Vmware player is free.

When I have to install maemo SDK, I download the installation script and run it as root. It automatically download and confiigure scratchbox, and download and configure maemo rootstraps. It's so easy. In about 30 min, you are in scratchbox.

When you say 'its so easy', do you mean now you know what you are downloading, or the first time?
So, ok, lets go through this. I want to write an application for my nokia 770, so I somehow know I have to go to maemo.org (not worrying for the moment how I know this). I go there and I click SDK, as that is what I want. There is an option for 770 and I click it. I don't understand what it is offering me, so I click the updated tutorial (which is good, as I know the previous tutorial was wrong).
Then I go into the instructions on the quickstart. Download Scratchbox 1.0.7 and cs2005q3.2-glibc toolchains from (this link). Click the link. Oh, I don't know what these things are, but the only things that have similar names are marked as 'not available'. So thats it - I now have to ask someone what to do.
So much for the updated tutorial.
I didn't see anything in my travels mentioned as an instal script, although I did see the document marked as how to run things as root.

Now I know I can eventually work these problems out, download something and after a lot of work get something working, because I did before when the documentation was wrong but really, how hard does it have to be?
I know the leet crowd will run in and say 'if you are too much of a lamer to not be able to work out all this arcane stuff, you shouldn't be developing anyway' but I have written air traffic control systems, I shouldn't find a little handheld internet tablet that hard.

And in the context of the original thread, lets try the same with the iPhone development kit. I go to apple.com (I can work out this addres, it says it on the box), then there is a link to the developer site. There there is a button marked 'Visit iPhone dev center'. The first line on that page is 'Download iPhone SDK'. Then there is also 'getting started documents, howtos, getting started videos, sample code'. I download the sdk, and double click the installer. I then double click xcode which is shown to me when it installs. I get the 'new project' window, and there are three options for starting points for a project.

That works well.

But it isn't just an iPhone thing. Lets try windows mobile. I go to microsoft, click on developer center, click on windows mobile. I can download the developer tools from a panel on the side and ultimately the ease of use is pretty much the same as the apple example.
That works well too.

This isn't an apple/microsoft/nokia thing. I have had probably an equal amount of apple computers to nokia phones, going back to the early 90s. Probably even more windows computers (as well as other types).

Given an equal amount of iPods/iPhones, windows mobile and nokia internet tablets, which is going to get more development time? In fact given the same amount of developer time, which will get more applications out?

I have an iPod, and I have a nokia 770. I think both are fantastic, and it is a bit tiring hearing all the fanbois with their 'iPhone sucks because you cant run the romulan to klingon converter program' and 'if you like iPods it is because you are too stupid to use the nokias' stuff. Get over it - something being bad doesn't make something else good by default.

I understand the argument that it doesn't matter if noone else likes the platform you use, as long as you do, but if noone buys into something, it dies.

Im guessing the mainstream new user wanting to write a program would go the python route, which would not require scratchbox dev environment at all.

You could code on device or setup python on desktop and do development there. The most comparable method is probably to use glade 2.10.0 to design screens (which you would do on linux desktop or linux vm appliance)

This page shows glade which would be mostly the same for python :
http://nat.org/demos/gtksharp.html

Mono also exists and i'm awaiting the next release of this but the version thats already out works somewhat and works with glade. The mono route is not mainstream for NIT devices though... possibly once its refined more.

I would imagine that the mainstream programmer, picking up a nokia internet tablet wouldn't want to go the python route and I daresay that most of them would have never heard of python.
I heard about python here originally - maybe it is because i am not a linux user, I am a windows and OSX programmer, and it is not something you hear about there.

I looked into mono a while back, but really I would be happier with some kind of C variant

http://maemovmware.garage.maemo.org/

-T.

Well, when I said about the install script, I was refering to maemo 3 o maemo 4. Both have installation scripts.

With maemo 2 is more complicated. I have an instructions for this (from marius gedminas):
I don't think it's very hard to write a script to automate the process (even a GUI one).
And it works this way in chinook and bora.

There is maemo sdk+ (http://maemo-sdk.garage.maemo.org/index.html), its aims are to be able to develop out of scratchbox, but it's in aplha phase yet.
Also the vmware image already mentioned (with which you can develop in any OS, not only in Mac OS X or Windows or GNU/Linux).

I understand that iphone sdk and wm mobile are easy to install because they are GUI tools, and you only need to do double click to install it.
But maemo sdk is not dificult to install, if you follow the instructions (again, not so easy for maemo 2, but they have learned in next versions, also with maemo eclipse integration).

I think I forget some options of how to develop for maemo, if I find it I will post it.

Thanks. Looks like it is for a later system than mine, but it is certainly very helpful.

I found a script for install maemo 2.1+scratchbox: https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scm...er&view=markup

I didn't test it, but it could work. An if you change the 2.1 rootstraps for 2.2 ones, you could install maemo 2.2

Well, I am glad to see it is getting easier, and with the vmware image that is a great step forward.


You can see how (especially someone not used to linux environments where people expect more complication) some people would be put off by the process. Especially as they have to find those places to start with.

Would it be that hard for nokia to put up a big developer.nokia.com site?

If you're going to develop on Linux

. . . there was a though I was gonna finish here this morning that I've now forgotten, so . . . if you're going to develop on Linux, then YEAH!

They have two places. http://maemo.org/ (which is primarily targetted at developers), and http://forum.nokia.com/ what more do you want?

This sounds like more of a case of arguing on incomplete information than a useful discussion of the SDK.

Of note: I've been a Mac user all my life, and I heard about Python sometime around 2002. Your experience isn't necessarily typical of most Mac developers.