Mailing List Archive: Maemo: Users

Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

newbury at mandamus

Nov 12, 2009, 10:58 AM

Post #1 of 10 (1668 views)
Permalink

Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation

Well I finally got the Maemo SDK Virtual Image installed. A very
frustrating experience, having been mislead repeatedly by the
documentation and the install script. More by errors of omission.
Everything actually DID work, and I now have Ubuntu installed in a
virtualbox, but man it was FRUSTRATING.

<semi-rant begins>
I downloaded
Maemo_PreFinal_2_Ubuntu_Intrepid_Desktop_SDK_Virtual_Image_Splitted.zip.001
and ...002. (And then I then had to find, build and install 7zip.....)

I ran 7za x Maemo.....001 and it ran. I tried to do the same for ...002
and got a 'Not an archive' error. I had no idea if 7za dealt with both
files serially, or if the file was corrupt.

A little explanation in the documentation would be helpful. How about
telling us what the proper result will be?

"7Za will serially extract the split numbered zip files, and report:
'Everything is Ok

Files: 5
Size: 8453907228
Compressed: 1572864000'"

Then we run the installer script, which is a fun guessing game. It asks
for information without the slightest hint as to the expected response
and uses misleading names for the information. HOW ABOUT A HINT?
"Location of VirtualBox binaries (normally /usr/bin)?"

Then it asks for "The name of your VirtualBox Image." Off the bat, I
thought that was the name of the image file. But what is wanted is not
actually the name of the file, but a name under which your virtual
instance will appear in the Manager. It has nothing to do with the name
of the vdmk file. A short alias is what is wanted. Of course, I inserted
the name of the file: maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk. Since I had
already manually created a virtual instance, I now had 3 instances
(including the pre-existing WinXP), one of which had an unreadable name,
due to its length.
How about:

"Please provide a (short) name for this virtual instance. This name will
appear in the list of virtual instances in the VirtualBox Manager
(Maemosdk-2)"

Finally, it asks for the "location" of the VirtualBox image. But what it
wants is not actually the location of the image. Generally a 'location'
for a file is the folder 'where' it is. The script actually wants the
'what' of the file: the fully qualified pathname of the image file. That
is: /tmp/downloads/maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk or whatever.

So how about:
"Please provide the full pathname of the vmdk file
(/tmp/downloads/maemo-xxx.vmdk)"

Of course, what is NOT discussed, is that this script will create the
virtual hard-drive instance *out of the vmdk* and exactly where the vmdk
presently resides. Yes, of course I wanted to create a virtual in my
/tmp/downloads folder. Although a different place would be better.....

I had to parse the script, and read 'VBoxManage --help' to understand
what the script was trying to do. Once I got past being misdirected, I
was able to install. Only took me about 2 hours, not including download
time..

</semi-rant>

Now that I do have it installed, I must congratulate those who put this
together. Despite my frustrations at the installer, it probably took
less time than I expended each time, when I tried to install scratchbox
versions 1 or 2. I strongly suspect that the script was run up in short
order by someone who knew *exactly* what he wanted, and therefor could
not see the forest for the trees.

Geoff

--
Please let me know if anything I say offends you.
I may wish to offend you again in the future.

Tux says: "Be regular. Eat cron flakes."
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

joe at DonAssad

Nov 12, 2009, 11:12 AM

Post #2 of 10 (1606 views)
Permalink

Re: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 01:58:43PM -0500, R. G. Newbury wrote:
> Well I finally got the Maemo SDK Virtual Image installed. A very
> frustrating experience, having been mislead repeatedly by the
> documentation and the install script. More by errors of omission.
> Everything actually DID work, and I now have Ubuntu installed in a
> virtualbox, but man it was FRUSTRATING.
>
>
> <semi-rant begins>

<snip begins>

> </semi-rant>

<snip some more, snip snip>

A nice gentleman has created a VPC image:

http://maemo.org/downloads/product/PC/vpc-sdk/

And converting a VPC image to a vbox image isn't complicated. I think it was these instructions I followed:

http://www.sevenforge.com/2009/02/04/virtual-pc/

Or if the finger you use to click links is injured:

$ qemu-img convert -O raw start.vhd intermediate.bin
$ vboxmanage convertdd intermediate.bin final.vdi
$ vboxmanage modifyvdi final.vdi compact

--
import sig
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

Jarmo.Tikka at nokia

Nov 12, 2009, 10:55 PM

Post #3 of 10 (1588 views)
Permalink

RE: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

Hi,

And thanks a lot about Maemo SDK Virtual Image feedback. I added also another mailing list into this response (people constructing our images read more that list).

