European Wafaa

I previously enlightened people to entomologist and also showed an image or two of it running on Android. Well now's the time to get your funk on and help test, file bugs and generally make it better.

You can download entomologist from the Android Market, or if you don't have access to the Market you can grab the .apk. When you launch it for the first time it checks to see if you have the required Qt libraries, if not it will ask you to install Ministro (if not already installed) from the Market (grab the .apk if you don't have the Market), once installed it then grabs the required libraries - probably best to be on a wifi connection rather than cellular just in case.

I know the UI isn't the best for mobiles - it works fairly well on my GalaxyTab thanks to the large screen & higher resolution. Reason for releasing now is so people can contribute ideas/code/bugs/etc.

If there are any UI designers bored and fancy a little piece of fun, then please join in - I'm not looking at anyone in particular, Mr LeSage & Mr Fitzsomon ;-P

So as I mentioned earlier I managed to port entimologist to Android. This post will hopefully explain how I did this.

The shopping list for this task is relatively straight forward:

• Android SDK
• Android NDK
• Java development files (on openSUSE I use java-1_6_0-sun-devel)
• ant (on openSUSE ant is too old, I use the binary tarball from the Apache site)
• Qt Creator for Android SDK a.k.a Necessitas
• Not necessary but could be helpful – Eclipse (on openSUSE don't use the packages available as there are things missing that prevent building for android, use the binary tarball from the Eclipse site)
• Ministro

First thing I had done was install and setup Eclipse, I then setup the Android SDK & Android NDK – that was done months ago. See the Android Developer site for good, clear instructions.

For setting up Necessitas, I used Alessandro's post & video as a guide, but there are also details on Necessitas' site.  After following the steps, I couldnt quite get things working, and I was starting to think that GNOME3 and Qt, were being children and bickering. No, they weren't. It was me being a dufus! I hadn't read the bit about ant needing to be >=1.8.0 :-) Download Ministro to somewhere safe (I popped mine in /opt/necessitas)

So to get things to work, I un-installed the ant rpm, extracted the bibnary tarball into ~/bin, and did a sudo ln -s ~/bin/apache-ant-1.8.2/bin/ant /usr/bin/ant

Now I wont pretend to know WTF I'm doing with Qt, as far as I'm concerned it's another alien language. Problem is I needed to tell Necessitas what Qt libraries entomologist needed, I had no real idea. I had a look at the source and the spec file and got some clues, so I added the ones I thought were needed. I tried a build and got further than previously (now that I had the correct version of ant!). I was now getting some weird missing library error, but I couldn't work it out. Along comes our new Boosters member Ismail Dönmez to the rescue.  There will be a lib$APPNAME.so that is created to work out which Qt libraries you need just do a readelf -d  lib$APPNAME.so.

In my case I did readelf -d libentomologist.so and got:

~/workspace/Entomologist-build-android> readelf -d libentomologist.so

Dynamic section at offset 0x4bda8 contains 29 entries:

It may seem obvious, but look at the ones that have (NEEDED) in them ;-) I was missing libQtXml.so. Simply add the missing Qt library either by adding it manually in $PROJECT_LOCATION > Other files > android > res > values > libs.xml, or simply tick the required one in Qt Creator by going to the Projects button on the left > Run > Package Configurations > Libraries tab

When testing your app, make sure you select “Install Ministro system wide qt shared libraries installer” from the Projects button on the left > Run > Deploy configurations, then select the .apk in the “Choose apk” button.

Once that's done, hit the “Play” button on the bottom left of Qt Creator and off you go :-)  I appreciate it may seem like a lot of work, but honestly it isn't that much. I buggered around for ages cursing, mainly because I hadn't checked my version of ant and didnt read the error message being spat out. I also didn't know about readelf -d.  All I need to work out and try now is publishing to the Market https://market.android.com/. So all in all have fun and keep being cute Qt :-D 

Yes, you read that correct - I am going to try and port LibreOffice to Android! :-)

Why? Simples, there are no ODF compatible products on Android for reading & writing. There is OpenOffice Document Reader which as the name suggests is just a reader, and also OOo is so 2009 ;-)

Now if I was a half decent hacker, this may not have been such a big deal.  Problem is I'm an absolutley crap hacker, with almost no experience or knowledge of Android or LibreOffice development. So why on earth would I try and do such a monumentally painful task? Two reasons - 1. I was challenged by an engineer that I respect to do it. 2. I've got an itch that needs scratching (actually I'm riddled with itches, and the Doc confirms it isn't a medical condition ;-) ).

So how to go about it? I'm still working that one out. As it stands openSUSE doesn't provide the necessary tools for the job - no decent ARM port :( So I'm going to have a play with Debian - after all 6.0 Squeeze is just out the oven so now's as good a time as any. If that doesn't work out I'll give Ubuntu a whirl.  Never fear oh mighty Geeko lovers - these alien installations will be going on my test machine. My primary machine is still running openSUSE, with GNOME3.

I'll try and document my trip through pain and fun, if for nothing else humour for those more seasoned than me at doing cooky stuff like this.

Just as a little side note - my primary machine, a Dell D820 decided to die just before FOSDEM. This has left me using my Netbook as my main machine. It took me ~15.5hrs to build LibreOffice on it.

As many know, I have a few Android devices, and I know a lot of other openSUSE fans out there also have robot powered devices.  I decided the other day to try something during my lunch break - create a widget to show how many days left till 11.4's release.

