So, what happened was that my test “server” died one night. I started it, but couldn’t remote login to the desktop for some reason. Connected the server to a monitor, but the signal was wrong. I had changed it to better suit my VNC needs.

So off to googling about changing the resolution from the command line…

1. edit xorg.conf - Fail. At least in ubuntu 10.04 there’s no xorg.conf file as standard

2. generate xorg.conf file - Fail. It only affects gdm. And even with failsafe session, the resolution changes once you log in. Aaargh!!!

3. reconfigure xorg package - Fail. Nothing happens when you use dpkg-reconfigure. No TUI interface. nothing. Just another shell line. Great usability design this is.

4. Rename all gnome related .gnome-something files and directories in your profile to get rid of the session settings - Fail. its the ~/.config/ - directory that’s the key. Now who has decided to own “.config” in your home dir. “I’m so important I’ll just make my configs apper under .config/” Idiots

Ok I got a wee bit angry, but here’s the pretty solution I had to dig out the hard way:

edit .config/monitors.xml and change the resolution. Then kill Xorg / gdm from the command line and you’re good to go.

I discovered a commented out line about TI OPAM2430 that was in “OMAP Core Type section”.

#
# OMAP Core Type
#
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP24XX=y
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420=y
# CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2430 is not set

Does this mean, that the next tablet might have a Texas Instruments OMAP 2430 processor in it? For comparison N800/N810 tablets have the OMAP 2420 processor running at 400Mhz. Or was it just “the other” option when n800/n810 were designed. Or maybe all kernel-configs have OMAP 2430 “support”.

Anyways, it’s not really a high performance processor, but it has some nice video decoding and encoding features. This was my monday speculation, in real life we’ll just have to wait and see.

The feature list for the 2430 include the following (from TI website):

Multimedia features supported by the OMAP2430 / OMAP2431 processors include:

• Downloadable media playback and digital TV decode
  • MPEG4, H.264, Window Media Video 9 (VC-1), RealVideo version 10 decode at VGA (640×480) 30 fps
• Still image capture
  • >5 Mpixel with 1 second shot-to-shot delay
• Motion video capture
  • MPEG4 encoding up to VGA 30 fps
• Video teleconferencing
  • H.263, H.264 videoconferencing with simultaneous recording of VTC session up to CIF 30 fps
• 2D/3D gaming
  • Rasterization up to 1 million polygons per second (OMAP2430 only)

Key Features:

• Advanced Imaging, Video and Audio Accelerator (IVA™ 2) boosts video performance in mobile phones by up to 4X and imaging performance by up to 1.5X
• Delivering a multimedia experience with consumer electronics quality to the handset
• Multi-engine parallel processing architecture for supporting complex usage scenarios
• Built-in M-Shield™ mobile security technology enables value-added services and terminal security
• Support for all major High Level Operating Systems (HLOS) aids applications development

And here’s the rest of the processor-related .config:

#
# System Type
#
# CONFIG_ARCH_AAEC2000 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_INTEGRATOR is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_REALVIEW is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_VERSATILE is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_AT91 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_CLPS7500 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_CLPS711X is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_CO285 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_EBSA110 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_EP93XX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_FOOTBRIDGE is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_NETX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_H720X is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IMX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IOP32X is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IOP33X is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IOP13XX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IXP4XX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IXP2000 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_IXP23XX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_L7200 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_NS9XXX is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_PNX4008 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_PXA is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_RPC is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_SA1100 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_S3C2410 is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_SHARK is not set
# CONFIG_ARCH_LH7A40X is not set
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP=y

#
# TI OMAP Implementations
#
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP_OTG=y
# CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP1 is not set
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2=y

#
# OMAP Feature Selections
#
CONFIG_MACH_OMAP2420_DVFS=y
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420_OBSERVABILITY=m
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420_PEEK_N_POKE=m
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420_SNAPSHOT=m
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420_DMA_DRAIN=y
CONFIG_OMAP_RESET_CLOCKS=y
CONFIG_OMAP_BOOT_TAG=y
CONFIG_OMAP_BOOT_REASON=y
CONFIG_OMAP_COMPONENT_VERSION=y
CONFIG_OMAP_GPIO_SWITCH=y
# CONFIG_OMAP_MUX is not set
CONFIG_OMAP_STI=y
CONFIG_OMAP_STI_CONSOLE=y
# CONFIG_OMAP_MCBSP is not set
CONFIG_OMAP_MMU_FWK=y
CONFIG_OMAP_MBOX_FWK=y
# CONFIG_OMAP_MPU_TIMER is not set
CONFIG_OMAP_32K_TIMER=y
CONFIG_OMAP_32K_TIMER_HZ=128
CONFIG_OMAP_DM_TIMER=y
# CONFIG_OMAP_LL_DEBUG_UART1 is not set
# CONFIG_OMAP_LL_DEBUG_UART2 is not set
CONFIG_OMAP_LL_DEBUG_UART3=y
CONFIG_OMAP_DSP=y
# CONFIG_OMAP_DSP_MBCMD_VERBOSE is not set
CONFIG_OMAP_DSP_TASK_MULTIOPEN=y
CONFIG_OMAP_DSP_FBEXPORT=y
CONFIG_OMAP_DSP_PAUSING=y
# CONFIG_MACH_OMAP_GENERIC is not set

#
# OMAP Core Type
#
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP24XX=y
CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2420=y
# CONFIG_ARCH_OMAP2430 is not set

#
# OMAP Board Type
#
CONFIG_MACH_NOKIA_N800=y
CONFIG_MACH_NOKIA_RX44=y
CONFIG_MACH_OMAP2_TUSB6010=y
# CONFIG_MACH_OMAP_H4 is not set
# CONFIG_MACH_OMAP_APOLLON is not set
# CONFIG_MACH_OMAP_2430SDP is not set

#
# Processor Type
#
CONFIG_CPU_32=y
CONFIG_CPU_V6=y
# CONFIG_CPU_32v6K is not set
CONFIG_CPU_32v6=y
CONFIG_CPU_ABRT_EV6=y
CONFIG_CPU_CACHE_V6=y
CONFIG_CPU_CACHE_VIPT=y
CONFIG_CPU_COPY_V6=y
CONFIG_CPU_TLB_V6=y
CONFIG_CPU_CP15=y
CONFIG_CPU_CP15_MMU=y

#
# Processor Features
#
CONFIG_ARM_THUMB=y
# CONFIG_CPU_ICACHE_DISABLE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_DCACHE_DISABLE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_DCACHE_WRITETHROUGH is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_BPREDICT_DISABLE is not set
# CONFIG_OUTER_CACHE is not set

Nokia N810 + Creative webcam + USB OTG + mplayer on Vimeo.

All you need really, are the basics set up, and some custom modules and mplayer. This mplayer build is based on .24 and has no optimisations whatsoever. So don’t try to use it for anything else.

The module my Creative webcam uses is the ov511. Other modules are available also. Installation from the command prompt:

insmod ov511.ko

Mplayer starts the new video device from command prompt with the following:

mplayer-v4l -cache 128 -tv driver=v4l:width=420:height=240:outfmt=i420:device=/dev/video1 -vc rawi420 -vo xv tv://

Thanks to google and brainwagon fro the syntax.

ps. You might have to try a few times before the video looks right. Sometimes I get only b/w or some weird colors.

Nokia N810 meets an Arduiono board and a servo… on Vimeo.

So the important part obviously is not the crappy board with a sensor and a servo, but the fact that by enabling a few kernel modules the OS2008 recognizes the connected arduino as /dev/ttyUSBx that can be used to communicate with the boards firmware. Steps to follow:

1. Get the basics set up as described for example in my previous post.

Remember to put your device in UTG host mode.

