FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Long story short, I didn't want the FM Transmitter status menu applet to hide after I disabled it. Unfortunately, it's closed source and I didn't want to have to add another applet just to enable it. Looking at it, it wasn't complicated so even I could write a clone. It's pretty much a 1:1 clone (with the showing of error messages broadcast by fmtxd over D-BUS, usage of Nokia strings for localisation, and everything). IDA Pro FTW.
Only things I did differently was to ensure that the button is always there in the status area and I made sure that all memory was freed...

With the FM Transmitter off:
http://qwerty12.qole.org/maemo-statu...204-175150.png

With it on:
http://qwerty12.qole.org/maemo-statu...204-175214.png

Download: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...7&postcount=13
Place the .so in /usr/lib/hildon-desktop, being sure to backup the previous one.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

This is exactly what I need, but I ran into a problem. Could someone help me out with the following problem:
Attempt 1: I tried to rename the orginal file, but I got "Access denied"
Attempt 2: I copied/pasted the original file and wanted to replace the original for the new file, bit also "Access denied".
I used GPE File manage.
Thanks in advance.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

As a wild guess, you probably need root perms? Try sudo gainroot first (assuming you have rootsh installed, if not get it form the repos).

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Thanks for your reply Pigro. I will do some research on gainroot and rootsh (this is all new to me).

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

WOW! Thanks for opening this up... you're still the best mang.

This approach if generalized across the board, opens many things up to the imagination. :)

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

May I ask for some help of the pro's in this forum?
I have RootSh installed, but I assume that I have to back-up and replace a .so file via X terminal/sudo gainroot . Could someone give me a clue on which commands I need to use in order to back-up and swap a file via XTerminal?
Thanks in advance.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

How about a new applet that will always be there but with
the difference that you can start/stop the tm transmitter directly without
to wait that the settings app pop up from the bottom screen

something like this

[FM Transmitter __| \ / ]
[Frequency _____ | / \ ]

so i can just click on the right side of the applet to quickly turn
the transmitter on / off

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

To backup:
That should store it in MyDocs/"Nokia N900"
To replace it (assuming the file was downloaded to MyDocs/"Nokia N900"
You can use the onscreen tab button to complete file and directory names (or CTRL+I)

Of course you need to do all that (except the backup part) ^ as root

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

copy the original file to somewhere safe (create a backup folder perhaps?) you can copy system files and paste them elsewhere without root permission so some file managers will work for that, you just need root permissions to write to system folders.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

(heavy sigh) If only I had this...



Instead of this...


...my life would be as it should be.

:D

...Keep on hexin' mang!

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

It worked! The first time I mess worked X terminal and it worked, I now have my FM transmitter in teh status bar
@MohammadAG: Thanks for the instructions
@qwerty12: Thansk for writing the code.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Many thanks for this applet. I think it would look nicest if there was blue text saying "Off" under the words "FM Transmitter" when the transmitter is turned off, like the Bluetooth applet.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

@OM

Could be done, easily, but I need to know how many other people would be interested first.

@YoDude

Thanks! Alas, not all of Nokia's many closed source stuff is as trivial to clone. :)
You could probably make something custom with Quick Launch and http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=689762. My MAFW stuff isn't stable so you'd probably not want an applet from me... :\

@pelago

Makes sense.
Library: http://www.freemoe.org/users/qwerty1...s_menu_item.so
Source: http://www.freemoe.org/users/qwerty1....11+0m5.tar.gz

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Thanks for that dude!

Looks like...

...is all I really need and quick-launch will serve that purpose. WooHoo!

It's amazing the things we can learn here when we are not acting like.. http://media.urbandictionary.com/ima...sshat-6907.jpg 's.

Thanks again. :)

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Worked like a charm dude!
(files attached)

BTW, I haven't even begun to look at your code on this yet so forgive the niavette...

Can Alan's FM-Boost code be added to the enable function for one stop rockin'?

EDIT: Zip added because of questions about the status bar in the screeny.

...A new zipped archive should now be attached to this post. :)

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

If you have FM Boost installed, try this variant: http://www.freemoe.org/users/qwerty12/boost_variant/

FM Boost runs - I made sure of that - but since fmtxd always sets my power level to 118 automatically, I couldn't verify that it's actually running in time.

Since this has no settings window of its own, this is not a customisable option - the only way to not make this applet run FM Boost is by moving/deleting/renaming/burning/drowning/strangling /sbin/fm-boost.

