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Mer/Releases/0.15

Mer is back : Please visit http://www.merproject.org to learn more about this news.

WARNING: SmartQ images may be broken and may damage MMC due to old kernel

Mer 0.15 was prepared in the sprint in the period 15 June - 20 June 2009. If you want help with the release, show up in #mer on IRC, on irc.freenode.net - or if you'd like to help out in the project.

Mer is made by the Mer project - a maemo.org community project, read more about it here

If you want a Mer logo sticker for your Mer device, see Mer/Marketing

[edit] Notable accomplishments and news

• Faster docpurge (thanks to qwerty12)
• glib2.20 now used
• N8x0: Open hald-addon-bme (You can enable advanced power and get battery meter)
• Our USB networking now uses IPs matching USB_networking, Mer/Documentation/USB_Networking and bootmenu. 192.168.2.14 for host, 2.15 for device.
• New webkit browser: Tear, by Bundyo
• E-mail client: Claws-mail
• hildon gconf-editor
• lbt will be presenting at UKUUG 09: see Mer/Events/UKUUG_09
• Stskeeps and zenvoid will be doing a BoF on DebConf9, 2009-07-25 13:00 on Mer
• Changed default language to en_US, and added new open source strings by timeless
• Added Chinese translations (dalin)
• Proper localization on Neo Freerunner
• No more cursor blinking in X-Terminal
• 770 support TBA
• Smart Q7 rebate on Mer/Proposals/SmartQ_Developer_Programme not possible - but help us get to 10 proposals or above so we can get Q5 rebates!
• N8x0: Kalle Valo is doing a kernel mainlining project - see http://kvalo.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/n800n810-support-to-mainline-kernels/ - it is very recommended if you have any contributions to make that you make them. It will get us modern kernels on N8x0.
• N8x0: Mer kernels now have new patches: Japanese FM Radio frequencies for N800, MB2504 fixed, Patch to kernel to allow DSP framebuffer sharing on N8x0 devices) to kernel, nbd in kernel modules, A2DP improvements - thanks to tomaszd for integrating
• Q5/Q7: Backlight parameter for kernel (zenvoid)
• SmartDevices has donated two Q7's to us
• First boot wizard is now a /etc/first-boot-wizard.d process, like start-hildon.d - easy to add first boot wizard items to run. (epage)
• Removed marquee plugins which were not working or broken
• Add 'Network Settings' option to menu that appears when networking is disabled for nm-applet
• Locale picker by qwerty12 and timeless
• Disable grab in gksu for n800/non-kbd users
• Input, About control panel (epage)
• N8x0: Now uses Xomap instead of Xorg. Should make graphics more smooth.
• Maemo will be switching to Qt for Harmattan. We'll probably be going same way - but supporting both toolkits. We already have Qt/Maemo running :)
• eshopen.com donated a virtual machine to us
• How to make your Maemo application compile and run on Mer

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] 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 Bugzilla 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 Nokia Internet Tablets)

