Mer v0.9 released
 

Mer for Nokia 770,N800, N810, N810W, X86, Beagleboard, Pocket Loox 720, version 0.9

Information about Mer can be found at http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer and release information and released files on http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/Releases/0.9. It also has a list of known issues so please read them through first before installing.

If you own a N8x0(W), use the installer mentioned here. 770 instructions here. If you have VirtualBox, VMware, QEMU or Parallels, try out our VMDK or RAW images. Beagleboard and Pocket Loox 700-series instructions are available.

Next release is 16 March 2009 (0.10).

Highlights of this release:
* 770 WiFi works out of the box (thanks to nikolajhendel for the 770 donation)
* Powerlaunch - power button menu and lock screen/reboot/shutdown/offline mode now works
* Autodetection of having Nokia keyboards
* You can now flash Mer to the internal flash on N8x0 (experimental, and swap recommended, we provide JFFS2+kernel image)

Mer is still a work in progress and as such you should not expect too much of it. We are in dire need of hands, both coders and architects/designers, so if you think you can contribute, you're more than welcome to join us.

If you would like to participate, read through http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/People and http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer/Sprints and see if there's anything you can help out with. We're on #maemo (or #mer) on FreeNode, IRC, if you'd like to hang out and discuss.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

After installing 0.9, I rebooted my device, and seleted Mer at the bootmenu. After displaying "starting linuxrc from Mer on external...", I get the Nokia splash screen and then the tablet reboots itself from flash back into Maemo. I've been using Mer since 0.7, and I did not have this problem when upgrading to 0.8. Any pointers? Thanks!

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

besides the highlights... are there other enhancements?

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Not really in this release - been a slow two weeks so. Alpha code drop from Nokia has happened now though so we'll see what can be done with it.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

thanks for the quick response!
I guess the powerlaunch button alone is worth it in my N810, will load it and comment soon

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

i keep getting Error 404: Not Found ... using the new installer, simple mode

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Woops, sorry :)

merinstaller 2.0.0-mer6 now in repository, it fixes the URL

Temporary fix: when it asks for URL, write URL=http://stskeeps.subnetmask.net/mer/0.9/mer-armel-n8x0-image-v0.9.tar.gz

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Aaah, so this is the one I'd been waiting for... there goes my MMC :-)
Thanks stskeeps !

edit: too bad the wiki seems slashdotted right now :)

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

I tried with 0.8 and again with 0.9 downloading the tar.gz image and un-tar ing into a clean partition on my sd card of choice (partitions previously setup by mer installer).

It boots fine, loads mer asks for my name, user name, password x2, and tablet name. Loads mer but I don't have any options for wireless. With 0.8 re-installed using mer installer, wireless was fine.

I untar'd using root in ubuntu, is that part of the problem?

If there isn't an easy way to do it, I'll stumble through manual in the installer.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

how does the:
* Autodetection of having Nokia keyboards
work??

out of the box, the fn doesnt work in my N810 ... im apt-get dist-upgrade 'ing now to check ;)

EDIT: not working :(

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

i have this problem, too, with 0.9. i' ll probably make a thread about this

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

I neglected to update my situation. I reinstalled mer using the link in the wiki the next day, and all went well after that.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

What link you mean?
I used that: http://bsd.tspre.org/~stskeeps/merinstaller.install

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Yeah, I gots no F'n Fn either

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

try: sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg and see if that lets the Fn key work.

You probably have the package xserver-xomap installed, which is actually better than xserver-xorg, but seems to have a bug with the Fn key.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

just wondering. shouldn't the next release be mer 1.0 as opposed to mer .10..since that would mean you guys are jumping back 8 releases! (0.9 + 0.1 = 1.0)

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

"I don't think that period means what you think it means."

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

This is how release numbers work it most wont be 1.0 until its well tested and out of beta. Works this way with all programs

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

i'm having trouble connecting in ad-hoc mode (i don't have a router, just a rt73 usb dongle), is it supposed to work right? no issues with maemo.
thanks in advance

ps device is a n810

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

lol ok thanks for telling me! :D i was thinking "why does so many people see this but not say anything..must be something i don't know"

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

To clarify: not being 1.0 till it's out of beta is that way for all programs. Some programs, however, do follow decimal versioning notions where there is no version 0.10 -- next after 0.9 would be 0.92 or something. Linux, as one example, was this way for a while, and then had an odd/even development/stable scheme for a while, and now has development and "stable" releases in the same minor (2.6).

Lesson: Never assume anything about versioning systems. ;)

Nokia 770 Mer problem
 

After installing Fanoush's 48 MHz kernel, I installed Mer on my NOkia 770 using instructions on Mer wiki. Everything seemed to work, I entered user name password tablet name , but then nothing came up. Only thing I see is the background image. I waited for half an hour and restarted. Still nothing except the background image. Is there a way to see booting up messages, see what's wrong

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Hmm. In that case the mathematician in me would have preferred to see leading zeros. Going from 0.01, 0.02, ..., 0.09 to 0.10 would then be fine! 0.9 sounds very much likely it was nearly ready for release.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

in case someone could be interested i got wireless ad-hoc working properly by disabling network-manager and setting up things with iwconfig, ifconfig, route and editing /etc/resolv.conf.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

It's to be understood as major.minor and i think we'll jump to .97-98-99 when we approach 1.0

Mer installer problem
 

i found the problem with the mer installer and the bootmenu.
the installer writes wrong item file on advanced install. So i started an installation with simple mode, after writing the boot item i interupted, and installed without writing bootmenu item. I edited the item (it was saying simple) and run refresh-bootmenu.d. Now it's OK.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Fn, is'n working for me any better...

