Opkg.org software review

I like opkg.org – and easy way to find cool apps that mostly work. But not always. So I decided to test the packages provided there write a short report if they work or not on my test setup (clean 2008.12 + illume-theme for a proper keyboard) and also write a short review about the actual program.

Why?

Why am I doing this? There are three reasons:

• To encourage people to upload their apps to opkg.org for an easier and centralized download/install – it’s been great to see some of my wishes suddenly appearing there!
• To encourage people to improve the apps in opkg.org
• To help people find nice and recommended apps that work and to avoid the FAIL ones

Rules

I made some rules for these tests: the app should work with no hassle! A clean install with dependencies, I don’t think it’s too much asked. That’s what end users want. I also started using here the term ‘IONG’ – Icon only, no GUI meaning applications that only have a icon and clicking the icon does the trick (runs a script, maybe changes the icon to show the result, something) but doesn’t start any gui.

1. I’ll test applications that start from and install an icon. I’ll skip hacks and command line tools. (NEW)
2. The name of the package maintainer / uploader has to be shown in opkg details. (NEW)
3. The source codes must be available in opkg.org (=I want to be taken somewhere by clicking the  ‘Download source’. Either to the source package or page that has the source files).
4. A GPL compatible license must be used and this has to be told in the code (don’t forget the opkg.org description, too!)
5. I want the app & required dependencies to install by running the ‘opkg install’ line of opkg.org
6. I try to run on a clean 2008.12 + illume-theme setup but because it takes a long time to set it up, I might try more than one program on one installation.
7. If it runs, I’ll write a short review. If it doesn’t I’ll let you know.
8. I’m not limited to these rules. You don’t have to believe or agree with me and therefore you are encouraged to comment my posts.

To see my config, check this file. For these tests I run only the  first part.

Ok, let’s go!

Gpsdcontrol

GPL / app to manage the status of the GPS daemon / opkg.org

Installs all dependencies ok and during the installation asks if I want gpsd to be started on boot (I select no).

Clicking the icon in the menu starts/stops the gpsd without any unrequired UI and shows the status in the icon. If you change the status of gpsd any other way (manually / other apps) the icon is not updated which is easy to understand. So it might not always show the right status but clicking the icon makes sure your gpsd is/is not running as the icon shows. Yes, you gessed right, it’s a IONG app :) It also turns on the blue led of the power switch when turning on the gpsd.

It’s good to have around thoug I’d think that starting a GPS app should automatically start gpsd and then after the software is closed it should stay on for a certain time (5-10min?) to remember the position & keep following. In case the app is restarted, one doesn’t have to wait for a new GPS fix.

Verdict: Useful app that I’d like to see generated useless.

gtkaddpoi

GPL / tool to create Tangogps POIs / opkg.org

Installs all required dependencies ok. On the first start gave me an error (because I didn’t have a TangoGPS poi.db existing). Running Tangogps first helped gtkaddpoi to start normally.

I typed ‘lappeenranta valtakatu’ (city, street) and ‘test’ as description and clicked ‘Add POI’. Immediately it showed me a map of the city of Lappeenranta. The red start was not on the correct street – you can see the corret street, Valtakatu in the top of the screenshot so it (yahoo?) isn’t that good in finding places or maybe I should’ve written ‘valtakatu lappeenranta’ for a better detection, but I did what gtkaddpoi asked me to do.

In the end I wasn’t able to find the POI in Tangogps for some reason. Earlier when I tried it on my previous installation it worked OK.

It has some Geocaching (mark a geocache in tangogps?) and KML (export tangogps POIs as KML?) features too I didn’t test.

Verdict: Useful app with some glitches (missing poi.db, failing POI creation) that should be fixed.

om 2008.8 sudoku

GPL / Sudoku-game / opkg.org

This sudoku is the same that’s installed by default in the 2008.12 distribution, but it can be a newer version, I don’t know. Anyway it installs with some python dependencies from the default repository. You select the cell where you want to insert the next number and then you select the number to be inserted. It tells you if the number you put there is against the rules by painting it red. It remembers some of your moves so you can undo/redo, restart and change the sudoku. What I understand from the GUI, in the end you have to ‘apply’ the solution by pressing the ‘check’ -button and this is when the solution is then verified. I suppose it could be done automatically as soon as there is a number in each cell.

Verdict: OK. If you like sudoku and have a Openmoko phone, you might like this.

Openttd

GPL / Railroad simulator / opkg.org

Openttd has all required libraries included so it’s enough to install the single package. The cool thing is that it’s localized in several languages (thus making the installed size quite large). I’m not a huge fan of simulators but this – after I’ve read the ‘howto manage your world’ – might end up becoming one of the favourite ways to spend time with Openmoko while travelling. It runs nice and animations are smooth enough. The icredible resolution of Freerunner is a definite success factor here with the small details of the buildings.

Verdict: If you’ve got time, install & learn & enjoy!

