New Linux User » mobile

Killing Processes & A Bit of Maemo

Clair Ching — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:50:56 +0000

In Linux sometimes your applications end up hanging. For some reason they just don’t work all of a sudden. Or they are totally unresponsive. If and when that happens don’t panic. I’ve been there and dealt with that too.

When almost the entire screen freezes I launch a virtual terminal by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 and then look for the process number of the application which I think triggered it. Usually it’s firefox or what. In any case, looking for the process number could be done by listing them all with the ps command and then grep. Then use the kill command. That or I look for the process in the graphical user interface.

As for the rest of the methods for killing processes there’s a blog entry on MakeUseOf that would help you remember the different methods.

In the Philippines, one of our local bloggers was able to check out the Nokia N900 with Maemo running on it. It’s said to be really beautiful and has a fast response time. It feels light, in his words. Hands on with the Nokia N900 (by Jayvee Fernandez) has a quick run-down of what he liked about the phone. Some comparisons with the iPhone and the Android-powered HTC Hero are mentioned too. Sounds good right?

For other such topics, let me know what else you’re curious about. Let’s see what we could talk about on this blog.

Post from: New Linux User

Remuco as Remote for Your Media Player

Clair Ching — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:43:40 +0000

Those with bluetooth or wifi on their machines will most likely enjoy using Remuco, an application to let you use your mobile phone as a remote control. Right now, Remuco can be used with the following media players:

Amarok
Audacious
Banshee
Exaile
MPD
Rhythmbox
Totem
TVtime
VLC
XMMS2

Remuco

You may use any of the above mentioned applications on your Linux box but features with regards to control, information displayed, and browsing depend on which one of them you use. If you’re using Banshee, there are no browsing features available. But you could control the volume, skip to the next track (or go to the previous one), toggle shuffle mode, toggle repeat mode and seek forward as well as backward in the currently playing track. Other features such as browsing the playlist and/or media library are mostly availble to the other media players. For a complete list of features and media players, check out the Remuco Features page on their wiki.

The Remuco project has packages for Arch Linux, Debian, Gentoo and Ubuntu. If you’re using any of the mentioned distros, you should have a way to install the package instead of installing from source.

Hmm. Right now, the information available regarding mobile devices you could use with Remuco are limited. Basically you need JavaME support (MIDP ≥ 2.0, CLDC ≥ 1.1). If you use Bluetooth to connect to a player adapter, there must be JSR-82 (Java Bluetooth) support too. Nevertheless it looks like an interesting thing to use. Too bad I have to borrow someone’s bluetooth dongle first to try it out. That or I could try using my older laptop once I get to the office.

But I think it’s cool, especially if you’re reading a book and you’re using your computer to play music in the background. Sometimes it’s just too fun lying down and reading rather than having to go up and change and the music. I hope that more phones could be tested and checked if Remuco works just fine with them too.

Thanks to the Ubuntu Manual for giving information about how to install Remuco on Ubuntu Karmic, Jaunty and Intrepid. I wouldn’t have known about this app if not for the blog entry.

Post from: New Linux User

Watch Out for Linux on Your Mobile Phones

Clair Ching — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:19:28 +0000

There were some models of mobile phones that had Linux on them. It was how many years ago when Motorola released some, and I think it was also possible to have Ubuntu on Palm mobile phones, if I recall correctly. Anyhow, these past few days had something to say about Linux and mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung, aside from Palm, RIM and HTC. And also something about the dwindling marketshare of Microsoft’s smartphones.

Mobile phones have practically become part of our lives. And Linux is emerging as an OS to be used on the smartphones. Image credit: Morguefile, user: taliesin

There’s a review of Nokia’s N900. From the looks of things, Nokia will be using Maemo rather than Symbian on its smartphone offerings in the future. With Symbian they are too limited and with Maemo, they hope to attract even more developers. With what they gave as screenshots of the phone and its applications, it looks user friendly enough for me to get interested in it. In terms of the design of the phone’s interface, the icons look clear enough and big enough.

