What's left to do?
 

Ok, apart from the future tablet, what's left unexplored in the current tablets? I'm not trolling, I'm trying to stir the imagination.

We've had projects to replace the entire OS with mer and ubuntu; maemo itself has stalled somewhat waiting for the new tablet.

The hardware is well understood and pretty much everything works very well, including third party peripherals where power permits over usb.

There seems to be sufficient variation in applications to allow me to do everything I could do on my desktop, perhaps a bit slowly, but usefully in the tablet's size.

So what's left to be done that's new and exciting?

Hardware wise, I think that Craves1 is doing his bit to to spice up the tablet with accelerometers and memory add-ons. Is anyone else doing any hardware hackery with the tablet?

Re: What's left to do?
 

For one thing, more optimisation of the video decoders, perhaps even using the DSP for parts of the decoding. Not sure if that ticks the exciting box for everyone mind you, but it works for me ;)

Re: What's left to do?
 

lasers, lots and lots of lasers...

Or, you know, get sound drivers for mer and Android. And make Tear a "100%" mobile-webkit (aka iPhone/Android) browser. Oh, and maybe a really good PIM suite with seamless online sync. Bluetooth and ADA2P. Video decoders optimized for ARM would be nice. Pseudo multitouch gestures (like liqbase with some polish).

:)

Re: What's left to do?
 

Video output - better than the one already experimented

Re: What's left to do?
 

Done on the current tablets, as well as it can be done on the current tablets (what with audio mixing being done on the DSP), and it will be supported out of the box afair on the new tablets, so probably best to strike this one off the list.

+1 ARM kernel-side audio codec drivers for the hw in the n810 and n800 (the n800 ones exist, if anyone fancies porting that across for the n810 that would be good).

Speaking of which, I understand from Solca that the cpufreq stuff for OMAP2 devices in the latest kernels (latest main releases, not what's running on the tablets that is) is deprecated/removed (due to lack of support); keeping the OMAP2 alive in the current kernels would be another worthy goal.

Re: What's left to do?
 

I really miss an easy way to sync (or at least push to tablet) contacts from my Mac and/or my Symbian phone.

Re: What's left to do?
 

I think what's left to do is less exploring, more down to earth work. Boring work:

Bulk-port Debian packages to OS2008 and make them available via extras. It's nice to have 300-400 applications on downloads.maemo.org, but there should be thousands. I'm not talking about openoffice.org and gimp, but 150 small editors, 300 image manipulation programs, 100 chat clients etc. etc.


If you want to turn this boring work into "something to explore": try to find if you can find a way to get semi-automated ports. anyone into artificial intelligence? ;)

Re: What's left to do?
 

export all as vcard, copy vcard to tablet, import into gpe contacts or built in address book?

Re: What's left to do?
 

yup me too

Re: What's left to do?
 

GPE only imports the contact at the top I believe. Been trying this for several days and then gave up.

Excel and Word viewer or editor. in Diablo.
Right now I have to export excel files to csv in order to view them in gnumeric and save word documents as rtf.

No I do not have a constant internet connect so talk to me about Google docs, or sync in the cloud.

Re: What's left to do?
 

The bluetooth handsfree app which was kicking about a while ago is really promising, and could add another dimension to the tablets, needs an experienced maemo Dev to take it and or the dev under their wing to bring it to the tablets. even ditching the audio, and having dialling, status, phonebook, and sms would be great. Phonelink relies on gnokki and as a result only partially works with some phones, especially Nokias (ironically).

While I'm at it a decent supported GPS/Navigation application with an interface usable in a car etc. Yes I know about Maemo Mapper. I do use it, and it is amazing, but the interface is too busy and fiddlly for in-car use.

Other than that, then I think the current tablets are fairly mature, and that is no bad thing so long as they don't stagnate overnight, which at the minute looks unlikely

Re: What's left to do?
 

a nice GUI for syncevolution should bring us one step forward here. It's still not the real thing as it doesn't support true <put any device here> to tablet sync, but with any working SyncML service (i say "working" here so that Nokia's Ovi is excluded) it's the best application I've tried so far for syncing.

Re: What's left to do?
 

I really like my N800 device in way how it looks now.

But it will be nice if:
1. We have installable images (using Nokia Update Wizard /or similar way/) for all existing alternatives (Ubuntu, Android, Mer ...). And this wizard to be able to create images of current state and later to be possible to install this image to device (or send to some friend that have similar device). And of course to give you ability to install image on internal memory or some of your SD cards (by creating boot menu if is necessary).

2. Somehow utilize currently unused 2D/3D graphics accelerator that exists inside processor core (link here). I do not want to play Quake, just to increase speed of drawings and add some additional eye candy effects to UI.

3. Allow to users to modify all 3 main menu items (for instance to remove some of them or to create new that replace some of the current). Actually full editing ability to menus need to be provided. I still have some items that are part of OS and I never use, but they still pollute menu and occupy space.

