Scripts to move comics to Iliad e-ink reader - Page 2

jæd · 10-03-2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

I review my long list of bugs in xpdf and minimo and shake my head in sadness. I'll be pretty busy once they release the sources.

Um... Have posted your list of bugs on the Irex forum...? I can't see it... At the very least it would help other developers...!

scotty1024 · 10-03-2006, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jæd

Um... Have posted your list of bugs on the Irex forum...?

iRex hasn't impressed me with their ability to fix bugs. I have deliberately not posted my bugs in order to keep them from breaking things while trying to fix them, as they've done with the Content Lister/xpdf exploit issues in past releases.

I feel Minimo and xpdf will only get stable on the iLiad once the maintainers of those projects can inspect, and repair as needed, the changes iRex made to their code.

jæd · 10-03-2006, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

iRex hasn't impressed me with their ability to fix bugs. I have deliberately not posted my bugs in order to keep them from breaking things while trying to fix them, as they've done with the Content Lister/xpdf exploit issues in past releases.

Um... Wasn't part of the reason Irex released the Illiad early to get feedback...?

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

I feel Minimo and xpdf will only get stable on the iLiad once the maintainers of those projects can inspect, and repair as needed, the changes iRex made to their code.

I fail to see how the maintainers would best know it would be adapted for a revolutionary type of display...! And how would these people know how to deal with properties of such a display (eg low refresh rate)...?

Personally, I'm quite astounded in how someone would knowingly with-hold information that can only be used by Irex to make the product better and more useful to all. Not to mention withholding this information to other developers who might be able to find work arounds...

scotty1024 · 10-03-2006, 04:38 PM

What if iRex had hired scotty1024 to develop the iLiad via OSS, what would be different?

First off, my #1 priority would have been patches to X to produce an iLiad simulator. Right number of pixels X and Y, correct PPI if people cared, and the same API provided on the iLiad to trigger updates to the X display (think about it, how do they push the changes to the e-ink panel, somewhere in your code you call something that says "Update e-ink now" right???) A skin in the window with buttons to push with a mouse that produced the same events as the buttons on the iLiad.

Second, participation in Kernel/Minimo/xpdf development communities. I'd have developers assigned to participate in all those forums and get iLiad source checked in. No freakin' iLiad tar ball, but iLiad build paths that could be checked out and built by developers and used under the X simulator.

When people had feedback, and there would be far more people than just those with iLiads. After all, people could build the X code and run the iLiadian xpdf et al... My developers would work through the existing communities to process those suggestions into the code bases.

Instead of developers fruit-lessly bashing their skulls into desks and eeking out 5% to 10% improvements in power? I'd be kicking their metaphorical asses to get into the developer community and ask for help: "I'm trying to power down a XXXX but YYY is happening. Any one else seen that?"

I would have been leveraging the OSS community for as many man hours as I could mooch to help get the iLiad up to speed as quickly as possible. Bugzilla, Wiki, Subversion and a PHPBoard for my public developers... along with iLiad t-shirts, coasters, mugs and any other thing I could beg, borrow or steal out of the marketing department as a seducement for contributed code. Contribute enough significant items, I'd be going to management to ask for a free or subsidized iLiad for you.

I would have had maybe one kernel developer on ICE with the actual hardware. Application developers would have soft developer iLiad's with ROMulators and Desktops with the X simulator.

So no, no bugs for iRex, and I don't feel bad about that, I feel bad about what iRex could have done, and where we could have been today.

And I really don't feel they are the best people to be fixing other people's code at this point. After all, most of the code in the iLiad doesn't belong to iRex.

What I'd rather do when I find a bug is just check out the X simulator, the minimo code, and fix/submit the bug to the minimo project. Let iRex collect the new sources once every 2 or 3 months and push out a new OS release.

If you want to submit bugs to iRex, that's your choice.

Bob Russell · 10-03-2006, 04:45 PM

Gee... I don't know enough to evaluate what you've suggested Scotty, but you've got my vote for iRex to check their budget and find the funds to hire you!

jæd · 10-03-2006, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

So no, no bugs for iRex, and I don't feel bad about that, I feel bad about what iRex could have done, and where we could have been today.

So... Because Illiad didn't consult you on their development environment you're wasting both their time and the the time of everyone who develops for the Illiad...?

My attitude towards the Illiad is that perhaps they could've done things differently, and perhaps there are areas that could've been improved, but they're calling the shots and *this* is what we've got to work with. No point crying over spilt milk...! Lets just do the best we can with a very good, ground-breaking platform...!

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

What I'd rather do when I find a bug is just check out the X simulator, the minimo code, and fix/submit the bug to the minimo project.

I'm still confused as to why you would notify the minimo team for a bug in Irexs code... Irex have (probably) extended/changed parts of Minimo/xpdf and so those changes having nothing to with the Minimo/xpdf code base... Or perhaps they are coming up with their own e-ink device...?

scotty1024 · 10-04-2006, 12:08 AM

Actually I'm just not wasting my time right now...

scotty1024 · 10-04-2006, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

Gee... I don't know enough to evaluate what you've suggested Scotty, but you've got my vote for iRex to check their budget and find the funds to hire you!

Thanks Bob.

But you know, its still not too late for them to push out that X simulator...

We could be compiling code under Linux, sharpening our apps until the iLiad compiler chain is released...

