Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

hi all,
am a newbie n need some assist.. i already install NTED under debian, but it show me an error about no midi seq so cannot playback. i already install timidity++ but still doesnt work for playing NTED :( do anyone have any solutions? thank so much

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

@bbay6342:
Did you install nted from the Debian repository, i.e. via synaptic or apt?
If so did you install nted from the Lenny or the Squeeze repository? If you didn't take care for that it should be Squeeze.

I think you might have accidentally upgraded pulseaudio to Squeeze by installing nted. In that case no sound at all should work in Easy Debian. Can you please verify that by playing a random audio file in Easy Debian?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

i installed using apt n am using image v3d.
it can play sounds Sulu, but i dont know why i cant playback nted n it says i need to rund modprobe snd-seq-midi
but when i run those command it says cannot load modules.dep in kernel power folder.. i dont know how that denemo work n playable using timidity. but nted cannot play anything :(

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Now I understand your problem. You need a kernel module that isn't loaded yet. So your program tells you to load it. But Easy Debian doesn't have its own kernel, it just uses Maemo's kernel.
Therefore you'd have to load a module that is compatible with the N900's Maemo kernel.
I'm not sure if such a module already exists. After doing a quick search I found this thread:
http://forums.internettablettalk.com....php?p=1082923

But it seems to me the modules linked there are for some older Maemo version, maybe for the N800 or 810.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

yea, it seems youre right Sulu.. i've copied the module above, run modprobe but it says invalid module format. do you know where i can find the module for n900 Sulu? Am sorry i dunno nothing about linux untill i got this phone, wish you assist me :)
thnk Sulu

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

No, unfortunately I don't know where to find such a module for the N900.
In principle one could compile it from the source code but I haven't yet compiled something on the N900 or its SDK. So I don't know which packages you'd need.
Maybe somebody else can help you out.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

its ok..
thnx anyway Sulu

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

During the past few days I tinkered a bit with pulseaudio trying to find a solution for Squeeze. I've come to a slightly ugly solution. I tried different pulseaudio versions that I obtained from the Debian snapshot site [1]. The newest version that worked was 0.9.15 (e.g. from 20090915T230118). So I took these packages (libpulse0 libpulse-browse0 libpulse-mainloop-glib0 pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils) and transplanted their content (everything except the DEBIAN directory) into their hollowed 0.9.21 counterparts. I also had to add dependencies for libpolkit-dbus2 and libpolkit2 from Lenny.
I could install these packages in my dist-upgraded Easy Debian and apparently it works without breaking anything. However of course I can't be sure to have broken something silently.
I'd like to attach the packages here but I'd need 2MB while only 488kB are allowed. So what should I do? Should I split them and attach them to multiple posts or use an external hoster (suggestions?)?

Before that I tried to decrease the pulseaudio 0.9.21 protocol version number (that's someting different than the pulseaudio version as I learned) defined in src/pulse/version.h from 16 to the allegedly compatible 15 and to rebuild the packages. Unfortunately the result showed the same problems like the original 0.9.21. So I assume that either this global protocol version definition is not thoroughly used everywhere or (more likely) it isn't the real problem with the pulseaudio problem. There seem to have been mayor changes between 0.9.15 and 0.9.16 not only affecting the protocol version.

on a side note:
I now have libreoffice from squeeze-backports installed and it seems to work fine. I can't say I really tested it but it starts as expected. Therefore I'd appreciate if somebody could provide a test scenario that is known to show a problem.

I'd like to summarize my experiences with the dist-upgrade, pulseaudio and probbably libreoffice (given that I'll be able to provide useful information after some tests) somewhere. I guess the wiki would be the right place. Should I add that to the Easy Debian article or create a new one? Is there some "review commision" I should speak to?

[1] http://snapshot.debian.org

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thanks for You great work, and please don't split info between few articles, just use Easy Debian one. Or at least provide basic info a link also in Easy Debian wiki page.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thanks for te feedback!

I'd prefer that solution too. I was just not sure if there are any special rules to follow in this community.

Any idea where to put the packages? Of course I could just post the steps to reproduce what I did (most likely I'll do that anyway) but I think it would be more convenient to provide them as downloads.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I've sent sulu a PM, hopefully he can e-mail me the packages and I can post them in qole.org/files for everyone to grab. Hopefully, too, I can make a new image using these packages...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

The solution that sulu arrived at is very similar to my solution. He built fake new packages with old files, I installed the new files and then overwrote the new files with the old files. I like sulu's method better, because Debian really thinks it has the newest version... We should do that for gconf too.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Ok, please find sulu's hacked pulseaudio packages here.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I noticed that for some reason my packages although having the same version number seem to be considered upgradeable by synaptic. It showed me that there's an update for pulseaudio. In a first test I changed the Debian revision from 1 to 99 which solved the issue and should leave enough tolerance for future revisions made by Debian.

