[Announce] advanced-systemui (ASUI)
 

I needed a quick way to start and stop services and script icons lacked feedback, so I began work on an app that would launch fast and manage groups of services. Then I began adding features from the systemui menu, advanced-backlight and advanced-power, but made them easier to access without a stylus and consume less memory (2.8 vs 10-15 megs).

What it does and how to use it

Install program or download source code

Screenshots

Planned fixes and features

Many features and bug fixes were added to the test builds but never released to the repository. Run the following command as root to upgrade ASUI 0.6.0 to latest test build.
Fixes in the test build:

• fix: ASUI wouldn't open if a menu was open, it nows closes the menu and opens (fixes many issues)
• fix: charge animation no longer appears in widget editor
• fix: battery applet now opens ASUI on release instead of press to avoid focus problems
• fix: immediately commit most asui_state changes, doesn't fix issue with /apps/asui_state DBUS folder being deleted
• fix: audio lock button is no longer clickable when no profiles are present
• fix: don't set a devlock timeout for audio lock if device doesn't use one
• fix: swiping ASUI to unmap would sometimes not unmap and also not snap the window back to fullscreen
• fix: additional check to make sure ASUI window completely slides back onto screen
• fix: increased drag deviation from 20 to 50 pixels (prevent some taps from being seen as swipes)
• fix: horizontal and vertical swipes to blank and lock&blank devlock screen were triggering even when swipe didn't originate from the button bar
• fix: keep popup clock from opening when alarm activates
• fix: use correct alarmd ack value
• fix: respond to acting_dead_open and acting_dead_close
• fix: return minimal UI state when acting dead state is requested
• fix: alarms that go off in the charging runlevel will now cause the device to boot and sound the alarm instead of silently dismissing them
• fix: refactored focus grab/ungrab code
• fix: retry window_grab() twice with 250ms delay between each attempt
• fix: display notification when ASUI can't grab focus

New features in the test build:

• added 8 command buttons
• added 5 half widgets that hold buttons (2 buttons each)
• visual swiping circles turn green when swipe is long enough
• swiping down from devlock brightness control will now lower brightness
• drain rate in the bottom 40% of battery graph, each graph line represents 10.0%/hr
• added klogd and sysklogd to asui-settings service manager
• booting screen
• unused widgets and buttons can be hidden in the editor
• the red devlock brightness control now changes between green, yellow and red
• changed devlock timeout from 1000 to 1440 (minutes) when audio lock active
• added message to not trust wifi fix in asui-settings
• 'asui restart_mce' command

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Great work. It looks really useful.

I haven't tried it yet, but does it allow to sort processes by memory usage ?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Yes, processes are sorted by memory usage but running processes are sorted above all others.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

This gets a thanks simply for keeping maemo4 alive :D

Almost makes me start looking into python to do a alternative file manager (the currently available ones both have flaws imo).

Tried to install, seems libxpm4 is missing...

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

apt-get install libxpm4

Run that as root and then try installing it. I'll have to figure out why the dependancy isn't working. This was my first debian package. :)

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

tried, didnt work. apparently the package is not to be found.

apt-cache search libxpm gives libimlib2 as a response.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Something is wrong with the diablo maemo repository, its free directory is sitting inside sdk. The chinook maemo repository has libxpm4 and works but I copied the file to my repo so it will install without any additional changes.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Installed using Application Manager ("Click here to install"). Install went fine and program works well. Thank you for your good work.

However, 1) my version (5Oct2010) does not have on-screen or zoom button rotation control. 2) Could you furnish a user guide? I don't know how to get to the process list view. I don't know what the on-screen buttons across the top do.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Rotation support requires the community SSU, I added an install link on the download page.

The about page describes all the features and how to use them.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

The application detects rotation support and should only display the three rotation icons when present. I didn't uninstall the community SSU to make sure they didn't appear. Were those three icons visible without the community SSU installed?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Hey, new shiny stuff for my ole N810 ! Thanks much !

BTW, shouldn't your nickname be "auouλwous" ? :-)

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

I doubt forums would accept λ in usernames. :)

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

The brightness and volume sliders need some work, not the right sensitivity.

But the full-screen clock and other functionality seems to work :D

Great, thank you!

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

I already had the community SSU installed. No icons appeared.

