Hi guys.


Coming from a windows background, developing an application is very simply. Simply install VB or a C++ compiler, create, test and compile and you have a shiny exe that you copy over to any windows pc and run. Very simple and it works. In other words, I spent about 10 mins installing the development environment and was up coding in no time.

Now to get maemo installed, has taken me hours... and so far, all iv managed to do is install scratchbox, and load up a blank Xephyr window with nothing in it. I assume that's supposed to be a blank window to showcase programs? Who knows, I will need to spend a few weeks just getting the environment setup.

Why make things soo complicated? I mean surely there must be an easy way of doing things.

The instructions for getting the system up and running on maemo are wrong and in fact don't work. I have to tweak it just to get that blank window. Further more, there is nothing on taking a user from loading the environment, coding a basic program and then loading it up onto the N900. Something like that would be enough to get even an amateur (which I am) up and running quickly so they keep their enthusiasm going and actually develop rather then get bored and drop it.

Sorry rant over!

I would love to hear about people's experience about developing applications, whether they think its a good platform and how easy it was.

Cheers.

Forget scratchbox. Get MADDE and QT. You develop a qt app on your computer and when you like it, you then compile it for ARM and run it on your n900. You will have "hello world" running very quickly. And C++ with QT is very useable.

Or even easier is PyQt if you prefer python. Nothing at all to compile. You can have an app running on your phone in minutes. If (like I was) you are stuck in this mindset that you have to have compiled apps, start to dig through your favorite apps in garage and see how many of them were python and you didn't know it. With Python and PyQT, this is probably the EASIEST PHONE EVER TO DEVELOP FOR.

I had a very bad experience first trying to install scratchbox on Ubuntu in VMWare.
So many errors I didn't know where to start the "googeling" for them.

Then I tried the Maemo SDK Virtual Image - which is an image of ubuntu (9, not 10) with the scratchbox installed, and a nice IDE similar to Eclipse that comes with some built-in samples.

I used one of the wiki pages for the installation, don't remember exactly which (EDIT: here it is), but I think a step-by-step manual like this can also help.

From that to running the samples on the device there are some linux stuff you should learn (like scp - secured copy to the N900), but running them on the Xipher itself is a very easy task.

I do agree that if you compare developing for Windows and developing for maemo, the latter is, in several magnitudes, a longer process. But that's not only because of Maemo, but because you are developing for a cellular phone (ok! computer!...), which by itself is not a trivial task, and for a different processor architecture.

Try looking at all of these preparations tasks as installing the Visual Studio from the command line and registering all the dll's manually - perhaps not the best analogue but quite similar amount of time

Developing for Maemo 5 is indeed a terrible experience. That is why there are so few apps.

Look into QT and Madde. It will get your compile/test cycle going very quickly but its still behind where Microsoft is at.

Keep trying.

Oh and if you figure out the whole .deb thing, let me know.

MADDE stops being simple the moment, you need non-qt libs.
then it gets worse than even scratchbox, which is pretty bad already.

with whichever combination -- it never will be true.
there are phones made much easier to develop for by tzheir vendors -- nokia doesn't care for development by third parties.

stumbled recently over esbox, both an ide and eclipse plugin with toolchain included and prepared.
looks pretty promising, but i didn't test yet.

Try ESBox or the virtual image and then decide.
Besides, remember that Nokia is releasing Symbian IDE's for more than 8 years now.

Thank you rmerren! See why was that never mentioned!?

I assume that's because with scratchbox you can test the app before you put it to a live phone? i will check madde out.

I did find out about python. The problem is that I know VB fairly well, but now want to invest time and energy learning ONE language fully and to an advance level. The fact that you can sit and develop python apps directly and then execute them on the phone is pretty cool; but I think long term learning C would be a better choice.

omeriko9: To be fair, I have yet to have issues with registering dlls. Since you can cheat and use the installer!

Tried the virtual image. My system doesn't have kQEMU support so its very very slow. Not usable. Tried Virtualbox with no difference in speed.

I disagree to the first statement. Development on n900 is comfortable compared to other embedded systems.
It is particularly easy, if you go one step further and use the qt creator integration of madde as explained in the wiki.
I was stunned when I first compiled an app for PC and then - with one click only - got it cross compiled, deployed and executed on the phone requiring no extra code changes.

ok, if you start from a windows background there might be more obstacles, as a linux pc host is obviously more appropriate for a linux device. But from what I've read, you can set up the environment also on a windows pc.

to the original poster: please do not read my words as offensive. I am confident, that you will eventually share my opinion after an "initial struggle". keep on trying. it is worth it. the qt environment is really nice. I also know visual studio (ok, that was in 1998!).

regards!

And that is a serious problem which should be addressed! Without an easy way to develop applications, Maemo will never be as iPhone for example.

Without a successful application repositories, the platform will not be as seen as viable by phone manufactures and it will pretty much die out.

I will keep trying cos the applications I want/need are just things to make my everyday life easy. Like an app to manage finance, game scores, shopping lists with auto alarm reminders etc... I would even dare release anything into public domain until I am very comfortable with the coding!

EDIT:: Oh and I think .deb are essentially exe equivalent for linux... or something like that!