Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Please use this forum for discussion regarding e17 desktop on Ubuntu or Mer.

After spending 2 weeks trying to accomplish on my own, what debian has a full team to do, I have decided that it would be best to stick to the older method. That said: It will take a while to install e17. Just start the install and let it go overnight!
If you really want to try e17, but don't have the time then you can simply apt-get install e17. However, this is not recommended as this method has a several missing features that make it less enjoyable. So, if you really want the full e17 experience...use the method below!
__________________________________________________ ______________________
E17 install directions:

Install base system...

Update you package list and upgrade to latest packages:
WARNING: This WILL take a SIGNIFICANTLY amount of time to setup and requires quite a few libraries to be installed.

Next you need to have a locale that e17 recognizes for keyboard purposes:
$sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8 (or whatever works for your locale)

Next you will need a dictionairy for the keyboard to use for autocorrect/word guess:
You'll want to set up gtk so your programs that use gtk will look good. Download gtk and icon themes and extract them to the .themes and .icons folders in your home directory.
create a file called .gtkrc in your home directory and put this in it:
Note:This theme requires the pixbuff gtk2 engine, which you have to install if you haven't already. Also, using larger font sizes will make the menu bar easier to use, but use more screen space.
If you have a N810:
Then, in the terminal type:
Then type:
in side this file type
Then hit "Ctrl & x" at the same time.
Then hit "y"
Then "enter"

Everyone:
If you are using auto-startx (no login manager)
.xinitrc
If you want to use gdm
make a file called enlightenment.desktop

You will probably also want to install a program that will improve the applications list (menu).
Note: you can make things larger (and therefore, easier to press) by playing with the scaling in the settings.


Also, I recommend installation of the xserver-xomap package (this makes the graphics smoother/faster and makes the mouse invisible):
__________________________________________________ _____________

Big thanks to: raster, b-man, Stskeeps, qole, and querty12 for their help.

Final note: If things are broken, then help me fix them!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6aVu_mnz34

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Post updated!

The e17 packages are NOW in the Mer repository.
But, you can still manually install the packages.
Go check it out.

I'll probably be adding a few more package of extra modules and stuff. But, the e17 should work at this point.

Please give me feedback about the install process and if you have any problems with e17 itself.

Thanks

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Just as a heads-up, i'm also working on getting e17 into the ubuntu-n8x0 repository ;)

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I finally got my tablet back from the repair shop and i was finally able to test this :)
Enlightenment is so awesome.. the "illumine" or whatever the profile for small handhelds was, is just like a lot improved ubuntu-MID. The Standard- and Netbook-profiles are also very usable, though taskbar addon doesn't seem to be in Mer repository yet.

e17 will be, i think, one of my favourite desktop-environment in the future... thanks neatojones + everybody who are working on this :)

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I'm going to be updating packages soon. I found a git repository ran by debian which seems to have up to date build data. The actual packages will be from a slightly older svn of e17, but they should allow the illume dictionary and keyboard modules to build properly. It looks like they will help with a few other bugs as well.

I'm planning on getting started on it soon.

For right now, I recommend trying out e17 with the debs and if you really want the best results (with the most features) use the deb at the bottom of the post and let it run overnight.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

If E17 will ever be released... :p (I know, EFL is awesome, but the lack of stable releases is not inviting for end users) hmm, some screenshots perhaps? What rendering engine and browser does Enlightenment offer these days?

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

See the video at the bottom at the first post. It explains things better than screenshots can.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

If the packages are now in Mer's repo, I'll take the E17 packages out of my repository.

EDIT: done.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I appreciate you putting those packages up on your repo in the meantime.

