qTwitter has been ported over for Maemo. It has been compiled and tested on diablo on my N810. I do not know if it will work on older versions of Maemo.
Many thanks to Dominik Kapusta for all his help, and for a great app. You can find qTwitter source code and packages for other operating systems at Qt-Apps.org.
Check out my earlier posts for more info here and here.
I have been learning a lot about my wonderful N810 as I have been working on getting qTwitter ported over to maemo.
I want to log my progress as I learn, and hopefully I can learn from my mistakes. Please feel free to comment and help me on my journey. This is the first time I have done anything like this so please be kind.
In my original post I mentioned that I used a guide to package all of the created files into one deb with
dpkg-deb -b qtwitter
This deb worked on my N810 but I want to share the deb and realized that I need to separate each package into its own deb file. qTwitter depends on QOAuth, QOAuth depends on QCA and QCA-OSSL plugin. That’s four separate packages, not the one that I created.
Back to the Scratchbox.
I had a few brainstorms and decided to package the debs according to the maemo guide.
# Add here commands to install the package into debian/qtwitter.
$(MAKE) DESTDIR=$(CURDIR)/debian/qtwitter install
Even with the DESTDIR set, I realized that the files were not getting installed into that folder. This is the folder that the deb is created from and the reason that my debs are empty.
My Solution
I still had the build tree from the first deb that I created. I just separated them into folders representing the four packages and stored them in the folder qtwitter-build.
This is a very ugly hack and I know there has to be a better way. Please let me know if you have a better solution.
Testing
I have tested the new deb packages on my N810 and the all install properly and qTwitter is still working. I will post the link to the debs when they are up.
This is what I believe the future of music is going towards. Grooveshark is a site were you can look up artists and make playlists just as if they were locally stored on your computer. This is similar to the popular music sites such as Last.fm and Pandora, but with Grooveshare you pick each and every song that you want to hear. You don’t rely on the sites algorithm to choose a song that you might like. Last.fm and Pandora are great music discovery tools, but for just listening to music that I want to hear, Grooveshark in my new favorite site.
This is an internet radio station were you can vote on the songs that are played. Interesting concept, with sites like Digg and Reddit getting very popular, you would think that this would be a great idea. Personally I don’t see the point. There are plenty of music sites were I can pick the music I want to listen to. Why should I have to be at the mercy of what the masses choose. If I wanted that I would start listening to the crappy radio stations.
Speaking of music, here is a Wired article that has a lot of information on music sites. I am still checking out the first few. Some are new to me and some I need to check out again. If you want to discover new music then check out the article.
Halloween has come and gone this yea and the photos are up. This is definitely my favorite.
Low Resolution by Kindacarsick
Black Friday
It’s November and sooner that you’d like it will be Nov 27th: Black Friday. To help prepare, why not start looking through those sale ads now. Here are some links I’ve come across of leaked Black Friday Ads.
The address bar at the top of your browser is filled with latin characters. Those who use the latin alphabet, we haven’t thought twice about this. But if you live in a country with a non-latin alphabet then you had to learn new characters to type in a web address. This is going to change soon, as ICANN (the group that decides on ip and addressing regulations) has decided to use native characters in the address.
Google has partnered with MySpace (which just acquired iLike) and Lala to give you music results when you search for a song, band, or album title. The first results will have links to play the song. There will also be links to purchase the song/album directly through MySpace or Lala services. There will also be links to music discovery sites such as, Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody.
I tried out the service on their demo site, before the release date, and it looked good. Though I am unable to get any of the same results on my searches today. The demo is down today, and I do not see the results in my regular google searches. I am not sure if I’m missing something or if the service isn’t fully released yet. ???
MySpace as a social site seems to continue dying but they are doing some interesting things. Their purchase of iLike seems to have worked out for them (see above post).
I’ve always wanted a video music player so that I can have a video playlist. If that feature is there I may actually use MySpace.
A local rock radio station plays this game. You just guess if the name of an establishment is for a Steakhouse or a Gay Bar. Sounds simple but it’s amazingly difficult.
You can find just about anything you want on the web. Now you can watch a live birth. A truly amazing event, but live streaming it? Really? I guess it was just a matter of time…
I am so excited about this. I watch almost all my shows online now and about 1/3 of those shows are from the BBC. It’s always been a pain to find the shows or wrestle with proxies to watch them. I can’t wait to watch the new season of Dr. Who.
Automobile Accesories
AIDA is the love child of your GPS Device and EVE (from Wal-E).
I have been working on getting an Identica application working on my Nokia N810.
