Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

thanks for the link-i leave solarwolf on anyway for my kids

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Yes, that is the version I use but I was thinking something to do directly from the application manager without having to manually download anything (or browsing around with the tablet)
I dont think anyone should be foreced to know that .deb exists just for launching a clock.
My bad for having choose a library and a language that is not already installed with the OS :(.
I suppose I could prepare a simple web page optimized for the tablet with some biga** buttons with all the .deb dependencies but still, having a 'metapackag' that can be find directly from the application manager for python2.5+pygame+pygtk+pyhildon (and maybe with a list of applications already in the offical repository in the description) could be easier.
Thank you for the link anyway, alternative solutions never hurts anyone :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I think you should just add that link to your first post, then just say install this, then Flip Clock. Seems like the best solution :)

BTW, I don't think I've said it yet: great job on the whole project. I like watching how it progresses :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Yep, I just updated the 1st post with the link. Yes the point is to show every step: this system really helped me, sped up the evolution and gave me some directions.
...and of course being cheer up is a great feeling :D

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Awesome work Ciro, glad to see that you got the code rolled in there and working without issues. If you're looking for help with any other functionality just let me know (I don't mind reading through your code ;o) ).

As for the dependencies, it's trivial, you just need to get your app to the point where you want to do an "actual release" (gotta be getting close eh!), then just make sure you follow the steps of getting it up into the "extras" or "Extras-devel" repositories. If you do that, then as part of your deb you can just make pygame/etc as dependencies, and they'll automatically be pulled in.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

just wondering -if you set the alarm does it work with the tablet switched off-in other words could it turn the unit on and go to flipclock directly-that feature could have all sorts of home automation uses via wireless

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I know the time I spent on the graphic (beside the taste) tricks a bit:
the code behind this kind of apps is really nothing special but im ready to stretch it a bit to bend in something different :)

For the real answer: by now the clock does not trig any alarm when the tablet is off. For this beaviour *we* should find a reliable way to use the alarmd (u can look back a couple of pages in this thread where someone pointed out the advantages and disadvantages).
The clock now just compare the alarmset strings with the time read from the tablet each minute:
flipclock running ->alarms works
flipclock non running -> alarms doesn't works
no day/week/month scheduling
no multiple alarms (but I could easily make working all 7 alarms or let the user enable and disable each single alarm or make fixed time alarms like !ring in 5 minutes or !ring in 10 minutes)
and yes, since is the application that take care of the alarm is possible to trigger every kind of events (examples: start an external player, an application, or pretty everything python can manage aka pretty everything the tablet can mange :) ).

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I've been the one poking around with the alarmd stuff for the flipclock here the most (well, sure seems like that way by the number of posts I've put up discussing why it would be advantageous to use!), but I'm curious as to what you're thinking of in terms of "all sorts of home automation uses via wireless"...
Anyways, going to keep on beating up alarmd for a bit and see if I can't come up with a nice little module for Ciro to throw into the flipclock to get it all up and going...

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

It seem we are not alone looking to the holy alarmd grail:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/list...5853?page=last
Ill have to take a look at that /var/lib/alarmd/alarm_queue.xml
but I would feel really nervous to mess with any OS config file.
Ill check the Gene Cash app that should already access that.

Back in the early 2000s I checked some domotica (italian word for HA) [EXPANSIVE] tools from siemens: they created their own protocol running of a 4 wires bus if I remeber correctly: it was a mess :).
More recently I saw some relatively cheap ethernet module but they are hardly accessible for me in Italy: I saw US are really more advanced and HA is more 'mainstream' but their remote are ugly as hell :).
I think someone studied something running with the XBMC on the modded xbox1.
Mixing real ethernet cabling with ethernet over power and wireless should be possible to solve any kind of 'logistic' problem.
I suppose a lot of beverly hills houses already have a pretty heavy integration with an huge portable remote again scary ugly
http://img.archiexpo.com/images_ae/p...tem-110300.jpg
Being the geek I am I would begin to just have control of all the variables I can receive from the house before before even try to begin to control things.
Thermostats programing, air conditioning, power consume of single appliaces, internet status, garage doors status, etc.
I would hate to have any automatism that overtake over my wills that decide to close the blinds while Im enjoying watching the rain.
[edit]
I just find this site (they already integrate that apple thing but it seem they didnt realize that could be use like a great remote)
http://www.control4.com/

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

In terms of general Home Automation, oh yea I'm all over it already; I use my N800 to control lights, MythTV box/music, alarm (intrusion) system, phone system, etc. I even have it at the point that when I pull up the driveway the AP in my Jeep associates with my house and sends some signals causing the outside lights to turn on/etc.

