Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

The NIT is now fine, but I'm no longer able to run liqbase, the screen remains black upon launch and in the log the only usefull hint is the last line that points to the impossibility of continuing because no user name was specified... unfortunately no keyboard nor splash screen is displayed, just a dull, empty, black screen :(

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

have you rebooted the device completely?
I've had lockups before (with other apps as well) which require a proper reset of the device.

During the summit the device crashed on me with similar symptoms (overworked?!) though after rebooting everything was fine.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Nope, I did something even more radical than rebooting... I removed the battery completely :D
Can't remember if it is possible to check the file system on the SD directly on the NIT, maybe it got corrupted during the "blackout" :D
I'll work on it later, now it's time to rest my eyes...

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

I just posted a little note about the liqbase beta test on planet maemo...

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

liqbase back in action while watching Total recall :D
The problem? A stuck app manager that wasn't able to finalize the installarion from the downloaded .deb ;)
Works ok, seems slower than the predecessor, had screen corruption on graffiti wall and read a book, but not on sketch :)

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

mmmnm, justnick, the only thing that should be slower is the startup (with the "liqbase - loading").

I have updated liqbase.net with information about reported issues, 0.0.8 *is* a little less stable though, i think i need to do some more tweaking, but i'm glad ive got the majority of the x11 events in place now and i don't have to run away at the first sign of an unknown event :)

justnick, if you have a problem with this first run corruption thing, just drop resolution to 640*480 and it should not occur. I am in the process of 100% confirming theres nothing i can do about it and creating a formal testcase including very specific code to demonstrate the problem.
Once I have done this (assuming I can reproduce it) I will either have an answer (by talking myself round the code) or I will file a proper bug report to nokia about it.

The locking issue is similar, I do not know if I can cure this one and if I can reproduce it in the testcase above I will ensure I sort.

:) the most frustrating part is that it works for me over here so much.




qole,
:D thank you for your very kind words, yes i do know what you are typing.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Well on startup resolution is automatically set to 640x480 with no issues, but going up to 800x480 there's screen corruption, but this time it isn't in the sketch area, which is now unaffected at any resolution, but in the read a book and in the graffiti wall (it appears as soon as you touch the screen trying to scroll...)
As usual corruption disappears if liqbase is run a second time... making this a real mistery.
Startup is indeed slower, but the responsiveness of all the program seems affected too (transisions from menu to menu or menu to app and back have a more consistent delay, while in the 0.0.6 build everything was instantaneous.

Anyway you're building up a fine program, and I think qole is right... you should take some more sleep :D

And please... stop knowing that I'm going to post before I do post! :D

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Preview of the sketch module of liqbase 6.0: http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~shbae/ilovesketch.htm

:D

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

:D Now that is what lcuk is not sleeping for :D

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

heh qole, i saw that a few days ago, and tbh i wasn't too impressed.

some of the features are nice, but overall i would get upset if i started to draw and the perspective kept changing after every stroke.
Thats like moving the paper whilst doodling, its just wrong.


Nick, you will probably find you haven't kicked up to performance mode since rebooting.

I use stars as my indicator for that.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

im goin workin in my shed for a while, theres some png code that needs my attention, i might actually miss a few posts for a while ;)

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Uhm, never really used the performance mode...

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

I would like to gauge whether you lot think I should get this in extras now or wait a while longer and attempt to fixup the things I have noticed.
People in irc seem to think its stable enough, I'm unsure (since I've never done it before).

Can I request that testers please submit any outstanding bug reports (or comment on existing ones) onto the garage page (or post here..)

https://garage.maemo.org/tracker/?gr...=716&atid=2684

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

The only problem I still see is the size of the buttons. I can only see a couple of letters. For instance, in Graffiti Wall I see 'elet' instead of 'delete'. Nothing important, as you can see.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

alephito,
as soon as I get a chance I am replacing the whole text based button interface with hand drawn graphical icons.
If I get it completed this weekend it will change globally.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Justnick,

I just realised what you meant.
"Slower" as in rendering in the graffiti wall.
I totally forgot, I adjusted the skipping algorithm the other night to add greater detail at higher resolution, but have altered it for lower resolution.

When you said you don't change cpu mode it struck me that you must be using a lower screen resolution.

I have just been using it myself at lower resolution (testing cpu stuff) and realised it was slower.

I'll fix it next time I dive in, sorry about that.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Lcuk normally I use the higher resolution for "daily use" and switch to lower resolution when trying a new build or attempting in a very evil way to recreate the screen corruption, but yes, it is exactly what I meant :)
I really don't feel the need of switching to a more power hungry CPU setting while using liqbase for sketching at maximum resolution, this would be needed just in case of a very complex drawing (for example one day I tried to crash the app by drawing a full screen stamp and then adding lines and squares of different color, and every time something was drawn the nit was slowed down, but the app didn't crash nor the system hang :) or maybe if my graffiti wall was filled with sketches (which isn't yet).