4. Video player codecs to be enriched with better support for online media. Currently a few codecs are supported and most of the online streams are not viewable using our devices (neither MPlayer nor Media Player that is part of OS works).

5. Hibernate functionality - to be able to switch replacement battery and to start device in way as it was at the moment, not to reboot. I know that hot swap is not supported by hardware now, but this can be done by hibernation in to SD card.

Regards

Re: What's left to do?
 

Nice post topic, and one that really forces one to think, rather than throwing out wish lists...

...the Nokia Morph Concept is pretty much what's left:

- on the hardware side, refining the use towards better power efficiency, transformable user input surfaces, and exploring other form factors

- on the software side, decoupling the content layer from the presentation layers; standardizing the UI and at the same time creating a UI that can morph its context to the user's needs; easier roads to development and application publishing for developers; and continued attention to community development (wikis and documentation, basic learning, workshops, etc.).

There's a lot left to do. And not everything needs new tech to do it, just a changing of how we are thinking and making innovation out of what's already here.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Didn't your device come with Navicore/Wayfinder?

Re: What's left to do?
 

I'm a bit suprised that there isn't better palm/pda funcitonality. I did have garnet running, so I acknowlege there is something. I couldn't get Garnet 2 set up and haven't gone back to try Garnet 3. I aslo am aware that the internet tablet was never promised to be a PDA.

Now that I'm fully on the Google system (grandcentral went to Google Talk), I'd be quite happy with Google Gears. Hasn't been worked on since Chinook last I checked.

The $120 for three years could get me a dedicated GPS device. (I have a N800 so I would also need a puck) that would add up to a decent gps device.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Even that needs help...

Re: What's left to do?
 

you referring to traffic data (or something else)?

Re: What's left to do?
 

Sorry, let me clarify. I mean Bluetooth as in a phonelink like software, except with hands-free, so you can use the tablet's microphone and speakers. I guess ADA2P is as good as it is going to get... (Bluemaemo is a good example of a slick bluetooth hack)

Also, while some may like 300 chat apps, 400 image viewers, etc... I find that stupid, mostly on a mobile device. Rather than mass port debian apps, focusing on a good mobile UI, etc is a better use of time. If you really want all those apps, thank qole for easy-debian.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Location aware apps would be kinda neat.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Usability.

Re: What's left to do?
 

most seems to be quite happy with mcalendar or gpe calendar+emring, both enabling calendar sync vs google.

me i would love to see a more generic syncml calendar support, and i think its planned for the ongoing rework of mcalendar.

but it seems to not be a big thing, either because people are using their phones for that, or that most devs here are not big users of said functionality...

Re: What's left to do?
 

Yea, and I bought a 36 month licence to unlock the navigation and updates. But what you missed was the word "supported".

Traffic updates, speed camera updates have stopped working here in the UK since the year started, and support will not confirm if or when it'll be fixed, with the inference being that they won't. There have been no map updates for a year now. Not a lot wrong with the app itself, apart from it's starting to date slightly.

Re: What's left to do?
 

A port of the calendar app used on symbian phones, along with the outlook sync code, would be a helpful alternative

Re: What's left to do?
 

Check this thread out...http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=18868

Hopefully this will make it as a woking solution on the N8x0s one day

Re: What's left to do?
 

some good ideas here. yes, I wanted to look for completely new things rather than incremental improvements to what we already have. I didn't want to throw my own ideas in immediately, but now everyone else has had a chance I'll have a go.

As hinted, some hardware and driver hacks I'd like to see investigated:
* accelerometer (possibly in progress) and orientation - could be used in carman, gps dead reckoning, screen rotation, games
* usb power output increase - enough to support a few more devices esp. n800
* fast a/d conversion for xoscope
* ram add-on (is this even possible by stacking chips?)
* audio driver enhanced to offer balance and tone (frequency reponse) control, possibly even HRTF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-re...nsfer_function) for 3D audio
*

S/W:
* better wifi driver for kismet and packet injection for us security testing people
* better bluetooth obex and transfer, better integration with all applications for transferring data
* good mouse/trackball support
* a port of google earth and google maps
* webcam support in jabber and skype, not just in voip
* speech recognition, recording triggering
* built-in security like encrypted /home, wifi or bluetooth proximity locking (tablet only automatically unlocks at home or trusted hotspots)
* timed recording off radio or microphone
* amazon mp3

Hopefully people will now tell me I'm missed the boat and all these are available!

Re: What's left to do?
 

#1 TO DO: GET MAEMO ABIWORD WORKING!

And as for the bulk-porting of Debian / Ubuntu apps:

If you use Easy Debian to install interesting-sounding apps for a while, you will rapidly come to the realization that most of the apps out there are not worth "bulk porting" to the tablets. And once you've filtered out those, you're left with a handful of really useful apps that often have been ported already.