@qole:
I'll send you new packages tomorrow.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

In completely unrelated news, I just remembered that I needed to promote my newer versions to Extras-testing. So if you get a moment, please vote for the latest versions of Easy Chroot and Easy Debian that have been languishing in Extras-devel for months now...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thank qole and sulu, and I just can't wait to hear news how programs from Squeeze work with "fake" gconf2 version...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

After having had a closer look at the dependencies I think changing the revision number would not be a good idea because some packages depend on one exact version of another package. Of course I could adjust the dependencies of all the packages I changed but then I'd also have to repackage other related packages just because of the dependencies while they technically work fine and I don't know where that would end.
So I'd suggest we stay with the current set of packages and just set them on hold.

Edit:
I just completed the pulseaudio instructions in the wiki article.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Just a brainwave concerning the gconf2 problem that I never encountered so far:

Usually I start Debian applications from within a fully loaded Easy Debian (with LXDE) and not via debbie.
However, today I started Iceweasel via debbie and got this error message:Is this the error message that you have in mind when talking about gconf2 problems?
For verification I loaded the original unchanged Easy Debian image and did not get that message so obviously something has changed in the gconf-dbus communication.
I googled a bit and found some posts (also involving hal) that suggest that it might be a permission problem.

Well, I'm certainly not an expert, neither with hal nor with dbus or gconf but as a shot in the dark I started iceweasel via debbie and sudo in my dist-upgraded image:And I did not get that error message which I think indicates that in general the communication works fine. So I believe the combination gconf2/Maemo is not broken the way pulseaudio is. I rather think it's a simple permission problem. Can somebody with more knowledge please have a look at this? It could spare us another evil hack on the way to a fully working Squeeze.


Edit:
Oh, btw and totally unrelated: I think adding pipe to .xbindkeysrc would be nice:No idea if Shift + Down is the most intuitive combination but it works for me.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I also use most applications through LXDE (ho ever, I actually run Iceweasel via shortcut, which is debbie equivalent).

The problem with gconf2 is (was?) much worse - last time I checked, after installation of LibreOffice I got 3/4 of application menus unusable (blank "----" lines or unspecified characters instead of proper text). This is the symptom I remember from top of my head, qole would be - probably - capable of more techie explanation.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I didn't encounter the problem you describe. My menus are just fine.
Afaik lxpanel just reads the contents of /usr/share/applications without any man in the middle. However gconf2 might have messed up that directory when you tried.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I don't mean LXDE menu - I mean internal menu's of application (most of the time, LibreOffice menu). As far as I remember, some applications were also unable to start at all.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hi Sulu. Thanks for your efforts. I sometimes wonder what is the best mapping of keys on N900. You might consider reserving shift + arrow keys for copy and paste (think Rebhanna pointed this out once) and use some other combination for pipe. I use ctrl + down. Have fun considering what to use for <,>,^,[,],{,}!

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

@Estel:
At least the file and edit menus of writer and calc weren't messed up. I didn't check the others and unfortunately I destroyed the image wher I installed Libreoffice while experimenting with that gconf-dbus issue. So unfortunately I can't test it right now. Maybe I'll give it another try.

@mscion:
Funny, I changed pipe to Ctrl+Down myself because I figured Shift+Down is essential when selecting text on a device that has very limited mouse support.
I mapped < and > to £ and € in Maemo's keyboard layout file so I don't have to care for that in Easy Debian. I usually don't use the other characters you mentioned on the N900.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Little off-topic, but worth mentioning, I think - using also fn+shift as a modifier (maemo hardware keyboard re-map, not special for Easy Debian), I was able to map keyboard with all my language special characters (9 of them, if I recall correctly), all F1-F11 keys, TAB, Escape, Return, <,>,[,],{,},|,~,^, + some never used things like dead_ogonek etc + right click key, all without loosing any "regular" key or ability to shift-selection. I've ever get enough keys, to map Easy Debian keys in matter that it doesn't interfere with my "regular" maemo mapping (F1-F11 overlap, without any harm for usage on both Maemo and ED), + debian full-screen switch, which also works in Maemo (and make wonders).