Also, (this may be an advantage or disadvantage depending on how you look at it) because it does not actually give the command to turn on the transmitter itself, it can only monitor when other programs/applets have done so. So it will always enable FM Boost despite what application turned on the transmitter...

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Yea Man!

We be one stop rockin' up in this place. :)

It even preserves the notification bar the pops up to tell you what power level it is set to and...

,,,confirms it. :)

It still drops to 88 when the charger cable is plugged in but that is to be expected. A simple disable then re-enable with your clone solves that.

Dude, I'm tellin' ya. Your utilities should be in a collection ala, Peter Norton...


Give me dibs on North American distribution though. :D

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Download it from the same folder again. ;)

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Brilliant!

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

I've been rockin' this in the background non stop for over two days now with no problems using every program in my kit.
This is definitely a shippable unit. :)

I now want to find where the notification banner info is located. The one that the simple-FMTX widget installed remains after that no longer needed widget has been uninstalled, As a result, the power level banner pops up at the beginning of every song. Not a show stopper but for some it may be an annoyance and for the malcontents it will be something that they will fixate on. Even though your effort has not a dang thing to do with it. :rolleyes:

When I find and kill the sucker, I will post here how I did it in case others can use the info.

Best regards dude.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

No, that one is my fault, sorry.

This status menu applet runs FM Boost without checking to see if it's already set to 118. I'll add a check later on today.
It's 1:34 in the morning so I must piss off and get to sleep now. :)

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Good night. By the time you are up I'll be snoozin so I'll post this now.

Well an good but no appology is necessary and I thank you for your efforts so far. I now have much more than I did just a few days ago. :)

As I understand it your app invokes the event perhaps more often than it needs to but I was thinking that we wouldn't know that had another program not coded the notification banner invoked by the event.
I didn't recall seeing this notification banner when FM-Boost was first installed before the other widget . I would think FM-Boost would have created these same events. That is why I thought it was not an OEM notification rather a relic of a since removed "extra".


The same kind of thing occurs if I force a shut down of the device...
@ next boot, a banner left over from the long gone Kernel Power app pops up telling me it is reverting to the stock kernel. It doesn't because I am no longer using Kernel Power and I know the kernel that I am using remains. However, I still see this Kernel Power branded banner none the less.

Not knowing exactly how it is done I was thinking' that there must be a notification configuration file somewhere and I could simply comment out these instances... Or better yet, insert my own dang text. :cool:

I guess I should read up on something about this instead of just shooting from the hip, eh? :D

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Does using this applet chew battery like the desktop widget did? Since removing the FMTX desktop widget, my battery life has improved more than 50%.
Looks like a more than suitable replacement if so.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Well, it wakes up if the FMTx daemon reports a change to it (like the original), but it does pretty much the same more or less when woken up as the original applet. If I read IDA's output for the original applet correctly, this one also frees the memory properly.

@YoDude
Download it again. :)

Yes, it does run fmboost more times than is necessary but that should be fixed now due to its checking of the current power level. FM Boost is a script that just runs echo. It does nothing else. Our widgets will run the script and then display the banner, independently.

Actually, I believe that message is saying that it just won't load the overclocked settings; the kernel remains in-place.

Anyway, Banners and Banner-like dialog boxes are implemented in the Hildon library (HildonBanner and HildonNote respectively). My widget will call HildonBanner directly.

--

kernel-power-settings is a package consisting of scripts.

FreeDesktop has a specification on notifications: http://www.galago-project.org/specs/notification/

What's special about this is that D-Bus methods are invoked to display those notifications, and most D-Bus methods can be called using the dbus-send tool. Hildon Desktop implements this specification and will pass messages sent to it to a HildonBanner/HildonNote instance.

In short, dpkg -L kernel-power-settings and find out which of those scripts is running dbus-send.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Man you pointed to the fishing hole and told us what bait you used... You have even offered us your surplus fish!


You truly are the best dude...

Warmest regards,
YoDude


"I see.", said the blind man...

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Dude,
Last night I got a chance to do some real world testing and this widget passed with flying colors. The test included transmitting music from my N900 into a taverns sound system via their FM reciever for approximately 3.5 hours. While this occured the N900's browser was used to look up lyrics, all kinds of arcane trivia, and to verify or disprove the nightly quota of general barroom BS.

As a result your widget has received the coveted 4 Cocktail, Bartender's Approval rating. :)

Since you did all the work on this widget, for each Cap'n Morgan and Coke I consumed while I conducting the test, I made sure that I had a corresponding one of equal size and value on your behalf. I figured it was the only fair thing to do. :D

Needless to say a good time was had by all. Thanks!