Some comments below.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: maemo-users-bounces [at] maemo
>[mailto:maemo-users-bounces [at] maemo] On Behalf Of ext R. G. Newbury
>Sent: 12 November, 2009 20:59
>To: Maemo Users
>Subject: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation
>
>Well I finally got the Maemo SDK Virtual Image installed. A
>very frustrating experience, having been mislead repeatedly by
>the documentation and the install script. More by errors of omission.
>Everything actually DID work, and I now have Ubuntu installed
>in a virtualbox, but man it was FRUSTRATING.

Great that you actually explained below why you were frustrated :) so that we can comment and even fix issues.

>
>
><semi-rant begins>
>I downloaded
>Maemo_PreFinal_2_Ubuntu_Intrepid_Desktop_SDK_Virtual_Image_Spli
tted.zip.001
>and ...002. (And then I then had to find, build and install 7zip.....)
>
>I ran 7za x Maemo.....001 and it ran. I tried to do the same
>for ...002 and got a 'Not an archive' error. I had no idea if
>7za dealt with both files serially, or if the file was corrupt.
>
>A little explanation in the documentation would be helpful.
>How about telling us what the proper result will be?
>
>"7Za will serially extract the split numbered zip files, and report:
>'Everything is Ok
>
>Files: 5
>Size: 8453907228
>Compressed: 1572864000'"

We have a problem that most standard compression tools have restriction about 2GB max file size. Compression tools I know which are commonly available and cabable of handling > 2GB archives are 7-Zip and WinZip. Because 7-Zip is free and available also for Linux we decided to use it for compression. 7-Zip is cabable of creating compatible zip format with other tools (like WinZip) but splitted archives are not compatible.

Why we then use splited archives :). Well our download page for image distribution archive files has been implemented with PHP and PHP seems to have that same max file size limit. Actually PHP limit sems to be for some odd reason smaller than 2 GB.

>
>Then we run the installer script, which is a fun guessing
>game. It asks for information without the slightest hint as to
>the expected response and uses misleading names for the
>information. HOW ABOUT A HINT?
>"Location of VirtualBox binaries (normally /usr/bin)?"
>
>Then it asks for "The name of your VirtualBox Image." Off the
>bat, I thought that was the name of the image file. But what
>is wanted is not actually the name of the file, but a name
>under which your virtual instance will appear in the Manager.
>It has nothing to do with the name of the vdmk file. A short
>alias is what is wanted. Of course, I inserted the name of the
>file: maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk. Since I had
>already manually created a virtual instance, I now had 3
>instances (including the pre-existing WinXP), one of which had
>an unreadable name, due to its length.
>How about:
>
>"Please provide a (short) name for this virtual instance. This
>name will appear in the list of virtual instances in the
>VirtualBox Manager (Maemosdk-2)"
>
>Finally, it asks for the "location" of the VirtualBox image.
>But what it wants is not actually the location of the image.
>Generally a 'location'
>for a file is the folder 'where' it is. The script actually
>wants the 'what' of the file: the fully qualified pathname of
>the image file. That
>is: /tmp/downloads/maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk or whatever.
>
>So how about:
>"Please provide the full pathname of the vmdk file
>(/tmp/downloads/maemo-xxx.vmdk)"
>
>Of course, what is NOT discussed, is that this script will
>create the virtual hard-drive instance *out of the vmdk* and
>exactly where the vmdk presently resides. Yes, of course I
>wanted to create a virtual in my /tmp/downloads folder.
>Although a different place would be better.....
>
>I had to parse the script, and read 'VBoxManage --help' to
>understand what the script was trying to do. Once I got past
>being misdirected, I was able to install. Only took me about 2
>hours, not including download time..
>
></semi-rant>

These are just usability problems with our instalaltion script. I think we can fix all these issues for our final image.

Raul can you confirm that we really can fix these?

>
>Now that I do have it installed, I must congratulate those who
>put this together. Despite my frustrations at the installer,
>it probably took less time than I expended each time, when I
>tried to install scratchbox versions 1 or 2. I strongly
>suspect that the script was run up in short order by someone
>who knew *exactly* what he wanted, and therefor could not see
>the forest for the trees.

We have not had so much time for usability and instalaltion issues as we have concentrated on functionality.

For the final version we can check what can be done to even more simplify installation process.

Thanks a lot about comments.

Cheers,
//Jarmo

>
>Geoff
>
>
>
>
>
>
>--
> Please let me know if anything I say offends you.
> I may wish to offend you again in the future.
>
> Tux says: "Be regular. Eat cron flakes."
>_______________________________________________
>maemo-users mailing list
>maemo-users [at] maemo
>https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users
>
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

marius.vollmer at nokia

Nov 13, 2009, 4:45 AM

Post #4 of 10 (1580 views)
Permalink

Re: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

"Tikka Jarmo (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia> writes:

>> Files: 5
>> Size: 8453907228
>> Compressed: 1572864000'"
>
> We have a problem that most standard compression tools have
> restriction about 2GB max file size.

Time to post an old favorite of mine again:

http://braid-game.com/news/?p=455

The first rant is about the Visual Studio 2010 community technology
preview. Very funny and even kinda relevant. :-)
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

newbury at mandamus

Nov 13, 2009, 3:16 PM

Post #5 of 10 (1570 views)
Permalink

Re: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

Jarmo,
Thanks for the constructive reply.
My further comments in-line, with lots of extraneous stuff deleted.

Geoff

Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia wrote:
> Hi,
>
> And thanks a lot about Maemo SDK Virtual Image feedback. I added also another mailing list into this response (people constructing our images read more that list).
>
> Some comments below.
>
>
>> in a virtualbox, but man it was FRUSTRATING.
>
> Great that you actually explained below why you were frustrated :) so that we can comment and even fix issues.
>

That was the exact point. It DID work, but I spent a couple of hours
trying various combinations of stuff, including creating virtuals in
VirtualBox because what I was trying did not work (This, despite the
fact that the documentation strongly implied that I did not have to do
that. It was correct, but I was doing the wrong things.

>>
>> <semi-rant begins>
>> I downloaded
>> Maemo_PreFinal_2_Ubuntu_Intrepid_Desktop_SDK_Virtual_Image_Spli
> tted.zip.001
>> and ...002. (And then I then had to find, build and install 7zip.....)
>>
>> I ran 7za x Maemo.....001 and it ran. I tried to do the same
>> for ...002 and got a 'Not an archive' error. I had no idea if
>> 7za dealt with both files serially, or if the file was corrupt.
>>
>> A little explanation in the documentation would be helpful.
>> How about telling us what the proper result will be?
>>
>> "7Za will serially extract the split numbered zip files, and report:
>> 'Everything is Ok
>>
>> Files: 5
>> Size: 8453907228
>> Compressed: 1572864000'"
>
> We have a problem that most standard compression tools have restriction about 2GB max file size. Compression tools I know which are commonly available and cabable of handling > 2GB archives are 7-Zip and WinZip. Because 7-Zip is free and available also for Linux we decided to use it for compression. 7-Zip is cabable of creating compatible zip format with other tools (like WinZip) but splitted archives are not compatible.
>
> Why we then use splited archives :). Well our download page for image distribution archive files has been implemented with PHP and PHP seems to have that same max file size limit. Actually PHP limit sems to be for some odd reason smaller than 2 GB.

I thought that that might be the reason for splitting the files. I
didn't particularly mind finding and installing 7zip. What bothered me
was that I had no idea of what the process was, or what the result
*should* be. And you already know that, so you could have told me!