[edit] Known issues

• If you can't find an application you want in Application Manager, see http://packages.ubuntu.com - Mer is based on Ubuntu and has 95% of all Ubuntu applications and you can install them with sudo apt-get install packagename, in X-Terminal
• [n8x0] bootreason: charger will cause instability! (booting the device by plugging in charger)
• [SmartQ] The kernel in use here might destroy your internal MMC.
• home applets behave oddly when in non-800x480
• Screen should not dim and turn off during first boot wizard
• Magic X menu stretches too far, before adding v ^ buttons.
• Happens occasionally: Initial configuration - Root Password Confirmation Prompt - No virtual keyboard
• No charging screen on flashable image
• modifying panel settings causes HD to sometimes crash
• 770 rescue menu does not seem to work (keys doesn't work)
• 770 doesn't pick up correct RTC, or it doesn't have it set
• 770 image seems not to work with deblet bootmenu
• Control panel may appear to have no menu but it actually doesn't have one.
• Can not enter an address in hildon-application-manager
• X-Terminal is not localized yet, at all (shows webameedit, etc)
• The task switcher does not appear rightmost as it should
• There seems to be a bit of "air" around windows, near left and right corners, also in marquee.
• Marquee background acts weird.
• Marquee-panel doesn't scale when rotating the screen.
• Deselecting dropdown menu plugin crashes desktop
• Powerlaunch button prompts not correct (no "Yes" "No")
• Applications "Organise" dialog unresponsive
• SmartQ5/7 WiFi does not work out of the box
• Hardware keyboard/slider events on N810 when device is in standby only turns on backlight, and doesn't unblank the screen. Touchscreen events work fine in this respect.
• Text in text fields can not be drag-selected (cursor jumps to start of field instead)
• Applications installed prompt for folder location but are always stored in Extras
• Terminal toolbar Ctrl button non-functional (try Ctrl + d, Ctrl + h, Ctrl + g, Ctrl + c)
• Terminal toolbar (likely other) has significanly misaligned background image when selected.
• Sources are not accessible using apt-get source (for Mer packages), but they are downloadable if you sign up for build.opensuse.org (or just ask us if you don't want to.) - a problem with OBS not exporting them at the moment
• The weather applet is broken, just disable it
• FineFileManager installed from Application Manager does not display any files nor directories and has missing icon in the bottom toolbar.
• Tear has missing "home" icon in bottom toolbar
• The "Are you sure you wish to reboot?" window is broken. It appears in the upper-left corner, without decoration, the left and top sides of the window are cut off. The strings for Yes and No buttons are missing ("wdgtbdyes" and "wdgtbdno"). By the way, this goes against many user interface guidelines. The buttons should say "Reboot" and "Cancel" instead of "Yes" and "No".
• The same issue as above applies to confirming shutdown and offline mode. Obviously, the buttons should be "Shut down/Cancel" and "Go Offline/Cancel", respectively.
• Cannot click on links while browsing with tear under Vmware image (vm bug or tear bug?)
• Mirage installed from Application Manager does not launch. Crashes on ImportError: No module named osso in /usr/share/mirage/mirage.py line 35 "import osso"
  • Issue is due to python-osso not supporting python2.5 (stskeeps)
• Missing icons in Terminal bottom toolbar Screenshot
• Settings app entry should have an icon (not just the default one); Screenshot
• Inconsistency in icon size and style. Example: tear should have a bigger icon. Mer project should define a standard size for icons so that packagers know what icons they should pack in their app. Screenshot
• Installing (through app manager) an app shorcut to any other folder than "extras" has no effect. The app entry always end up in extras (I tried to install Tear in "Internet" -> ends up in "extras". Same for several apps).
• HomeIP applet installed from Application Manager, cannot be selected to show
• The strings still have "Nokia" and "Maemo" in them. They should be replaced with "Mer".
• At least for N8x0, it would be reasonable to double the backlight timeouts (60 for fade, 120 to disable). The device is just too slow for some actions to complete (especially in the terminal) within 30 seconds, making the default setup irritating.
• In the panel for changing brightness and volume, the volume icon is repeated in a grid. There should be only one icon there, not four.
• When a reboot or shutdown procedure is taking place, all the applets that change their state show up briefly on the screen, making the process look unpolished and ugly. There's also a blinking cursor showing through if you leave the terminal open while shutting down or rebooting. Basically, if there is anything on the screen during a reboot or shutdown that changes its state, it shows up.
• "Authorizations" menu element should be hidden. It's of no use to normal users.
• "Drag Lock" should be renamed to "Lock applets" or a similar, less confusing name.
• Erratic dialog window behaviour. Open up the terminal and hit the Menu key a few times to open the menu and close it repeatedly. It'll open left-aligned or centered, depending on your luck.
• Error dialog windows (banners on the bottom of the screen with a "stop sign" icon) cannot be dismissed in any other way than hitting the hardware "Back" button.
• [Nokia n8x0] Going to soft poweroff by pressing and holding the power button for about two seconds results in: backlight turns off, comes back for a second, then goes away and soft poweroff is completed. Same thing happens when coming back from soft poweroff, the screen softly "blinks" at the user. Blinking does not occur when going into soft poweroff when the option is chosen from the Device mode dialog, however it does happen every time when the device comes back from this mode.
• [Nokia n8x0] If going to soft poweroff is done by pushing and holding a button for two seconds, then it stands to reason that the same action should turn the device back into normal mode. This is not the case - only a short push of the button brings it back to life.
• Maemopad: Missing translations = maemopad_save_changes_made, maemopadyes, maemopadno. Open files menu is screwed up. Dialog to confirm saving is displayed on top left of screen instead of center.
  • Maemopad has no en_US translation. https://stage.maemo.org/svn/maemo/projects/tools/trunk/maemo_testing/maemopad/po/en_GB.po is a possible basis. (Stskeeps)
• Missing text: Settings -> About -> License button
• Desktop Menu Issues
  • Calibrate Screen menu item non-functional
  • Help menu item non-functional
• NetworkManager Applet 0.7.0.97
  • Clicking "NetworkManager Website" errors with "Failed to show url Failed to execute child process "xdg-open" (No such file or directory)"
  • Clicking OK Button on above error message is non-functional
• Display issues
  • Editing DSL Connection -> PPP Settings tab -> "Available to all users" has the letters "Av" garbled.
  • Display issue: Editing DSL Connection -> PPP Settings tab -> Options below Available to all users" is not displayed on the screen.
  • Display issue: Editing DSL Connection -> IPv4 Settings -> Button for "Editing IPv4 routes" is not fully displayed on the screen.
• Blueman bluetooth manager works, but you have to click and hold to keep the main menu open, a tap simply opens it up and closes it immidiately.
• [n8x0] Tapping input fields with stylus doesn't bring up the keyboard. It work when tapping with a finger though. One fix is to bring up the control panel by entering "controlpanel" in a terminal. Then choose "Text Input Settings". From there you pick "On-Screen". If you here set "Launch finger keyboard" to never, you can use the stylus in most applications to bring up the keyboard.