It's not that difficult to do these things, especially with great linux-based devices like N8x0, embedded routers/small devices, etc. You just need to have some coding understandings and be willing to spend money. For example, I use Insteon light switches, which are absolutely awesome in terms of what you can do/how they look/etc, but they cost like $50-60 CDN each (some of the other techs like Z-Wave etc are twice that price), so you have to be prepared to spend some money. The easiest road for a straight up solution from my understanding is something like Linux Media Center, which offers things like orbiters for N8x0, etc... I just like to roll my own stuff so I have more control over how it works and the cool things I can make it do ;o)
(It's all about the little things too... my girlfriend is still amazed every time we sit down to watch a movie and the lights automatically dim as the movie starts!)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

jolouis, I would love to see a writeup of what you've done in this area. This is something I've been interested in, but I don't know exactly where to get started. Could you do a blog post, or start a thread, or something, on "Linux Home Automation 101," explaining what equipment you've used and how you wire it up? Or maybe post a set of links to the best stuff that you've found?

As for the dimming lights... My biggest complaint here is that I'm trying to switch to the environmentally friendly CFL lights, and they just don't do dimming. Not even the ones that say they do dimming.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Pshhh, CFL is so last year. Its all about LED lights now...

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

actually what i had in mind was for security-the n810 used as a monitor for remote wireless webcams that pickup any person entering my property-the technology is already there-all that is needed is the software

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Please keep flip clock basic, I love this project and I would hate to see it trying to do everything. There is nothing wrong with a clock just being a clock.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

http://www.footprintsecurity.com.au/...a_packages.php

check this out -connecting cameras by wirless to the nokia n810 would be great

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Ok this is getting waaay off topic here, I'll start a new thread for home automation/etc over in the general section (should really be in "off-topic", but it relates to using the tablets as controllers, so general makes sense). Let's leave the flipclock thread for flipclock discussions; we can always bring ideas from the other thread back over later if they are relevant. New thread is here:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...806#post266806

Before I go though, a few points to address:
1) qole, CFLs... I know, tell me about it... however, I found that CFLs for things like outdoor lights/etc where I never wanted to do dimming were great, and just use regular old incandecants until the LEDs come down in price. The energy savings for CFLs VS regular for the most part was offset by the fact that I tied the lights in with the motion sensors of the alarm panel and a few other bits and pieces so that lights would automatically turn off if there was nobody around/nothing happening/alarm system armed/etc. It's not a direct $ for $ energy matchup, but it's pretty close. At the end of the day, installing CFLs everywhere saves you money if you're used to leaving lights on for long periods of time when you didn't need lights; if you're careful with your lighting, the cost savings in energy of CFLs is nowhere near as significant. I'm still waiting for great LED lighting though...
2) yukop4... you need IP-based cameras. The cheapie "wireless 2.4Ghz" cameras are not IP addressable or accessible in any way. While I agree about monitoring cameras with the tablet (I have a buddy who wants to do exactly that when he gets some more cash), you need to make sure you've got some actual networkable cameras that will display properly on the tablets. In your scenario you'd also want to have some kind of backend system beyond the tablet to actually monitor/record the cameras and notify you when somebody was approaching/etc so that you would know when to pull the camera feeds up on your tablet.

Anyways, in all cases, if it's not directly related to Flipclock, leave it off this thread and go to the other one...

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

oh, the home automation topic was taking over the thread :)
Thank you jolouis for being a moderator.
The AM/PM modify is almost completed.
I tried to test to upload to extra-develop without success.
When Ill have a bit of time Ill ask some advice to someone on irc.
The only things still 'open' are the alarmd and a better ringing section (let user choose mp3s or maybe to (risky) trigger an internet stream.
Since the clock already check for the model I could put an option for the FM radio of the N800 but I have no idea how test it (I have a N810).