I started looking into adding the functionality to Mauku, but had some trouble (I’m a bit rusty on my programing). I will look at the mauku code again.
But in my searches I found an old identica post on qTwitter getting ported to maemo. I did more searching and found that there was a Maemo Garage Project Page for qTwitter but the debs were compiled for i386.
Since I had scratchbox set up while I was working on Mauku I downloaded the source code and began working on compiling qTwitter for Maemo. I got it running on scratchbox i386 and sent a test post to identica. I compiled it for armel but was unable to test it within scratchbox (virtual gui will not run on Xephyr under armel). I began attempting to package the code to install on my tablet. At first I began trying to package the program with this guide, but realized that method doesn’t work for qt programs. I found another guide that shows how to package qt programs.
qTwitter depends on QT 4.x so I downloaded libqt4-core from the repositories.
Install libqt4-core, then compile each source code (from bottom to top in this list).
During the installation for each package I piped the output to a text file so that I could look back to see each file that was created. I scoured over the output and noted all of the files and wrote down their name and locations. I created a folder called qTwitter and copied all of the files according to their file hierarchy. I created the necessary control file in the DEBIAN folder. Then I packaged the folder that I created.
TODO:
When authorizing Twitter, the web browser is in the background and cannot be moved to the foreground. I had to highlight the authorization code and copy it to the clipboard. I was able to paste it to the qTwitter settings from there.
Kinetic Scrolling (looking at flickcharm any other suggestions would be appreciated)
Setting menu doesn’t always fit on maemo screen (add scrollbar)
etc. (let me know if there is anything else to work on to get the program working better under maemo)
Here is the second post of random links. I missed last week, so I apologize this isn’t much of a weekly post yet. I’ll try harder to post these each week on Friday’s.
I’m not sure why I like this project, but I do. It makes me think of my childhood when I would write down my dreams on a small notepad after I woke up.
This is an interesting video. I was going to embed it directly but you have to go to the page and read some of the comments. I especially enjoyed the references and video from Kids in the Hall. Classic!
This looks like a very cool game for kids, but addictive enough for adults to play. It makes me want to play Bust-A-Move on my arcade…
The link leads you to a BoingBoing article that has concept art. I always love looking at the early creative stages of projects like this.
Cyberbike
Really? Come on. This has got to me the largest controller for a gaming console…
I’m actually expecting to see some DIY versions of this come out. Just hack the wiimote to an exercise bike or actual bike. I wonder if there is a third party market for that… hmmm.
I heard that the Banks were messy about there paperwork and had trouble ponying up the titles at times when requested, but wow. It’s nice to see a real person get a bail out. [Read]
Hulu execs are trying to figure out how to squeeze more money out of the popular internet television site. Things may not change much, but if you are like me, looking at getting rid of the cable/satellite for itv, then you might want to wait.
Nice. It could be a mistake, purely coincidence, but still…. sweet.
As a side note I’d like to say that I was not one of the idiots that voted for the actor.
Netflix
Watch Now coming to a game consoles
I am a proud member of Netflix and I highly recommend the service. There have been some announcements lately that I am very excited about. I use the “Watch Now” service on my computer, but have wanted to set it up on my living room tv. According the these announcements I will be able to soon.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been able to, and soon the PlayStation 3. Now there are rumors that it is coming to the Wii.
I am very excited about this, as I did not want to purchase the Roku box. Now I can use my game console.
Then, mere hours later Google anounces a similar deal. Google Blog
Our little twitterverse is growing…
Google is also planning some sort of music service. There has not been an announcement yet but the google checkbook has relieved some of there plans. TechCrunch TechCrunch
Unrelated news is that Flickr has added a “People Tagging” feature (long overdue). TechCrunch
Update
Oops, forgot to post this yesterday…
Here’s some new news:
Bing is going to also add the public FaceBook Stream to it’s searches
All operating systems have update applications that install the latest patches to the os. But what about all of the third party programs? Adobe Reader, Java, AntiVirus Software, etc. Some of them have processes that run in the background always checking and notify you when there is an update. Some programs check on start up. Others check only when the application is opened or sometimes they do not check at all, requiring a manual check. Some even require a re-download and re-installation to upgrade the program.
With the operating system itself getting patched it is the third party applications that leave security holes open to your computer. These are the software flaws that hackers are attacking.
So with all of the different programs on your computer how do you insure that you are safe?
Enter Software Update Tools
A software update program that checks all of your third party programs and lets you know what program needs and update. Some programs even tell you about any security risks involved in not updating.
Lifehacker has a review on the 5 best software update tools available. Check it out and find the one that works best for you.