Sorry, I missed the "about page" info on the process viewer.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

@linuxeventually - I'm not sure what you mean by that.

@SilverHound - Do the rotation buttons appear in the advanced-brightness app?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

No rotation buttons. Not sure what app is advanced-brightness.

Process list view works great.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

advanced-brightness should be available in the extra repository and adds a statusbar app to control brightness, volume and rotation.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Version 0.2.0 is up and the app now runs as a service accessed from the power button, which also hides it. The escape button will cause the service to restart and is needed because it currently has a small memory leak when rotating the screen.

Other changes include battery charging status, rotation with the volume buttons works in dialogs (clock, process viewer, ...) without closing them and the lock(long press) and lock&blank(short press) buttons have been merged into one button. The new lock button will always just lock without blanking or dimming when connected to the charger.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

installed it, and now i get neither it or the default menu when pressing the power button...

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Does (ps|grep advanced-systemui) show it running as root?

@tso and SilverHound

Can you both download and run http://qzx.com/asui/_download/advanced-systemui-test (as root) and tell me what the output says?

@tso - press the power button when you run it

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

and nothing happens wheen i press the power button

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

What does (dbus-monitor --system) show when run as root and the power button is pressed?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Works fine here ! Really slick !

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

btw, will this program allow for a long press of the power button to shut down or reboot the device? and what about navigating the ui without having the touch screen functioning? Happens to me at times right now, and without the option of using the dpad i have to remove the battery to force the issue.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Download that test file and try running it again, your power button uses a different signal. n800?

It doesn't touch the long press, so you can still shutdown with that. Short press just toggles the adv-sys window state.

Force what issue? Navigating UI with dpad is now on the todo list. Does the n800 have a hardware menu button? If so, what does the console show when you press it while adv-sys is visible?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

force the issue as in making it shut down by removing the battery.

And so far i have yet to get adv-sys to show up since the 0.2.0 release. Still, tested the long press just now and i see that i need to hold it down longer then i initially thought required.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

I only listen for the signal sent when short pressing the power button and there is nothing I'm doing that could possibly change the behavior of the long press.

1) Did you re-download the advanced-systemui-test binary and run it? It uses the signal you gave me and should work. The terminal will show "listening for both power buttons signals" if you have the latest test binary.

2) What line is displayed in the terminal when you press the hardware menu button?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

1) well i'll be, advsys showed.

2) while running advanced-systemui-test? advanced-systemui: key pressed (menu)

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

confirmed, power button works fine.

but i notice that the lock only dims the screen, any key or screen press is still passed on to and may result in unintended consequences.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

I saw the same until I rebooted.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

1) hardware lock or the software lock button in adv-sys?

2) if software lock, is the charger attached? Does it change if you attach or remove charger?

3) if software lock and not on charger, are you using a short or long press? Does short and long presses produce different results?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

Gambol was right about the reboot.

Still, it may be a bit toeasy to unlock on the n800 as its just a press of the power button. Systemui used a combo of power and center dpad.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

But pressing power button to unlock is a feature!! Serious! :)

I'll add a setting to use current method or require power button + unlock button to unlock when the config dialog is added.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

hehe, the multi-button combo helps avoid accidental unlocks when the device is in a pocket or similar.

btw i see that the backlight controller jumps between levels of 20, much like the default backlight applet. Is there a plan to make it more like the advanced backlight applet, and allow any selection between 1 and 127? And perhaps include some - and + buttons at the ends of the sliders?

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

There is no way the n810 power button could accidently be pressed, is the n800's button different?

And yes, more backlight levels are on the todo list.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

On the N800 the power button sits right next to the zoom and full-screen buttons. It is recessed into the frame, but still quite possible to hit.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

is there a reason why i see the message "touch screen and keys active" each time the turns on after idling?

iirc, that message used to only show when i actually unlocked the n800.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

I get that too on my N810, didn't happen before.

Re: [Announce] advanced-systemui
 

The active and lock notifications are only sent when MCE sends the tklock_mode_ind signal and that only happens on my n810 when the hardware lock button is pressed. The lock signal is also sent by MCE when you long press the on-screen lock button. It isn't however sent when the power button unlocks the screen but I'm working on manually displaying the unlock notification.

This mimics the behavior of systemui on my tablet and I will need more detailed information from both of you if it is doing something different.