I was going to write a blog entry on Tuesday describing my first week with the Nokia 770. Just before I was about to start, I installed a package that broke the machine to such an extent that I had to reflash it and start from scratch. I decided to leave writing the blog entry until I had got the system stable again - which has taken until today.
As I was reflashing the device, I decided to take the opportunity to try out IT2007 Hacker Edition on the basis that if I didn't like it, it would be a simple matter to flash back to IT2006 and I wouldn't have wasted a lot of time installing software on IT2006 only to lose it all when I finally decided to give IT2007 a go.
I was pleased with how quickly the device flashed and in very short order, I had IT2007 HE in front of me. I was quite surprised to find that IT2007 was a vast improvement over IT2006 - a lot of the rather badly designed or ill-thought-out components had been improved a great deal and it didn't take very long at all for me to realise that I wanted to stick with IT2007.
Because it was designed for the Nokia n800 - the newer Internet Tablet - there were some packages I found you couldn't install on the Nokia 770, and worse, some that would install quite happily only for you to discover on your next reboot that the device would no longer successfully boot and instead go into a "boot loop" where it would get part-way through the boot process before failing and starting again. Once the device got into this state, there was nothing to do but reflash again.
Very quickly, I got pretty tired of reflashing and having to install all the packages I wanted again so I started looking for a backup solution. The OS comes with a backup tool, but this only preserves your settings and user data - not any of the applications you have installed. I came across a Makefile written by Andrew Flegg which used rsync to back the device up. However, this was specifically tailored to IT2005 and wouldn't work with either IT2006 or IT2007. After adjusting what the script backed up, I had something that was rather more useful to me and after a few experiments (and several more reflashes), I had a system that would reliably back up all the files on the device (excluding devices, temporary files and caches) and restore them to the device after a reflash.
After lots of experimenting, testing and backing up, I got to a stage where most of what I wanted was installed and I was very pleased. That was until I discovered that one of the packages I'd installed had stopped my arrow keys from working - not only on my Bluetooth keyboard, but on the device as well! I thought I was going to have to reflash and start installing again, until it occurred to me that I could reflash, take an independent backup of the newly-flahsed device (where the arrow keys worked), flash back to the backup where they didn't then copy bits from the "clean" backup over the newer files until I found the cause of the problem and could resolve it. It turned out that it was the files in /usr/share/X11/xkb that broke the arrow keys. Once I knew this, it was a simple matter of restoring from the full backup in which the arrow keys didn't work, copying that dir over the top then taking a new backup.
Then I discovered that gpsd didn't work. I had spent quite a while playing with kismet when I was running IT2006 and produced a map of local wifi APs in Google Earth using some python written by FireFury. Having spent £80 on a GPS kit, I wasn't going to settle for it not working. It turned out the cause was that the gpsd supplied with IT2007 simply doesn't run on the 770. Going back to the gpsd I found for IT2006 (which was a lot of effort in itself), I extracted the files and copied them over those in IT2007 and thankfully got it working.
So now, I have finally - nearly two weeks after receiving the device - got it working how I want.
Installation notes I made during the process can be found in the SUCS Knowledge base.
This blog entry was entirely written using my Nokia 770.
Yesterday, I took delivery of the Nokia 770 I ordered from play.com on Friday. I opened the box to find that the power supply had a US plug on it and so before I could do anything at all, I had to go to Maplin and buy a socket converter. I brought it home and tried to plug the charger into it, only to find that the plastic lip was preventing me plugging it in. After attacking the converter with a kitchen knife, this problem was removed and I was able to plug the device in and power it up for the first time.
I had a brief play with it yesterday, during which time, I got root and installed xterm and an ssh client. My brother's band were playing at the Hope and Anchor that evening, and as I was driving my brother and his keyboards up there, I didn't get that long to explore.
As you, might expect, I'm writing this entry on the 770 and using this as an excuse to try out the various input methods. I wrote the first paragraph using the small on-screen keyboard with both styli and am writing this on the finger keyboard with the nails of my index fingers. This is certainly faster, but after a sentence or so, your hands start to hurt a bit.
I've tried using the handwriting system already and it sucks. It's nowhere near as good as Graffiti on the Palm. It is keen to make lowercase letters capitals and because it's interpretting as you type, the spacing changes and screws up what you're writing.
Having now discovered a shortcoming of the finger keyboard - that it duplicates text already written when you come out of it and go back in - I have switched to editing the entry on my Mac Mini. Fundamentally, a device that small is always going to have text input problems. When you're just entering a web address, it's OK, but you're not going to want to do much more than that. I might invest in one of those bluetooth laser keyboards - if it works well, that's really the only sensible solution. Clearly, typing with two fingers is going to be slower than normal typing.