Fixed width font selection in liqbase reader, pleeeeease.
 

Greetings.

Please can we have the ability to select fixed width fonts in the liqbase reader. This would be good for reading RFCs with their ASCII tables and diagrams.

cheers,
fnord

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Was able to test it after the deb package has been published. Have been waiting to try it out on my tablet. Navigating the menus with my fingers is fun! :) Some suggestions/questions:

The starfield is nice, but you should be using a better algorithm for (initially?) positioning stars. Right now, at the beginning, one can see the edges of a rectangle smaller than the screen where the most stars are placed.

In "continue reading", you have a nice green-colored button. Can you color the "quit now" button in the main screen red-colored? That would make it stand out a bit more. Also, a confirmation screen would be nice (like the "open book" confirmation when clicking "continue reading"). Likewise, this could be done for every "back" button in the UI.

What is the "ed" in the top right corner of every button? Hard to hit. If it's not intended for the user, hide it by default and show it only when an advanced option to show it is enabled.

The "map" seems to be hardcoded to the Berlin map. It would be nice if one could select an image from the filesystem to use as map (probably with the same UI that selects a book to read, but configured one-time and then use the same map every time). Alternatively, transform the map viewer into an image viewer. Or even merge it into a viewer, capable of viewing text and image files (and probably more files later on).

"Select a book to read" doesn't work in the minimum resolution - some UI items are off-screen.

Changing the resolution with "+"/"-" hardware buttons in the main menu would be awesome.

Is it possible to switch full screen mode or is that technically not possible/feasible because of the fast image displaying you do?

Removing items from the graffiti wall should re-order the remaining items, and not leave "holes" in the wall (that's just after removing items - when the graffiti wall is re-loaded, all is okay).

Some labels currently go over the button area. Maybe having smaller text + a monochrome icon with a clear outline would make navigation easier. Currently, one has to "read" the whole screen and then decide where to go instead of just "decoding" icons visually. Of course, the labels shouldn't go away - they are useful!

Still a lot to do, but the program shows promise :) Keep up the good work.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

yes its possible, but certainly not a priority - i originally coded that stars algorithm years ago and it suits well enough for now.
Of course if one of you guys want to make better alternative screen saver type things I'll make a selection interface for them.

the tinting and organisation of all styling elements will become customizable as soon as I get a clear head - a generic back button will be entirely possible and tinted however we like :)
Its probably the most important short term next step I need and if this migraine clears I'll be getting onto this theming aspect today.

The ed button is the kick start reminder for myself to allow customisable hand drawn icons (see above theming..).
I am going to remove it soon by default, but since it doesn't actually intefere with the ui i've left it there for now.

yes, its very hard coded, and you are right I could use a nice selection dialog, however I don't think the text based book selector will work, I've got a few ideas about this and it should be in place in the near future.

oh noes!
Thanks, ill see what I can do.


nahhh - it takes too much time to switch (unless I find an alternative).
Its not that important and would just cause frustration if it decided to implement it.
However I am toying with the idea of allowing arbitrary dialogues to choose their own resolution.

Technically its possible to switch between windowed and fullscreen, however I have to supply a different range of screen resolutions to do this properly - otherwise Xv simply scales and squashes the full 800*480 screen into a smaller windowed area and it looks like poo.
heh, yeah it should, theres a few other things ive noticed as well, all will be helped once I get the other intermediate screen in place.
I'm thinking about rebuilding the entire thing anyway, file handling is slow now ive got over 1000 sketches.

all the labels in the dialogues are going away, im not going to change the font at the moment because I need to be reminded its "wrong".
Though don't you think its amazing that even though the interface is "broken" its still intuitive enough to use?

I certainly intend to, theres a lot more still to come out and I hope to expand the ideas Ive started.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Feature Request:
A scroll bar in the Book Reader mode
Re-sizable text in Book Reader mode

The stamp algorithm seems to be really good. I have not seen a slowdown, even with a hundred stamps. You can make some really tripy designs with it (like a house of mirrors kind of thing), but it always draws a square around the stamp. Can the user remove this behavior?

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

yes but no.. lets find a way that doesnt take up space

you have tried to use zoom +- keys haven't you ...

The stamp is totally trippy, but I want to make it better.
I have had to use the self stamp due to constraints of the object model which I hope to get time to upgrade soon.
Styling comes with all that, but for now, just select a dark pen and pretend.



Today I have managed to somehow get my head back into it,

I have made my first png image! \:D/
I have reverted the algo for sketch rendering on graffiti.


I hope you lot are havin as much fun as me :)

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

First (working) pic: http://liqbase.net/liqbase.pic.edit.20081018_191550.png


:D

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

GeneralAntilles, I might actually be able to finally get a logo ;)

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Yes, I'd say this is intuitive!