Anyway, enough day dreaming, onwards mighty proxy server!

scotty1024 · 10-04-2006, 08:08 AM

And if I were the Minimo developer? I'd be getting a bit upset with iRex for a couple reasons.

1. Sony Reader, if I had the patches back from iRex I could be creating a Sony reader minimo. Lots of sizzle, good exposure and an existing Librie developer chain to get started with now...
2. I'm reading about minimo crashing on the iLiad. I'm thinking minimo may get some negative publicity about its stability and readiness to be a browser for a Sony Reader.

If anyone can really put the screws to iRex it would be the minimo team itself. After all, GPL is not copyright free, the minimo team owns the code, not iRex. If iRex makes them look bad enough they can yank iRex's chain: hard.

Hmm, submitting bugs to the minimo project might be a good way to turn up the heat on iRex...

What say you fellow iLiadians? Is it time to turn up the heat?

ali · 10-04-2006, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

What say you fellow iLiadians? Is it time to turn up the heat?

Go!

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 5 characters.

jæd · 10-04-2006, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty1024

And if I were the Minimo developer? I'd be getting a bit upset with iRex for a couple reasons.

1. Sony Reader, if I had the patches back from iRex I could be creating a Sony reader minimo. Lots of sizzle, good exposure and an existing Librie developer chain to get started with now...
2. I'm reading about minimo crashing on the iLiad. I'm thinking minimo may get some negative publicity about its stability and readiness to be a browser for a Sony Reader.

Why...? From the FAQ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minimo FAQ

Minimo is a free, open-source web browser for Windows Mobile (Also called Windows CE, Pocket PC 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2003se) and is based on the Mozilla codebase.

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minimo/FAQ.html

And further on they state they aren't interested in porting to other OS's... (But a Treo version would be nice...!

) There's a linux version in the works but all their work seems to be for Win CE... (Which would make sense for a Win CE browser...!)

scotty1024 · 10-05-2006, 11:08 AM

It has been my experience that new opportunities can change FAQ entries and previously laid plans.

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10-03-2006, 04:38 PM	#19
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	What if iRex had hired scotty1024 to develop the iLiad via OSS, what would be different? First off, my #1 priority would have been patches to X to produce an iLiad simulator. Right number of pixels X and Y, correct PPI if people cared, and the same API provided on the iLiad to trigger updates to the X display (think about it, how do they push the changes to the e-ink panel, somewhere in your code you call something that says "Update e-ink now" right???) A skin in the window with buttons to push with a mouse that produced the same events as the buttons on the iLiad. Second, participation in Kernel/Minimo/xpdf development communities. I'd have developers assigned to participate in all those forums and get iLiad source checked in. No freakin' iLiad tar ball, but iLiad build paths that could be checked out and built by developers and used under the X simulator. When people had feedback, and there would be far more people than just those with iLiads. After all, people could build the X code and run the iLiadian xpdf et al... My developers would work through the existing communities to process those suggestions into the code bases. Instead of developers fruit-lessly bashing their skulls into desks and eeking out 5% to 10% improvements in power? I'd be kicking their metaphorical asses to get into the developer community and ask for help: "I'm trying to power down a XXXX but YYY is happening. Any one else seen that?" I would have been leveraging the OSS community for as many man hours as I could mooch to help get the iLiad up to speed as quickly as possible. Bugzilla, Wiki, Subversion and a PHPBoard for my public developers... along with iLiad t-shirts, coasters, mugs and any other thing I could beg, borrow or steal out of the marketing department as a seducement for contributed code. Contribute enough significant items, I'd be going to management to ask for a free or subsidized iLiad for you. I would have had maybe one kernel developer on ICE with the actual hardware. Application developers would have soft developer iLiad's with ROMulators and Desktops with the X simulator. So no, no bugs for iRex, and I don't feel bad about that, I feel bad about what iRex could have done, and where we could have been today. And I really don't feel they are the best people to be fixing other people's code at this point. After all, most of the code in the iLiad doesn't belong to iRex. What I'd rather do when I find a bug is just check out the X simulator, the minimo code, and fix/submit the bug to the minimo project. Let iRex collect the new sources once every 2 or 3 months and push out a new OS release. If you want to submit bugs to iRex, that's your choice.

10-03-2006, 04:45 PM	#20
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Gee... I don't know enough to evaluate what you've suggested Scotty, but you've got my vote for iRex to check their budget and find the funds to hire you!

10-04-2006, 12:08 AM	#22
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	Actually I'm just not wasting my time right now...

10-04-2006, 08:08 AM	#24
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	And if I were the Minimo developer? I'd be getting a bit upset with iRex for a couple reasons. 1. Sony Reader, if I had the patches back from iRex I could be creating a Sony reader minimo. Lots of sizzle, good exposure and an existing Librie developer chain to get started with now... 2. I'm reading about minimo crashing on the iLiad. I'm thinking minimo may get some negative publicity about its stability and readiness to be a browser for a Sony Reader. If anyone can really put the screws to iRex it would be the minimo team itself. After all, GPL is not copyright free, the minimo team owns the code, not iRex. If iRex makes them look bad enough they can yank iRex's chain: hard. Hmm, submitting bugs to the minimo project might be a good way to turn up the heat on iRex... What say you fellow iLiadians? Is it time to turn up the heat?

10-05-2006, 11:08 AM	#27
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	It has been my experience that new opportunities can change FAQ entries and previously laid plans.

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