>> Then we run the installer script, which is a fun guessing
>> game. It asks for information without the slightest hint as to
>> the expected response and uses misleading names for the
>> information. HOW ABOUT A HINT?
>> "Location of VirtualBox binaries (normally /usr/bin)?"
>>
>> Then it asks for "The name of your VirtualBox Image." Off the
>> bat, I thought that was the name of the image file. But what
>> is wanted is not actually the name of the file, but a name
>> under which your virtual instance will appear in the Manager.
>> It has nothing to do with the name of the vdmk file. A short
>> alias is what is wanted. Of course, I inserted the name of the
>> file: maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk. Since I had
>> already manually created a virtual instance, I now had 3
>> instances (including the pre-existing WinXP), one of which had
>> an unreadable name, due to its length.
>> How about:
>>
>> "Please provide a (short) name for this virtual instance. This
>> name will appear in the list of virtual instances in the
>> VirtualBox Manager (Maemosdk-2)"
>>
>> Finally, it asks for the "location" of the VirtualBox image.
>> But what it wants is not actually the location of the image.
>> Generally a 'location'
>> for a file is the folder 'where' it is. The script actually
>> wants the 'what' of the file: the fully qualified pathname of
>> the image file. That
>> is: /tmp/downloads/maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk or whatever.
>>
>> So how about:
>> "Please provide the full pathname of the vmdk file
>> (/tmp/downloads/maemo-xxx.vmdk)"
>>
>> Of course, what is NOT discussed, is that this script will
>> create the virtual hard-drive instance *out of the vmdk* and
>> exactly where the vmdk presently resides. Yes, of course I
>> wanted to create a virtual in my /tmp/downloads folder.
>> Although a different place would be better.....
>>
>> I had to parse the script, and read 'VBoxManage --help' to
>> understand what the script was trying to do. Once I got past
>> being misdirected, I was able to install. Only took me about 2
>> hours, not including download time..
>>
>> </semi-rant>
>
> These are just usability problems with our instalaltion script. I think we can fix all these issues for our final image.
>
> Raul can you confirm that we really can fix these?
>

> We have not had so much time for usability and instalaltion issues as we have concentrated on functionality.
>
> For the final version we can check what can be done to even more simplify installation process.
>
> Thanks a lot about comments.

Fixing this is easy. I will revise the script, including adding a stanza
to allow installation in another spot and e-mail you.

I'm glad to know that someone is listening, and I am glad to help where
I can. I had a hard time installing scratchbox-1 and a I cannot being to
figure out how you were able to encapsulate an entire ubuntu install
with scratchbox etc into one installable virtual image. That's about 5
or 6 magic spells in a row!

Geoff

--
Please let me know if anything I say offends you.
I may wish to offend you again in the future.

Tux says: "Be regular. Eat cron flakes."
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

Jarmo.Tikka at nokia

Nov 15, 2009, 10:53 PM

Post #6 of 10 (1531 views)
Permalink

Re: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

Hi,

[jot] Just some more comments below...

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:16:33 -0500
From: "R. G. Newbury" <newbury [at] mandamus>
Subject: Re: Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation
To: Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia
Cc: pc-connectivity-devel [at] garage, tero.a.salminen [at] nokia,
maemo-users [at] maemo
Message-ID: <4AFDE8D1.9060103 [at] mandamus>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia wrote:
> Hi,
>
> And thanks a lot about Maemo SDK Virtual Image feedback. I added also another mailing list into this response (people constructing our images read more that list).
>
> Some comments below.
>
>
>> in a virtualbox, but man it was FRUSTRATING.
>
> Great that you actually explained below why you were frustrated :) so that we can comment and even fix issues.
>

That was the exact point. It DID work, but I spent a couple of hours
trying various combinations of stuff, including creating virtuals in
VirtualBox because what I was trying did not work (This, despite the
fact that the documentation strongly implied that I did not have to do
that. It was correct, but I was doing the wrong things.

[jot] One additional challenge in our Virtual Image installation is that we support VirtualBox, VMWare and QEmu with the same image file.

[jot] We have to use VMWare as the priority #1 environment because licensing issues VirtualBox has. The open source version of VirtualBox is not enough for our image and closed one has only this experimental license if you do not want to pay from it. And QEmu is much slower than either VMWare or VirtualBox.But the point taken we should anyhow improve our VirtualBox installation support.

> We have a problem that most standard compression tools have restriction about 2GB max file size. Compression tools I know which are commonly available and cabable of handling > 2GB archives are 7-Zip and WinZip. Because 7-Zip is free and available also for Linux we decided to use it for compression. 7-Zip is cabable of creating compatible zip format with other tools (like WinZip) but splitted archives are not compatible.
>
> Why we then use splited archives :). Well our download page for image distribution archive files has been implemented with PHP and PHP seems to have that same max file size limit. Actually PHP limit sems to be for some odd reason smaller than 2 GB.

I thought that that might be the reason for splitting the files. I
didn't particularly mind finding and installing 7zip. What bothered me
was that I had no idea of what the process was, or what the result
*should* be. And you already know that, so you could have told me!

[jot] We can improve these installation instructions for our final Virtual Image version.

> We have not had so much time for usability and installation issues as we have concentrated on functionality.
>
> For the final version we can check what can be done to even more simplify installation process.
>
> Thanks a lot about comments.