Yeah I know it isn't an earth shattering application, but I'm not a code monkey, so any working code I generate is a serious plus for me ;-)

So my lunchtime project was inspired by the efforts of someone at Ubuntu who was doing the same for their Natty release.  I used this tutorial to help get me going.  I now present to you oSRCD - the openSUSE Release CountDown. 

It isn't perfect, but it is a start, so if there is anyone that is a bit more able in the ways of Android programming or artwork then please join in :-)

You can grab the source code from github or the .apk for manual install. And as it's a mobile app here's the QR code:

Yet again I get a dose of the Early Adopter jitters - I tried to hold out but I just couldn't. I went and got me some shiny robot lovin' from Korea, and boy do I love this particular droid - the fabulous (IMHO) Samsung GT-P1000 better known as the Galaxy Tab.

This is my third dedicated Android device, the first being the Motorola Milestone 11months ago, followed by the Nexus One around Easter time this year. I kind of understand why some people end up with so many Apple devices now :-)

I've got a lot I want to say about the device, so I'll be breaking it down into multiple posts.

So why the heck did I go for it? Well I had specific requirements from a tablet styled device:

1. It needs to be easily portable. Yes my netbook is portable in comparison to my laptop, but I need some form of bag even for it. Also it weighs a bit too, and isn't easy to use one handed.
2. It needs to have good media support. Yeah, I'm talking about that thing we all love to hate - codec proliferation!! Also screen quality helps here too as does audio quality.
3. Good network support. Basically I don't want to have to worry about buggering around setting up bluetooth pairings, hooking up cables etc.
4. Good applicatipon ecosystem. I want to be able to get applications that I want and need easily and conveniently without being tied to a big old school machine.
5. Video calling support. This isn't vital, but it is pretty damned close to it. Both my wife's and my family is pretty much disperesed across three out of four corners of the globe, and being able to do some form of video calling not only makes staying in touch cheaper, but we also get to see each other's ugly mugs.
6. Some light relief. This can be in the form of games or other methods.

I think they're fairly reasonable requirements.  So how does the Tab meet my six simple requirements?

1. The device is about the same size (height & width) as one of those weird paper book things (/me was horrified how long ago I last read a physical book :-/), and about as thick as a cheque book. I sits very comfortably in one hand, and I can easily grip hold of it wrapping my fingers around both sides. It is also fairly light, it only starts to get heavy after about 45-60mins or so of single handed holding.
2. It shines beautifully with media playback. It has native support for Divx which means anything my PS3 can play so can my Tab (almost all my DVDs are ripped so that I can easily watch them on any device). The 7 inch screen is great for watching films or web based video. Very clear and crisp and just generally great. Samsung's video player is also great. I'm not sure if it is the same as on the Galaxy S as I haven't really seen or used one of them, but the controls are very good and not intrusive. The music player is by far one of the best I've used on Android. The little touch of being able to access it using a drop down mini version whilst the screen is locked is great. My only grumble here is that I can't get it to scrobble to Last.fm, not a huge issue, but still...
3. Well believe it or not this tablet can also be a phone. It has full telephony functionality, the same as my Milestone or Nexus One. So that means I can get onto the net pretty much anywhere. Yes it also has wireless support as one would hope. So now I can always get online when I need to. Also as it is running 2.2 Froyo, I have the mobile hotspot functionality (I hate the sound of MiFi) so any of my devices can connect through it sans cables.
4. I know some people are going to rip the Android Marketplace a new arsehole, but seriously, have you tried Ovi from Nokia? Personally I have not had any issues using the Marketplace, apps are grouped fairly sensibly, details on the apps are fairly correct, it's easy to go to the apps' homepage and contact the developer. Oh and it has almost all the apps I want/need.
5. It has a 1.3MP front facing camera which you can use for either still photos - self portrait style - or video calling. The only issue here is getting cross platform applications. Yes Skype is available but it doesn't support video calls from Android (yet?). I'm not aware of being able to use the Gmail video chat thingy yet (also don't really know anyone using it). The only one that I'm aware of atm is Yahoo! which is a shame as most people I know have moved off of Yahoo and onto other services. But the main thing is the hardware is in place.
6. Well there are plenty of games available for android devices, some not so good, but some are very good, and they look great on the large sharp screen. Samsung have partnered with Gameloft to provide some 'HD' games, and on the whole these games are pretty good - NOVA is preinstalled, a FPS Doom style game which I like; I bought Let's Golf for some sporting sillyness, Dragon Hunter for some D&Desque fantasy RPG, and Asphalt5 for some accelerometer fun. They all look and play pretty sweetly on the Tab. There are more titles available and all titles are available for trial. Samsung also bundle in an ebook reader that accepts any epub publications you may have. It looks and behave just like the paper based ones, even with the sound & visual effects of turning pages. They also have their "ReaderHub" app, this holds three apps inside - a Newspaper app powered by PressDisplay, an Book app powered by Kobo, and a Magazine app powered by Zinio. All three of these work brilliantly and have a *huge* amount of content available. I'll stop there for now, and try and get the next post up soon. In a nutshell if you're wondering whether to get one or not and you ask me what do I think, my answer is YES get one. I've had mine now for almost two weeks and I don't regret it at all. My wife actually likes it, and my children have added "Tab" into their vocabulary (and no I don't meant the cigarette end, or the march with backpacks and full battle gear).  Oh and Angry Birds is stunning on the bigger screen :-)

So that's it for now, I'll come back with some more soon. If there's anything in particular people would like to know, just shout.

(P.S. this post was written entirely on my Tab ;-) )