[Maemo 5] LED Flashlight / Torch Application?
 

is there an app to turn on and use the camera led as a flashlight? can this be done or does the camera software override the led control?

Re: led flashlight
 

I'm working on it. My N900 arrived yesterday, so I can finally test what I wrote on the real device :D

I think, I will upload very first version to extras-devel soon.

Re: led flashlight
 

Sweet. Whats it going to be called?

Re: led flashlight
 

I hope it's a widget, a switch similar to the FM transmitter switch would be ideal!

Re: led flashlight
 

+1 for widget

Re: led flashlight
 

It will be status area widget.

Re: led flashlight
 

Wont this kill the LEDs since they are optimized for high intensity flashes rather than long term illumination?

Re: led flashlight
 

LEDs driver can work in "torch" or "flash" modes, so I think it should be safe.

Re: led flashlight
 

Great news :)

Re: led flashlight
 

Awesome, but would still be good to get some official confirmation from Nokia on potential implications of this.

But I'd say the fact that it's exposed via the included driver is a good sign that it should be safe.

Re: led flashlight
 

n-lite sounds goods.

Re: led flashlight
 

Well, if it is like the one from the N95, then when using the app, the led will be shown red (like when you record a video).

Re: led flashlight
 

I remember the same discussion a few years ago on symbian devices. Back then, it was possible on some SE phones to use the LEDs as a torch. Many people requested an torch-app for S60, but there was the rumor that long term illumination would kill the LEDs. Now, a few years later, there are at least two S60 applications to use the phones as a torch. And i don't know a single case where there were problems with the LEDs. So i think it's safe and i'm happy that a meamo N900 torch app is in development....

Thanks!

Re: led flashlight
 

First version of flashlight applet is now in extras-devel.

Re: led flashlight
 

Kudos to you dev guys...I have much respect for your skills.

I just wish my 900 wasn't in a UPS truck on its way "back" to the vendor, for RMA'd "broken USB port".

:mad:

Re: led flashlight
 

You beat me to it :D Due to congestion in auto-builder, I was only able to build a new release of moodlight this morning. You can now double tap it's flashlight icon to activate LED flashlight mode (thanks to input from Risko Gergely)

It's available in dangerous-take-care-norisk-nofun extras-devel.

Re: led flashlight
 

Thanks a lot for your efforts, works as designed so far.

I expierenced something weird, though:
After installing flashlight and rebooting, Bluetooth would not work anymore, it would say 'No such device'. After uninstalling it, everything was back to normal. Anybody else expierenced this?

Thanks,
Corwin

Re: led flashlight
 

I just tested it here:

Activated BT after a reboot (post-install) ...
activated flash light, closed it... closed BT.

Nothing out of the ordinary seems to be taking place.

Re: led flashlight
 

Thank you so much! Works great!

Re: led flashlight
 

beautiful... app. But is this using LED or screen blank brightness only?

Re: led flashlight
 

It's using the LEDs (and the applet only appears with the camera "opened", which is also nice, because it saves space in the system area when the camera is "closed").

Thanks for the app :)

Re: led flashlight
 

I'm sure going to need this app when my N900 arrive in NZ.

My baby is coming to me.

Re: led flashlight
 

works perfect. thank you developer

Re: led flashlight
 

Seems to work as intended, thanks a lot!

I was wondering though, I suppose there is no way of blocking the camera app from starting when the cover is opened?

Would it otherwise make sense to start the application --> get banner that tells you to open camera cover --> open cover --> led's are lit?

Just thinking it would be sweet to not get the camera starting when you want the flaslight. :)

Re: led flashlight
 

Works perfect for me. Thanks!

Re: led flashlight
 

Had the same thoughts when working on moodlight. I've asked on the maemo-developers list, but no response yet.

Re: led flashlight
 

I found a brainstorm about this problem

Re: led flashlight
 

Sweet. I voted. :)

Re: led flashlight
 

Bug Report: After installing this app and using it for a little while, I am unable to launch the camera - I get an "operation failed" message. To duplicate:

Restart your phone
Launch the camera and take a couple pictures
close the camera
Turn on the flashlight
close the lens cover
open the cover - the camera app will crash and a banner reading "operation aborted" appears.

I'm not sure if these steps are exact, but basically, playing around with this and the camera crashes the camera. Rebooting brings the camera back for a while. Uninstalling and rebooting makes the camera work fine.

Re: led flashlight
 

You need to close the Flashlight app first before you run the Camera app. Else it will conflict because something else is using the function. That is why it is crashed on your device.
Let me know if closed the app before hand work :D I would not have a clue I'm just guessing since I dont have my N900 yet. Still waiting everyday like i'm waiting for a miracle

Re: led flashlight
 

Closing camera cover should have the same effect as the turning off flashlight from menu. I will check the code. Thank you for report.

I hope I will be able to upload new version next week and also promote it to extras-testing. Right now I'm thinking about reading alarms from driver, such as overtemperature, undervoltage, .... to turn off flashlight in case of these faults.

Re: led flashlight
 

fail-safes would be great. can you also make a widget option for the desktop?

Re: led flashlight
 

The flash LED driver should be a pretty smart lil' bug, not sure if it's connected all the way or just with FLASH, TORCH and TX_SENSE (or something very similar) lines connected. Most of LED drivers these days are I2C devices though, so you can almost make them stepdance for you or talk about their problems before going power emo. The LEDs are soldered on the little piece of quite thick (and hopefully very coppery) piece of board that holds the microSD reader too, so they should take at least the torch current even for extended periods of time... On most phones the flash LEDs are on a flimsy piece of flexible PWB that makes me wonder how many flashes will they take before becoming too faint (high temperatures cause LEDs to lose brightness quite rapidly, that's been the main problem with introducing them to normal lighting use).

Nice app, it's very useful here with five hours of non-darkness a day in the winter :D

Re: led flashlight
 

I installed it by downloading flashlight-applet_0.1-0_armel.deb and unpacked it with dpkg -i. Rebooted and opened the cameracover, but I cannot find it anywhere...

Paai

Re: led flashlight
 

stupid me... looked in the wrong places.

Paai

Re: led flashlight
 

I suppose a real ugly hack would be to kill the process as soon as it starts running but that's not really a solution..

Re: led flashlight
 

Installed this earlier but i cant find it in the status menu?

Re: led flashlight
 

I can't sem to find this in devl or testing. Am I missing something? I'm searching for 'flashlight' bt aso can't find it looking through the list manually.

Re: led flashlight
 

although it was right there in devel. I'm an idiot.

Nice app.

Re: led flashlight
 

That' a very nice application, very praticle when need the most. Just worry about overheating led as someone tested long use of the flashlight like for over 20 minutes ???