ScummVM

GPL / game environment / opkg.org

ScummVM installs a bunch of stuff from Angstrom repositories as well as some files from 3v1n0′s repositories. All dependencies are included in the install command. Downloading ScummVM is not enough, you also need the game data files from classic adventure point-and-click games like King’s Quest or Monkey Island. You can find some freeware games here. I tried Beneath a Steel Sky with no much success, I was killed in less than 10 seconds. But as a concept I think this works on Openmoko, as long as the game is ‘mouse left click only’ optimized. There are some (up to serious) problems with cursor/stylus sync and also the possibility to use AUX as a space bar to skip the introductions would be nice, maybe also something to help me to kill scummvm if required, when the controls (stylus/cursor) fail

Verdict: Want to carry you favourite 90′s game with you..?

Numptyphysics

GPL / physics game / opkg.org

Installs all dependencies. A nice physics game where you use your stylus/mouse to draw new objects to help the red ball to get to the yellow ball/star. The UI to change levels/restart/undo/quit is a bit small and difficult to use with stylus, especially in a moving bus. Numpty rotates the screen ‘the right way’, so that the USB connector points away from you, I think this is the opposite of what Tap/Uptap does.

Verdict: Install it to play with & show your friends. A killer app :)

Neon

GPL / Image viewer / opkg.org

Installs with all dependences from the default repositories. Has a nice, fast UI that resembles the KDE UI to me. Images are shown on a white backgound, I’d maybe prefer black. It shows the status (loading or the file location and name) in the bottom of the screen. A number showing 2/15 (2nd image out of 15) would be handy, maybe in the next version? Or how about a thumbnail view?

Verdict: Useful small app worth installing.

TwitterMoko

GPL / microblogging tool / opkg.org

Seems to be installing the dependencies ok. During the installation your twitter username & password are asked. There is also a possibility to send a message to the author. This might annoy some users and I’d think a GUI to set your username and password would be appreciated.

Since I don’t have a Twitter user account, I just came up with a nonexisting username/password combination. Now trying to start twittermoko only gives me an error. Stdout in the pastebin. This time it was an IONG-app though not designed to be one..

Verdict: FAIL

gwaterpas

GPL / Spirit level tool / opkg.org

Installs all required dependencies as expected. A fun application to demonstrate the capabilities of the accelerometers of Freerunner. You can select from 6 different sensor combinations. You also can calibrate the sensors. This means that you can measure the steepness of a wall/hill/world/ice cream/whatever and calibrate to that position and then later ‘remember’ this steepness. If you calibrate Y-axis in a wrong position this also makes the XY-measurement use the mis-calibrated Y-value. Good or not, I guess it depends on the situation where it’s used. The pink/green/white/gray colours are not the most intriguig and also some number values would be nice to see – maybe even approximated angle? Also there’s no icon installed.

Verdict: A fun tool with some improvements still possible

phonefirewall-dev

GPL / Firewall to control incoming calls and messages / opkg.org

Installs without problems. Since it’s a library, not a GUI app I didn’t write a test application.

Verdict: Might become useful at some stage if an app is written that uses this.

Rotate

Noname free licence / Screen rotator / opkg.org

Installs with no problems. By clicking in the installed icon it rotates the screen – the wrong way (see Numptyphysics above) for me. Clicking again it rotates the screen back to the original position. That’s it. IONG again. I don’t know what’s the thing this one does and Tap/Untap doesn’t do.

Verdict: The licence is not said to be GPL but ‘do-whatever-you-want’. Okay..

Meooem

GPL / Weather icon / opkg.org

Meooem with its weird name is a nice small IONG -application like Rotate that shows you the required information in the icon. After the installation you’re shown with a default openmoko -icon. Clicking it, while connected to the Internet, it connects to Yahoo weather service and requests for a weather of pre-defined (in the config file somewhere) weather station and shows this weather as icon and the temperature as the title/name of the application. That’s it. It just works.

Someone requested it to show a weather forecast, not the current weather. Hmm, why not. Though I’d like it to be able to check if GPS is on and if it is, find the weather for the nearest weather station.

Verdict: Recommended!!

fido

GPL / Todo -list manager / opkg.org

” * ERROR: Cannot satisfy the following dependencies for fido:
*  libelementary0 (>= 0.0.0+svnr37812) *”

Verdict: FAIL

Qwo

GPL / Innovative input method / opkg.org

Qwo installs from projects.openmoko.org some required packages that are not in the default library. After installation one needs to edit a file to disable the default qtopia keyboard and restart X to be able to make the new keyboard run. This is all explained in the wiki page. I actually got quite excited with this. It for sure takes a while to learn the locations of the keyboard but I’m sure that when you learn to use it, it’s faster than using a normal keyboard with the stylus. Here your stylus will be flying on the Qwo-keyboard without the need to lift it up to find the next letter. I won’t explain the usage here more detailled, just go and check it out!

I don’t know if the letters should be positioned otherwise for different languages (google for dvorak keyboard), maybe. I’d also like to see the input area either centered, possibly stretched to cover the whole area – or possibly have two of these side by side so that the used could decide the view (normal, CAPITAL, $p€c!@l..) they have.

Verdict: You should have installed already!! Recommended to try!

Notes

None of the programs reviewed here had the licence visible in opkg.org site. If your program is not listed here, it’s because some requirement is not fulfilled. Only these 13 out of 75+ apps had a working source link AND GPL licence (keyboard layouts excluded).

Comments, objections, recommendations? What’s your favourite Openmoko app?

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