05-22-2012, 12:24 AM | #1 |
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[Kindle Touch] JoppyTerm Alpha 0.1
Hi,
I have finally managed to get a basic terminal starting to work. In it's current state, it's not that useful, as it does not yet support any of the ANSI control characters. It can be used to run simple commands and get output. For example: ls, pwd, date, uname, ifconfig, etc. Currently, to get the program to cleanly exit: 1 - Type "exit" at bash. 2 - touch the top right corner of the screen. Once more of the basic features are implemented, I'll package it up to be run with from a menu, or maybe run as ";term" from the search bar or something. For now, I've been starting it via USB ssh. Alpha 0.0 -------------- Working: - Plain text entry (including upper case / symbols with the shift key) - Plain text output - Runs /bin/sh Not yet working: - ANSI / VT-100 control characters - Backspace, delete, tab, etc. - Bugs in scrolling - Modifier keys other than shift - Arrow keys Features I'd add once the basics are fixed: - Text-size option - Terminal window size option (80x24 looks kinda small at the top of the screen) - Tabs for multiple sessions at once - Finger-drag scrolling back to look at past text. - Option to change keyboard layout Note: My source code is probably a bit of a mess. I wrote this on little sleep :P This is a very early alpha release, so it's quite incomplete. But I'd thought I'd share what I've done so far. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in another update before my remaining exams next week, although, I can't be certain if I'll find too much free time. Any feedback is welcome :3 UPDATE: Alpha 0.1 I've released a small update. This fixes the scrolling bug, and now comes with GUI Launcher support (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=161263), so you can run the terminal without having to plug your kindle into your computer. Last edited by JoppyFurr; 05-24-2012 at 09:56 PM. Reason: Updateed to Alpha 0.1 |
05-22-2012, 01:36 AM | #2 |
Carpe diem, c'est la vie.
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Thanks. Need sleep now. I will check this out tomorrow. I wish I had more time too. TTYL...
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05-22-2012, 09:10 AM | #3 |
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weird keyboard...
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05-22-2012, 09:16 AM | #4 |
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It's the Dvorak layout. I use that on my computer, phone, and pretty much any device I'm able to switch to it. It's nice and comfortable to type on, with around 70% of keystrokes on the home row, compared to about 30% with Qwerty.
Eventually I'll add an option to change keyboard layout. |
05-22-2012, 09:25 AM | #5 | |
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Quote:
Dvorak layout presupposes that a person is typing English. The "one size fits none" QWERTY layout is not as single language oriented. |
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05-22-2012, 09:40 AM | #6 |
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According to this, the spread out keys of QWERTY can actually be faster because you often switch hands while typing on QWERTY (and language adapted variants like AZERTY):
http://www.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/keys1.html I have a friend who used Dvorak keyboards for many years, but he finally gave up and went back to QWERTY because the "wrong reflexes" slowed him down when using a standard keyboard, which he could not avoid completely. Last edited by geekmaster; 05-22-2012 at 09:47 AM. |
05-22-2012, 01:09 PM | #7 |
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JoppyFurr, did u think about porting something like xterm+matchbox-keyboard?
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05-22-2012, 04:52 PM | #8 | |
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Quote:
One of the things I want to do with this project is to get a more in-depth understanding of how a terminal emulator works. I want to do this by doing things by hand, making my own mistakes, and learning from them. Porting an existing program would be plenty quicker to get working. But I just don't think I'd have learned very much from doing that. While the end product will be a working terminal emulator either way, I'd like the experience of doing this from scratch. |
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05-22-2012, 05:37 PM | #9 | |
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Although you don't mention it in your reasons, there are two other advantages: You get only the fuctionality and features you want; You know exactly what the dependencies are (and why). PS: The suggestion given is a large body of code, not all that quick to port to anything. So just keep on, keeping on. |
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05-22-2012, 08:45 PM | #10 |
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It's great to write code the way others want you to write it for them when they pay you to do it for them.
It's better to write code the way YOU want to because you love doing at and you are learning from it. But the best way to write code is when you do what you want to, the way YOU want to do it, and you enjoy doing it and you are learning from it, and you are getting paid to do it. A lot of the best software out there was written for for personal satisfaction, which made it a work of art and a work of love, and others loved it to. So keep doing your stuff the way you want to, for the pure joy of doing it, and we will enjoy it too. |
05-24-2012, 09:24 AM | #11 | |
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Quote:
I tried your suggestion and it works almost out of a box. I only had minor issues with matchbox-keyboard. It won't work with text buttons, so I used image buttons from this project, which I slightly modified. Keyboard also seems to ignore key width in the config file. I will have to get back to it. Now I want to package it and find a way to start in from menu. I must read this forum I will share it with you when it is ready. |
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05-24-2012, 10:01 PM | #12 |
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I just edited my first post. Adding support for GUI Launcher and fixing the scrolling bug.
Next up will probably be work on letting the keyboard send signals (Ctrl-C, etc) and mapping the currently un-mapped keys (arrow keys, tab, etc). My evening is pretty free, so I may be able to get that working before bed tonight. |
05-25-2012, 02:12 AM | #13 |
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Do you plan to add K4 support? I mean the opportunity to use FiveWay buttons to enter text.
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05-25-2012, 03:27 AM | #14 | |
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Quote:
At the moment, I don't have any plans for the terminal emulator outside of the Kindle Touch, seeing as the Touch is the only device that I have to play around with and test code on. However, my source code is all open, and anybody is welcome to take a copy and modify it to work with the K4, or any other device. |
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06-01-2012, 02:02 AM | #15 |
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Thank you, great application. Sorry for newbie question how can I change layout to qwerty? Thanks.
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