Q7 - Changing input settings/onscreen/launchfingerboaurd=with finger and stylus causes keyboard loss in xterm

• [Q7] Authorizations app layout flows text offscreen on details pane
• WPA networks are still greyed out.
• Xterm missing scrollbars
• Onscreenkeyboard has no cursor keys
• Hardware power button not mapped
• Application manager - Installed app dialogue box has no "OK" button
• Application Manager - Installed apps default to Extras Menu regardless of settings
• Maemopad - Open File dialogue blank, no text no icons
• Disconnecting external power freezes X (sometimes)
• ts_calibrate fails with "ts_open: No such file or directory"
• [SmartQ7] Application Manager freezes after installing an application or removing an application - success window notification stays on screen and application list does not reload. Have to halt application to continue.
• [SmartQ7] Menu System Problem - Several applications included in the image show up in the Extras menu and should be in other first tier menus instead (example: Network Connections should be in Communications, Tear should be in Internet)
• [SmartQ7] Installing an application results in the new application always being placed in the Extras menu.
• [SmartQ7] SD Card does not mount automatically - needed to add code to /etc/fstab (/dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/sd vfat defaults 0 0) to get it working - please consider adding to image
• [SmartQ7] Arrow keys on the face of the device (up/down) aren't turning pages in FBReader. Created vim.mod in user home directory with added lines of keycode 73 = Page_Up and keycode 74 = Page_Down. Then created 62xmodap file in /etc/start-hildon.d/ with code - #!/bin/sh on first line and xmodmap vim.mod on second line. This allows keys to work after boot. Hopefully this or another more elegant solution can be added to the image.
• [SmartQ7] Applications trying to access the file system have issues unless the SD card is mounted correctly.
• [SmartQ7] No method of power off seems to exist
• There might be untranslated chinese and english strings.
• [o2 Joggler] Browser "tear" does not react on pointing at links. only page scrolling works.

[edit] Installation guide

Installation guide can be found here, including link to Mer installer for N8x0 - version should be 2.0.0-mer12

[edit] Released images