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Works like a charm... Cheers guys....

Was just thinking I needed this!

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

The path seems to be dead.
_http://www.freemoe.org/users/qwerty12/fmtx_status_menu_item.so

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

'Tis because Freemoe is down. Don't have a copy, sorry.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

You might be able to pick up a copy via google cache but it is dated 5 Jun and qwerty12 made further changes on the 9th.

HA

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

See attached ZIP:

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Thanks YoDude!

Just so that I am on the same page, this status menu (by qwerty) will basically force the FM Transmitter on the status menu. That's great but does this still require me to use the FM Boost script everytime I turn on the FM Transmitter or this modified status-menu applet does that for me?

I am just curious if the status-menu checks if the FM boost has already run and does it turn off the boost when I turn off the FM transmiiter?

Thank you again guys!

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

If you have FM boost installed then this applet will automatically activate it for you too. It will check if FM boost has already been run.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Firstly, http://www.freemoe.org is back up.

I think there is likely confusion about versions, reading through the thread. As I see it (based on dates of posts etc), only the one in will correctly evaluate if FM Boost is running. YoDude posted an earlier version.

Perhaps I am wrong?

HA

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

I'm thinkin' your wrong but I could be mistaken. :p

I believe I posted that same version. :)

Regardless, all posted variants do the same thing. I don't think there is confusion if one follows the thread which I will now sum up as of today:

qwerty12's is a status menu app that replaces your OEM app so that FMTX remains resident in the status menu after FMTX has been turned off...

It removes the extra steps that were needed to activate FMTX cold.
You no longer will have to go to settings first to fire it up. :)

I then asked qwerty12 if FM Boost could alo be applied when his FMTX was activated from his widget/applet/(whatever you wish to call these dang things) variant.

And even though I'm sure qwerty12 had better things to do, he graciously coded a version that did exactly that, provided that you already have FM Boost installed on your system.

At that point 2 steps were now eliminated when you used qwerty12's FMTX variant. The original step that required you to first go to settings, and now the additional step some had to take in order to dial up their FMTX power level. Savvy?

Now being the PITA that I usually am, I remarked that this new version tossed up the Hildon notification banner every time a new song is played with Media Player. Even from cued songs in a playlist on the already ruining Media Player.

Rather than telling me to: "Suck it up, monkey boy. I got better things to do", again qwerty12 graciously provided a solution.

This is the version that you pointed to and the one I believe I posted when his server was down. :)

***

Now to sum up my sum up: :cool:

- If the FMTX status menu app does not appear in your status menu after a reboot... You don't have any version of qwerty12's variant installed.

- If FMTX does appear in the status menu but does not increase your TX power when it is used or if TX power reduces when the charger is plugged in, then you could be using qwerty12's first version that was kept on qoles server.
However, the more likely scenario is that you do not have FM Boost installed and you need this to be, in order to take advantage of this feature.

- If after every song you see the FMTX notification banner after you have qwerty12's variant installed, you have the first variant version and should now replace it with the latest variant version that has recently been made available again. The one that you pointed to in your post.

***

Now to further confuse anyone that is not used to seeing a working thread around here and may just fly by to read the last post....

Using qwerty12's variant in any version has allowed me to easily see that (on my device at least) TX power level is reduced not only when the charger is plugged in, but when other Hildon events occur as well.

Automatic email downloads and their notifications, and invoking HAM are just two events I have discovered so far. :)

Hopefully this thread will continue working until the code that is responsible for this common behavior is discovered and corrected. ;)

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

YoDude you are quite right and gracious about it too! I normally use dd/mm/yy and so your "- qwerty12's modification as of 6.12.2010 = [ file fmtx_status_menu_item.so ]" got parsed in my small brain as dating to the 6th :o and thus before qwerty12's last magic.

So having wasted folks time let me post on everyone's behalf a large THANK YOU to qwerty12 for the status menu library.

HA

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Thx for this mod.

I think there is an issue with the FM Boost.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
If I reboot the device then it usually works but after a while there is no message that the level has been set to 118. And when I check the level through X-terminal the level is 112.

Is there something that could be done to correct the issue?

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

I actually kinda noticed that myself after a few times that it worked quite well. It seems that "sometimes" the FM Boost does not kick in when the FMTX is enabled. :(

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

I forgot to unlock the mutex if the power level is already 118. Will fix tomorrow.

Re: FM Transmitter status menu applet that doesn't hide when FMTX is disabled
 

Cheers mate, really appreciate it.
Nice to see that you already figured out where the problem is.