Why are so many apps not useful? An astonishing number of basic apps depend on something ridiculous. For example, I saw an interesting ebook library app, and I was thinking of installing it in Easy Debian, until I realized that they decided to make a stupid flashy OpenGL interface for it that flips the book covers around on a shiny surface like the iPhone. HUH?

A bunch of other apps don't adequately support the software architecture of the tablets. In order for reasonable usability, you need things like GTK+ toolkit, ESD-ALSA sound, an interface that can fit into an 800x480 display, and no hardware video acceleration. Then there are the nice-to-have things, like mappable keys and avoidance of giant dialog boxes...

Anyway, I am all for porting more apps to Maemo, but try them out in Easy Debian (or, even better, Easy Mer) and if they perform reasonably, post a request on the forums and someone will probably take you up on the offer.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Skype with video is highly unlikely on existing tablets without across the board changes to Skype's transport protocols and/or video format. See Eero Tamminen's message on maemo-users.

Re: What's left to do?
 

That's probably because Wayfinder became part of Vodafone.

Re: What's left to do?
 

What would I like to see? The OVI store...


YARR!
}:^)~

7apt'n

Re: What's left to do?
 

Highlighting from previous posts:

Speach recognition
Better PIM (Contacts & calender) w/ easier syncing
Abiword
Improved External Video Support

Overall the platform (H/W & S/W) needs more refinement than new innovations, but I'll never turn down a new trick or two.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Bring on an iPod App Store-like interface for the maemo.org downloads, that would be both cool and useful, and more importantly it's doable and people want to do it.

Another one I think would be interesting is centralised error reporting, like Windows does. Or at least some more interaction with the user to let them know what's gone wrong, and give them ideas as to how to fix it (remove that applet!, etc. ;)

Both of these would be applicable for the current tablets and future ones I should add.

Re: What's left to do?
 

iirc, app manager is getting a interface cleanup of sorts...

Re: What's left to do?
 

By whom? mvo's merged a couple of my patches, and one or two of qwerty12's. There's been discussion about an improved UI - but at the moment we're only taking baby steps (and it's a little unclear as to whether Nokia's doing anything big behind closed doors)

Re: What's left to do?
 

As long as the Application Manager and the Ovi Store interface are made of the same components (visually) so that user experience translates nicely to both, and then branding is able to take over where crappy apps might dissuade some.

If there was a reporting feature built into the OviStore/App Manager that would directly contact the developer thru their registered OviStore/OviPublish email/SMS address, this would be a lot easier for users. Add in the UX requirement that applications in Maemo 5 should have the ability to send an error report automatically when a device is connected, and you have a quick and easy way to address this.

---

I still think that in light of the move to finger gestures, that the IT needs standarized gesture-inputs. That aspect of UI would go a great deal towards keeping styli-folks happy while making the device simple enough for iPod-folks to get in and see the flexibility of the platform.

Re: What's left to do?
 

Thanks, I'll look into those. I didn't consider them before due to lack of outlook sync, but I've since climbed on the google bandwagon and ported info there.

Voice recognition would be incredible, even if it was a paid upgrade. I don't know the efficiency to date or what is a reasonable expectation based on current processor (including N270 in new netbooks).

Timed recording from radio should be achievable from programming, I don't know if there is a hardware limitation here. For future hardware HD radio, but not a significant concern.

As far as hardware upgrades, I'd have preferred some modular ability. Hopefully with some kind of 'standard' interface similar to the 'PC card' or more likely SD card. I would have since swapped out the camera for an IR transmitter to serve as a remote (someone else may want a 3d barcode scanner). I almost bought a SD card with GPS for my N800, but the location was wrong and the card wouldn't work with the hinge open. They eye-fi SD card would be redundant, but might be good for backup purposes, aside from their dismal performance reviews.

Re: What's left to do?
 

suggest the feature to the maintainer of boafm ;)

Re: What's left to do?
 

Check voice recognition off the list. Requires connection to the intertubes.
Call your Google Voice, leave a message, get it e-mailed to your device, cut and paste.

"Real" offline voice recognition would be nice, but as mentioned would be limited by processor. By shunting the tough work to google's servers... not so much of a limitation. Makes me wonder what other processor heavy apps could share the load elsewhere. Everything comes to mind invoves video, and with my experience with VNC that still wouldn't work out right.

Re: What's left to do?
 

ah yes, cloud services. the last variant of remote access time shared computing...

i think a company is even working on doing games that way...

Re: What's left to do?
 

My N800 is finally set up to do pretty much what I expected from it when I first purchased it, however...


The number 1 thing that hasn't been done yet for the current tablets, IMHO is...


A means to lock the dang applets in place on the "Home" screen. :eek: