Mer/Releases/0.8

Mer 0.8 was prepared in the sprint 1 February 2009 - 16 February 2009, and released on 16 February 2009

Contents

Completed tasks in this release and notable accomplishments

If you want to see associated sprint, click here

Committed Task Owner  % Highlights
2009-02-09 Fix lack of "enter" ctrl-m "problem" on x86 Stskeeps, johnx 100% Added /apps/osso/inputmethod/keyboard_available (bool) gconf2 option. Set true when on a machine with active keyboard.
2009-02-14 Add control panel applet for theme switching qwerty12 100% In repository as hildon-theme-selector. Uses timeless' theme switcher.
2009-02-10 maemo-select-menu-location seems to stall Stskeeps 100% Reason is because .launch is not an .so. Same issue as in hildon desktop. In repository.
2009-02-11 Figure out how to make the theme switcher work. (It's a control panel applet), see libpersonalisation.so timeless, qwerty12 100% In repository as hildon-theme-selector.
2009-02-08 package evkey (for nit-kernel-compat purposes) qwerty12 100% In repository.
2009-01-30 Open system sounds (startup chime, touchscreen tap, etc) opengeekv2, zenvoid 100% System Sounds by zenvoid completed: liberty-sounds-ui, list of wav files
2009-02-03 Make transitional package for libhildon-1-0 to libhildon1 Stskeeps 100% In repository.
2009-02-03 Make transitional package for gconf2-common (bug 4016 connected) Stskeeps 100% Fixed, but now libvte9 problems when installing gnome-core.
2009-02-03 Fix bug 4016 (helps getting GNOME components on Mer) Stskeeps 100% Fixed, but gconf2-common transitional package is needed.
2009-02-03 Add python-gobject to dsme-tools dependancy Stskeeps 100% In repository, tested on n810.
0.7 Working X-terminal with hildon input method working Stskeeps 100% Some vte patches still needed, but working: screenshot
2009-01-26 Port and build http://repository.maemo.org/pool/diablo/free/h/hildon-plugins-settings/ (statusbar applet config qwerty12 100% In repository as hildon-plugins-settings-cpa.
2009-01-16 nit-kernel-compat (support kernel booting rootfs directly), base on nitboot qwerty12 100% In repository. Current problems: evkey doesn't exist on non-bootmenu tablets (put as TODO, as the rest works), so rescue menu does not work. BZR branch: ~mer-committers/m-r/nit-kernel-compat. Problems with APT still exist, so no jffs2 image in this release.
Add FDI for Nokia keyboards (see this and this Darken 80% Check this [1] - Added keycode problem fix in xserver-xorg-input-evdev, now in repository. Patched repository actually. Needs testing.
Make hildon-desktop-env use a configuration file to determine wether it needs to show cursor or not (useful for x86) johnx 95% Could use some testing on x86s with touchscreens
December Proposal for distribution of firmware images including closed-source bits needed for community editions Stskeeps 50% First proposal involving initfs bits proposed through maemo-community. Positive Nokia response wish list for 3rd party components
  • b-man: various fixes to merinstaller
  • Stskeeps: Beagleboard port, Pocket Loox 720 port, documented some parts of BME protocol, for creating an open hald-addon-bme.
  • qwerty12: Created extras-repository package which adds the maemo-extras repository automatically for you in Mer.
  • Mention of Mer at "Maemo on Beagleboard" talk at FOSDEM 09, see slide picture

Known issues

IDSeverityProductStatusResolutionSummary (5 tasks) ⇒Assignee
4101enhancementMerRESOLVEDWONTFIXzenity list should allow clicking in any column for radio and check listsCarsten Munk
4102normalMerRESOLVEDWONTFIX(dpkg?) error message shouldn't say "reached already"Carsten Munk
4111normalMerRESOLVEDWONTFIXinstall catalog details dialog is fatally modalCarsten Munk
4093normalMerRESOLVEDWONTFIXupdate-desktop-database error message is badCarsten Munk
4062majorMerRESOLVEDFIXEDInstaller crashes when writing a bootmenu item in advanced-mode for external card.Carsten Munk
  • Bootmenu does not play well with clone-to-SD systems. You will have to make a bootmenu item yourself (ask on #maemo about this) (someone document how to make an .item)
  • Sometimes after updates the touchscreen of the tables stop working or isn't calibrated, this is because the 'xserver-xorg-input-synaptics' package are installed, to fix it do "sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-input-synaptics" in a terminal.
  • No WiFi on 770 yet.
  • X driver for omapfb does not use Manual updates yet and hence can be a bit slow in updating the screen which may give the impression the system is slow.
  • Rotation in advanced-backlight kills the X server
  • HAL fails to autodetect the model of RX-44 and RX-48 keyboard, and sets the XKB model wrong. To fix, temporarily, go into X terminal and 'setxkbmap -model rx44' and optionally 'setxkbmap -model rx44 -layout LAYOUTNAME', where LAYOUTNAME can be seen in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/rx-44 (fisenoda = nordic)
  • A better way to reboot device or shut down than 'sudo reboot' or 'sudo shutdown -h now' or popping the battery is needed.