It has been a while since I have posted. I want to try to write more often. I have decided to do a Friday post of random links and things that I have found each week.
This week will be a bit longer than most, as I have been cataloging for a few weeks now. Some of these items are old but I wanted to post them anyways.
I have always tried to keep up with the antivirus tests. If you run windows on your computer then you MUST defend yourself against the gamut of spyware and virus’ out there. This is one of the most comprehensive tests on virus scanners I’ve seen. Check out how well your antivirus program stacks up.
Microsoft Courier:
This looks amazing…. but didn’t they try the tablet market a few years ago?
And really who hand writes anymore? I’d like to see where this goes, it has potential, but I think it’s going to be popular for only a niche audience.
This is an interesting device for those of us that are internet addicted. It is an always connected media player that can be expanded to show your favorite shows, radio, rss feeds, etc. through various widgets. It is very hackable and that is my interest in it, so when I saw that MakerShed was selling the chumby pieces my hacker gears started rolling.
This website simply explains what a web browser is to a newb.
Pdf News:
I’ve always hated clicking on a link in a search and finding that is was a pdf. I get a blank page a my pdf program loads up. I’m not a fan of leaving my browser to look at a pdf and I don’t use adobe plugins (security risk). So I’m very excited to see that google is now adding a “Quick view” link to pdfs. I can now click on that to read the pdf in my browser.
Also, here is a great site for converting your pdf files to doc or rtf. I have used it a few times and it works better then other converting tools that I’ve used, and it’s free!
Apple is trying to bring back the lost art of the Album cover. Do we have to remind them that it was the iPod and iTunes that have had a major part in destroying physical media? In any case, I somewhat like this idea. But there have been some strange articles about the usage of iTunes LP.
The very securely closed box system that is the Apple App Store has been a pain in developers you know what. If you don’t know; many apps are getting rejected or marred with an NC-17 rating for strange and unknown reasons. In this story an iPhone developer took it upon himself to censor his own product: a calculator.
Remember those evil little numbers that you would punch into a calculator and turn upside down to spell out bad words? This app uses the accelerometer to check if you are turning the phone upside down to reveal those naughty words and replaces the numbers with the word “Censored”.
This just goes to show how difficult it is to pass the app store guidelines. Fortunately for this developer the humor in censoring the app has created extra buzz for the app.
I keep hearing all sorts of reports about how an upgrade to snow leopard will actually free up space on your hard drive. While this may be true, it is a bit deceiving how much space is actually freed up.
First, I would like to explain that, yes, Snow Leopard does free up hard drive space by removing legacy code. This has created some problems for me and others, but that is another issue.
What I would like to mention is the change in the way that Snow Leopard displays file size and hard drive space. Apple has decided in Snow Leopard to go from the binary definition of kilo, giga, etc. to the decimal value.
A bit of schooling
The way that a computer stores data is in binary. All data is simply a series of ones and zeros. One of those ones or zeros is called a bit. 8 bits is byte. 1024 is a kilobyte. This is where it gets strange. In non-computer terms a kilo is 1000, but for computers it is 1024 or 210.
Here is a chart that breaks down the difference between binary and decimal.
Binary
# of bits
Name
Abbreviation
Difference in bytes
20
1
Bit
b
23
8
Byte
B
210
1024
Kilobyte
KB
24
220 or 10242
1048576
Megabyte
MB
48576
230 or 10243
1073741824
Gigabyte
GB
73741824
240 or 10244
1099511627776
Terabyte
TB
99511627776
Decimal
Value
Name
Abbreviation
% Difference
103
1000
Kilo
K
2.34
106 or 10002
1000000
Mega
M
4.63
109 or 10003
1000000000
Giga
G
6.87
1012 or 10004
1000000000000
Tera
T
9.05
As you can see the difference is very exponential.
So if you have a 300 GB of free space on Leopard 10.5 when you upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6, just counting the change in calculation, your free space would change to 314.57. Just going from binary calculation to decimal it appears that there is 14.57 GB of freed space. This is where the misconception is.
I’m not saying that users are not getting more hard drive space when they upgrade to Snow Leopard. I haven’t heard or seen any real numbers. All I’m saying is that the amount of space saved that is being reported is incorrect.
In fact all the reports that I’ve heard have stated that they have gained around 15 GB of free hard drive space. Hmmmm… I wonder if they all had around 300 GB of free space in Leopard.
I’m curious, if anyone has any pre and post numbers please post them in the comments. I would like to get to the bottom of this and find out how much space (if any) is saved from upgrading to Snow Leopard.
Update:
I found a site that has some before and after numbers and there is quite a bit of disk space saved. More that I would have thought.
