Active Topics
-
How many of you still use N900 as main phone? (595)
to Community by deutch1976 - 3 days, 10 hrs ago -
Big news (7)
to OS2008 / Maemo 4 / Chinook - Diablo by endsormeans - 4 days, 19 hrs ago -
Firefox with Leste (8)
to Maemo 7 / Leste by endsormeans - 4 days, 19 hrs ago - more...
 |
|
2010-09-30
, 23:39
|
|
Posts: 387 |
Thanked: 1,700 times |
Joined on Feb 2010
@ Cambridge, MA, USA
|
#32
|
Originally Posted by jfh
If all you need is the Sun or Moon's position (or a planet), try orrery. It's a lot faster than stellarium (though not nearly as beautiful!).
Try stellarium
| The Following User Says Thank You to Ken-Young For This Useful Post: | ||
|
|
2010-10-01
, 03:20
|
|
Posts: 387 |
Thanked: 1,700 times |
Joined on Feb 2010
@ Cambridge, MA, USA
|
#33
|
Originally Posted by allnameswereout
Stellarium is fully ported to Maemo 5, and runs well on the N900. It's in extras devel. It's a bit of a CPU/battery hog, but it is an extremely impressive app, and one of the best things to show off the phone's power to your friends. It makes Google Sky look like a Palm Pliot app from 1995.
It is ported to N900's architecture (armel): http://packages.debian.org/lenny/stellarium which means it runs on Linux/ARM (little endian).
AFAIK not ported to Maemo 5. You could ask for a port, pay someone to port it to Maemo 5, or try it in Easy Debian. You'll probably have to use stylus though. GPS should work since that uses standard protocols. IIRC it also utilizes OpenGL; might be a problem performance-wise, but hopefully you can 'downgrade' the quality. Your question might be worth a different topic.
| The Following User Says Thank You to Ken-Young For This Useful Post: | ||
|
|
2010-10-01
, 07:11
|
|
Posts: 9 |
Thanked: 1 time |
Joined on Apr 2010
|
#34
|
Originally Posted by efekt
Yeah, it wouldn't work well when there are clouds blocking sky objects. I was thinking the user can point to a known object in the area and from that the app would look up the direction information.
And how would it work if you can't see the sun (cloudy day, or even night time)?
I have a better idea for you, and it doesn't require any device what-so-ever - if you're outside, you may sometimes notice that the sun rises from the east and sets in the west, so if its not exactly the middle of the day (12:00), you should be able to know roughly which direction is the east or west respectively, thus finding the north
There is another way of finding out, which is a bit more accurate which I was taught during my military service, but I'm afraid its not that easy to explain in words
I know how to roughly find out where E and W are
but the idea was to somehow have the phone know that too so that apps could have access to that information.
|
|
2011-05-26
, 13:00
|
|
Posts: 89 |
Thanked: 52 times |
Joined on Jan 2010
@ London, UK
|
#35
|
I remember hearing/reading many years ago, that if you hold a watch horizontally and point the hour hand (non-digital-display, obviously) at the sun, then the direction of Noon on the clock is where North is. As the sun gets later and moves further round, so does the hour hand, hence noon always points at the same place. Although I'm not sure if its very reliable at extreme setting/rising angles of the sun during certain parts of the year.
Could you use one of the cameras to detect the sun direction (if visible and if the phone is flat) and do the same thing, as it knows the time and the season (as it knows which country you're in)? Doesn't work at night, obviously (I don't think using the stars is a feasible idea)... Or when inside, or its very cloudy.
Last edited by jgbreezer; 2011-05-26 at 13:03.
Could you use one of the cameras to detect the sun direction (if visible and if the phone is flat) and do the same thing, as it knows the time and the season (as it knows which country you're in)? Doesn't work at night, obviously (I don't think using the stars is a feasible idea)... Or when inside, or its very cloudy.
Last edited by jgbreezer; 2011-05-26 at 13:03.
|
|
2011-05-26
, 22:37
|
|
Posts: 303 |
Thanked: 146 times |
Joined on Aug 2009
|
#36
|
Just get a watch with a compass. Casio makes some relatively cheap ones, as well as more expensive ones with other features, such as a barometer/altimeter and thermometer. I have the Casio with those features, and it is very useful.
However, I think most digital compasses need to be kept at a certain angle (flat to the ground) to be accurate. if not flat, the error can be really big, like 40 degrees or so.
However, I think most digital compasses need to be kept at a certain angle (flat to the ground) to be accurate. if not flat, the error can be really big, like 40 degrees or so.
 |
|
2011-05-26
, 23:45
|
|
Posts: 52 |
Thanked: 191 times |
Joined on Apr 2010
|
#37
|
Can you attach a real compass to front camera some how in a better way than this and use the camera to generate compass data?
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/frosted_detail
May be with help of super glue to make a water based one (floating in watertight cylinder)
Last edited by object; 2011-05-26 at 23:50.
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/frosted_detail
May be with help of super glue to make a water based one (floating in watertight cylinder)
Last edited by object; 2011-05-26 at 23:50.
|
|
2011-05-26
, 23:49
|
|
Posts: 387 |
Thanked: 1,700 times |
Joined on Feb 2010
@ Cambridge, MA, USA
|
#38
|
Originally Posted by object
The rear camera can focus down to 6 cm. You could move that tiny compass to the other side, mount it 6 cm away, capture an image, and write some image processing software to derive the needle's orientation.
Can you attach a real compass to front camera some how in a better way than this and use the camera to generate compass data?
|
|
2011-05-26
, 23:53
|
|
Posts: 52 |
Thanked: 191 times |
Joined on Apr 2010
|
#39
|
Originally Posted by Ken-Young
does the image need to be focused? I'm thinking of something like solid black coin with axis hole that let light shine through it.
The rear camera can focus down to 6 cm. You could move that tiny compass to the other side, mount it 6 cm away, capture an image, and write some image processing software to derive the needle's orientation.
| The Following User Says Thank You to object For This Useful Post: | ||
|
|
2011-05-27
, 00:07
|
|
Posts: 1,548 |
Thanked: 7,510 times |
Joined on Apr 2010
@ Czech Republic
|
#40
|
Originally Posted by object
So basically using the front camera as a light-intensity sensor & have the light intensity depend on the rotation of the compass disk ?
does the image need to be focused? I'm thinking of something like solid black coin with axis hole that let light shine through it.
__________________
modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
Mieru: a flexible manga and comic book reader
Universal Components - a solution for native looking yet component set independent QML appliactions (QtQuick Controls 2 & Silica supported as backends)
modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
Mieru: a flexible manga and comic book reader
Universal Components - a solution for native looking yet component set independent QML appliactions (QtQuick Controls 2 & Silica supported as backends)
AFAIK not ported to Maemo 5. You could ask for a port, pay someone to port it to Maemo 5, or try it in Easy Debian. You'll probably have to use stylus though. GPS should work since that uses standard protocols. IIRC it also utilizes OpenGL; might be a problem performance-wise, but hopefully you can 'downgrade' the quality. Your question might be worth a different topic.
Goosfraba! All text written by allnameswereout is public domain unless stated otherwise. Thank you for sharing your output!