2. Download the modules, and as root, install them.
The serial port becomes available as /dev/ttyUSB0

Nokia-N810-50-2:/media/mmc2# insmod usbserial.ko
Nokia-N810-50-2:/media/mmc2# insmod ftdi_sio.ko

Nokia-N810-50-2:/media/mmc2# dmesg

*clip*
[ 250.898437] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 250.898437] drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 250.898437] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 250.898437] drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial Driver core
[ 251.242187] cx3110x: PSM dynamic with 100 ms CAM timeout.
[ 257.632812] drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
[ 257.632812] usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio
[ 257.632812] drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.c: v1.4.3:USB FTDI Serial Converters Driver
[ 268.445312] cx3110x: PSM dynamic with 200 ms CAM timeout.
[ 275.148437] musb_stage0_irq 646: CONNECT (a_host) devctl 5d
[ 275.148437] hub 1-0:1.0: state 8 ports 1 chg 0000 evt 0000
[ 275.148437] usb usb1: usb auto-resume
[ 275.148437] usb usb1: finish resume
[ 275.148437] hub 1-0:1.0: hub_resume
[ 275.171875] hub 1-0:1.0: port 1, status 0101, change 0001, 12 Mb/s
[ 275.335937] hub 1-0:1.0: debounce: port 1: total 100ms stable 100ms status 0×101
[ 275.460937] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using musb_hdrc and address 2
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: ep0 maxpacket = 8
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: default language 0×0409
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: Product: FT232R USB UART
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: FTDI
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: A4001tPd
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: device v0403 p6001 is not supported
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: uevent
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: usb_probe_device
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1: adding 1-1:1.0 (config #1, interface 0)
[ 275.593750] usb 1-1:1.0: uevent
[ 275.593750] usbtest 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface
[ 275.593750] usbtest 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id
[ 275.593750] usbserial_generic 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface
[ 275.593750] usbserial_generic 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id
[ 275.593750] ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface
[ 275.593750] ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id
[ 275.593750] ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[ 275.593750] drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.c: Detected FT232RL
[ 275.601562] usb 1-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 275.601562] drivers/usb/core/inode.c: creating file ‘002′
[ 275.601562] hub 1-0:1.0: 110mA power budget left
[ 275.601562] hub 1-0:1.0: state 7 ports 1 chg 0000 evt 0002
[ 275.601562] hub 1-0:1.0: port 1 enable change, status 00000103

Nokia-N810-50-2:/media/mmc2# ls -lah /dev/ttyUSB*
crw-rw—- 1 root dialout 188, 0 Mar 16 18:34 /dev/ttyUSB0

3. Get a serial program pySerial miniterm example is a good test environment.

Nokia-N810-50-2:/media/mmc2/arduino/pyserial-2.2/examples# export PYTHONPATH=/media/mmc2/arduino/pyserial-2.2/

Nokia-N810-50-2:/media/mmc2/arduino/pyserial-2.2/examples# python miniterm.py –port=/dev/ttyUSB0
— Miniterm — type Ctrl-D to quit
¤????9a95a101a101a101a101a1…

The data displayed is some pressure-sensor data, but by pressing ‘q’ and ‘w’ those characters get sent trough serial to the arduino board that then turns the servo left or right.

4. Figure out what to use it for

For the summary, I should mention, that I’ve also compiled phidget motor, serial, servo etc. modules and numerous others. And I see no reason why they shouldn’t work. Please post a comment if you try them.

Actually I challenge you to try to use the most unikely usb devices with nokia internet tables.

Modules can be downloaded here.

Links:

• Arduino board
• Simple Servo Control example on arduino website
• some Chinook kernel modules compiled by me (usbserial.ko, ftdi_sio.ko, etc)

Next up, webcam….