Also, sorry I haven't yet had a chance to update the package further. I think I may have found the solution to the problems with the prior packages, but I've had to focus a bit on school this week so I haven't had a chance to go through and update all of the packages (there are a lot). Anyway, I'm hoping the next set will at minimal have a working onscreen keyboard and possibly have the problem with the graphics fixed.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

FWIW, I've used E17 with Illume theme a bit on desktop. This also gives someone an experience with E17 without too much work. All I did was use a shell script (reasy_e17.sh or something) to compile and install E17 in /opt. After that GDM detects Enlightenment is installed and you can select it and play with it. Ofcourse on different hardware, but its still a recent experience. Elive 1.0 is out of date nowadays. The shell script allowed me to install the 'stable' stuff or also 'the experimental' stuff. I chose the former; it is normal that some modules and gadgets don't work as E17 is always a DR (development release).

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I agree that the install scripts that use svn's latest are a great way to install E17. As a matter of fact, if you look at the bottom of the first post in this thread, you will find a link to a deb file if you click the words "Original e17 deb" that will install all necessary packages to compile and install e17 and then do such using the easy_e17 script.
As I mentioned before, the draw back to this method is that it takes quite a while to compile on the tablet, but if you let it go while you sleep it shouldn't be much of a problem. The results end up better so far.

But, just for ease of use for many users and considering the time to install, I'm still working on updating the old fashioned debs. I've found a debian git repository where they host the latest changes required to build e17 on debian and will use this for the next set as they seem to have found and fixed most of the problems that they packages currently in the Mer repo have. Sadly, the process of making these packages is quite time consuming, so it'll probably be next week or so before I get around to making the updated packages.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I just wanted to post this theme here:

Grunge

It's soo nice, ;) i love it.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Ok, since Easy Mer-Ubuntu looks like it's a bit of a bust, I'll give Easy E17 a shot. I've got the original E17 deb and a vanilla Jaunty rootfs; I'll fire up the process and let it go all night. Wish me luck! ;)

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Good luck! Let me know if you hit any snags along the way and I'll see what I can do to help.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Install: the install process fails without cvs installed. This seems to be a bug in their installer script...

Keyboard: I can't get the virtual keyboard to actually enter text. It looks nice, it just doesn't work.

And where do I download the B_and_W GTK theme from?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/...44aac6e5_o.png

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

The theme can be found here:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/sh...?content=95680
Also, you need to install the gtk2-engines-pixbuf package for it to look right.
To make the theme look even more consistent, I would also install the OxygenRefit2-black icon theme which is available on the same website as above. I assume you know this qole, but in case anyone else reads this, don't forget that you'll need to make an .gtkrc-2.0 file in your home directory that sets which gtk, font, and icons you want to use. It'll make everything prettier and easier to use.


I'm not sure why the keyboard isn't letting the text work. I'm assuming you're using chroot...did you try any tricks like disabling the maemo virtual keyboard, etc? DId you try the "terminal" keyboard too, or just the default? You can change the keyboard type by pressing the little icon at the top right of the virtual keyboard. There's probably something simple setting or something that we're needing to change, but I'm not sure what it is. If we can't figure it out, I'll go over to #e on freenode and ask around for help. Raster, might know what the problem is.

One last thing...did you notice that the funny graphics are smoother using this install method? ie: there are no ugly lines going across the screen.

Also, you are right. The cvs package must also be installed. I forgot about that.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Ok, everything is working except the virtual keyboard. And it doesn't work even when I replace hildon-desktop with Enlightenment.

And it looks like I might not be alone in this.

http://www.mail-archive.com/smartpho.../msg00894.html

I have one more problem / complaint. There doesn't seem to be a "logout" button, only a power button. So I can only kill Enlightenment or reboot the tablet.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I'll look into that keyboard stuff. It really is a nice keyboard, so it'll really pay off to get it going.

I noticed that same logout issue. But, the logout issue is intentional according to the e17 people since it is intended to be as lightweight as possible and therefor it is not expected that you would be using it with a login manager, etc. I remember there was a workaround. You may just have to do something like: killall HUP enlightenment
or change the init level.

Edit: I might have it: Check to see if you have the package: libxtst-dev installed. If not, you may have to rebuild the ecore package (I think it is the ecore package anyway). I looks like the libstst package allows "X clients to synthesise input events." This also makes me wonder if there might be some sort of linkage to the lack or use of X server by Maemo, but I'm not sure.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Ok...

