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In this edition...

  1. Front Page
    • Make sure you're properly signed up for the MeeGo Conference
    • "No product announcements" at MeeGo Conference
  2. Applications
    • preenv lets Palm Pre games run on Maemo
  3. Development
    • Using Qt Creator with Scratchbox
    • New draft of MeeGo Compliance Specification - still no third party dependencies
  4. Maemo in the Wild
    • Stephen Elop, Nokia's new CEO, talks Qt & MeeGo

Front Page

Applications »

Make sure you're properly signed up for the MeeGo Conference

It seems there's been confusion about registering for meego.com vs. registering for the MeeGo Conference. Michael Shaver, one of the maintainers of the meego.com infrastructure, explains: Many people believe they have signed up, but we have found that they have only registered for an account and have NOT signed up for the conference. The email clearly lays out what you have to do to check. If you want to attend the free conference in November, please check your status by following its instructions. As attendence slots are limited, be sure to check soon.

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"No product announcements" at MeeGo Conference

Sanjeev Visvanatha has revealed that as part of his press pack for the conference next month contains the disappointing - but not altogether surprising - announcement that no product announcements will be made there: The Media Advisory I received from the Linux Founadtion along with my invitation to Meego Conference next month says that there are no product announcements, just a developer and community conference. With Stephen Elop referring to Nokia's MeeGo device as "a 2011 event", hopes for an N900 replacement before Christmas have been largely dashed.

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Applications

Development »« Front Page

preenv lets Palm Pre games run on Maemo

Javier S. Pedro, developer and former Community Council member, has released a prototype package which allows playing of native Palm Pre games on Maemo. A "native" Pre game is written using OpenGL ES; rather than the JavaScript and HTML of typical WebOS applications. Screenshots show The Sims and Need for Speed running; although you'll need a Pre to get hold of these commercial games.

preenv is currently in Extras-devel (and at a very early stage of development) and is licensed under the LGPL. It works by providing an environment with stubs for Pre functions not supported on Maemo, passing through accelerometer and sound control to the underlying OS. As the underlying hardware of the Pre and the N900 is so similar, performance of the games looks reasonable.

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Development

Maemo in the Wild »« Applications

Using Qt Creator with Scratchbox

Kate Alhola, in a Forum Nokia blog post, describes how to use the Qt Creator IDE (part of the Nokia Qt SDK, and the strategic way to develop MeeGo, Maemo and Symbian applications) with Scratchbox, the Linux based Maemo environment which allows much lower level development and integration: It may be one of most requested feature among advanced Maemo/MeeGo developers. Currently QtCreator from Nokia SDK does not support Scratchbox toolchain. Most of current experienced Maemo developers prefer scratchbox because it allows also development of complex applications that are using in Linux build tools and it allows running application under simulated ARM or x86 environment with full Maemo library and style support.

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New draft of MeeGo Compliance Specification - still no third party dependencies

Mats Wichmann has unveiled the latest draft of the MeeGo Compliance Specification for comment. As the specification is due to be finalised with the MeeGo 1.1 release (which happens next week), there is very little time to read, mark, learn and comment on the draft. In posting the RFC, he addressed the issue of third-party dependencies: Note: last time, the issue of dependencies, or not, generated a lot of heat. This version states pretty clearly that dependencies outside the required minimum install are not allowed. That's simply the current direction, I can't predict if a future direction will expand the scope. The decision about non-core dependencies seems pretty fixed, with the suggestion of a working group (after MeeGo 1.1 has been released) to investigate how to solve the issues. The most discussion is revolving around how floating point instructions are handled on ARM - a decision which will have an impact on future backwards compatibility.

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Maemo in the Wild

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Stephen Elop, Nokia's new CEO, talks Qt & MeeGo

Nokia's "Conversations" blog has posted parts of Stephen Elop's Q&A session after the third quarter results teleconference (the results were up). He touches on various topics, with his statements on Qt and MeeGo of most interest: I would characterize Nokia as a landscape of unpolished gems. Whether it is the degree of intimacy we have established with millions of consumers around the world, our naturally aligned worldview with operators, ground-breaking technological capabilities in everything from optics to nanotechnology to haptics, our strengths in emerging markets, or our assets in location-based services, there is an embarrassment of riches within Nokia. Of particular note is his comment that, having seen the MeeGo device, it "inspires confidence and excitement", but it is also "clear" that "it will be a 2011 event". The generous have read that as saying it will shape 2011 (whenever it is released); yet in your editor's opinion, the use of "however" pretty much puts an end to Nokia's message of a second-half 2010 release of the MeeGo device. There are even rumours that the delay means Nokia will skip Harmattan (the MeeGo-branded version of deb-based Maemo) in favour of MeeGo "proper" (that is, running with RPM packages and the MeeGo Core). Your editor is less convinced by this.

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