Notices

On the package overview page the listed homepage is for Pierogi, not Lanterne.

You know, I really ought to spend a little more time perusing the available apps. Is there really no app out there already that does some sort of SOS signalling? Aren't there dozens of flashlight apps?

(This is probably an aftereffect of coming from the iPhone world; I just assume "there's already an app for that" for any given idea...)

Will do, I'll get one into the next update.

Yeah, Qt designer defaults to a type of button that is optimized for desktop use. I'll use the settings I've got in Pierogi, hopefully that'll make them a bit more finger-friendly.

Yeah, I haven't (yet) set up a QSettings system for Lanterne. (Honestly, I think I did pretty good for an app entirely written on a warm lazy Sunday... ) But yeah, I'll add it in, it isn't hard to do.

Now that I have a Github page for Lanterne, I'll use it's "issues" mechanism for the bugtracker. Thanks!

(Honestly, I was sure there was an all-purpose flashlight app already out there somewhere...)

Ah, that would be because I stole the "control" file from Pierogi and used it in Lanterne. That, and the fact that I don't have a homepage for Lanterne...

Well, I guess I do now have a Github page for it, so I'll go ahead and use that for now.

On the Strobe screen, Flash Brightness Level cannot be made lower than 12 with the minus button - intended?

Also, pressing the Strobe Flash button (once, briefly) does not make the LEDs flash - also intended? Holding it down works. I guess you wanted the user to press for a second and then release to flash once?

Torch Brightness Level on the Torch screen can only take 0 or 1 with the plus/minus buttons - intended?

P.S. I just managed to press Strobe Flash briefly and make it "strobe " continuously...the screen was in rotating just as I was pressing, maybe that caused it.

Either way, cool stuff.

Sort of -- the lower and upper bounds of 12 and 19 are, in fact, the raw values I'm getting from the call to the "Video for Linux 2" (V4L2) device driver, when I query for the minimum and maximum values for "FLASH_INTENSITY". I really don't know if they signify any real-world values, but the driver will accept integral values anywhere from the minimum to the maximum. (It may also accept values outside that range, but I'm not willing to experiment with that...)

Actually, that one's not intended; when I kick off the timer to start strobing, I've got it alternating between on and off periods, and unfortunately I started with an off period. I'll fix that...

Yeah, those are also the raw values I'm receiving from V4L2 for "TORCH_INTENSITY". It seems that you can only have one brightness in "Torch" mode. (I suppose I shouldn't even bother with the spin-box...)

Ack! Hmm, I'm depending on Qt to alert me when the user stops pressing the "strobe" button; I guess there are situations where that signal won't be sent. I'll see if I can bullet-proof it a bit.

Thanks!

EDIT: I don't seem able to reproduce the continuous strobe bug... Can you tell me a little bit more about how to cause it? (Do you need to press while rotating, lift up while rotating, something like that?) Thanks!

There are flashlight applications but they feature light on or off only AFAIK.
Hence the stream of feedback and comments

Strobe flash duration doesn't work lower than 29.
Personally I'd stop at 50 if your combo boxes jumps values in blocks of 50, or at least a multiple of 10

It's a little annoying to get to 1 via the minus button and then the plus is 51, 101 etc

Maybe a nicely worded "you can blind people or cause fits" discliamer dialog box would be a good idea? Only on first use or so you don't have to accept each time?

Also I'd say Lanterne is becoming a "Camera LED Flash Tool" more than a "Experimenter".

I've tried to reproduce now...I hold down the button in landscape mode, it starts strobing, and then I rotate the phone. The screen rotates, I release the button, and the strobing continues. It doesn't "work" every time; I'm not sure at which point I need to release the button (before/during/after rotation). But I've now done it twice. To stop the continuous strobing, I press the button again.

Few small feature requests (and one a little bigger), if you don't mind:

1. I noticed, that Morse code interpreter uses torch mode, not "flash" one. I understand, that this allow controlling dot length in wider ranges (outside maximum ON time for flash), but OTOH, is sending something in morse via flashlight, one would, probably, like to get brightest output possible.

Ideal idea would be to insert a torch/flash toggle in morse section, that would also affects possible limits but if it's too much hassle, hardcoding it to flash (and limiting possible dot length) sounds OK, too.

2. I mentioned it before, but just in case it got missed - a button to activate stroboscopic light without need to push button continuously, please!

3. I've noticed, that it's the only existing program that talks with LEDs "properly" - i.e. don't collide with other programs, and/or allow to enable LEDs even, if slider is closed. I don't know if the latter was intended, but it is very cool feature! Now, finally, I can slide cover "just a little", without triggering camera-ui or quicklaunch&co, and enable torch! (easier to do with modified mugen covers, that open camera cover vertically, than with vanilla backcover, probably)

So, here comes a little request - a "module" or spinoff (although, the former sounds more sane) of Lanterne, that would allow enabling and disabling torch without starting Lanterne GUI. Best scenario would be a config option in Lanterne GUI itself (or just some text config file, somewhere), that would enable/disable presence of that status menu entry.

I know this feature request get quite big, but if there would be also a possibility to fine-tune parameters of that ON/OFF status menu button (i.e. it would use settings per-defined by users in Lanterne itself, for example, allow to use strobo with set parameters, instead of torch), it would become a flashlight heaven, a absolute no-brainer to completely replace other existing flashlight programs out here

4. From different "department" and also mentioned earlier, so just to sum it in one post - request for more input options in morse interpreter, like taking input from file etc.
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No matter what, thanks a lot for this program! You've achieved something considered to be impossible - actually improved usage of oldest (one of) (ab)used N900's hardware parts. Who would expect, that after so many years (flashlight apps were amongst first written), we will get whole bunch of new things to do with those two little LED's, and that even regular "torch" can be MUCH improved?

/Estel

Yeah, I really need to think a little harder about how to manage these settings. Spin-boxes provide a lot of flexibility, but they can be awkward when stepping through large ranges of values.

And yeah, I also noticed that the flash doesn't work when you set the duration very low. The odd thing is, values below 30 are listed as valid in the range data V4L2 is returning to me, so it may be that I can't really trust that data either...

I did put the label "Experimenter" at the top of the main screen, but yeah, I've blasted my own eyes pretty good a couple of times now playing with this thing...

Yeah, it does seem to be looking that way, doesn't it? Thanks!