@Rassilon7: dont worry, the clock code is so basic that will always remain a basic app (watch back the thread all the modifies it survived :) ). The clock was, since the beginning, just a pretext to check what I could be able to do with the tablet (see the led, the experiment with the gestures, the trasparencies, the battery, the light sensor, full screen, window, os integration and so on).
If I ll be able to re-learn a bit of C I would probably make a version even more stripped down but since the python foorprint is so HUGE 1 or 2 more features dont change too much how the app feel :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I finally managed to spend some time really working on this the other day and have at last "cracked" the whole alarmd/Dbus/power management/etc problems by re-organizing the main loop (the old pygame.event.wait() thing is no more, which opens up all kinds of better options). To give an idea, I've now modified it so that when the tablet's screen is off the clock is no longer updating and wasting CPU/battery power, but it's still running and as soon as you touch the screen it's back to life again with correct time/etc. The next step now is to setup some DBus tie-ins to monitor for custom Alarmd events, and finally to update the "alarm setting" code to use Dbus signals to the alarmd daemon instead of just storing internally as it's doing right now. I'm going to keep "butchering" my version of the clock here for a bit longer till I get all of these things sorted out and working, and once that's done then I'll send you the updated code that you can merge with your latest version there Ciro, or I can grab your latest sources and make the changes... either way, whatever's best. Once the alarmd stuff and Dbus stuff is integrated properly though is should be very easy to also add some Dbus calls for alarm events so that an alarm can do things like trigger the native media player with a given sound file, whatever (going to need some more interface design work when that comes along tho! ;o) )

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

feel free to modify directly last version (0.1.2). the code should be enough modular to let me keep working on the AM/PM thing (in ci.gfx) without touching the rest. In any case in a couple of days I should probably be able to put the 0.1.3 in garage.
Tell me if I should add you on garage to the developer list (so u can add directly there the new version).
Yes I know the interface will need to be modified but if you followed the thing since the beginning you probably understand that is not an issue :)
All the graphics elements are pretty simple so is matter of minutes.
Since the very 1st day the plan was to to write a better way to add an alarm event and substitute the crippled default OS interface then the things toke some weird turns. Now im not satisfact at all of the actual ringing routine so that part have to be touched in any case (like usual I keep the important parts at the end).
Buon lavoro

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Hey guys, I really like this project. I am not following current development, but I noticed these bugs/feature requests in the current build.

1) When I select the green LED option, it just changes to blue. Other colors work. (p.s., I really like the led control, 1st app i have seen actually use it!)
2)Sometimes, if it crashes, the LED keeps flashing, even though the program is "dead." Probably a loop or something.
3) What is that weird thingy picture in the non-fullscreen mode?
4) How come the numbers don't actually "flip" :(

Really cool graphics wise, smooth as butter...

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I just thought I would drop in and say that I really love this clock. When I am at my work desk my n800 usually takes the job of alarm clock anyways and this just makes it look cool. Thanks for all the hard work and I will be keeping an eye on how all of this develops. Thanks again.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

That should NOT be. One the reason why I put the led control there (beside the questionable cool factor...) is to have a program able to test them: on my nokia I had to play a bit with color values.
I used the same RGB codes for the engaged alarm string so you can compare how your led react to that number: in a geekier version I could show the hex values :). As you will notice to have the green (at least on my device) I had to send a cyan so seem reasonable to think that your tablet behaviour could be a bit different (and blue seem plausible).

CRASH??? It's a clock, should never crash :(. Anyway sometime I believe python and pygame conflict with other applications: I dont use the Nokia OS (osso) sequences for the led. The application write directly the led to turn'em on and write 0 0 0 to kill the lights so should be no blinking when the clock is off but an 'always on' or 'always off' status. Ill try to increase the number of exceptions to manage to not leave people with dirty memory and weird led colors. I hope more applications will begin to use led feedbacks so that a new event could reset the values. I suppose on a more mainstream device taking over the nokia led use is not as acceptable as doing it on a tablet...
...just pimping the empty, Im still trying to decide what to do with that space, maybe shortcut buttons for some other python apps: I dont know
well, the idea was to make flip each minute but Im too lazy to create the right frame graphics for each number (and would make the download a bit too big) I suppose a generic 3 frames animation would still be acceptable and keep people staring at the screen waiting for the animation: a stop watch with the digital and the flipclock animation each second is on schedule anyway
Thank you, still not as smooth as I would but reasonable

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Haven't checked in in a while. Looking great, very usable. Keep up the good work.