Software-wise, the system is rather unstable. Several times, I've had an issue with the web browser whereby clicking anywhere on a web page caused the browser to immediately close. Rebooting the device resolved this. Visiting web pages with SWF files embedded in them also appears to cause the browser to crash. The audio player can apparently play Real Media streams, yet the browser can't, which seems rather silly - and prevents the use of BBC Radio's Listen Again service.
In a number of ways, the UI for several of the applications leaves a certain amount to be desired. The browser, in particular, falls down in that the arrow buttons to the left of the screen can't be used to directly scroll the web page but instead hop from one link to the next. This makes reading a long document in the browser more of a pain, because you have to keep using the stylus to scroll down.
I'm rather surprised that there are no software updates available for the device and that the range of software available in the Application manager is so small (even after having added the maemo repositories).
Having said all this, the display is good and I can see the device having the potential to be useful to me - particularly, for example, during a stay in hospital. The PDF reader is good (and the arrow keys do scroll the page in this), so it would be very good for reading ebooks, for example. I think I will probably buy the GPS add-on and use it as a sat nav device. Of course, the fact that it runs linux and so many people have been buying them recently (what with the price having suddenly dropped to £70-80) will hopefully mean that there will soon be a lot more software available for the platform.
My sister has been without an Internet connection for the last few weeks and being the other side of the Thames from me, I have only been able to offer support by phone. The SpeedTouch ADSL Router I had bodged to act as just an internal router/wireless AP was apparently working fine and she assured me the Cable Modem was on. She wasn't getting a connection either wirelessly or using the great long ethernet cable supplied by Telewest when she got the connection, so I was rather stumped.
Today, my parents, great aunt and I have come to hers for lunch and so I had an opportunity to diagnose the problem first-hand. It turns out that the Cable Modem has a Standby button and it had been pressed. Another press later and it was working fine.
Why would you ever want a standby button on networking hardware?! You either want it on or off - there's just no point in having it in a power-consuming non-functional state.
Following recent thunderstorms we've decided to get a second ISP to improve the stability of our Internet connection. We already have ADSL with PlusNet, but every time there's a lightning strike (which has been rather too regularly over the last few weeks), the router loses sync.
Once the connection came back up for long enough, we had a look at what Virgin Media are offering and then ordered the >20Mbit "XL" package. We were going to do it online until we realised we'd be paying the £25 installation fee when we'd had a cable connection from Telewest previously - we changed from them to PlusNet because they didn't do static IPs.
So my dad phoned them up and not only avoided the installation charge but also had the TV package made free and a discount given on the Internet connection too!
This morning's post brought a parcel containing a new cable modem and, having installed a third NIC in my gateway yesterday, it took seconds to get an Internet connection through it once I'd phoned them up to activate it.
Now, I've got the job of setting up load balancing across the two links...
The ATOM feed from the SUCS Blogs has long mangled "quotes" & it's about time that I put this right.
This blog entry exists to test whether I've fixed it yet...
Edit: And guess what... I have! :-)
The Palm keyboard and leather case both arrived today while I was in London at the latest of my Renal Outpatients clinics. Consequently, I am writing this entry in TejpWriter using it.
I'm pleased to find that the keys most important in writing HTML (that is <, > and /) are all nicely accessible - more so than in TejpWriter's "Tapboard". It's slightly annoying that it has a US layout, but that's not too disasterous. More annoying is that I discovered today that the laser keyboard is on the market and is compatible with the Zire 72. Then again, it is nearly £100, so perhaps it's good that I didn't discover this until after I'd bought a keyboard for a fifth of that price!
I've changed my mind about getting a new handheld. When I first got my Zire 72, I was disappointed to find that the keyboard I had only recently bought for my Palm Vx (which I managed to close in a car door), wasn't going to work with the Zire. A quick bit of googling revals that there is now an infrared keyboard supported by my Palm and they're going quite cheaply on ebay.
I can also get a 2Gb SD card for about £20. The only other issue - that of no development happening for PalmOS - is not as true as I thought. New versions of Opera Mini and TejpWriter have been released recently, and while a new version of pssh would be good, the existing version does work.
Having been asked what I want for Christmas by my dad this morning has got me thinking.
