[Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

I find the integrated one crap. You can't use categories, and adding calendars is a hassle. Also, i have to use SyncML via syncevolution to sync to my Memotoo account, which plainly is sh*te. I'd like a way to add CalDAV-based calendars, so that each individual Memotoo-Calendar is linked to a particular local calendar (private, office, etc.).

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

I personally like the native calendar app. What makes you say Sync Evolution is garbage? What issues do you have?

There are ways to import Internet calendars via pywebcalai. I also wrote maecaltool that can load ics files via command line, which can be scheduled. These aren't sync options, but may be useful.

Do you know how to code? Sounds like a good opportunity for a community contribution.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

(I've seen better calendars in the days of limiting computing power on my N73, and this was already in 2006.)

My issues?

a) Sync is SLOW. I have ~195 contacts, and alone this takes several minutes. (Partly because i transmit only one-way phone->server, which means some traffic)

b) Errors 22001, 20017, several others before i cleansed the history - never could get it to sync successfully in other than by overwrite-from-server mode, and now even this mode won't do it anymore

c) the logfiles it generates cannot even be opened on-device - they bring MicroB to a crawl or the device hangs - seems memory isn't enough to parse such huge HTML files

d) the configuration isn't friendly in - maybe if all you are trying to sync is one (1) of each task, calendar, notes and contacts datastore, but definitely not if you need to access multiple datastores, perhaps even over multiple accounts. I waited to receive my BT keyboard, before i tried to fix my configuration issues - too much typing involved.

I hate to say this, but Android (at least by 3rd party paid applications, which i happily invested in) is miles ahead here. By using CalDAV-Sync together with aCalendar+ (or even the stock calendar), it was even easier and reliable than using Lightning together with Thunderbird an a desktop. Sorry, but i simply don't have time to fiddle around trying to sync 10+ calendars, debugging sync issues relying on huge-as* HTML files, if i'm using an already tested (Memotoo) sync provider. And no, i don't code (but know some stuff), never wanted, never will, and luckily don't have tom despite working in a software company.

Sorry if this sounds like ranting, it is, i also wouldn't mind paying, (i do so frequently, be it services or software) just because it's more efficient spending some bucks instead of wasting hours, days, or weeks. And in the end having more issues than you were trying to solve at first.

All the stuff like manually importing ICS files or using external workarounds is not acceptable. This is 2013, and when a network connection is available, i expect things to happen silently after they are set up once.

Sorry, but Maemo (don't know if Harmattan is any better here) has to get way better. To be honest, the only thing more like a trainwreck i had to be unfortunate to use for months was webOS.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Yeah Maemo is certainly showing it's age. I wonder what the steps would be to add the support you want. Is it just caldav? I am curious as I have enjoyed writing my apps thus far and looking to do more that have the most utility and mass appeal. Does memotoo use caldav sync?

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

It looks like the calendar-backend api emits dbus signals when events are added and removed. http://maemo.gitorious.org/calendar-...ticalendar.cpp

It may be possible to create a dbus-listener daemon that then pushes the changes behind the scenes to a caldav server.

Getting changes propagated from the server side is probably trickier and would probably require a lot more work.

This problem is an interesting one. It sounds like you have a lot of calendars and items to sync. Can you archive old data and at least make the amount of items to sync smaller?

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

I also like the native calendar, & the things that nicolai has done with it make it hard to improve upon.

With the exception of being able to sync with other devices. All the sync options for calendars & contacts for the N900 seem to involve going into the cloud, or installation of a server on another computer, etc. It was mentioned long ago that of all oddities of the N900, the lack of easy sync with Evolution for a Linux-based device is almost the strangest.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Thanks. It would probably help if the N900 would support categories; then it would be less error prone. And i won't archive data (currently:

Number of records in Memotoo: Nb records Maximum
Contacts (address, phone numbers, ...) 195 unlimited
Calendar
Events 1696 unlimited
Tasks 12 unlimited
Notes 2 unlimited
Holidays 0 unlimited
Categories 11 unlimited <-- my individual calendars

...because the only device that is b*tchy about any data sync is the N900; neither my desktop(s) nor the Touchpad's CM10 install having issues. You don't necessarily fix your infrastructure according to the weakest link/device... you rather fix the problem device, or exchange it. The N73 had way less issues when ScheduleWorld still existed to sync it against (and i did some amount of bugtesting for them then).