I do get a pop-up "Can't read user wallpaper". Click OK, everything else seems to be fine.

Thanks for the great work.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I know, that popup is annoying but Im keeping it there for a while just to make people know what is going on: strange anyway I thinked the wallpaper problem was solved with the jolouis suggestion:
Maybe U dont have any wallpaper in use on your tablet?
Thank you for the feedback, really appreciate

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Happy to give the feedback. I do have wallpaper, however, I doubt that it is in the standard location.

I run from an 8GB internal sd card on my n800, have a ~6GB Fat32, ~1GB ext2 (system) and ~384MB swap. I have a lot of files (music, pictures, ebooks, etc) on it, so to save on backup size / time, I created folders on the FAT32 partition and symbolically linked the documents, image, sound, etc directories to them. Worked great, with the exception that every time I rebooted, I had to reset my wallpaper. So I moved it out of the linked images directory and into the MyDocs directory.

Anyway, I would guess the location is the problem. I don't mind the popup only take a tap to make it go away.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

lemmy, fireup X-Term and use vi/nano/whatever editor you prefer to open the desktop config file:
/home/user/.osso/hildon-desktop/home-background.conf

Post up the BackgroundImage entry (my bet is that it reads something like "mmc1://" or something? It's just a matter of doing some basic string manipulations in the clock startup file to strip out the unexpected prefixes for the background image, that's all... but unless we know what they are, it's hard to get rid of them!

Ciro, I'm going to grab the latest version (0.1.2) from garage and start working to get the changes I've made along with alarmd/dbus integration into place; I'll let you know what I've got once it's done; shouldn't have to make any changes to any of the other modules, just the ci_init and main flipclock files hopefully (and maybe add an extra one), so shouldn't cause any conflicts or overlap.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

FlipAlarmClock 0.1.3 [Rated R]
I just drop there the flip animation for each minute that was lying in a corner all this time (yes Jolouis I touched again the main flipclock.py but just 1 line to call the flip thing: should not be a big deal to integrate with the alarmd modify)
Refined a bit the military time setting. Added a bit of gore.
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/downloa....1.3.armel.deb
http://files.myopera.com/ciroip/albu...875/ratedR.jpg

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

jolouis:
BackgroundImage=file:///home/user/MyDocs/7mile%20beach%20grand%20cayman.jpg
hope that helps.

Off to d/l 0.1.3

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

One thing is not working for me. FlipClock does not remember
my settings. E.g. I really dislike am/pm time so I set FC to
24hr mode. Next time I start it, it's back to am/pm mode. It
also forgets the alarm times I enter .... What am I to do?

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

that settings are stored in:
/home/user/.flipclock.conf

I guess is a matter of wrong privileges: try to DELETE the .flipclock.conf
(note that the '.' make the file hidden)

[I suppose this could happen if you launched the application with root privoleges the very 1st time and then the application cant write being in a user space...]
Thank you for pointin at the problem. I guess I should make the app aware of root privileges...

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I have no idea how fix that: the clock read the .jpg path and filename directly from an OS system file: if you manually rename something to fix the wallpaper I guess the OS system file cant be update and point to something wrong?
"/home/user/.osso/hildon-desktop/home-background.conf"
this should be the file, try to cat it and compare with your path I guess.
Jolouis sustitute a "file://" for some reason that Im too dummy to really get but seemed fixes some paths issues:
See you next bug :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Just an update for everyone who's been keeping an eye on this thread and wondering if there's any more news...
I've been working with Ciro's 0.1.3 source files for the last week or so in an attempt to do some major code overhauls and bring some great new features to the clock, but it's an ongoing process that's not quite ready for another release just yet. At the moment the feature changes boil down to:
- Full power-saving optimizations: the clock no longer performs any actions when the tablet is in idle mode. While it wasn't terribly power hungry before, I've tested my latest build to find that I can very easily leave the app running on the tablet on battery power for a few days, and not experience any difference in battery drain compared to not having any apps open.
- D-Bus/AlarmD integration: I've got most of this sorted out, I'm just putting the final touches on it. All alarm list/set options have been tied into the Nokia AlarmD system; this means a few things. First off, once you schedule an alarm from flipclock, if you exit the app when it's time for the alarm the flipclock will automatically launch and do it's alarm thing... Secondly, if the tablet's off and you had an alarm scheduled, the tablet will automatically boot up, launch the flipclock and the app will do it's alarm thing...
- Alarm Handling : So far I've just added the feature that when an alarm gets triggered it "wakes up" the display on the tablet, so if the tablet was idle with screen off, when the alarm goes you can see what time it is and see the actual alarm stuff.
- Bug Fixes: Fixed a few bugs related to the AM/PM thing, cleaned up a few odd bits here and there, etc