Fixing this is easy. I will revise the script, including adding a stanza
to allow installation in another spot and e-mail you.

[jot] Thanks a lot. Please send any comment also to the eclipse-integration [at] maemo list. Unfortunately I do not nowadays enough time to actively read all maemo lists.

I'm glad to know that someone is listening, and I am glad to help where
I can. I had a hard time installing scratchbox-1 and a I cannot being to
figure out how you were able to encapsulate an entire ubuntu install
with scratchbox etc into one installable virtual image. That's about 5
or 6 magic spells in a row!

[jot] We know the installation of maemo development environment in general is unnecessary complicated process. This is why we implemented installation Wizards to the Eclipse IDE for those who do not want to do all installation manually. With Eclipse it is enough to install Maemo Eclipse IDE environment (Eclipse and ESbox plugin) and Maemo PC Connectivity. After that Eclipse IDE has installation wizards to install rest of the environment like Maemo SDK (with Ubuntu Server Virtual Image for Windows and Mac :), C++, Python, Qt4, Flasher-3.5, ... And of course our wizards install development environment also to the connected Maemo device in addition to the SDK :).

Cheers,
//Jarmo

_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

Jarmo.Tikka at nokia

Jan 4, 2010, 11:34 PM

Post #7 of 10 (982 views)
Permalink

RE: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

Hi,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pc-connectivity-devel-bounces [at] garage [mailto:pc-
> connectivity-devel-bounces [at] garage] On Behalf Of Vollmer
> Marius (Nokia-D/Helsinki)
> Subject: Re: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image
> Install Documentation
>
> "Tikka Jarmo (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia> writes:
>
> >> Files: 5
> >> Size: 8453907228
> >> Compressed: 1572864000'"
> >
> > We have a problem that most standard compression tools have
> > restriction about 2GB max file size.
>
> Time to post an old favorite of mine again:
>
> http://braid-game.com/news/?p=455
>
> The first rant is about the Visual Studio 2010 community technology
> preview. Very funny and even kinda relevant. :-)

[jot] I still do not understand any better why you wanted to send this same link and comment (again :) as reply to my email. Especially when you say in your comment that your reply is not relevant?

//Jarmo

> _______________________________________________
> Pc-connectivity-devel mailing list
> Pc-connectivity-devel [at] garage
> https://garage.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/pc-connectivity-devel
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

marius.vollmer at nokia

Jan 4, 2010, 11:51 PM

Post #8 of 10 (982 views)
Permalink

Re: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

"Tikka Jarmo (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia> writes:

>> > We have a problem that most standard compression tools have
>> > restriction about 2GB max file size.
>>
>> Time to post an old favorite of mine again:
>>
>> http://braid-game.com/news/?p=455
>>
>> The first rant is about the Visual Studio 2010 community technology
>> preview. Very funny and even kinda relevant. :-)
>
> [jot] I still do not understand any better why you wanted to send this
> same link and comment (again :) as reply to my email.

I have posted it again because I like the rant a lot and want to share
it as much as possible. I did this as a reply to your email because you
are producing the same kind of (IMO) monstrosity that they make fun of
in the podcast: shipping a development environment as a humongous
virtual machine image.

I know that our virtual machine image is just one of the alternatives,
and not the main way to install and run our development environment, but
still, I found the similarity between it and what Microsoft has done to
be striking.

> Especially when you say in your comment that your reply is not
> relevant?

Hmm, which comment? I said here that it is "even kinda relevant".
"kinda" is short for "kind of" and roughly means here "it is not
entirely irrelevant".

Hth.
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

Jarmo.Tikka at nokia

Jan 4, 2010, 11:59 PM

Post #9 of 10 (980 views)
Permalink

RE: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

Hi,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pc-connectivity-devel-bounces [at] garage [mailto:pc-
> connectivity-devel-bounces [at] garage] On Behalf Of ext R. G.
> Newbury
> Subject: Re: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image
> Install Documentation
>
> Jarmo,
> Thanks for the constructive reply.
> My further comments in-line, with lots of extraneous stuff deleted.
>
> Geoff
>
> Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > And thanks a lot about Maemo SDK Virtual Image feedback. I added also
> another mailing list into this response (people constructing our images
> read more that list).
> >
> >> in a virtualbox, but man it was FRUSTRATING.
> >
> > Great that you actually explained below why you were frustrated :) so
> that we can comment and even fix issues.
> >
>
> That was the exact point. It DID work, but I spent a couple of hours
> trying various combinations of stuff, including creating virtuals in
> VirtualBox because what I was trying did not work (This, despite the
> fact that the documentation strongly implied that I did not have to do
> that. It was correct, but I was doing the wrong things.

