Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

It looks like the ball is finally rolling on Google Gears for OS2008. I was able to install an alpha version to my N810 which I found on this site, thanks for the heads up from the people in this thread. (toward the bottom in the comments section, direct link) (you need to unzip it first, I was out of the house so I used Xarchiver right on my N810). It seemed to install fine and after a restart of my browser I had sites start to ask me if they could used Google Gears. When I tested Remember the Milk it seems to be working fine. What I haven't tested yet is trying to access RTM after going offline and closing the browser then going to the site again, which I've seen reported as not working. But I can tell you that you can go offline with Google Gears and terminate your connection (just leave your browser open) and add tasks with ease, then connect again and go back online with GG and it will sync up your tasks with no problem. Now if RTM would make a page for the N8x0 devices we could really use this (I struggle using it in its currently implementation because all the menus and check boxes are so incredibly small) or maybe someone can work on a Greasemonkey script to improve it for the N8x0?

I was mainly happy to see Google Gears support because I'm a pretty heavy Google Reader user, unfortunately (*sigh* I know) while it seemed like it would work fine, I've tried several times and only been able to get the offline download up to 58% then it seems to freeze. I get an error in MicroB saying that a java script may have frozen, I hit ok and nothing seems to happen. Oh well, at least there is an installable version of Google Gears and hopefully this will encourage more people to test and help make a full functional Google Gears.

EDIT!: After another try I was able to get the Google Reader offline download to complete and the button showed me as being offline. Browsing through incoming posts worked fine and when I went back online then loaded up Google Reader on my desktop it seemed to have synced with no problem! Maybe there is some tuning to be done to improve the consistency in which it is able tp pull Google Reader offline. I haven't yet done a 'true' Google Reader offline test (I didn't terminate the connection, I just saw that it told me it was offline and tested from there). But I'll do a true test soon and update shortly.

Edit2: I was able to go offline with Google Reader again with no problem, true offline test worked (I actually disabled the connect and was still able to go through my posts), however as mentioned above with RTM, you can't close your browser or you won't be able to get back to your reader without a connection. I think this issue is cause by MicroB trying to access the website by first finding a connection.

Developers: Don't forget you can make your favorite websites Google Gears compatible by making a script for Greasemonkey and using the Google Gears API!

See below for some screenshots -

http://i26.tinypic.com/fcl5s6.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/2z8282u.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/ajwlzl.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/2j5dq88.jpg

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

cool, I was just looking at GG last night. I have one question though...what is the motivation to making a site offline readable? I understnad Google Reader for sure...but can you enlighten me on the importance of GG? Really, I have no clue of it's potential...so, yup, I need to buy a clue from Vanny. ;)

EDIT: OK...I think I get it today...it was very late last night when I found it. ;) Basically GG allows us to use online apps like those from Google and the "Remember the Milk" app off line. Right? Then when we connect it synch's everything up?

If that is the idea...this is most excellently cool!!

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Its very important. With all these web 2.0 online apps coming out (Gmail, Google Reader, Remember the Milk) it is important to be able to access their functions while you are offline. Google Reader offline mode is great because you shouldn't need to be connected to the internet to view mostly text, so offline mode makes sense for that. Instead of a while desktop application, you just enable offline access, which you can make changes in the app and sync it right back to the online app. This is beneficial because it still means users are inside the online app which they can access from any computer, not just the one that the app is installed on.

The same thing goes for Google Calendar, and Gmail. Wouldn't it be great to be able to add things to Gcal and read/write in Gmail without being connected (these don't actually have GG functionality yet *tear*)? How about Google Docs, which has GG functions in the testing phase. The ability to access your documents not only from any computer, but offline as well when you need them, then have it all synced up quickly has a very strong appeal. GG and offline access pertains to me and others in many ways, but I could see it seeming like not a big deal if you don't have many things that require that offline access. For some of us though it couldn't be more useful : )

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

thanks that really does make tons of sense. Like you say for these online apps one really does not need to actually be online a majority of the time.

I guess this actually positions the browser itself as the application platform rather then the OS. I really like that idea since it takes the underlying OS out of the picture by adding a the browser layer above that...

Looks like I will have to try this out...

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

hey

I'd like to know what GG can do with google maps API? Will i be able to view google maps (in regions I visited online).. ?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

It doesn't support Google Maps yet I think. It's been rumored to support google calendar though some people seem to get the prompt for google gears while others don't.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

If you are having trouble with the RTM site, you might want to try the iGoogle/sidebar version. Doesn't work with gears, as far as I can tell, but it is a nice interface to RTM for a handheld.

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/servi...ules/googleig/

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Thanks for posting this. I too was looking at GG over the past days wondering if there was going to be any action on the IT front with it. Seems like it is, and this is a really good thing for the IT (and mobile devices as a whole). Beside Google, I'd love to see other task/journaling type websites begin to support this. Besides enabling that web app side of things, leveraging the browser as the "application layer" could open a few other devices to the fray.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

You can check out Zoho Writer which is a full featured online word processor which has support for GG offline access.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

http://www.calio.it/files/maemo-googlegears-webaddon_0.2.9.0-0_armel.zip

Here is a direct link to the install file for Google gears.

This might be the last step to replacing my Handspring Treo. It will depend on how fast google calender opens. Thanks for pointing this out!

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Is there a way to open a Google Gears webapp without getting online first? Like from the browser cache or something?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I have been hacking on this for a few days now. I can't get RTM to show more than a blank page. Google Reader seems to work OK...

