Re: The Community

On Tuesday 03 July 2007 07:06, Paul Eggleton wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Jul 2007, muzzle wrote:
> > I really fear OPIE failed to deliver a useful pda OS (sorry to sound
> > rude, I'm just trying to be honest, I can elaborate on this however if
> > you want).
>
> Please do. I know of several areas that definitely need work, but I'd be
> keen to hear other people's opinions about Opie's limitations as well.

I have a comment about OPIE's limitations. Otherwise known as, Why I Quit 
Trying to use OPIE After Several Years of Endeavoring to Do So:

I started using OPIE a long time ago on a Compaq iPaq H3650, which I had 
purchased (with serial cable and Dual CF card sleeve) for the express purpose 
of installing and using Familiar/OPIE. I had it for a couple of years, and 
then upgraded the hardware to a 3870 in order to get more space, bluetooth 
and a SD card slot.

I have notes that I was running Familiar 0.5.1 in 2002 when I was getting rid 
of my first iPaq - I think I bought the first one in 2000. Have been using 
Familiar/OPIE and been on the mailing list since the week I bought the first 
iPaq.

The #1 reason that I wanted an iPaq running OPIE was because I wanted the 
power of Linux on my handheld and at the same time I wanted the PDA's PIM 
data to sync to my KDE desktop.

Unfortunately, that has been essentially a fantasy for the last 7 years.

At various times PIM syncing, at least contacts and notes, sometimes calendars 
(though never satisfactorily) have worked, but it would usually break again 
at the next release of any component. It seems like no one is really in 
charge of syncing or cares enough to make it all work well, or if they do, I 
guess they don't have enough time or other resources to work on it. Other the 
years I have talked (via email or chat) to several people who have worked on 
various sync frameworks and software (and it seems like it's a different 
developer every other year), and I'm always checking the pim.kde.org page, 
mailing list and news looking for news of improvements to syncing. The Sync 
project, if it can be called that, between KDE and OPIE (I'm not including 
phones and Palm Pilots or other sync software) feels like a ship without a 
captain.

All the other features or OPIE are great - I love having a terminal, ssh, 
media player, other things - but I use my PDA the way, I assume, most 
business people use it - it's #1 task it to keep track of notes, contacts, 
schedules, and it needs to sync to my desktop.

It seems to me like no one can agree on standards for syncing, and the 
framework or preferred combination of software is always changing. Since it's 
a moving and vague target (how many sync frameworks have there been now? 4? 
5?), no wonder it's hard for others to help work on.

Perhaps this is the wrong place to send this information, after all, it's more 
of a KDE problem than an OPIE problem, on one level, because the sync 
software runs on the desktop. But it seems to me like it's going to take 
someone with an interest in OPIE to make it work, otherwise why would any KDE 
developer care? So it's both an OPIE and a KDE problem.

I admit I have not tried to sync with any release of KDE, 
multi/open/kitchen/-sync or OPIE in the last year or so. I just don't have 
time to fiddle with it any more. After 7 years I just thought I'd wait until 
I hear news that someone has really got it working well.

I bring this up because I think the lack of stable, reliable, easy-to-use sync 
software is OPIE's #1 major drawback for the average PDA user. I may be 
wrong, but don't most people who use PDAs use them for PIM data? And don't 
they wish they didn't have to type the same data into their PDA and desktop 
separately? Sure they all want to take pictures, play games and music and run 
many other kind of software, but I think the whole PDA market is centralized 
on "the PIM thing". Isn't this the market the made Palm what it is today?

Granted, I understand that OPIE is aimed at a slightly different user base. 
But I think it would help greatly if this area was working well and stable.

I have not found OPIE to have any real drawbacks for myself, other than the 
sync problem. I wish for Bluetoothand SD cards to work well, If I remember it 
was a little problematic. I think the handwriting recognition and keyboards 
could perhaps work a little better, the PALM and PPC input seems to be 
snappier and more accurate. Other than that I have no complaints.

As far as being a member of the community - I have not done anything worthy of 
being called a contributor, though I've helped people on the mailing lists 
and IRC. So I would not give myself the same status as most of you other 
volunteers. But if there is any room in "The Community" for users who really 
do care about OPIE, want to see it working well, have a keen interest in 
where the project is going, and are possibly willing to assist by donating 
hardware, time or $, please count me in.

	JW

-- 

----------------------
System Administrator - Cedar Creek Software
http://www.cedarcreeksoftware.com
_______________________________________________
Open Source User Interface and Apps built on Qt Embedded
Opie mailing list
[email protected]
https://handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/opie