Last night, on a train ride to Grandma's house, I brought out liqbase and showed it to my just-turned-3 daughter. I only had to show her how to navigate once (sometimes twice) and within 8 minutes of first being introduced to the program, she was drawing multicoloured pictures ("that's a duck." or "that's a mitten!"), saving them, then going to the physics test and making them "bump" each other around the screen. Each time she did it, she'd let out a loud laugh, and yell, "bump! bump! bump!"

The guy standing next to us, said to his friend, "I gotta get one of those!" and a few minutes later, he asked me what it was.

:D

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

heh qole,
thats just like jake and pretty much everyone I've seen.
I am doing something at the moment..
pop into irc if you aren't too busy :)

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

liqbase has image support.
liqbase.net has been updated to include images.
liqbase is in extras-devel (v0.1.3)

I am going to bed, goodnight :)

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

lcuk, I just installed the latest liqbase.

Wow :D

Thank you SO much for really showing what this tablet can do, without even using the demmed acceleration! You and liqbase are amazing!

Please, though, I've just got two little things to ask.

For the "Look at Stars," I would love to use it as a clock, it's works beautifully! But... the bacon... XD Tis funny, but ruins the whole effect. Could you give an option to turn it off and run the clock indefinitely?

Secondly... I know, it's a big one... Do you think you could take the engine from the web browser and render pages and such in Liqbase in a manner similar to your other features? I mean, hell, you can already render and save images with your latest, amazing package. Just wishful (REALLY REALLY WISHING HERE!!!) thinking...

I would love to scroll through the web as though it were a blit test :D

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Lcuk,

Could it be possible to have an option to switch the menu in drawing mode to the left side of the screen? I am left-handed and I think it would be more comfortable to have more space to rest my hand while drawing or writing.

Thanks for this application. It's invaluable.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

bacon is simply an easter egg that runs the second time stars is viewed in the app.
It will be made into an option (configurable kot..) soon.

Its been in my mind for a long time (hello Florian), but a full blown web renderer has features required which do not yet exist.
I have a shorter term more achievable goal in mind which will let us see whether it is worth including a full browser (html book rendering).


I am left handed myself, I kept catching the tools - I draw closer to the left edge than anywhere.
Configurable menu layouts are in the pipeline anyway, it should afterall be "the users' interface" :)

damn this toothache.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

heh, i would expect it never to happen, but given that my handwriting stinks, i would love to see a handwriting recognition thats basically fullscreen.

as in, that one could write over the whole screen and in the background it would turn into "typewriter" written text. i think thats the bit that annoys me the most about the handwriting stuff in maemo right now, the area usable is to small.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

tso, run liqbase from an ssh console.

every stroke you make (from drawing screen) will result in a line being written with ####### then a string

that string is the stroke code, let me know how accurate it is.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

not sure i follow, from what i can see, the stroke code do not look anything like a single letter...

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

lcuk: You're answering posts 4 hours after saying "goodnight"... Is this toothache giving you insomnia?

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

hmm, i looked a bit more at those stroke codes, and i fear they will not be detailed enough. a lot of my letters had more or less the exact same stroke code from what i could tell...

and im not one able to write the exact same shape letter each and every time i write it...

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

qole, I woke up in yowling pain.
Its not insomnia, merely painful :(


thanks tso, thats enough to know for now.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

hmm, just played around a bit with the camera blit test, and found that it will make for a excellent self-portrait camera, if the "full screen" buttom is used as shutter.

i can hold my N800 with the camera pointing towards the sky, allowing much more ease with centering my face on the screen.

this unlike the camera app available, that for some reason reads the image as upside down while held like that (i look like om doing a spider man impression)...

also, would it be possible to override the camera extension switch thats built into the N800? as it is, it automatically starts the video chat app, that again results in the im subsystem firing up (a issue with it trying to look up peoples status on my accounts while staying "hidden", something i guess there either is or should be a bug report on), resulting in wifi attempting to connect...

and on topic of using the full screen button for something. could it be possible for it to rotate the text of the book reader, so that one can hold the device vertical while reading?

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

heh,

look on liqbase.net - taking screenshots anywhere in the system is fullscreen button.
taking camera shots in camera screen is fullscreen button.

both are listed in the image physics thing :)

works VERY nicely, http://liqbase.net/#images shows the effect.


rotation is more difficult, I was looking and I think theres a bug with the rotation patch, i cannot get it to be fullscreen.
http://liqbase.net/liqbase_rotate_480x480.jpg

internally I have methods for loading rotated fonts, but theres no support to use them in the reader yet.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

ah, i see now. i had missed the part about being able to use +- to alter the number of images shown on screen during the blit test ;)

and when im talking about rotation, im not talking about the rotation patch. more like something similar to fbreader.

Re: liqbase - call for assistance
 

Lcuk your latest release fixed everything (with 0.0.8 I had crashes and touch screen issues every time I ran liqbase) and I finally understood what test area was for... I finally see pictures where once was a sad black screen that led to a program freeze.
Great work! :)