And i don't even try to sync all ~1700 events, because i don't need all of them on all devices. (EU week numbers f.e., or Sun timings - they are just subscribed external calendars for places that sometimes need them to be displayed) so it's probably just 10-20% of them.

I'll try the suggestion made about using & adopting the Google Calendar template for CalDAV, and Yahoo template for CardDAV, or the generic DAV template. Memotoo fortunately allows you to use LDAP, CalDAV, CardDAV, ICS files, WebDAV, ActiveSync, Exchange, etc. etc., whatever you dream of. That's why i just prolonged my premium account for another 2 years.
There are of course other sync providers that support some subsets / less, so...

Maybe i'm also too stupid to configure SE correctly. But it isn't exactly the easiest framework to do so.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

How are the caldav templates working? Did you get a chance to try?

If it doesn't work, then it seems like a properly implemented server should provide items that have changed via etags or ctags. Could make writing a sync client easier.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

1700 events?! That's 4 to 5 events a day, every day, for a full year. With none of them repeating, since repeat events are generally stored as one event item. Maybe it's time to trim the database a bit, yes? Or maybe limit the scope of what's synced? Most sync apps can limit the sync to a specific time frame, say 2 weeks back and 14 months forward?

As for the rest, I've found the N900 one of the easiest devices I've had as far as sync goes. I've had no issue syncing with the Exchange server at work and with my Google calendar (via ical/ics and a simple script). The only time I had a "hicup" was when Google changed something a year or so back and it stopped syncing, and that was a pretty trivial fix, given the tools available.

The only issues I have with the built-in software is the lack of complex repeat editing (there's an app), and the inability to have one item exist once on the N900 when it's shared to multiple calendars. But that's more that I don't want my calendars auto-mixing in the real world... At least not anywhere by on my N900.

As for contacts, I sync from Google and work to the N900, and from the N900 to a home system via PCSuite. I've got 90+ on Google, 300+ at work and at least another 200+ unique on the N900. A full sync to/from everything, for all categories, takes under a minute, and happens almost automatically. I have to select Sync mode on the N900 when I connect it to the home PC to sync... the rest is all automated.

I get that you're frustrated... But it sounds like at least part of the problem is a lack of house cleaning. Most desktops would be a bit slow handling/tracking 1700 calendar items. To expect that from a 3+ year old tablet, and for it to all automatically work with things that weren't even on the horizon when it came out, seems a bit much.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

I know of the widgets that Nicolai has created that improve the calendar experience, but what are the other improvements he has made? From what I understand the UI is closed source so there is no chance of making changes there. Are there changes/improvements to the CSSU versions of the calendar? I am still running PR1.3.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Yeah, I think you may be referring to the application I wrote for that. I used it to get familiar with the calendar API so I could write more helpful GUI tools for the calendar DB.

I continue to try to make improvements to my Tasks editor. I am also eager to help maintain the usefulness of Maemo 5 as a PIM device with any suggestions.

In fact, I think i discovered a bug in syncevolution for tasks regarding status codes. I need to reach out to the developer for that.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

So what are the next steps here? I personally do not use calendar sync. What features would be most helpful?

One of the biggest issues with calendar-ui is that it is closed source.

For exposing categories, I could write a GUI that lists events similar to my repeating rules editor and then that would be one step to have those at one's disposal.

Is this worth doing?

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Read again. I specifically said that's what i have available in the _master_; NOT what i typically sync - that part is probably 10%.

And no, i did not came further along. syncevolution-gui doesn't provide you with the ability to change data stores and their local assignments, if you choose either generic DAV or Google templates. So i would again have to alter config settings manually, scooping through myriads of lines (most of them occupied by comments / commented-out stuff) in several config.ini files.

