXDE, Window Maker, etc vs Hildon), and the source of the applications (Debian vs Maemo). I agree that Maemo is an excellent environment for the tablet form factor; in fact, I use most of my Debian apps in Hildon (OS2008), instead of LXDE.

I want to be able to use the many apps available to us in the Debian repositories, so I can either port them to Maemo or run them via a chroot.

I know many people want to try out alternate desktop environments, so I provide the best one I've found for the tablet so far, LXDE. However, my personal aim is to run as many Debian apps directly in Maemo as possible. LXDE (and all of the other WMs) are more a proof-of-concept for me.

My latest package is actually more focussed on the Debian-in-Maemo side, with better virtual keyboard integration, etc.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Hello,

I’m new here and I recently install Debian running LXDE as instructed on this thread.
Problem I’m having is I can’t seem to access or see my mmc2 or usb key (using USB host mode).
Using “PCMAN File Manager 0.5” I have three folders under /media:
Mmc1
MMC2
Usb

MMC1: contains my debian-final.img.ex2
MMC2: is empty
USB: is empty

How do I mount MMC2 and my USB key?

Thanks,

VirtusRex

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

One of the limitations of this system is that it doesn't "see" MMC cards nor USB devices added after starting the chroot.

If you plug something new into your tablet, you have to exit LXDE, then you have to use the "Close Debian" icon (usually in Extras). Then restart LXDE and you should see your devices. Usually USB keys are /media/usb/sda1 or something like that.

Alternately, if you're geeky and don't want to shut down your Debian stuff, you can open a terminal in OS2008 and type:

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

OpenOffice discovery!

This current version has an icon for OpenOffice (in the left-hand OS2008 task bar) and TAP-AND-HOLD RIGHT-CLICK!

Somehow we've gotten GTK integration to work! So I guess you don't need the "Find OpenOffice" icon after all...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Ok, BrentDC and others who use LXDE as your primary environment!

You have to help me find the Openbox (LXDE's WM) configuration setting that lets you move windows past the top of the screen. If you can find this setting, you'll just have to hit the menu button once and then tap the top of the screen to jump the window up (I already have that part set).

This page says it can be done. That would fix GIMP and others.

EDIT: Try this please! Within LXDE, open a window, put the mouse cursor in the middle of the screen, then press the menu HW key on your tablet (this should change the cursor to a four-way arrow), then drag your stylus from the middle of the window upwards. See if that moves the window up past the top of the screen. It seems to work on my tablet, but I've been messing with the config files.

EDIT 2: The method given above WORKS for GIMP; It is usable in LXDE.