Lets start making the helper gadgets


elw3

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Since the pyra is pretty hard to configure at the moment we should start making a list of all the stuff that is missing from the settings menu of the default os.
Ideally we should find an Idiot brave Soul who volunteers in either porting or making it.
What we had on the pandora:
-Nub settings
-Led settings
-usb otg on/off switch
-sysinfo/live sys info
-clocking
-card reader mode
-input tester
-master control, a way to use the pandora as an input device.

What new stuff might be useful:
-charge settings
-an reliable tool to handle the modem
-gps on/off

Requests:
-A sleep timer icon
-button remapper (Would qjoypad be enough?)

What else is missing or wanted?
What should the tools be able to perform?
Eg with all the leds we can do more than just select a brightness, there are tons of possible options to make up. But at the moment you have to dig through stuff in terminal just to turn one on/off.
 
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What do we have that doesnt fit in an input tester?

I was currently working on collecting all the paths to the stuff that would be nice to monitor.
And i made a dumb little script to monitor them. Its already handy to tell if charging works since the charge icon lacks minutes behind in recognizing changes.
It displays in Löve, so you need to "apt install love" if you want to try it, it shows cpu usage, charging and the volume wheel.
 

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What do we have that doesnt fit in an input tester?

I was currently working on collecting all the paths to the stuff that would be nice to monitor.
And i made a dumb little script to monitor them. Its already handy to tell if charging works since the charge icon lacks minutes behind in recognizing changes.
It displays in Löve, so you need to "apt install love" if you want to try it, it shows cpu usage, charging and the volume wheel.
Hah, I was just about to ask what GUI toolkit we should use :D Game engines as GUIs ftw!

But seriously: What language? Python? What toolkit? Most Pandora and Pyra stuff is done in GTK, right? What kind of architecture? Commandline tools + GUI frontend that calls them?
 
Long ago after my first or second computer science semester I did start programming such a thing in GTK.
As you can imagine, the code is a mess for sure ...

If you want to use it anyways and the paths are still the same I can release it somewhere.
It did was it should, but I'm not sure if it's a thing we should keep extending.

Now I would rather use WxWidgets and C++ or Python and start writing the whole thing again.
Unfortunately I'm already involved in an other project right now and don't have time for this :(.
 
I did work on some Nub Settings UI back in 2016. Reading and restoring the real settings does of course not work with the current system. This could be made to work again with not too much effort, but I'd happily let someone more eager roll their own instead. I have other stuff to work on too.
If you manage to settle on something it would be cool if at least the Pyra-specific settings stuff was somewhat consistent visually. In my case I used wxWidgets and C++, but don't take that as a vote of any kind.
 
Most Zenity scripts from the Pandora can be recycled for the gui.
What more do we have to add to the 1st post list ?
-screen brightness
-keyboard light brightness
-wifi on/off
-bluetooth on/off
-usb/sata mode
-hdmi out on/off
-sound settings
 
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Most Zenity scripts from the Pandora can be recycled for the gui.
What more do we have to add to the 1st post list ?
-screen brightness
-keyboard light brightness
-wifi on/off
-bluetooth on/off
-usb/sata mode
-hdmi out on/off
-sound settings
aTc is a fan of Zenity scripts.
I was sarcastic about the Zenity scripts... aTc is def not a fan of Zenity.

to get started there are a slew of command line only scripts somewhere in /usr/local (at work away from Pyra), just don't know how complete these are, as I noticed a few scripts enabled things, but couldn't find scripts to disable things like the GPS.
 
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Long ago after my first or second computer science semester I did start programming such a thing in GTK.
As you can imagine, the code is a mess for sure ...
If you want to use it anyways and the paths are still the same I can release it somewhere.
It did was it should, but I'm not sure if it's a thing we should keep extending.
Now I would rather use WxWidgets and C++ or Python and start writing the whole thing again.
Unfortunately I'm already involved in an other project right now and don't have time for this :(.
You where sitting on this without having it accessible for us? Muh, uncool!
Of course we want to have it.
It doesnt matter how bad it is, no tool is worse. And its a reference to rely on feature and design wise.
Please post the sources or ideally a binary somewhere if you find the time.