Notes:

• I installed the libts-dev library as well, since this is the touchscreen input library that Maemo uses.
• The easy-e17.sh script pulled a new version of ecore from SVN, "Updated to revision 39511." I wonder if I should run the whole script again (maybe some fixes / patches?)

Result:
E17 no longer starts.

Some error messages that might be useful:
I've been getting that "Generic Event Extension" error on this Ubuntu rootfs fairly frequently.

If we can figure this out and also figure out a way to kill E17 gracefully, I think this will be a very nice little desktop to play with for people.

I'm hoping that once I get this working, I'll be able to clean out the unneeded development libraries or alternately, tarball up the /opt/e17 directory and drop it into a clean Ubuntu rootfs, or something. I'd like to make this available for people to try out as a low-commitment alternate desktop.

EDIT: I asked easy_e17 to do an update, and it found a bunch of changes in several modules, bumping the version to 39513.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

It sounds like the version change probably resulted in the problems you're having.

I tried making a tarball of the e17 directory (I think i may still have it sitting around here somewhere as a matter of fact), but when I did a test to see if the tar would work, it wouldn't start the window manager so I scrapped the idea. Maybe I made a mistake somewhere so give it a shot and let me know if it works.

Edit: I found the tarball. It is here: http://savefile.com/projects/808745478
Once you go to this link, the file you want is the second one (created 06.03.2009)

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I did a complete update (downloaded and recompiled several modules); many long hours later, it was ready or testing.

Things were bizarre at first -- lots of screen corruption and such -- but when I reset the Illume theme it was fine again. Then I tested the keyboard... now it works! Woo hoo!

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

WOOOHOO!

Screenies please!!!

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I'm in the process of uploading updated e17 packages which should enable the keyboard to work with them.

I will test them and see if it works as hoped. If anyone else could try them out, that would be helpful as well.

Re: Screenies please!!!
 

Ok, here's three:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/...1d83d167_o.png http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3540/...0bba29bd_o.png http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/...1816e9f2_o.png

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

The onscreen keyboard that I used really makes E17 Illume a no-go for 770s and N800s right now. The keyboard covers most of the screen in landscape mode, and E17 doesn't allow you to move / scroll the covered portions like Hildon, so most applications requiring a keyboard become fairly useless with the OSK. In portrait mode, you can use the keyboard like a stylus keyboard, but that gets annoying quickly, because the keyboard acts like an iPhone-style thumb keyboard, always trying to guess your words, and that's not really useful with a stylus.

I wonder if there is some way to either shrink the keyboard in Landscape mode (what's with all the empty gray border?) or enlarge the keys in portrait mode?

Anyway, that's my $0.02...

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Sounds like we need to make a custom keyboard for ourselves as described on this page: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Illume
I'll try and do that as soon as I get the e17 packages updated.

I think the reason why the screen renders funny with the deb install is that I need to build 16bit libraries. I'm going to try this and see what happens in the updated packages.

Back to the keyboard: I typically use my hardware keyboard, but when it comes down to it, I've preferred the e17 keyboard in landscape to the maemo one. Also, it's nice to have the little magnifying glass, but it seems to take too long to pop up for me alot of the time.


Also, the new e17 packages in the Mer repo now have keyboard that pops up, but they suffer from the same issues you were having before. I'm going to try the same fix.

Anyway, you're definitely right...This stuff is far from perfect. But, I can't help but seeing it as having a lot of potential. It's still in pretty heavy development, so we'll have to watch and see if things keep getting better.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Install instructions updated.

I couldn't get the debs to work out the way I'd hoped. After two weeks of trying to accomplish what whole team at debian does for e17, I realized it was above my head. If anyone would like to take up the torch...please do. But, for now, I'm sticking with this install method and I recommend that you do to.

-Thanks

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I have an idea: Try and change the scaling. If you double the scaling, it will make the top bar a bit bigger, but should also double the size of the keyboard in portrait mode.
Probably not the best solution in the end...but it might work for now.

Edit: nevermind...for some reason, this didn't change the size of the keyboard for me.