His suggestion was a radio, so that I could listen while in hospital. In order for it to be an improvement over the bedside consoles they have, it'd have to be a DAB one so I could listen to BBC 7 and the chances of getting a good signal are, I imagine, pretty low. Certainly, when we got a DAB radio for my Grandad, we had to install an external aerial to get a good enough signal.
He'd also thought about an iPod or similar, as have I, but they are far too limited in what they can do. My Palm can play MP3s anyway so what I would want would be more storage.
Generally, I'm very pleased with my Palm Zire 72, but it does have some shortcomings. The biggest single problem is that there's no-one writing software for PalmOS 5. pssh has been unchanged since June 2005 and Opera Mini is about the only usable web browser that exists for the platform, and even that is woefully inadequate - with a 256-char limit on text boxes - making posting to my blog (for example) more difficult. I have just noticed that Opera Mini 3 is now available, so I will have to give that a try.
The other big problem with the Palm is the input method. Graffiti is OK for entering contacts or calendar entries, but when you start trying to write whole paragraphs with it it does get a bit laborious. TejpWriter helps there to some extent, in that its "tapboard" is better designed than the palm's normal on-screen keyboard.
Anyway, my conclusion is that something that has more storage space, a better input mechanism and is being developed for would be nice. So now I need to come up with a list of requirements and look for something that fits the bill.
Thanks to chckens, my inane blatherings are now reaching (what might possibly be) a (slightly) wider audience on Planet SUCS. I ought to do a better hackergotchi, but I don't have any recent photos of myself and the ones my sister just took for me make me look like I haven't slept for about a week.
Actually, I feel like that too atm. I've been working hard all week on the new SUCS website, which is now coming together nicely.
I had clinic this morning. There was no-one in the waiting room at all when I arrived, but then the consultants aren't in on a Friday because that's when they do their weekly ward round - it's just the nurses. Dan phoned me this afternoon to ask me to go back again on Monday for a blood test. Only coz it's a bank holiday, I'll have to go to Paulin Ward to have it done and I'll have to go from Southend Victoria instead of Prittlewell. Sigh.
After Tuesday's stunning low of 153, today's creatinine was a bit of a disappointment - 176. Still, I shouldn't really be worried - anything below 200 is pretty reasonable. Vicki mentioned the possibility of changing from Cyclosporin to some other antirejection drug, but I've forgotten its name. I do know she said it had different side effects though, which is good - my ears are starting to get rather furry.
My dad's started spending the money from his pension lump sum today (he got it early on health grounds) by buying a new bike for my mum. It's a Dawes 701 which is the fancier version of mine (a 501) with carbon forks and stuff. He's now trying to decide on another bike for himself.
When I tried to connect to the Internet via my Palm again this morning, I found it had gone back to not working - either giving a PPP timeout or just giving up and cancelling the connection. I tried calling Orange support while I was on the train up to the Royal London this afternoon. It took over 10 minutes to get an answer and then just as I was giving the agent my name, I lost the signal.
I tried again at about 11:15 this evening. It still took about 10 minutes to get through, but being back at home I wasn't at risk of suddenly losing the signal again. After about half an hour of being transferred to more senior people, I finally got an answer. It appears there's a bug in my phone (a Motorola v545), which means that it sometimes locks on to a particular GPRS mast and doesn't switch to a nearer one when it should.
I was advised to do a hard reboot (remove the battery while the phone is powered up) then connect it back up a little while later and try again. This has fixed the problem. The impression I got from the agent was that it's not just this phone that's affected by this issue.
So, I'm stuck in hospital with a worse than useless money-grabbing Patientline console next to my bed, which I'm not intending to waste any of my money on. Fortunately though, I have my Palm and my mobile and a working Internet connection between the two. Funny how it's suddenly decided to start working again. When I first tried to connect, it told me that the Bluetooth components weren't installed properly and I'd have to reinstall them. However, pressing "Reset" sorted that out and it then connected absolutely fine.
So much for Orange telling me it was my settings - they hadn't changed at all since it wasn't working. They hadn't changed since it was either, so I was already fairly sure it was their fault.
Opera is, so far at least, proving to be reliable - unlike the other Palm browsers I've tried.
chckens recommended something called synergy to me today after I posted a photo of my desktop to Milliways. I hadn't come across it before, having previously used KMremoteControl. Both programs allow the sharing of a single mouse and keyboard between multiple machines.
I prefer synergy, not only because it's free, but because rather than having to press a key combination to switch machines all you have to do is push the mouse off the side of the desktop and it jumps to the next machine. It also features a common clipboard between machines, so it's akin to having a dualhead setup. What's even better is that it works in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.