This way, I practialy never use virtual keyboard, (well, used it one time, when I figured out that I've forget to map tilde - used it once via virtual keyb, and went to fix that in hardware mapping ;) ). no matter if doing regular writing, or coding scripts.

May be useful for some.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Ah yes! I forgot about tilde... mapped to shift + space

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Maybe we should open a seperate thread (if there isn't already one) for discussion on Maemo keyboard layouts including the modified parts of our rx-51 files.
I'm pretty sure it will show that many of us have the same ideas and I guess this is also interesting for people who don't use Easy Debian.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Nice idea, ho ever, there are plenty of threads less or more about hardware remapping layouts. I wonder if we should resurrect old one, or create another, less bloated/messy.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I did a short search and it seems to me like most of the other threads are rather less than more about hardware remapping, so I'd suggest we start a new one. But maybe I've just missed a good thread.
I don't want to start a new one on my own because up to now I only changed £ and € so I can't say that I have lots of experience with what would be useful and which side effects might occur.
I'd like the idea to have the complete xbindkeys configuration of Easy Debian in Maemo's hardware layout so that Easy Debian's .xbindkeysrc really only has to care for very special things like wmctrl commands.
What is this 4th column in the rx-51 file? Is it Shift + blue arrow* or Ctrl + blue arrow?

*) I see many people here saying "Fn" for blue arrow. While that may seem obvious, it's not very accurate. An Fn key usually doesn't create its own keycode/sym while the blue arrow key creates ISO_Level3_Shift which usually translates to "Alt Gr" (the right Alt key on qwertz keyboards.
I'm not trying to be a wisenheimer, I'd just prefer the Alt Gr label but it makes no sense if I'm the only one who uses this term. If there is any official Nokia reference that calls this key Fn I'd be fine with that label too. I just don't want Fn and ISO_Level3_Shift to be confused since it makes a big difference when binding actions to that key.

btw:
More than 20 years ago when I was a little boy I very much enjoyed a boulder dash clone that is also available as a Debian package and gives me nostalgic feelings since I've discovered that package. ;)
It's called xdigger. Unfortunately it's only available in Lenny and Sid, but the package hasn't changed for over a decade and it has virtually no dependencies so the release doesn't matter.
Of course I tried it on my N900. Unfortunately it's not playable via debbie (although it starts) but if one loads the complete Easy Debian desktop and starts the game with the parameters -noblink (saves lots of CPU cycles) and -vert240 (adjusts resolution/aspect ratio) it runs great.
Movement is self explaining via cursors, a game is started by pressing "p". One quits the game with "q". Restarting a level usually works via "Esc". If you don't have that mapped in Easy Debian "Ctrl" + "b" will work too.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Nice catch about fn and alt, Sulu. Yea, I also noticed it's right alt equivalent, ho ever, it seems term fn is a little settled here. No big deal, wrong habits are correctable ;)

As for 4th row, it's Alt Gr + shift. Basically, it works no matter of sequence (shift + Alt Gr is ok), but sometimes, it may be tricky to bind. for example, I was not able to use lvl4 space for tab, but using lvl3 space for it and lvl4 space for @ works great.

Lately, I've noticed that when I run something via debbie, my Maemo modified layout is respected - ho ever, with LXDE it's half-screwed, half-ignored (for example, special characters invoked by lvl4 key result in that character being written upercase, no matte what - apparently, shift and lvl4 is registered simultaneously and independently from each other). It seems, that it should be re-written also for ED (via .xbindkeysrc), cloning Maemo settings (with addition of things like right click).

/Estel

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

When in LXDE I was pretty happy with my key definitions using .xbindkeysrc. I then tried to make rx-51 based key definitions consistent with those I had made in .xbindkeysrc but in some cases I couldn't. For example I never could successfully modify rx-51 to make a ^ character even though I could in .xbindkeysrc (I mapped it to shift + blue arrow). Anyone have any luck creating a similar defintion but using rx-51? If so how do you do it?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

^ is
Just remember, to hit it twice, or hit space after it - dead_circumflex can be also used "mixed" with some other letters. Personally, I got it binded for lvl4 'm' key.

May it be, that You can use 'circumflex' to get instant version, without need for space - but, this way You loose ability to mix it with other characters. I haven't tested it with 'circumflex', just 'dead_circumflex'.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thanks, I first tried circumflex but it did not seem to work. dead_circumflex worked fine. One just has to press twice as you said. Comes in handy if you want to make an exponent in latex.