Linudevices.com arcticle:
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4893289864.html

those screenshots are pretty old... taken from 0.7?

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

FYI:

v0.10 image failed to work properly so we're skipping this sprint release, v0.11 release afterwards a 2 week development + 1 week testing. (Hildon input method problem, artwork problems, etc).

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

that means approx mid april?? or second week?

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Period: 16. March 2009 - 30 March 2009. Testing period: 30 March 2009 - 6 April 2009 Release
[more for Mer 0.11]

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

You guys have a big lump of new stuff to digest, in the form of the alpha SDK. Take your time and do it right.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

I'm glad you brought it up! You're right, we do need updates to our packages. I've been looking for volunteers to help out with this and I'm sure you (or anyone else, as it's pretty simple if you know how to use UNIX) can sacrifice a little time here and there to help bring Mer packages based on Fremantle packages up to date with the code drops.

Basically, a summary of the common-with-Fremantle packages and the version differences can be found here

To do something about a package not being up to date, it is fairly simple:

Make yourself a launchpad.net account, and upload your SSH keys and install Bazaar.

Grab the source package the Mer package is based on, and the new one from fremantle. diff -ruN them, and save the diff.

Then:
* bzr branch <lp:something listed in table>
* cd into the checked out directory
* apply patch from before (patch -p1 < patchname probably) , fix it if it doesn't apply cleanly (watch out for configure and autoconf generated things)
* bzr add any added files (avoid .rej and .orig, bzr status is a good tool.)
* dch -m -i , and add your personal log message. Call it mer version + 1.
* bzr commit -m "your personal log message"
* bzr push lp:~yourusername/m-r/packagename
* Ideally, bzr export <some dir> lp:~yourusername/m-r/packagename , cd <some dir> and try to dpkg-buildpackage -b it.
* Point us to the branch and we'll put the branch in the repository and build it.

Now, you've done a small but necessary job to help bring Fremantle components to Mer, and to your N8x0 (or 770) and you can feel good about having contributed to this community effort.

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Wow, you and I have a different idea about "simple" and "small". :o

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Can we do this from Any Linux (x86) distro or do these steps have to be taken from within a particular development environment/cross compiler?
(Can I do this from my Ubuntu machine at home?)

Thanx,

desiv

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Yes, you can do this on your ubuntu machine at home - for building i recommend (ab)using a Mer VMDK and apt-get install build-essential -

Most patches apply cleanly, though, you will most likely see patch failed in debian/changelog, is fairly easy to fix, just add the items from .rej without the +'s in the front and add an according version above it using dch..

Thanks for wanting to help out with this - I do this by hand every SDK release or when there's a new version out and X packages times 20 minutes does add up.

I'm looking forward to when the UI secrecy is over, so we can start pulling patches directly from source trees again like it is on stage.* with some packages..

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Thanx.
No problem using a VMDK, so I'll take a look as soon as I get a chance...

desiv

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

I have a serious problem with mine. I was trying to install Mer through the instructions from the Mer-wiki site, with the installer on my 810 and then it starts repeatedly to reboot after I have done the second reboot. After the first reboot, the "Install Mer" wasn't in the Utilities. So I couldn't install Mer.

Now I don't know how to come back to my original version which is the newest one.

Please help, you guys are doing a great job out there, but I am just a n00b to Linux. I am trying hard to learn and understand.;)

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

Sorry if my post was not clear. I meant that it is no big deal to miss 0.10, it is just an arbitrary deadline you set yourself.

Looking forward to 0.11!

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

I have installed Mer 0.9 on my N810 and it looks good. I have installed LXDE and it works quite OK. It seems little snappier than Ubuntu.
Several notes:
- keyboard seems to be broken, enter does not work (the one on d-pad works though) and Fn does not work. I think it is just missing a keymap or somehow using PC keymap.
- apt-get update/apt-get upgrade installed and upgraded ton of packages. one of the packaes is libc6 and upgrading it failed when it was trying to copy some man file to ./usr/man/man5/...


update ...
there is no /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr in Mer, so it does not know about Nokia specific keyboards

I think it has to be copied from Maemo

then in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols
xkbcomp -lhlpR '*' -o ../symbols.dir

and integrated into rules dir to base

sprite:/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules# grep nokia *
base: nokiarx44 * = nokia_vndr/rx-44(%l)
base: nokiasu8w * = nokia_vndr/su-8w(%l)
base.lst: nokiasu8w Nokia SU-8W
base.xml: <name>nokiasu8w</name>
xorg: nokiarx44 * = nokia_vndr/rx-44(%l)
xorg: nokiasu8w * = nokia_vndr/su-8w(%l)
xorg.lst: nokiasu8w Nokia SU-8W
xorg.xml: <name>nokiasu8w</name>
then nokiarx44 has to be used in xorg.conf
Option "XkbModel" "nokiarx44"

but it still doesnt work for me

Re: Mer v0.9 released
 

It looks like the keyboard problem is newer xkb-data from Ubuntu overwriting xkb-data from Mer. Manual package install fixed it for me in Mer-0.9 and Mer-0.10 image I got from stskeeps has got it fixed.

After I have installed LXDE there is plenty of RAM (around 50MB) left over for apps. Hildon is terribly bloated. I started removin all packages with "hildon" in the name.

Now the next step, to get wifi working with wpa_supplicant.

Mer is awesome, thank you guys.