opensource

You are currently browsing articles tagged opensource.

I’ve been recently playing with GPS devices on Linux (for example i-gotU gt-120, and the linux software to download tracks). I’ve also been discussing gps+heart rate data storage options. The obvious choice is (ex-Nokia) Sports Tracker and it didn’t even cross my mind that you could do something like this with local Linux software.

But it’s useless to ever think like that – you’re surprised with the variety of apps that are available and developed for Linux.
I bumped to this blog post on Planet KDE: Sports Activity Tracking App: The Baby Needs a Name.

And it looks awesome.

Reading the comments I found some other apps that do more or less the same, and Google gave me even more. So here’s just a quick list of GPS / HRM apps you might want to have a look if they’d be useful for you:

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The news are out now – tangoGPS has been forked.

tangogps is an easy to use, fast and lightweight mapping application for use with or without GPS. (tangoGPS web site)

FoxtrotGPS is an offshoot of Marcus Bauer’s excellent tangoGPS application, with a focus on cooperation and fostering community innovation. (FoxtrotGPS web site)

And it’s all GPL’d (read: ‘free & libre open source software’). Read the full announcement on FOSS-GPS mailing list.

Nothing much to add to that. Now go & check http://www.foxtrotgps.org/, subscribe to the FOSS-GPS mailing list, join the #foxtrotgps IRC channel and let your ideas, contributions and wishes flow! I’d expect the first release to be out soonish so have your Ubuntus, Freerunners and eeePCs ready!

Tags: , , , , , ,

Yes, it’s true & great news: Facebook chat can now be used over any XMPP / Jabber client, like Pidgin and Kopete.

Go to http://www.facebook.com/sitetour/chat.php to see your settings. Here’s a screenshot of the settings:

Facebook jabber settings

Facebook jabber settings

Tags: , , , , ,

Great tips for everyone running Open Source projects!

Also do check the awesome blog post by one of the KDE project leaders: Building community around your FOSS project.

Tags: , , ,

Stuff has bugs, both hardware and software. One of the hardware bugs in Openmoko phones has been bug number #1024 causing things to happen that prevent the GSM chip to go to ‘deep sleep’ mode to save power.

Someone came up with a fix: add a capacitor.

So we did.

Wiki page with instructions to detect if you’re hit by the bug: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/1024
Bug report: http://docs.openmoko.org/trac/ticket/1024
Instructions to fix the bug: http://www.neofundas.blogspot.com/

After opening the case

After opening the case

Small, isn't it?

Small, isn't it?

One end soldered to the ground

One end soldered to the ground

Other end soldered to the old capacitor

Other end soldered to the old capacitor

Thanks Antti & open hardware!

Results

The suspend power consumption dropped to around 6000 µA from around 15-20000µA when I now allow the GSM modem (Calypso) to go to deep_sleep mode. The 1200mAh battery should now give up to 200 hours = 8 days of power. Of course this is theoretical – I also need to use the phone to make calls, let GPS show me my location etc etc – and as I move, the GSM needs to wake up ever now and then because of the changing base stations. So nowadays I recharge it every other night still being able to make calls and do other stuff with it. Nice improvement!

Tags: , , , , , ,

« Older entries