Notices

Oh I second that - I sometimes have the sound off and have to switch out of the app, boost the sound and then back to flipclock.

An setting for "Default sound volume for alarm" that would override any volume that is currently set on the tablet would be sweet.

Okay for anyone who's feeling pretty "bleeding edge", here's a preview/alpha release of the C-SDL version of Flip that I've been working on. It's not packaged, it's not bundled, no icons or anything fancy like that yet (that's easy I just haven't had time to package it all up yet), but basically download on tablet to the root file system (/), extract (should create a folder "/fclockC", go into there and type "./flipclock" and it should launch.
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/downloa...a-0.0.1.tar.gz

A few points to note:

• This is a VERY EARLY PREVIEW to show you guys what I'm working on and to find crashes/bugs! IT IS NOT in any way useable... well, I mean it's a clock, but...
• The images and sources are statically tied to the "/flipclockC" directory, so if you find nothing happens when you try to launch, or you get errors about missing files/etc, make sure you've got the app extracted in the right place!
• I forgot that Ciro's C-SDL background doesn't have a "change theme" button on it... so when the clock first loads, you can switch to the alternate theme by pressing just to the left of the Exit button (where the change mood button is on the old Flipclock). The alternate theme has that button in place so you should be okay.
• Feedback is appreciated and any crashing/problems it'd be nice to hear about as I may or maynot have fixed them by the time you post 'em up ;-)
• There's no alarm functionality at all yet, so don't go looking for it ;-)
• There IS Hardware Device support in this version... so leave it running for a while and you shouldn't have to worry about battery consumption and the app will go into power save mode just like normal Flip does...

Again keep in mind this is really just to keep you guys up to date on what's happening and keep everyone excited about Flip ;-) The theme stuff is working out pretty well, the long term plan is to have a "mini theme selector" pop up if more than two themes are available for you to choose between, with extra themes being extra .deb packages to install (that way Ciro can design all kinds of cool crazy clocks and all he needs to do is write an XML file with some info in it, publish the graphics, and it's good to go!).

Once I get a little further along with things I'll look into the volume stuff, should be do-able as you guys describe but I know the controls on the tablet are a bit strange... I'm also kind of hoping for some other neat tricks that I'll be able to roll into this since it's now C-based (still want to try to get that thing where it listens to you snore and decides the best time to wake u up thing going on that was discussed WAAAY back). Lots of work to go still though my priority is to get the settings/preferences and then alarm stuff in next which will be quite a task...

After playing a bit more I am no longer so sure if the problem is actually in Flip Clock. I manage to the mclock to freeze as well and in that case the python was stuck as it was with flip clock earlier.

I removed and reinstalled flip clock and it is working now bit better but I have a feeling that I need to re-install the whole OS to get the system stable again. I am just bit too lacy to do it.

and last but definitely not least thank for this application. Now I have had use for my old N800 as my bed side clock.

tjutzu, Glad to hear that you've at least resolved things a little bit and it's not a problem with the app itself (though having to re-install is always a pain for the OS!). I think as the RX-51 makes it's way into the mainstream the N800's/810s will slowly start becoming more "regular" items like Daily alarm clocks, etc ;-)

I've been coding like crazy to get the C-version of Flip to some usable/cool point, but there's still some ways to go. In the mean time though guys, since I'm building from the ground up here... what other cool/interesting/missing features are people interested in?? Any new ideas and things that you've been wanting that are lacking in the current version? Now is the time for ideas...
Right now the only points I've got are:
1) Try to control system volume so that the alarm will always be loud (if you want it to)
2) ?...

I think you're gonna be pretty happy with the theming setup (esp. Ciro who loves to make crazy designs... no more need to hack up the clock code, the themes can be extra packages for ppl), but is there anything else to change/update/etc? Are people happy with the alarm layouts/options, or?

I can't promise that every suggestion will get implemented but I'll do my best! (I noticed on the Maemo downloads page today for Flip that it's only got 3 1/2 stars... so let me know what else we can do to get that up to like 4 1/2 or 5 stars! ;-) )

Sorry about the question, but after reading some pages (30 or so) of this thread, and somee of the code, especilly this line "tablet=1 #Im not sure if this still have sense..." , I would like to know whether this would work fine in any linux box with python+pygame installed...