[jot] We are working on right now to get final Desktop SDK Virtual Image done. Target is that Ubuntu Desktop based image is out-of-the-box ready image for Maemo Fremantle and Diablo development but unfortunately user still must install it and somewhat also configure network for it. Simply because it is impossible to support all possible combinations for Windows/Mac/Linux/... operating system, VMWare/VitualBox/QEMU virtualization technologies and possible network configurations (like network proxy or not) users have foer their environments.

[jot] For the final image we plan to have short installation and configuration guide to handle most common issues how to get started with Desktop image.

>
>
> >>
> >> <semi-rant begins>
> >> I downloaded
> >> Maemo_PreFinal_2_Ubuntu_Intrepid_Desktop_SDK_Virtual_Image_Spli
> > tted.zip.001
> >> and ...002. (And then I then had to find, build and install
> 7zip.....)
> >>
> >> I ran 7za x Maemo.....001 and it ran. I tried to do the same
> >> for ...002 and got a 'Not an archive' error. I had no idea if
> >> 7za dealt with both files serially, or if the file was corrupt.
> >>
> >> A little explanation in the documentation would be helpful.
> >> How about telling us what the proper result will be?
> >>
> >> "7Za will serially extract the split numbered zip files, and report:
> >> 'Everything is Ok
> >>
> >> Files: 5
> >> Size: 8453907228
> >> Compressed: 1572864000'"
> >
> > We have a problem that most standard compression tools have
> restriction about 2GB max file size. Compression tools I know which are
> commonly available and cabable of handling > 2GB archives are 7-Zip and
> WinZip. Because 7-Zip is free and available also for Linux we decided
> to use it for compression. 7-Zip is cabable of creating compatible zip
> format with other tools (like WinZip) but splitted archives are not
> compatible.
> >
> > Why we then use splited archives :). Well our download page for image
> distribution archive files has been implemented with PHP and PHP seems
> to have that same max file size limit. Actually PHP limit sems to be
> for some odd reason smaller than 2 GB.
>
> I thought that that might be the reason for splitting the files. I
> didn't particularly mind finding and installing 7zip. What bothered me
> was that I had no idea of what the process was, or what the result
> *should* be. And you already know that, so you could have told me!

[jot] There are very simple instructions in Desktop image readme file available as separate file from our download page (e.g. readable BEFORE decompressing archieve :) but I agree we need to do this better for final image.

http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-dev-env-downloads.php?f=Readme_PreFinal_2_Ubuntu_Intrepid_Desktop_SDK_Virtual_Image.txt

>
> >> Then we run the installer script, which is a fun guessing
> >> game. It asks for information without the slightest hint as to
> >> the expected response and uses misleading names for the
> >> information. HOW ABOUT A HINT?
> >> "Location of VirtualBox binaries (normally /usr/bin)?"
> >>
> >> Then it asks for "The name of your VirtualBox Image." Off the
> >> bat, I thought that was the name of the image file. But what
> >> is wanted is not actually the name of the file, but a name
> >> under which your virtual instance will appear in the Manager.
> >> It has nothing to do with the name of the vdmk file. A short
> >> alias is what is wanted. Of course, I inserted the name of the
> >> file: maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk. Since I had
> >> already manually created a virtual instance, I now had 3
> >> instances (including the pre-existing WinXP), one of which had
> >> an unreadable name, due to its length.
> >> How about:
> >>
> >> "Please provide a (short) name for this virtual instance. This
> >> name will appear in the list of virtual instances in the
> >> VirtualBox Manager (Maemosdk-2)"
> >>
> >> Finally, it asks for the "location" of the VirtualBox image.
> >> But what it wants is not actually the location of the image.
> >> Generally a 'location'
> >> for a file is the folder 'where' it is. The script actually
> >> wants the 'what' of the file: the fully qualified pathname of
> >> the image file. That
> >> is: /tmp/downloads/maemosdk_desktop_intrepid-10-08.vmdk or whatever.
> >>
> >> So how about:
> >> "Please provide the full pathname of the vmdk file
> >> (/tmp/downloads/maemo-xxx.vmdk)"
> >>
> >> Of course, what is NOT discussed, is that this script will
> >> create the virtual hard-drive instance *out of the vmdk* and
> >> exactly where the vmdk presently resides. Yes, of course I
> >> wanted to create a virtual in my /tmp/downloads folder.
> >> Although a different place would be better.....
> >>
> >> I had to parse the script, and read 'VBoxManage --help' to
> >> understand what the script was trying to do. Once I got past
> >> being misdirected, I was able to install. Only took me about 2
> >> hours, not including download time..
> >>
> >> </semi-rant>
> >
> > These are just usability problems with our instalaltion script. I
> think we can fix all these issues for our final image.
> >
> > Raul can you confirm that we really can fix these?
> >
>
> > We have not had so much time for usability and instalaltion issues as
> we have concentrated on functionality.
> >
> > For the final version we can check what can be done to even more
> simplify installation process.
> >
> > Thanks a lot about comments.
>
> Fixing this is easy. I will revise the script, including adding a
> stanza
> to allow installation in another spot and e-mail you.

