I've ported mrxvt to the iLiad and I will be using it as a training tool to help other developers learn what it takes to port X11 applications to run on the iLiad.
First off, mrxvt is a tabbed version of rxvt. And rxvt is a small terminal program that doesn't try to do too much so it stays small in size. A terminal program allows you to execute commands under Linix on the iLiad. You can use it to examine the contents of memory cards, move files to and from memory cards. Set the time zone, set the time... In general it is your swiss army knife of tools that iRex has so far failed to provide.
I'll be using mrxvt to document some of the more useful features such as setting the timezone so your notes have the correct date and time on them (unless of course you already live and work in UTC).
I've bundled this tool up in a manner similar to that I developed for gnuchess. It is a zip file that you need to extract onto a MMC/CF card or onto the iLiad's own internal memory drive.
You will then need to have the [SHELL] hack installed. Navigate to where you extracted the zip and click into the "mrxvt" directory created, then click on the "run.sh" file.
You should see a window pop up like that shown in the picture below.
If you are not an experienced Linux command shell user (and if you don't know what that means: you aren't
) then do try not to brick your iLiad by typing in random things you find to try via Google. I'll be posting articles, please be patient.
The features of this program that I will be sharing via postings shortly are:
1. It knows how to label itself so Matchbox Window Manager lets it decide its window size.
2. It knows how to coax the keyboard into automatically popping up: the right way.
3. It knows how to put away the keyboard on exit.
4. It knows how to invoke a light weight screen refresh so it won't risk triggering epileptic seizures amongst the users.
5. It knows how to turn off the busy LED.
6. It defaults to using one of the few X11 fonts provided "out of the box".
7. It uses nothing but "out of the box" shared libraries, so it is a very tiny program.
For the advanced I'll share how to make an on screen button for it using Matchbox so you can pop it up and then put it away whilst in the middle of other things.