Release Hotfix 6 - Alpha 1 released


EvilDragon

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Well well, here it is - a very first Alpha Version of Hotfix 6. It has not all the planned features included - in fact, you won't probably see much difference compared to Hotfix 5, but it has some bugfixes as well as some other internal changes preparing for planned new features.


It would be great if you guys could help testing if it breaks anything or if it works fine so far!


The changes for HF6a are:


* pnd_run.sh: The error that sometimes an app doesn't mount should have been fixed.


* midori and Arora have been completely removed - please use the PND version. Instead, links2 has been included as quick and fast browser and is now being used for viewing documentation.


* NetworkManager has been upgraded to a slightly newer version. netm-cli (the command line version) is included in the OS. This will be used by MiniMenu to connect to the internet (not included yet).


* A new default GUI selection has been included: "GUISelect". If you select this as default GUI, you'll be asked while booting whether you rather want to boot into MiniMenu or XFCE4


* kernel: WizardStan's optimized charger settings have been included. This should improve charging and increase the life of your battery.


Thanks of course to all the devs (mainly notaz, sebt3, WizardStan, Ivanovic and skeezix) for the help so far :)


Still a lot to do for HF6:


* Include Tutorial for new users (work has begun)


* Include Tempel's PNDStore


* Include updating of PNDs via internet into MiniMenu (mostly done, except for WiFi connection)


* Improve XFCE4 Default Settings


* Include charging screen (i.e. if you connect the Pandora to AC when it's switched off)


Okay, now, here's how you can help us:


The new charging settings could need some testing. Also, please test if all your favourite PNDs do still work - with Midori and Arora, some libraries are gone as well, so maybe some PNDs won't work. If that's the case, I'll put the libraries back into the image.


The Pandora should now stop charging when at 100% and restart charging when the battery is below 90%. This is better for the battery and improves the lifetime. Please test if charging works properly for you.


Also, report any bugs you may encouter on the Bugtracker!


Here's the download: Zaxxon Hotfix 6 Alpha 1 Flash


As this is a full flash, it will delete all your personal settings and files that are stored on the NAND! Be sure you don't have anything important there!


To install it, simply extract the archive onto the root of your SD Card.


Insert the SD Card into the left slot. Keep R (shoulder) pressed while switching on your Pandora and select "Boot from SD1"


If "Boot from SD1" doesn't appear, try to reformat the SD Card using Panasonic SD Formatter, recopy the files and retry.


EDIT:


There is already an update fixing the first issues found!



Download this PND here


Put it onto your SD Card (since HF6A1, you can also put it onto the root of your SD Card) and start the small updater (it's in the SYSTEM Menu).


Once it's installed, you can delete the PND. Should also work fine with SD-Installed versions of Hotfix 6a1


These are the fixes:


* enchant, aspell and libxlst added. This should fix broken apps like Midori and ClawsMail


* Included todays release of Caines Nub-Settings


* Fixed pointercal-permissions (calibrating touchscreen does now actually work)


Report back here :)


Please note: If you have a request for the new nub-configurator, do so in this thread.
 
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Awesome! Gave it whirl. First impressions!


Pros


-Love links2 as documentation reader! Full screen off the bat and keyboard use awesome here.


-will test out charging tonight.


-really looking forward to network from mini menu without having to connect through XFCE first, since I boot from off most often. Standby still uses too much power for me.


cons/bugs


-I still see midori icon (in fact 2 since I have 3.6 pnd) but neither will run go back to minimenu.


-noticed that XFCE menu stalled for me from time to time (never did notice before but then again I'm rarely in XFCE). Removed icon display in menus and we'll see.


-still don't know what time zone to choose or what one I've picked. I don't know how much nand was saved by removing but I hope it can be better(like earliest firmware).
 
cons/bugs


-I still see midori icon (in fact 2 since I have 3.6 pnd) but neither will run go back to minimenu.

Ah, then we've got two bugs here:


Midori 0.3.6 is probably missing a library and the icon for internal midori needs to be removed.


Thanks for reporting! :)

-still don't know what time zone to choose or what one I've picked. I don't know how much nand was saved by removing but I hope it can be better(like earliest firmware).
What do you mean? Nothing has been removed or saved?

How to test charging optimization?

Check if charging stops a while after reaching 100% and restarts when being below 90%.


If you don't have time to check: After a full charge, your battery should be between 90 and 100%.
 
One thing that seems a little odd in minimenu:


- It seems to take a little longer (two or three seconds) till minimenu has finished gathering all pnds


- After closing at least thunar and squeeze (via the 'x' button in the top right corner) it takes about five to six seconds where only a black screen is visible (an the x-servers mousecursor, which is movable), before minimenu is started again.


- maybe just me : vlc seems to take longer to load


what works (don't know if it is important but anyway):


- installing java and after that running geobra and nightvision


- Visual boy advance


Edit:


Strange dia, brasero and xournal don't show the six seconds blackscreen behaviour but ristretto does show it too. I started and closed the mentioned applications several times and rebooted the device twice, making no difference
 
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Many thanks for yet another hotfix ED, my Pandora is in for repairs at the moment so can't help with testing. If I can make a suggestion : please fix the delete key bug.
 
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Paste the pndrun_midori.out in the midori release topic and I'll try to fresolve the error.

That might even be better than putting some of the libraries back into the OS if the only program that needs some of these libs is Midori :)

Many thanks for yet another hotfix ED, my Pandora is in for repairs at the moment so can't help with testing. If I can make a suggestion : please fix the delete key bug.

Hm, but then Shift + Del wouldn't work :/
 
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Paste the pndrun_midori.out in the midori release topic and I'll try to fresolve the error.

That might even be better than putting some of the libraries back into the OS if the only program that needs some of these libs is Midori :)

Well, you can't be sure of that. Maybe other browsers or even gtktools might need them.


Maybe it would be "bad style" to remove any shared libs, that were in there by default.
 
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The proper English term is "in bad taste", I believe.


The only thing from stopping me from testing this is the lack of a PND release; assuming you make as many releases as you did with HF5, I'd have to reflash (and lose all my customizations) six times! Not good.
 
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The proper English term is "in bad taste", I believe.


The only thing from stopping me from testing this is the lack of a PND release; assuming you make as many releases as you did with HF5, I'd have to reflash (and lose all my customizations) six times! Not good.

You can test it from a sdcard. This is how it is intended.
 
I can boot the image directly without installing it to a card? Because I really don't feel like doing that; the best way to test these sort of things is not, in my opinion, to simply check around for a few things once.
 
You can test it from a sdcard. This is how it is intended.
How? I had no option (to just start it) after booting from the SD-Card with the extracted content of archive on it.


btw.


As it seems charging won't stop after reaching 100% - or at least the red LED was not switched off.
 
I would say charging a battery is occurring faster. Haven't done a full charge yet but going from 40% to 75% happened faster than HF5.
 
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