Thread: [Maemo 4] Podcasting: gPodder for Maemo 4 (N800, N810)
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danramos is offline danramos
2008-09-13 , 03:09
Posts: 4,672 | Thanked: 5,455 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA
#143
Originally Posted by thp View Post
Actually, the Desktop version of gPodder obviously stores these setting in the user's home directory. For the Maemo version, I thought it would be best to save the user settings on the internal SD card (don't know what mmc2 is on the N810), so the internal flash memory doesn't wear of from all the configuration and subscription changes (i.e. if your SD card would wear off, you could just simply swap your SD card, but in case of the internal memory, I believe your tablet would be screwed.

What I really plan to do is to make the memory card that is used selectable, i.e. mmc1 or mmc2. I believe that every tablet user has at least one memory card, and for purposes like gPodder (i.e. downloading big files from the Internet), the internal memory wouldn't be suited that well, anyway.
Just a few points of observation and opinion:

If I'm not mistaken, the /home/user directory is the intended target for . rc (resource control) files (as POSIX standards would dictate). By following the POSIX standard, you also get the added benefit of backup tools (like the one included with the tablet) recognizing those files as user configurations and being backed up properly even if the operating system gets upgraded.. so that apps can rely on them existing there.

Relatedly, I've observed that Nokia designed the home directory as a place for things like browser cache, favorites and other resource and config files. If I recall correctly, they pointed out to me (in a bug report) that the filesystem is JFS, which should minimize read/write to the nonvolatile file system and scatter writes, I believe. This should make it last quite a long time.

Most important, though... N800 and N810 both use /media/mmc1 as the removable memory card. The N800 has a removable (but hard to get at conveniently) internal memory card at /media/mmc2. The N810 has a non-removable and permament (fixed) 2GB internal FLASH RAM faux 'card' located at /media/mmc2. By forcing maemo to use /media/mmc2, you're putting much more stress of a non-removable memory card for N810 owners (we N800 owners can always swap it out for a new one.. but it's just inconvenient and unnecessary, I would think).

My opinion is that the maemo port shouldn't place the .gpodder directory on a memory card at all but it SHOULD place the database and podcasts in /media/mmc1/gpodder by default--with the option of choosing to place it elsewhere if the user wishes to choose another path. This will make the app a LOT more like the desktop, a lot more flexible and it will prevent it from REQUIRING either an internal or external card in order to at LEAST start up.

If you want to go over-the-top awesome.. you could have it, only on a first-time run: check to see if a /media/mmc1 and/or /media/mmc2 are mounted ( awk '{print $2}' /etc/mtab will show you a list of current mountpoints, for example) and then, if mmc1 exists, create gpodder and default to that card on that first run.. if it doesn't exist, try mmc2. If one of those two were used, indicate that the gpodder directory was placed there. if neither exists then maybe pop up a dialog to warn the user to pop in an SD card to use before running for the first time. ...but this isn't even necessary--it's just a notch of extra usability. Ideally, to be totally awesome, it would auto-detect whether a gpodder directory already exists on either mmc1 or mmc2 and then auto-set the working path to either one.

Heck.. maybe that's all it needs.. just autodetect whether gpodder exists in mmc1 or mmc2 and be done with it?

Say, do you have an N800 or N810 yet, thp? (I'm still getting nag screens despite having entered in the code to stop it.. heh, not a big deal--but it does remind me to ask.)