Re: Screenies please!!!
 

Qole wait, just a few questions...

1) What browser is this?
2) Did you use rotation? Because on the first 2 screen the screen is portrait and last it is landscape.

The video is really cool! But I don't see physical pointer. Is it all usable with finger (without stylus)?

There is also a script ReasyE17. It is ncurses.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

allnameswereout:
1) The browser is epiphany-browser, a fairly lightweight mozilla-based browser. neatojones used Midori for his video.
2) Yes, I rotated in Maemo first, and then I started E17. That got me portrait mode.

I hide the cursor because it is designed to be used mainly with finger. The GTK apps need a stylus still. I tried to make the fonts bigger for easier finger use, but then the usable area of the screen when the keyboard was up became a tiny sliver.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Error during lib files installing;
dpkg: error processing /var/cache apt/archive/libc6_2.9-4ubuntu3_armel.deb (--unpack):
unable to create './usr/share/man/man8/iconvconfig.8.gz':
no such file or directory
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (broken pipe) Error were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.9-4ubuntu3_armel.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Ok, I am in dependency hell. I can't get most of the things to install.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

..ewe.

Which did you install? Mer or Ubuntu? Also, can you post your /etc/apt/preferences and /etc/apt/sources.list files?

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I've heard that this was actually a problem with Mer 0.9 and should be fixed in the 0.10 release. I think I ran into it at one time as well. The fix (for me) in the case of this file is to create the directory /usr/share/man/man8 and possibly create the file iconvconfig.8.gz
You can create directories from the command line with commands like these $sudo mkdir /usr/share/man/man8 and then $touch /usr/share/man/man8/iconvconfig.8.gz to create actual files. Next, proceed with the install making any other files you might need to have. You might want to reinstall the file later on, too.

Libc6 is a common library used by most of the major window managers and really this problem isn't related to e17. There appears to be a problem with one of the document packages and is related to the version of Mer and I believe has been fixed in the newer versions (which, unfortunately haven't been formally released).

If you have xchat, you might try the #mer or #maemo channels on freenode and see if someone there might have more details.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

Installing on Mer;
/etc/apt/preferences/e17-svn_1.2.3-3_all.deb
/etc/apt/sources.list
ded http://potrs.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports jaunty main restricted universe multiverse

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I'll assume you meant:
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports jaunty main restricted universe multiverse

Try out the trick I mentioned above. Otherwise, you may be stuck waiting for a future release of Mer. Alternatively, you could try the ubuntu rootfs which hopefully does not have the problems that Mer 0.9 had with the documentation package.

If I remember correctly, you're missing the documentation files for several packages because either a documentation package was not installed that should have been or because a document stripping package was used that removed files that the packages are trying to access.

There may be simple fix. Since this is a Mer problem, you might try asking about it on the Mer thread.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

FRZ: iirc, I think the last time I used Mer 0.9 image, I simply didn't do a sudo apt-get upgrade which avoided the problematic package upgrades.

If you get the chance to reinstall Mer and Mer 0.11 isn't out yet, with the more proper fix, you might try this.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

FRZ: if you want to test latest images (even before they are released) install Xchat and come to #mer on FreeNode. If you use unreleased images, remember to make bug-reports :)

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I was trying last night but, i was up too long and got tired. I was in Mer using Xchat but for some reason I couldn't type in the search box for #maemo. And then even when I scrolled down the list to it, I couldn't select it or any channel from the list, so I just went to sleep. I will try in a little later. This time I don't mind reinstalling anyway. I have got my partitions to just the way I want them, even with an extra empty ext3 partition that I was thinking to maybe try ubuntu on it.

Re: Enlightenment (e17) on Ubuntu/Mer
 

I'm not sure why, but you can't type into that box in Maemo (bugs me too). But you can select that third option and then scroll down and find the maemo channel. It's a little temperamental, but it works. From that point, everything seems to work fine in Xchat. Honestly though, when possible I tend to use my desktop or laptop because typing on that little keyboard gets old really quick.