[jot] Thanks. Looking forward seeing your version of the script. Raul Herbster is working on new Desktop image so I included also him to this email.

>
> I'm glad to know that someone is listening, and I am glad to help where
> I can. I had a hard time installing scratchbox-1 and a I cannot being
> to
> figure out how you were able to encapsulate an entire ubuntu install
> with scratchbox etc into one installable virtual image. That's about 5
> or 6 magic spells in a row!

[jot] We even managed to include Sbox1, Maemo SDK rootstraps, Maemo Flasher-3.5, Maemo Python, Maemo C++, Maemo Qt4 etc installations into our Eclipse product ESbox. :)

[jot] We decided to implement Maemo development environment installation wizards into Eclipse IDE because (as you said) our current installation is not simple enough for users that are not familiar already with our environments.

http://maemo.org/news/announcements/maemo_eclipse_integration_2nd_edition_final_released/

Cheers,
//Jamro

>
> Geoff
>
> --
> Please let me know if anything I say offends you.
> I may wish to offend you again in the future.
>
> Tux says: "Be regular. Eat cron flakes."
> _______________________________________________
> Pc-connectivity-devel mailing list
> Pc-connectivity-devel [at] garage
> https://garage.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/pc-connectivity-devel
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

Jarmo.Tikka at nokia

Jan 5, 2010, 12:15 AM

Post #10 of 10 (984 views)
Permalink

RE: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image Install Documentation [In reply to]

Hi,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vollmer Marius (Nokia-D/Helsinki)
> Subject: Re: [Pc-connectivity-devel] Help with Maemo Virtual Image
> Install Documentation
>
> "Tikka Jarmo (Nokia-D/Helsinki)" <Jarmo.Tikka [at] nokia> writes:
>
> >> > We have a problem that most standard compression tools have
> >> > restriction about 2GB max file size.
> >>
> >> Time to post an old favorite of mine again:
> >>
> >> http://braid-game.com/news/?p=455
> >>
> >> The first rant is about the Visual Studio 2010 community technology
> >> preview. Very funny and even kinda relevant. :-)
> >
> > [jot] I still do not understand any better why you wanted to send
> this
> > same link and comment (again :) as reply to my email.
>
> I have posted it again because I like the rant a lot and want to share
> it as much as possible. I did this as a reply to your email because
> you
> are producing the same kind of (IMO) monstrosity that they make fun of
> in the podcast: shipping a development environment as a humongous
> virtual machine image.
>
> I know that our virtual machine image is just one of the alternatives,
> and not the main way to install and run our development environment,
> but
> still, I found the similarity between it and what Microsoft has done to
> be striking.

[jot] So your opinion is that we do not need this Virtual Image and it should not be done? I think Virtual Image is used or will be used as much as native installation of sbox and Maemo SDK and even on Linux PCs...

>
> > Especially when you say in your comment that your reply is not
> > relevant?
>
> Hmm, which comment? I said here that it is "even kinda relevant".
> "kinda" is short for "kind of" and roughly means here "it is not
> entirely irrelevant".

[jot] Sorry, you really said that your comment is "kinda relevant" but I meant that I did not see any relevancy :)

Cheers,
//Jarmo

>
> Hth.
_______________________________________________
maemo-users mailing list
maemo-users [at] maemo
https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

Interested in having your list archived? Contact Gossamer Threads