Released files and guides

Disclaimer:

  • There is -no- warranty. This may blow up your MMC, steal your wife or cause doomsday to come around. But if you find some bugs, please report them on bugs.maemo.org and we'll try to see what we can do to fix the bug causing it.
  • If anything goes wrong, grab a USB cable, and rescue mode is done through holding down Home key when booting Mer (on tablets)

MD5sums

0772b1e9696abfa3385f225d7c22cecb mer-x86-generic-image-v0.8.img.raw.gz
d88403e0aef6a9a0e14fbdcc7d848565 mer-x86-generic-image-v0.8.tar.gz
63e824cd3cab12e6c5088df3a11d6e2b mer-x86-generic-image-v0.8.vmdk.zip
3ea5499eff5b4c759276c3f4f2e0ee8b mer-armel-n8x0-image-v0.8.tar.gz
eff01423e797007a2f539c5739ed674d mer-armel-770-image-v0.8.tar.gz
3bfd69bc0f3bb81758ff0c8df2022fa4 mer-armel-beagleboard-bootfs-v0.8.tar.gz
8544e43f7aff49f81360441854aff01b mer-armel-beagleboard-rootfs-v0.8.tar.gz
a8067dc545861e6b586110d0af74119f mer-armel-pocketloox720-v0.8.tar.gz
3c6be5fe1756514dda07a4ab5ab44e29 mer-armel-pocketloox720-kernel-v0.8.zImage

Generic x86 - VMDK (VMware disk image)

Installation in VirtualBox

  1. Unzip zip file
  2. Open VirtualBox, create new machine (click *New*):
    • Name: Mer 0.8
    • OS type: Linux
    • Version: Ubuntu
    • RAM: 128 at least.
    • Disk: click "existing", find the mer-x86-generic-image-v0.8.vmdk file, select, select
    • Next
    • Finish.

Generic x86 - RAW image

Generic x86 - tar.gz image

Installation (chroot) 

mkdir mer-0.8
cd mer-0.8 && sudo tar xzf mer-x86-generic-image-v0.8.tar.gz
sudo mkdir -p tmp/.X11-unix home/$USER/.osso
sudo mv usr/bin/maemo-invoker usr/bin/maemo-invoker.real
echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nPROG="$1"\nshift\nexec "$PROG" "$@"' | sudo tee usr/bin/maemo-invoker
sudo chmod 755 usr/bin/maemo-invoker
echo 'nameserver <mynameresolver>' | sudo tee -a etc/resolv.conf


Start-up (from within mer-0.8 directory) 
Xephyr :2 -host-cursor -screen 800x480x16 -dpi 96 -ac -extension Composite 2>/dev/null 1>&2 &
sudo mount --bind /tmp/.X11-unix tmp/.X11-unix
sudo mount --bind /dev/pts dev/pts
sudo mount -t proc proc proc
sudo mount -t sysfs sysfs sys
sudo chroot .
export DISPLAY=:2.0
/etc/init.d/dbus start
start-hildon

Installation (machine)

See Mer/Documentation/Making_x86_Mer_Bootable

Nokia N8x0(W) - installer

  • .install file, use this and it will download proper bootmenu and such.

Guide:

  • Open the main menu and tap Utilities -> Install Bootmenu to start the bootmenu install process.
  • First, say yes to removing "unneeded extra (and factory testing) stuff"
  • say yes to including bootmenu.conf (important). Reboot when done flashing.
  • This is a special boot menu where boot menu items are made in /etc/bootmenu.d/*.item and refresh_bootmenu.d will flash this to initfs. If you are cloning or booting other OS'es, you'll need to make such .item files]
  • Utilities -> Install Mer and go through the dialogs. The installer will always install the most current release. When done it will reboot and you can hold down menu/swap key and boot into Mer.

