question about python
 

Hi All,

I still have that new-user smell about me so forgive my ignorance regarding this question. I have searched and haven't really found a clear-cut answer so here goes: Is it alright or does it serve any benefit to have both python2.5 and ipython installed on my n800 with os2008 or is it more of an either/or type situation?

Does anyone have a preference? I'm only wondering because other programs have python dependencies and though the current install woes are fully documented, once those issues are resolved, I'll be looking to get them installed.

Thanks for all your help!

Re: question about python
 

Those two packages have different purposes.

python2.5 is basically a run-time utility. It gives you the python interpreter itself, plus the python "bindings" pyGTK (for Maemo's underlying GUI engine) and pyGame (for SDL, a popular graphics engine), plus a bunch of utility libraries and maemo-specific goodies.

Most users will install this, as you said, as a "dependency" : meaning, they just want to use some ready-made app (like iTablet or XGalaga) that was programmed in python, and it needs some parts of the above package to run. They may not actually know or care what python is, and that's just fine (think Visual Basic DLLs or .NET runtime in Windows).

IPython is only useful if you actually want to use Python, or learn it, and explore it as a programming language. It is an enhanced "shell", a command-line interface to the interpreter, but much improved over the standard one. It is a nice tool if you intend to play around with python code and/or use the tablet as a learning tool for the language, but in no way necessary to run python-dependent apps if that's all you want to do.
(edit: and of course it depends on the python2.5 runtime, it doesn't replace it, as the respective sizes suggest :-)

Re: question about python
 

Ahh, thanks! I appreciate the info. Guess that saves me one less thing to worry about installing so that I can get back to worrying about the downloads/installs that I'm currently wrestling with.

Re: question about python
 

just get os2008, worked for me atleast lol

Re: question about python
 

fpp, where do I get IPython for N810/OS2008?
Thanks.