It seems perfect for netbooks! (1024*600) with some centering/scaling...

Sorry about the silly question...

Hey now no such thing as a silly question! and yea this thread is getting a bit long, we'll be moving to a new one to line up with the new version of the app soon enough!

Originally Ciro had a version that would run on any standard Linux install, but a lot of that compatibility got lost in dependencies for Maemo packages (libosso, etc) when I put the alarm functionality/device monitoring/etc stuff in there; so short answer right now is nope, current version won't work on other OS's unfortunately.

Now, on the other hand I am in the middle of a complete rebuild from C-SDL, which I've been trying to be much more careful about compatibility for, so that's probably the best bet. Keep an eye out and remind me as it's not a priority right now but... alternatively you can probably MAKE the current version work on non-tablets, you just have to strip out all of the libosso module includes and any code that depends on them; the main functionality should be unaffected...

Still looking for further suggestions regarding desired improvements/upgrades/etc by the way if anyone's got any...

Oh yeah...

Number one on my list would be a simple change to the snooze bar - having slept in this morning

How about having a press anywhere on the screen start it snoozing, and have a small area to turn off after that. That way, us fumbling morning-haters don't have to wake up and specifically hit the bottom of the screen to get into snooze-mode. Yeah, I missed the snooze bar... didn't notice because I wasn't really awake. Woke up later, looked at the clock, groggily comprehended that I had to be at work in 20 minutes, fumbled around to find some significance in that, the bolted upright when it hit me. I hate waking up like that.

I'd much rather listen to "Minnie the Moocher" a few times while my mind clears. The quiet at first and then progressively louder is great.

Though, as suggestion number two, way less important than the snooze bar thing, would be to scale the volume increase over the length of the mp3 file. Thus, a long file would sssllllooowwwlyyy increase in volume, giving plenty of time to hit snooze, while a short one would be blaring right away. Though, it might be a pain to calculate the length of a file in seconds of play. Again, not that big a deal. Just a thought.

Great app though, it means we'll always have a use for the N810, no matter how obsolete, dead batteries, whatever. It can always sit there and be a really cool clock Thanks for all the work.

David...

For me the current Flip Clock is 4 out of 5 star application, the new version will be then 5 star application :-)

My use scenario if following. I am using N800 which have no other use at the moment except being TV guide and news reader time to time.
1st usage as standard bed side clock
- Screen is always lit when on charger and it is on charger all the time
- Touch screen is locked to prevent accidental screen changes. For me the main clock view is the most important.
- I am not using alarm at the moment since it is too complicated
- I prefer to use standard flip view or heavily dimmed digital view
- I do like the date shown

What I would like to see
+ Easier alarm usage, for me one alarm time set with rotating or sliding time selection would be optimal
+ On standard clock view when there is no alarm the view shouldn't be changed if screen is accidental touched. I prefer those bottom of screen active controls
+ Possibility to choose if snooze is used or not (I never use it)
+ Possibility to choose alarm sound
+ Automatic screen dimming based on time of date and position (I am living up north and length of the day varies depending of time of the year)
+ All other cool features you might implement (Web radio alarm, RRS ticker, daily alarms, ...)

but the simple flip clock is still the most valuable functionality. I prefer simplicity over the complex functionality.

And yes, since there seems to be new device coming out in near future this kind of applications which take the "old and obsolete" tablets in use are more than welcome. I never manage to get Flip Clock run properly on my old 770 and it is now just lying in top drawer without any usage

Hi

I still have the problem of an invisible alarm on Wednesday morning, after I reflashed the N810! :-( Though it rings at 7h now, not on 5h as before (probably different timezone and daylight saving).

Feature request for the new version would be starting the mediaplayer instead of playing an alarm. I always start a radio stream in the mediaplayer widget on the desktop after the alarm rings. So that functionality would be really nice!

Ciao,
Jens

Hi,

I recently installed flip clock but I uninstall it because my battery was eaten within 24h whereas I could use my n810 more than one week before.
But since I still have the alarm clock icon (even after a reboot and without alarm set) and my battery still need to be recharged every 24h...

I assume there is a piece of flip clock configuration still present and that interact with the standard alarm clock, how can I fix that ?

Oso