Samsung seems to be following Nokia when it comes to making a Linux that fits its smartphones. It will combine Linux will its TouchWiz technology. Unwired View points out other information that might be important when it comes to the development of an operating system for Samsung phones.

For me, what’s exciting is that there are advantages in the Maemo-powered Nokia N900:

Faster boot time. This is what’s apparent in the protoype.
It has a stable browser. It also has support for Flash, video and applets.
It’s easier to switch languages in it compared to the Symbian-powered Nokia phones.

If the Nokia N900 is like this, it brings me to wonder what the Samsung phones will look like with Touch Wiz and its OS. I think that there will be users that won’t even care what OS is on their phones but for those who do care, this is great news.

Are there other mobile phones that you are excited about because of Linux? What are they? Care to share them here?

Post from: New Linux User

Creating a Ringtone with Audacity

Clair Ching — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:33:53 +0000

I am sure that you might have a song or two which you’d like to make into custom ringtones for certain people who frequently call you. The boss could have a ringtone like the Star Wars’ Imperial Death March (especially if he’s always giving you impossible deadlines) or your sister could have a ringtone of her favorite song. It could be anything. Sometimes these tunes are not available or you only want certain segments to be used. In any case, you could do it yourself using Audacity.

a ringtone made using Audacity

Audacity is actually capable of a whole lot more audio editing features but as I am not really using them yet, I am not very familiar with them. For now, let me share how I made my own ringtone.

I installed Audacity. Of course it has dependencies too so it’s good if you check them first. This is especially for those of you who have a lot of mp3 files.
I loaded the song of my choice. Audacity converted that.
With the selection tool, I dragged the mouse pointer to the starting time and ending time of the song I wanted to use. If you are not too sure about the time of the song, then you could actually drag the mouse on top of the bar with the time and have it play that segment. When you have decided the part to select, put the mouse pointer over the part with the spiky lines. Take note of the timing. Drag the pointer within the area from the start time to the end time. It will be greyed out by Audacity so you know.
I selected the trim tool. It’s the one with the wave in between the sideways T-like things. This will give you only the part you selected earlier.
I used the time shift tool to move the segment to the beginning of the time.
Lastly, I converted the file to mp3 via the Export command on the File menu.

It’s the simplest way I know to make a custom ringtone. There’s probably fade in and fade out somewhere. The moment I figure out how to use it, I’d definitely let you know.

Post from: New Linux User

Ubuntu Linux on the Nokia 800

Clair Ching — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:12:18 +0000

Last year there were news about Nokia 770 and Debian Linux. A while ago I read about Ubuntu coming to Nokia 800. From the article, Ubuntu is already running on an SD card. Sounds exciting. It’s just that the Nokia 800 will probably be a high-end consumer device here in the country if ever they sell it in the Philippines. On the website its price is indicated as USD 299.99 already, which is several thousand pesos cheaper than the Asus EEE so even though the Nokia 800 might be an interesting proposition to new Linux users who are concerned with being very mobile and want to really light, the Asus EEE might still be a better investment right now.

But I am still glad to read about this development. Mobile computing is definitely getting more exciting these days. And maybe some of you will get a handheld device as your first Linux machine. Ubuntu on the laptop or on the phone? Or maybe both? It’s an exciting time I tell you!

Post from: New Linux User

Linux on the Motorola A810

Clair Ching — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:42:02 +0000

Lookie! Another Linux-based phone. This time it’s a Motorola A810.

I wish I could see more of these things locally. Well, and support for them as well. So far, there are reports from the FCC as to the specs of the phone and the pictures as well.

I’ve tried one of the Linux-powered phones before and I found them nifty to use. The user interface was quite different but then again, most Motorola phones are different if you ask me. I’m in Asia so I’d just hope to see it in the mall one of these days and blog about it… using my Sony Ericsson phone. Heh.

But seriously, why not a smart phone with embedded Linux, right?

Post from: New Linux User