I you are Norwegian and just want this to work straight away, you can do the following on your device:

ssh root@localhost
wget http://dragly.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/rm-680
cp /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/rm-680 /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/rm-680-backup
cp rm-680 /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/
setxkbmap -model nokiarm680 -layout us

And that should do the trick. The keys are mapped as follows:

FN + .             æ
FN + ,             ø
FN + *             å
FN + SHIFT + .     Æ
FN + SHIFT + ,     Ø
FN + SHIFT + *     Å

If you’re speaking a different language and just want to edit the keymap manually, you can open up the rm-680 keymap file

nano /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/rm-680

and find the US section close to the top:

// setxkbmap -model nokiarm680 -layout us
partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "us" {
    include "nokia_vndr/rm-680(english-base)"

    name[Group1] = "English US";
}

Then add the following for Norwegian characters:

// setxkbmap -model nokiarm680 -layout us
partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "us" {
    include "nokia_vndr/rm-680(english-base)"

    name[Group1] = "English US";

    // dragly keys
    key <AB08>	{ [	comma,		semicolon,	oslash,	Oslash	] };
    key <AB09>	{ [	period,		colon,		ae,		AE		] };
    key <AC11>	{ [	apostrophe,	asterisk,	aring,	Aring	] };
};

Now, this still affects the comma, period and asterix, but you can change them to whatever you like. If you have a look through the rm-680 file, you might also find other mappings that you would like to change. Do as you like, and when you’re done, just save the file by pressing CTRL+x, Y and ENTER. Afterwards, just refresh the keymap by issuing the command

setxkbmap -model nokiarm680 -layout us

You can of course create a new keymap instead of editing the US one, but that would require you to run setxkbmap every time you reboot to load the keymap again.

Good luck!

First of all, you’ll need to enable dbus in your project (.pro) file:

maemo5 {
    CONFIG += qdbus
}

Next up, in your .h file you should add the following to import the DBus headers:

#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
#include <QtDBus/QtDBus>
#endif

And you’ll need to add a slot for the screen state change:

class GameView : public QGraphicsView
{
    Q_OBJECT
public:
    explicit GameView();

public slots:
#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
    void screenChange(const QDBusMessage &message);
#endif

...

}

Then, in your .cpp file you’ll need to load the Maemo DBus definitions and create a connection. Do this outside any function to have it statically available.

#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
#include <mce/dbus-names.h>
#include <mce/mode-names.h>

static QDBusConnection dBusConnection = QDBusConnection::systemBus();
#endif

Next up, in the constructor of your class, we’ll set up the necessary DBus connection and interface:

GameView::GameView()
{
#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
    dBusInterface = new QDBusInterface(MCE_SERVICE, MCE_REQUEST_PATH,
                                       MCE_REQUEST_IF, dBusConnection, this);

    dBusConnection.connect(MCE_SERVICE, MCE_SIGNAL_PATH, MCE_SIGNAL_IF,
                           MCE_DISPLAY_SIG, this, SLOT(screenChange(const QDBusMessage &)));
#endif
}

And finally, we’ll need to fill the function screenChange with something useful. The example below is from my Nanoparticles game and simply pauses the game whenever the screen is locked.

#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
void GameView::screenChange(const QDBusMessage &message)
{
    QString state = message.arguments().at(0).toString();
    if (!state.isEmpty()) {
        if (state == MCE_DISPLAY_OFF_STRING)
            gameScene.pauseGame();
    }
}
#endif

If you need to check the screen state during startup, have a look at the extra functions that Diph mentions.

Minimizing the application

First of all, to minimize your application you’ll need to add the following CONFIG line to your project file (the .pro file):

maemo5 {
    CONFIG += qdbus
}

Then, in your .cpp or .h file, you’ll need to include the QtDBus headers:

#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
#include <QtDBus/QtDBus>
#endif

You may of course skip the #ifdef statements if you’d like DBus for other systems as well, but here I’d like to make this exception only for Maemo. Now, anywhere in your application you may add the following lines to minimize to Maemo’s dashboard:

QDBusConnection connection = QDBusConnection::sessionBus();
QDBusMessage message = QDBusMessage::createSignal("/","com.nokia.hildon_desktop","exit_app_view");
connection.send(message);

This could for example be placed inside a signal that is emitted when the users pushes a dashboard button.

Detecting minimization

If you’d like to detect if the user pressed CTRL + Backspace or any other button to minimize the application, you may do so by adding a changeEvent function to your top-most window. Inside you check the event->type() against QEvent::ActivationChange and test the isActiveWindow() at the same time. Here is an example from the Nanoparticles game:

void GameView::changeEvent(QEvent *event) {
#ifdef Q_WS_MAEMO_5
    if(event->type()==QEvent::ActivationChange) {
        if(!isActiveWindow()) {
            gameScene.pauseGame();
        }
    }
#endif
}

Whenever the game is minimized now, the game is automatically paused to avoid background rendering. The game uses OpenGL to render everything, so this saves the battery drastically.

Enjoy your minimized applications!

There has been missing a native application to access information from Trafikanten on the Nokia N900. Instead it has been necessary to use the mobile version of their websites or maybe even the full version. Even though this is a pretty quick and workable solution, there are several benefits of having a native application available. One that becomes very obvious is the use of GPS to find all nearest bus stops or train stations.

I decided to give it a try in June this year and started by releasing some early versions of what is now named “Journey Planner for Norway” (which is “Reiseplanlegger” in Norwegian). During the summer of 2010 I have been trying to improve the application over several iterations, and feel that it has now come to a point where it is usable and stable enough to get the infamous “Version 1.0″ attached to it.

The application is now finding its way through to the Extras-devel catalogue for Maemo and will be pushed upwards through Extras-testing before it hopefully hits Extras within two or three weeks. In the meantime you might either be a bit careless and enable Extras-devel to use the bleeding edge 1.0 version or head over to Maemo Downloads to fetch the beta which will be automatically updated to 1.0 whenever it is ready.

Below you can check out some more screenshots of the application in action:

The application is developed in C++ using Qt with the Qt Mobility libraries. It should not be too hard to port it to Symbian as well, so I will give that a shot in the future. Symbian users does however already have an option to use the Java application “Trafikanten Sanntid” made by Håvard Tegelsrud.

And of course, you can check out the source code here. The application is licensed with the GNU GPLv3 license.

Luckily the Qt developers over at Nokia are aware of this and have released a fix in the latest builds of Qt Creator. To acquire these, go to Qt’s snapshot homepage or just download the 32-bit or 64-bit versions for Linux directly from the build made on 12th of July.

Now you may select to skip the packaging by editing the build steps in Qt Creator.

Be aware that the snapshot versions are in development and may have bugs causing irrevocable data loss. That’s the risk you’ve got to take these days to avoid those bloated packages.

ifconfig usb0 192.168.2.14 up

If you, like me, get tired of doing this you may instead let Network Manager in Gnome do the work for you. First of all, connect your N900 via an available USB port. Next, right click the Network Manager icon and hit “Edit Connections…”.

This window will pop up. Press the “Add” button.

Type in a useful name, such as “N900 via usb”, and leave everything under “Wired” as is. Select the “IPv4 Settings” tab.

Set the Method to “Manual” and click “Add”.

Type in 192.168.2.14 as the address and 255.255.255.0 as the netmask. Leave the gateway blank.

Hit “Apply” and you are good to go!

Next, just click the Network Manager icon and select “N900 via usb”. If nothing went wrong, you should now be connected to your device, enabling you to use Qt Creator to its full extent. The next time you plug in your N900, Network Manager will do the work for you automatically.

Update: Note that if you already have a wired connection, Network Manager might try to connect to this so-called “Auto Ethernet” connection when you plug in. If this happens, just click the network manager icon and select the correct connection.

This might also happen the other way around, connecting to your USB connection with your Ethernet card, which of course won’t work. To avoid this completely, you might want to disable auto-connection for you N900 USB.