OpenmokoFramework/Status Update 6

Latest revision as of 15:08, 11 February 2009

Hi guys! This is the sixth Openmoko Framework Team Status update, featuring our fifth milestone release and more.

For the general motivation, the goals, and the way we are doing our work, please see OpenmokoFramework.

[edit] People & Organization

No changes here. Current team still consists of Mickey, Jan, Daniel, and Stefan.

[edit] DBus APIs

All the public DBus API are documented on the official freesmartphone.org API reference site. XML-API files for generating language bindings are available from the git tree.

• The GSM API (org.freesmartphone.GSM.*) has received minor updates and is now considered version 0.9. One notable addition is org.freesmartphone.GSM.Monitor, which is an interface for GSM monitoring, i.e. gathering diagnostic information over the serving cell and the neighbour cells.

• The Device API (org.freesmartphone.Device.*) has received minor updates and is now considered 0.8. One notably addition is org.freesmartphone.Device.Audio.PlaySound which gained parameters for looping and length.

• The Usage API got the new signal org.freesmartphone.Usage.SystemAction which is sent on suspend, resume, shutdown, etc.

• org.freesmartphone.Objects.ListObjectsByInterface has been generalized, it gained an additional bus name parameter and is now called org.freesmartphone.DBus.ListObjectsByInterface. It's now useful also outside FSO.

• org.freesmartphone.Network has been added with the call org.freesmartphone.StartConnectionSharingWithInterface. NOTE: This will not be a full fledged networking interface, but rather a high level API complementing org.moblin.connman.

• The opim API has reached this milestone, although it's still too much in flux to document it. Instead, please give it a try and join our discussions at the smartphones-standards list.

• org.freesmartphone.Time.Alarm has made its debut as an interface for registering / clearing wake up alarms.

[edit] Implementations

Freesmartphone.org Framework Image -- 'Calling All Stations' (Milestone V)

This is the fifth milestone release of the framework and the diagnostic application 'Zhone'. While we announced that we are going to phase Zhone out as phone application, it found new life as a diagnostic application, i.e. for GPS and GSM monitoring. There might be more to come, depending on our spare time...

Framework milestones currently ship in three forms:

1. fso-console-image: An FSO-compliant image featuring no user interface manager.
2. fso-illume-image: An FSO-compliant image featuring the X-Window system with the Enlightenment-based Illume window manager.
3. fso-image: An FSO-compliant image featuring the X-Window system with the Enlightenment-based Illume and additional applications.

[edit] Purpose

A flashable image that implements the freesmartphone.org APIs, serving as the basis for mobile application development.

[edit] Thanks

Thanks to all our contributors, especially the testers and the people who build stuff on top of the freesmartphone.org APIs. Thanks, guys: You Rock!

[edit] What's new since Milestone IV

Note: These are only the highlights. See the gitweb commit logs for the gory details...

• General:
  • We now register one dbus connection per subsystem to prevent objects appearing on all bus names. If you previously only used the bus name org.freesmartphone.frameworkd, you have to adjust your code.

• ogsmd
  • TI-Calypso specific tweaks, such as DSP handling, and monitoring.
  • Additional device support for the
    • Freescale Neptune,
    • the Cinterion mc75[i],
    • and the Qualcomm MSM,
    • Ericsson F3507g modem,
    • Option UMTS cards.
  • Backported the state-based call handling from TI Calypso and Freescale Neptune to the generic module.
  • Completely revamped ppp handling to feature more stable connection setup and teardown and better handover to pppd.
  • Added a database with mobile network providers and additional country-information.
  • Implemented (yet officially undocumented) org.freesmartphone.GSM.Phone.[Start|Stop]AutoRegister() and its signal org.freesmartphone.GSM.Phone.ServiceStatus() as a convenient way to ensure that ogsmd always tries to unlock the SIM and register with a provider, if necessary. (Corresponding functionality for Gprs is under discussion).

• ogpsd
  • Add support for debugging via UDP

• odeviced
  • Misc. device-specific tweaks for Openmoko kernels and devices.
  • Added two new resources: 'CPU' and 'Display': Requesting the CPU resource will prevent the idle notifier from falling into the 'suspend' state, requesting the Display resource will prevent the idle notifier from falling into the 'idle_dim' (and following) state(s). With these two resource, it now takes only one additional rule to prevent the system from suspending while on a call or a musicplayer is playing.
  • WiFi is now really turned off/on. This improves power consumption a lot. Remember to use org.freesmartphone.Usage before talking to WiFi.

• oeventsd
  • Fixed a major bug in the RingToneAction. This (and removing a race in the RingToneAction) fixes problems with neverending vibration and audio ringtone on short calls.

• ousaged
  • Improved resource handling, resources are properly handled on shutdown and bootup.
  • Implemented the new semantics for org.freesmartphone.Usage.Suspend() and the new system actions.
  • Check resume reason and launch emergency shutdown, if we woke up due to low battery. NOTE: This is only supported on Openmoko devices now. As there is no standard infrastructure for that in the kernel, we have to deal with device-specific solutions in lowlevel.py

• opimd
  • Misc. fixes to make it work with the current state of the framework implementation.

• onetworkd
  • Simple connection sharing now works.

• otimed
  • Add simple automatic timesync to NTP and GPS.
  • Add configuration options for time and zone sources. Set to "NONE" to disable these features.

• zhone
  • Add gettext support
  • Add russian translation
  • Send and receive USSD messages
  • Show error/warning when SIM is full
  • Simple GSM cell monitor
  • Revamped GPS monitor
  • Display current timezone
  • Try unlocking the screen on incoming calls
  • Show the name from the phonebook during call

[edit] Installation

1. Grab a uImage and a .jffs2 for your device from freesmartphone.org's download section.
2. Flash it to your Neo 1973 (om-gta01) or Neo FreeRunner (om-gta02) with dfu-util.
3. Boot and wait until the Zhone main window appears.
4. If the Zhone main window does not appear on first boot or stays with "connecting to dbus..." longer than 1 minute, then please reboot. The base system still has some problems with dbus starting for the first time
5. Read the FSO UI Tutorial and have fun. Note though that this has not been updated yet for milestone 5 (which looks a bit differently and has more features).

[edit] Feedback

• Please provide feedback and comments for the dbus APIs. This is your chance to take an active role into shaping the application programming interface for all your forthcoming cool applications.

• Focus on using the services. Zhone is a diagnostic utility and not a phone application.

• The best way to interact with the framework is by exploring the dbus APIs. For this, you can use these two tools, which are already installed:
  • mdbus -- a dbus introspection and interaction utility,
  • cli-framework -- a python dbus command line interface.

• Before reporting bugs against the framework, please try with cli-framework to see whether it's really a problem of the framework or rather the UI (which gets much less attention from us).

• If you want to interact with the GSM modem, while the frameworkd is running, you can use mickeyterm -- a MUXer-aware minimal terminal emulator.

[edit] Best way to hand us debug logs

1. log in via ssh
2. killall python
3. edit /etc/frameworkd.conf and add to the frameworkd section:
   1. log_level = DEBUG
   2. log_to = file
   3. log_destination = /somewhere/where/you/have/space (preferably SD or NFS, etc.)
4. Read our documented frameworkd.conf configuration file to learn about the other options.
5. relaunch frameworkd (/etc/init.d/frameworkd stop; /etc/init.d/frameworkd start)
6. log in via ssh (yes, again)
7. export DISPLAY=:0.0
8. run your favourite client (SHR, zhone, cli-framework, ...)

Attach the logs to the tickets, please.

[edit] What's next

• More work on opimd.
• Connman integration.
• Bluetooth4 Networking.
• Unit Tests
• High Level Documentation
• More Device Support (GTA03, HTC)

[edit] The Team

Mickey, Jan, Daniel, Stefan.