README for zavai

"zavai" is a word of the Bolognese language which means "useless thing of no
value". The idea that I'm trying to do what I can with what I have.

It is written with the purpose of working for me; everything else is optional.
Feature requests for things that I don't need will likely be ignored unless
of course they come with patches.

Getting it to work:

 * Install dependencies

   # Build time
   apt-get install valac libglib2.0-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libgee-dev libgtk2.0-dev libwnck-dev libdevkit-power-gobject-dev

   # Runtime
   apt-get install devicekit-power

   # Optional runtime
   apt-get install polygen polygen-data

 * Compile

   ./configure; make

 * Install dbus.d configuration file

   cp conf/zavai.conf /etc/dbus-1/system.d/

 * Copy the .desktop files of the applications you use more often in ~/.zavai

   For example:

   mkdir ~/.zavai
   cp /usr/share/applications/tangogps.desktop ~/.zavai
   cp /usr/share/applications/navit.desktop ~/.zavai
   cp /usr/share/applications/vala-terminal.desktop ~/.zavai
   cp /usr/share/applications/midori.desktop ~/.zavai
   cp /usr/share/applications/zhone.desktop ~/.zavai
   cp /usr/share/applications/FBReader.desktop ~/.zavai
   cp conf/satmon.desktop ~/.zavai

 * Copy accessory scripts in ~/.zavai

   cp hooks/display ~/.zavai
   cp hooks/keyboard ~/.zavai

 * Update the information about the polygen grammars installed in the system
   (optional) 

   src/update-polygen-info

 * Run zavai

   ./run

   This will run zavai and restart it if it quits/crashes. If you want to
   restart zavai (for example after you build a new version) just choose
   debug/quit.

Features / guide

 * Power menu

 Push the power button to get the power menu, with options to
 suspend/shutdown/reboot, lock the screen and keep the backlight always on
 (useful if you are using the openmoko as a satellite navigator in the car)

 * Lock screen

 Hold the power button longer to lock / unlock the screen. If the screen is
 locked you see a lock icon in the traybar.

 A short push of the power button while locked will turn on the backlight for a
 bit, which is useful if you want to check the map for a moment. Another short
 push will show the main zavai window, which is useful if you want to see the
 time. Another short push will hide the main zavai window.

 * Main window

 In the main window you see the time. If your GPS has a fix, the time comes
 from the GPS.

 In the top left there is a gps icon. Push it to toggle the GPS to be always on
 (useful to restart tangogps or navit without needing to reacquire a fix).

 In the bottom there is a button to access the main menu.

 * Tray bar

 Zavai shows several tray bar buttons. One kills the current application (or
 goes back in the menu if the current application is zavai).

 One hides and shows zavai.

 One hides and shows the keyboard.
 
 One shows the status of the battery.

 * The menu

 The menu should be self-explanatory. It has options for simple GPS management
 tasks, setting an alarm, running applications, a task switcher, and a polygen
 interface.

 * Alarms

 It is possible to set an alarm, which will be shown in the alarm window. When
 the alarm expires, the phone wakes up if it is suspended, and zavai vibrates
 for 5 seconds.

 It is planned to use the AUX button to acknowledge the alarm and stop the
 vibration; when this will happen, vibration can go on for more than 5 seconds.
 
 When I'll implement some audio playing infrastructure, I'll implement playing
 an audio file as well.

 Also missing are a popup that tells that an alarm is ringing, and a notifier
 for unacknowledged popups.

 Patches welcome.

 * Calendar

 You can reach the calendar from the menu or by clicking on the date in the
 main screen.

 The calendar shows notes on every day. You can add notes just by typing on the
 white space below the calendar.

 The notes are saved in ~/.zavai/cal/YEAR/MONTH/DAY.txt, feel free to:
  - sync it with your main computer;
  - create a tool that populates it using the information from your
    favourite calendar system;
  - interface zavai with a proper calendar system, without making the interface
    harder to use (if you can).

Stability / design

 Zavai currently focuses on the interface side, trying to make it easy for me
 to reach the functions that I need. I try not to focus on hardware details
 (yet) (when I can), so I build it on the freesmartphone framework, which is
 unstable, underdocumented and sometimes untested, whose developers so far have
 never answered my questions and whose API tends to change every now and again.

 This said, I'm surprised it works for me so far.

TODO list / wish list

 * FSO API "documentation":
 http://git.freesmartphone.org/?p=specs.git;a=blob_plain;f=html/index.html;hb=HEAD

 * Features to add:
 - alerts with at
 - work without ogpsd
    - use the gpsd dbus protocol
    - power on/off the gps and start/stop gpsd
    - set to keep the GPS on during suspend
    - suspend/resume hooks to put the GPS into low power mode
 - next30: don't update if not shown currently on the notebook
 - gtk_calendar_set_detail_func
 - contacts: show as a fancy focus+context list (see prefuse)
 - GSM power and network
    - link to open SHR-dialer
 - icon to show if there are new messages
    - link to open SHR-messages
 - switch backlight keep mode when on power/recharging
    - the button changes the default for the current power mode
 - alarm
    + vibrate at alarm trigger
    - play sound at alarm trigger
    - acknowledge alarms with AUX button
       - then, vibrate and play sound for longer
    - popup that tells that an alarm is ringing
    - leave expired alarm on screen until acknowledged
      (alarm status icon that also brings to alarm menu)
    - remember alarm names (on request, maybe with an add feature) and how
      often they are triggered, and show them most frequent first
    - remember unexpired alarms persistently (again, a table in sqlite?) so
      that they can be reinstated if zavai is restarted
    - show active alarms and allow to delete them
 - unlock screen when receiving phone calls
 - GPX status icon (off, waiting for fix, recording)
 - GPX waypoint using AUX button
 - GPX + Audio track
 - track EPV (and similar) in gpx and kill trackpoints with bad accuracy
 - Audio note
    - shortcut icon in main screen
 - Toggle wireless
    - turn on/off chip
    - start/stop wicd
    - start/stop wicd-client
 - Simple wireless scanner (code from guessnet)
 - Suspend phone if not calling and gps is not on and backlight is not on
   (maybe with idle notifier?)
 - Phone from kapula (or just running kapula)
 - Split polygen applet in a separate app, ran via a .desktop file
   (faster zavai startup time, can then integrate a browser in the polygen
    applet, makes more sense altogether)
 - Is there a way to lock the screen completely turning off the touchscreen, so
   that interrupts are not even generated?
 - Timezone selector
    - Location aware (show timezones in order of distance from current
      location)
 - Show timezone in clock

 * To find out
 - Why sometimes the phone will stop acting normal and will completely ignore
   the screen for the purpose of screen dimming, that is, it will dim the
   screen even if I'm using the touchscreen?

 * Not quite needed yet:
 - GPX log with more features (quality, course, speed, ...)
 - Take a waypoint then show a menu with a timeout
    - Add a scribbled note
    - Add an audio note
    - Add a text note (tickling the text input method thing)
   If timeout expires, leave the waypoint with the automatic name
 - restart zavai
   (also on dbus fuckup)
   (can be done by just quitting and let the runner script restart it)
 - get fix events without requesting the GPX resource (and then? gpx log all the time? what for?)