Nokia N8x0(W) tar.gz

Nokia 770 - tar.gz image

Guide

(these instructions need testing)

You will need at least a 1gb MMC, and these instructions are based on OS2008HE kernel.

Partition MMC to:

  • p1: Large ext3 partition first
  • p2: 256 MB swap partition second

Grab http://packages.tspre.org/pool/user/b/bootmenu/bootmenu_1.5-2_armel.deb and install it.

  • Open the main menu and tap Utilities -> Install Bootmenu to start the bootmenu install process.
  • First, say yes to removing "unneeded extra (and factory testing) stuff"
  • say yes to including bootmenu.conf (important). Reboot when done flashing.
  • This is a special boot menu where boot menu items are made in /etc/bootmenu.d/*.item and refresh_bootmenu.d will flash this to initfs. If you are cloning or booting other OS'es, you'll need to make such .item files

Grab e2fsprogs and install it - grab gnutar as well

  • From x-terminal, root: insmod /mnt/initfs/lib/modules/current/mbcache.ko
  • insmod /mnt/initfs/lib/modules/current/jbd.ko
  • insmod /mnt/initfs/lib/modules/current/ext3.ko
  • mkfs.ext3 /dev/mmcblk0p1
  • mkswap /dev/mmcblk0p2
  • swapon /dev/mmcblk0p2
  • mkdir -p /mnt/mer
  • mkdir -p /etc/bootmenu.d
  • mount -t ext3 /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/mer
  • cd /mnt/mer; wget http://stskeeps.subnetmask.net/mer/0.8/mer-armel-770-image-v0.8.tar.gz
  • tar pzxvf mer-armel-770-image-v0.8.tar.gz
  • rm mer-armel-770-image-v0.8.tar.gz
  • umount /mnt/mer
  • Make /etc/bootmenu.d/mer.item with the following contents: 
ITEM_NAME="Mer"
ITEM_ID="mer"
ITEM_DEVICE="mmcblk0p1"
ITEM_MODULES="mbcache jbd ext3"
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext3"
ITEM_FSOPTIONS="noatime,ro"
ITEM_LINUXRC="linuxrc"
  • refresh_bootmenu.d (say yes to reflashing, no to backup of initfs. reboot)
  • Hold down Menu key when prompted while booting and select Mer in the boot menu.

BeagleBoard port

Guide

  • Make sure you are running a RECENT uBoot, and you have USB input devices like keyboard or mouse, if you don't own a touchscreen..
  • Make a SD card, partitioned with 50mb FAT as first partition, extract boot fs on this, and the rest Linux partition, format this as ext3, and extract rootfs on this.
  • In uBoot, use the following commands (you may have to adjust video= parameter to match your display screen: 
setenv bootcmd 'mmcinit; fatload mmc 0:1 0x80300000 uImage; bootm 0x80300000'
setenv bootargs 'console=ttyS2,115200n8 console=tty0 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootdelay=2 rootfstype=ext3 ro video=omapfb:mode:1280x720@60'
saveenv
boot
  • The tablet should output kernel output on serial and on video, and on HDMI out it will eventually start X and show the First Boot Wizard. Good luck.

Pocket Loox 720 port (experimental)

Guide

  • Set up a SD card with a logical partition, and inside this logical partition, make a 50mb or so FAT partition (p5), and put the zImage file on this filesystem, name it zImage. After the logical partition, make a ext3 partition (p2), and untar rootfs on it.
  • Grab HaRET and put it on the FAT partition, HaRET.exe.
  • Make a file, startup.txt, with the following contents: 
set kernel "zImage"
set mtype "617"
set RAMADDR "0xa8000000"
set cmdline "mem=128M rootdelay=1 root=b302 rw console=tty0"
boot
  • Unmount all filesystems, insert SD card into Pocket Loox, boot by running HaReT.exe
  • Experimental release, if you want to play with this - come hang out on #mer on irc.freenode.net and we'll try to guide you along. It is a 640x480 screen so our theme won't fit.
Retrieved from "http://bugs.maemo.org/Mer/Releases/0.8"