I did work on some Nub Settings UI back in 2016. Reading and restoring the real settings does of course not work with the current system. This could be made to work again with not too much effort, but I'd happily let someone more eager roll their own instead. I have other stuff to work on too.
^same. Upload it.
Hah, I was just about to ask what GUI toolkit we should use :D Game engines as GUIs ftw!
But seriously: What language? Python? What toolkit?
What do you mean seriously? I am legit using Löve for that. I dont see why not.
As with every project: We are NOT to decide how something is made, the one who makes it decides. We may be only allowed to give opinions.
Most Zenity scripts from the Pandora can be recycled for the gui.
What more do we have to add to the 1st post list ?
-screen brightness
-keyboard light brightness
-wifi on/off
-bluetooth on/off
-usb/sata mode
-hdmi out on/off
-sound settings
None of these are missing, scattered all over the places, but still easy reachable.
Except sata options... but how many ppl have a sata adapter?
 
What do you mean seriously? I am legit using Löve for that. I dont see why not.
As with every project: We are NOT to decide how something is made, the one who makes it decides. We may be only allowed to give opinions.
I mean I have written my personal wiki that I use daily in Godot engine and it was ready to use ten times as fast as when I tried in Qt. I'm completely in favor of writing stuff in game engines.

I don't want to decide anything, I wanted to gather opinions and maybe setup a git when enough people agree on something.
 
While the first priority should clearly be to develop tools that work, I think it's also important to use a GUI toolkit that 'feels' native. Zenity, for all its faults, does bring you standard-looking GTK dialogues.

Hardware vendors often try to write their own flashy UIs from scratch for config tools. I've seen it for graphics cards, printers, scanners, graphical BIOSes, and no doubt so have you! These tend to overindulge in branding and fancy GFX, which ends up looking tacky, and dates very badly.

Remember Nero CD burner from the 2000s? I suggest we don't imitate it!
 
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Cant agree more these tools need to be simple and clean from the outside. And correct on the backside. Ideally they should 'just' look like part of the OS (or windowmanager, desktop environment, whatever you call the thing you're looking at)
 
I'll just add a note to record my wish that all pop up menus added to enable these features should be drivable from the keyboard. The applet menu to turn on/off wifi and bluetooth and stuff on the pandora wasn't keyboard drivable. I could always run the scripts directly from a terminal, I think they were all in /usr/pandora/scripts or some reordering of that path, but those was always a bit more clunky than a menu should be.
 
I want scripts with no interface that I can run from keyboard shortcuts. Like, a script that I run and if the modem is on, it turns it off, and if it's off, it turns it on. Stuff like that.
 
What software are you using to enable keyboard shortcuts? Most of them I've used allow the passing of arguments; some don't advertise it but if you put it after a space in the command slot, it usually works. So you could example have a pyra_modem script which takes arguments on and off.
 
Guys i was looking for stuff that:
1. the common user can understand
2. Makes a freshly flashed pyra usable without terminal digging
Personal keyboard shortcuts wont get us anywhere, but if you think something should be the default action of a button or something should be changed then please say so, ill collect.

Inb4:Keyboard thread...
 
What software are you using to enable keyboard shortcuts? Most of them I've used allow the passing of arguments; some don't advertise it but if you put it after a space in the command slot, it usually works. So you could example have a pyra_modem script which takes arguments on and off.
I plan on using i3's built-in shortcut system and yeah, it can do that. But I'd prefer to have it be a toggle, so I only need one shortcut for each device.
 
I want scripts with no interface that I can run from keyboard shortcuts. Like, a script that I run and if the modem is on, it turns it off, and if it's off, it turns it on. Stuff like that.
While I understand the want, this is something even I can script in a few min with a simple if/then.

However, this isn't exactly user facing friendly. A simple gui, even just zenity, or an applet with right click menu would be better for "users". Like me. I don't do shortcuts in general, f12 to a term, then type it in, or gui for me. Granted, I have used many toggle scripts, but never as shortcuts.

Personally, I would want both. An applet, with all the pyra specific toggles, which when clicked run the toggle scripts. Thus those of use who prefer gui for toggles can do that, and keyboard ninjas have their own option too.

Sent from my H3123 using Tapatalk
 
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