Any thoughts?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

so um, zoho?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Has anyone managed to get the compiled version to work? It installs successfuly on my n810 but then doesn't show up in the components menu as sugested in the Readme..

First time I tried, I forgot to close the browser so tried uninstalling/reinstalling without microb running, but to no avail..

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I installed from the link I posted above, it shows up in components as described. I have not actually used it since google calendar isn't gears ready yet. I didn't care for RTM.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I found that if you change the url from http:// to https://, it works.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

mplawner - Does this mean that you can open a browser whilst disconnected, and then open RTM in offline mode?

I've tried various combinations, but so far to no avail. It seems that having a connection of some kind is necessary to get the ball rolling.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Sorry for the misunderstanding. No, I have had the same offline experience as reported here: browser needs to stay open.

I did find that to get to RTM site I needed to change the address from http://blahblahlblah to https://blahblahblah, otherwise I got that similar blank screen.

Also, I have had no success (but tremendous amount of patience) in getting Google Reader to work offline. It always gets stuck at 67%. I've been trying for quite some time.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

You can use a dummy connection to fool the browser.
http://maemo.org/community/wiki/DummyIAP/

That's been working perfectly with RTM provided I use this address.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/offline
(Which still works normally when online)

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I can use RTM... but you have to leave your MicroB open...

Anyone with Google Docs? I found a thread that said that it couldn't be used since MicroB is F3 based... but Flock is also based on F3 and it works on it...

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

This is exactly what Netscape was trying to do when MS killed them with IE. :mad:

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Google Gears has been updated to support Firefox 3 yet it still doesn't work in MicroB (says its an unsupported browser).

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Hi there.

Sharing a little troubleshooting here.
I tried to get Gears on my n810 a week ago.
No matter what I did, it wouldn't work on Docs or any of Googles sites. It worked fine on RTM though.
So, I changed to language from Danish to english(us) in google settings and *pling* it worked like a charm.
So, now my old me can get it working,

However, does anyone know when the updated version of the maemo port is due?

Docs wants a newer version then 0.2.9.0. And I really want Docs to go offline!

Cheers! And nice work! :D THX

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

While the package is installable, it doesn't show up for me as a component. Any hints you might throw in my direction?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

It seems to work for some. So i guess it may be an OS version / browser version thing. it doesn't install for me

I have an n800 with diablo with the latest update,
dpkg -l |grep microb
microb-engine 1.0.4-60.14

could guys who got it working post their details please?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I am running diablo, and I got it to install but it DOES NOT show up as a component (or work...) - would also appreciate any advice...

Thanks, Patrick

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Same here, installation succeeded but it doesn't show up as a browser component.
Anyone managed to get it working meanwhile?

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I haven't managed to get anywhere with 2.9.0 on my n810 running the latest diablo updates. It will install, but it breaks microb (when you open the browser a small 'Updating' popup appears and never goes away; microb will not browse to any pages.) Uninstalling gears did not correct the problem, and I was in a hurry to get the tablet back up so I just reflashed and restored a backup.
Gears would be incredibly useful to have on the NITs, but it seems that the guy responsible for the 0.2.9 version doesn't have time to maintain it right now. I grabbed an SVN snapshot and installed scratchbox, but I'm pretty certain I'm not sufficiently skilled to get a port worked up. I'll poke at it some and if I make any progress I'll let you know, but I'm quite doubtful.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I'm just doing the same, the svn compiled fine at first but then complained about the missing package microb-eal. Apparently that package has been renamed to browser-eal in Diablo.
After updateing that dependency the package installed fine, but still doesn't show up as a component even though the browser shows "Updating..." on startup.

I wonder whether it needs to be built against the current microb svn!?

Edit: The last post in
http://code.google.com/p/gears/issue...id=292&redir=1
seems to confirm that.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Although certainly not to the level of Google Gears promise I have some of that already. I use Gmail and IMAP with the N810 mail package which allows me to create off line emails. I also use Gcalendar and run mCalendar on the N810 which provides calendar sync with off line mCalendar entry or with calendar items entered on the Web. And to a lesser extent I downloaded my Blogger.com into a file which the RSS reader on the N810 read when I clicked that file.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I'm running diablo with the latest update. I have installed the deb-file (0.2.9.0) thru the App Manager, restarted the n810 and now I see it in the list of installed programs, but it's not showing as a component in the MicroB.
Howcome other people report successful use and I can't use it?
thanks!

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

I wonder if Google gears is an extension and not a plugin? I installed Adblock Plus and it doesn't show up in components but I know its there because of it's icon which is displayed in the lower right hand corner of the browser viewing area.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Be this as it may, you can test whether it's correctly installed by going to the gears homepage.

BTW: I built both, microb from svn and gears from svn. Microb initially worked but after installing the gears package the browser didn't start up anymore (just constantly showed "Updating...").

So apparently not even the latest development snapshot of gears works... :(

PS: If anyone has managed to install gears for the *current* release of the browser please reply!!

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Is it safe to assume from the silence that no further progress has been made on the latest release of the OS and MicroB??
I also asked the same Q of Google, but no response as of yet...will post their answer when it comes...

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

Pretty much nothing at this point. Though, I do wonder if GGears was something that has been proposed to be added to a future SSU update of microB.

Re: Hurrah, Google Gears! Screenshots
 

For the record, this discussion continued here (with only limited success reported):
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=10112