Btw: wtf, why are there now TWO folders containing stuff for a service, "nameblabla" and "nameblabla-target", stored in a context for DAV? Why does one config file contain "localhost@blabla" as the sync url? This configuration tree philosophy is a mess.

No thanks, i did this once for SyncML, which btw seems the only template / type of sync protocol where you actually have forms available for disabling / enabling partial sources in the GUI, and their sync behavior.

_No_ user should have to wade through this in order to sync different calendars to their respective local counterparts.

Maemo contacts / calendar DB format hin oder her, users should have the availability of a GUI which would enable one to just:

- provide server URL / service / port
- user / pass

(at least in the case of Cal/CardDAV)

then connects to the service and let you either easily link all remotely available stuff to your existing local datastores, or even set this up four you, in that it creates necessary local calendars etc.

In the current state of affairs, it's even worth for me evaluating switching to an Android "phone" as the daily driver in the end, because this PIM stuff affects me probably more than Android's lousy task / background process management.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Some sync systems aren't smart enough to filter. If it's taking you minutes to sync, it may be it's syncing everything every time.

What I was saying is that you're expecting a device that is now almost 3 years old to talk to another system based on a spec that was either not in existence, or was in it's infancy when the N900 came out. The fact that you can do that at all is really nice.

Most tablets and PDAs from a few years ago don't have any means of syncing with new services. Most only sync with system(s) the manufacturer setup to sync with, and half the time they don't even do that after a couple years. I have a couple of devices stuck on Cupcake that can no longer sync with anything. Cupcake was designed to sync pretty much with just Google, which has since changed how that all works, breaking Cupcake support. My options on that device? None.

On other systems, you have a take it or leave it system. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, at all, ever. Here, you can at least monkey with it and eventually maybe even get it to work. Complaining about how much effort you have to put in to customize something to fit exactly what you want sounds hollow when compared to the total lack of ability to do any tweaking at all on just about any other platform.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Let's try to be more productive here rather than keeping with the rant.

Help me understand what IS and what IS NOT working.

• Does syncevolution CalDAV work at all? Not the GUI, but the backend?
• If it DOES work, how WELL did it work?
• What EXACTLY did you try (and screenshots, too) so that I can see what you mean. I have not used CalDAV before, only SyncML. I can test the same thing you are doing and thus feel your pain.

This is productive feedback. If CalDAV works in the syncevolution backend, then a new GUI with limited scope that does what you want should be straightforward to write.

If the current syncevolution backend DOES WORK, then I offer my help to work with you to write a GUI that works in the way that makes more clear sense for you (and hopefully benefits other members here, too).

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

So after some googling it appears that CalDAV is supported by syncevolution in the backend.

http://tanghus.net/2012/07/syncing-y...oud-an-update/

The next step I would like to take is to get you a working config and then a GUI can be written based on a *known* working configuration model.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

If I ever get the time again I'd like to rebuild the built-in syncing to work seamlessly as I would expect - without annoying limitations like only supporting a single Activesync connection, for example. I hate having to use apps like syncevolution as bodges to work around the built-in stuff. I just want to have an item in the control panel that lets me add any number of sync profiles and just set their type. :)

...that and reimplementing the closed source UI bits of the address book and calendar so you can actually express the synced stuff properly! ;)

One day. ...one day.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Did you write the stuff in Maemo OS for this as a Nokia developer?

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

I did; please refer to my PM (i never publish logs containing personal identifiable information in forums / in publicity).

PS: what i forgot: every sync item / datastore (calendar.xyz , note.xyz, task.xyz and so on) that is referenced in my sync config / the logs actually exists. I verified several times.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Thanks. I will play around with this as well and see if an alternative solution can be reached.

Re: [Maemo5] alternate calendars?
 

Oh god no, sorry for the confusion. I meant as in I used to have the time to hack on Maemo a year or so ago...but last year was crazy busy. It holds my passion over Android because it's so hackable...even when I haven't been able to for so long :)