1. Get yourself a female-female usb adapter. I ordered from this funny sounding store on eBay, and it took 1-2weeks for it to ship to Finland. Total cost: 2-3€ delivered. Plus the package is often very pretty if you order from Hong Kong Just search for example “usb female to female adapter” and sort by price.
2. Install Kate’s usb-otg-plugin.
3. Select host mode.
4. connect your usb cable, adapter and the flash drive.
5. Enjoy the warm pseudohackerish glow deep inside…

This image shows dmsg output after connecting the drive. My N810 opened the file manager automatically upon connecting. The USB flash key is a 2GB Kingston DataTraveller Mini.

Next up arduino….

I wanted to try just the GPE Calendar to Google synchronization on OS2008 , and realised that it needed some fiddling to get it working. Here are the steps:

1. Find and decide where to get GPE Calendar from. I ended up using repository:
   http://www.cobb.uk.net/apt/ chinook user

2. Then there’s the libsoup dependency. This I achieved by using repository:
   http://maemo.o-hand.com/packages/ chinook/ [empty]

3. Install GPE Calendar from application manager.
4. Install some python dependencies from the root terminal:
   apt-get install python2.5 python2.5-gtk2 python2.5-hildon python2.5-xml

5. Follow the erminig instructions by downloading and istalling gdatalite, pysqlite and erminig.
6. Remeber that when entering Google calendar password in erminig, the first letter wants to be uppercase. The program won’t tell you if you have a wrong password. sigh…

It’s a long list, but when you get it to work, you’ll be happy. It works just fine. If it doesn’t, remember to try to start it from the terminal to see the output.

Most of the problems I figured out by reading the erminig forum, and the repositories I found from the repository search tool. If you have better instructions or tips please share them in the comments.

I decided to go with Charles Curleys gpsdate-script that uses gpsd to show the UTC time from the satellites. I hoped it would be a simple task, but actually I had to resolve some dependency issues. Seven to be exact.

To get this script working, I had to get additional perl modules, distributions and whatnot, but it was quite simple by searching and downloading in search.cpan.org. I probably could have used perls automatic download functionality, but even if I could, I didn’t want to fill my devices innards with endless perl-libraries. I wanted some control. I just downloaded these “packages” and used the -I/lib/dir/here switch:

• GPS-PRN
• Geo-Constants
• Geo-Ellipsoids
• Geo-Functions
• Geo-Forward
• Geo-Inverse
• Net-GPSD

One might argue that I could have gotten to the same outcome by not using Net-GPSD and it’s dependencies, but I think that by going this route there’s more functionality available for future fiddling.

I modified the original source by removing some command-line argument handling to get rid of Getopt::Std. So this is a dirty hack all around

To make it work, make sure gpsd is running (by starting maps for instance) and run the script from console:

/media/mmc2/tmp/gpsdate $ perl -I./includes gpsdate.pl
/gpsdate.pl: It is 22:31:30.00, 2008-01-14, UTC.

You can download the modified script and the dependencies here.

However, there’s one thing that puzzles me. Why can’t you force the brightness of the screen to go to maximum. Even if you set the screen brightness to it’s max, it still goes brighter when the light sensor on the upper-left corner of the device detects a bright light. This can be demonstrated for example with a flashlight.

I understand that it saves energy, and there’s the added feel of readability in bright light, but still it would be nice to have a checkbox in display settings for the adaptive display functionality.

What do you think, or have I missed something?

After Jan Jansen’s blog post I decided to do some clicking around Nokia’s online shops. It seems that the N810 is available for order from all of the shops listed on this page.

This should be a surprise at least for Finnish customers, because as seen in the following pictures N810 shouldn’t be available yet.

Nseries.com (location finland):

Nokia Nseries Online Shop:

Because for me http://repository.maemo.org/ and http://repository.maemo.org/extras are also 95% of the time unreachable. Is this a classical case of Nokia not paying the ransom and getting the internet hammer also known as DDOS? Share your own thoughts

PS. Happy Holidays!