Still to do/planned: Provide more alarm options, including preferences for individual alarms (i.e. once off vs recurring, enable/disable a given alarm, use your own custom sound/internet radio or something for the alarm, implement that "alarm gets louder gradually" thing like the built in clock has, but as an option).
I'll try to wrap up the basic alarm functionality so that you can set and enable/disable the five or six alarms that Ciro has on the alarm interface page right now and just have them do the default alarm actions, then pass things over to Ciro again for a bit to let him work some more of his magic and update/add some more interface options for the extra stuff.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

wow, thank you for the news :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Sounds like this is really shaping up to be a wonderful app. Con't wait to see the next iteration.

Thanks for all the hard work to you both.

Ciroip - I just set the background image from the Home applet. That is what was in the file. I didn't manually set it or anything.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Quick question Lemmy, are you still having that background problem with the latest 0.1.3 deb?

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

I mentioned this feature earlier, but I'm not sure I described it completely enough. My Sony-Ericsson phones have the ability to schedule 1 alarm to recur on any days that you choose, i.e. a 7:00 AM alarm that goes off on Monday and Wednesday with no need to deactivate it the rest of the days. While having 7 alarms emulates this feature to some extent, it's not nearly as functional as being able to choose the days of the week an alarm recurs on.

Maybe you (meaning anyone who's working on the clock, which looks fantastic so far) could look into implementing that when you're investigating recurrence in general.

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

yeah, I remeber that post and I liked the idea (there is where the 7 alarms sets came from :) ) I tried to make something 'daily related' but resulted even more mess than the actual solution ( I wanted to leave an 8th general alarm to not force people set all the week days) and was horrible and confuse... Ill try to give a look the Sony implementation and plagiarize a bit since I still want a clock not alarmd related for myself.
Thank you for your patience to follow till now the thing :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

It's not terribly difficult to do with the way the alarm system is starting to shape up, but will require some new interface layout/designs before it can be implemented; so probably not this first upcoming release, but hopefully the next one. Once I get things sorted to the point that they work with the current interface (one alarm per day, occuring on that specified time each week), and prove that it works then Ciro can come up with a new interface that will actually unleash the power of the alarm stuff by allowing user to add, list, and cancel custom alarms with the following options per-alarm:
- One off alarm occuring at specific time on specific day
- Recurring alarm that happens at same time on chosen days of week
- Alarm enabled/disabled option, so you can turn it off without deleting it and loosing your preferences/etc for holidays, things like that
- Sound file to use for alarm
- Notification mode maybe? (i.e. play sound, play sound and flash LED, etc)

Anything else people are after that we can pull off... I know internet radio has been talked about before, so that would be more something that we'd look into AFTER all the rest of this gets up and going...

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

Thanks for the initial work on it ciroip, sounds like with jolouis's new developments with the d-bus/alarmd integration that this should become possible soon. I love the sound of the new alarm features, and your interface work has been excellent so far. I look forward to the next releases :)

Re: Flip clock pre pre pre pre release
 

@jolouis: ...we have some demanding users base :) I can feel the pressure.
Dont worry too much about graphics and interaction because all the interface modules are pretty works in progress (well, more works in progress than other parts). It s still in process of making all the part easy to reuse without too much stress but by now is pretty random.
I always wanted to call the interent radio address from the osso mediaplayer settings but, again, a bit RISKY for the alarm, so you should find a way to check if it works and trig a different alarm in case something bad happen to internet... I dont want cause any problem to the trusty users :)