EDIT: If you prefer to not press twice you can use asciicircum instead of dead_circumflex

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

You're right, same apply for 'asciitilde' and 'dead_tilde'.

Anyway, yesterday I got my lovely mini keyboard (USB), and it's working fine out of the box in Maemo (thanks to the H-E-N and extkbd). Ho ever, in Ed I can use only basic keys (letter with shift), no number, special characters etc. I remember qole has posted about using BT-HD scripts, ho ever, I would like to stay with extkbd, due to super-compatibility with all my devices (and almost literally every other device). Is there a way to use it properly, from within LXDE? I suspect it got something to do with keyboard layout from Ed not matching one from Maemo, but no idea further.

Also, qole (or others knowledgeable) - is there a relative simply way to "clone" hardware keyboard mapping (those of N900 hardware keyboard) from Maemo to ED's '.xbindkeysrc'?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

The easiest way I could think of would be to extract a generic keyboard layout from another Linux computer and add that to your Maemo's rx-51 file. This way switching between N900's special keyboard layout and a generic one (like on your BT keyboard) would be as easy as changing keyboard layouts in Maemo. Unfortunately I have no BT keyboard so I can't test that.

One could write a script that parses the rx-51 file contents and translates them into a xbindkeys definition. That shouldn't be hard from a technical point of view but it will require some effort to do it correctly.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

hello

command helped me Xterminal (synchroot), mounted in debian chroot.
You will have full support for keyboard.
It is also the problem of hardware based keyboard n900 in easy debian pc will be mapped to 105 (numbers and will not fn +) EXTKBD problem is the package.
I had to uninstall extkbd and give the command to fix synchroot easy debian hardware based keyboard.
I tried to fix it by copying files from my laptop xkb ubuntu on which the keyboard works. nothing helped
I think that the only solution is to modifications to rx 51
all the time I try to get a fully functional keyboard maemo / easy debian tried bluetooth (chinook, bt-script, extkbd). Was the best bt-script, but he introduced changes in the maemo keyboard.

big thanks to people working in the easy debian
Qole sad with bt-script has been suspended

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I just played a bit with the xfe file manager. It might be a good replacement for pcmanfm. It's a long time since I've worked under Windows but xfe reminds me a bit of total commander.

However, there's a small bug in xfe when running on openbox: It somehow doesn't correctly read the openbox desktop borders which leads to the problem that the window is misplaced and the window decoration bar is above the upper screen edge.
That can be solved by checking the option "remember position" in the xfe preferences (that dialogue will also be misplaced) and maximizing the xfe window before closing it.
To maximize it I called this wmctrl command:It gave me 5 seconds time to switch to the xfe window, moved it to a position where I could reach the window buttons and I pressed the maximize button.
From now on the xfe main window should be correctly placed.

While you're at it take the chance to adapt the rest of the xfe options. For example one-click open is a very nice feature on a stylus device and you might want to change some associations of file types with applications. For example I neither like the image viewer nor the text editor that comes with xfe. Therefore I changed those associations to geeqie and leafpad.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Easy Debian portrait mode:

Some of you have surely tried to switch Easy Debian to portrait mode with a command like this:In principle this works but unfortunately the mouse movement isn't adjusted accordingly by xephyr so using Easy Debian becomes a challenging mental exercise.
Fortunately some clever guy (thanks a lot!) submitted a patch to fix this bug [1]. I had a look at the source code of different xephyr Debian packages and found that the fix is already included in version 1.11 which is unfortunately only available in Wheezy and Sid. I just got rid of one release mix and didn't want to start a new one. So I patched the xserver-xephyr package from squeeze-backports (currently 1.10) and have a perfectly working mouse cursor in portrait mode now.
(Yes, I also tried to patch the squeeze package (1.7) but that would have required further patches and I was too lazy to sort that out.)

@qole:
If you think this might be useful I'll send you the patched package.

[1] https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=37331

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I reflashed and managed to install ED this time; still having issues getting Maemo Synaptic to install though, same issue, sgml-data not found in the repos...


edit: I figured it out, i had to add the SDK repository, sgml-data can be found there

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I need some help here.While trying to modify my LXDE panels on my N900 i made some mistakes and can no loger see the usual icons and tne panels. .Can someone tell me what i can do to restore or revert to the defult LXDE panel ?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

The Wiki has some instructions on how to recreate the panels.

A simple possibility is to re-install the easy-deb-chroot package (leaving the image in place). This should overwrite the relevant /home/user/.config files.