New pages
Just put up a couple of pages here on the blog. On of the is some information about me, and the other is the preliminary project plan. The link to those pages is in the menu.
January 26, 2006
Preliminary Project Plan
Where R U?
Christer Edvartsen
Summary
Where R U is a project that will make it possible for person 1 to send an SMS to person 2, and then receive an MMS with a map containing the whereabouts of person 2.
Description
An application like Where R U can be used on several occasions. If you are to meet another person somewhere you have never been before, you might use Where R U to get the other person to send you a map of where he/she is. It might also be used in a more serious situation where a person is lost, and need to send information on where he/she is to others.
Background
Some parts of Where R U can be used in other applications related to for example search and rescue. The part that connects to the GPS and sends a request to a mapservice to receive mapdata can also be used by other applications.
Deliveries
Project report, Software for Series 60 mobile phones.
Plan
| Content | Delivery | Start | End | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hello World | Writing a standard Hello World application to learn the basics of programming on series 60 | - | 2006-01-25 | 2006-01-25 | - |
| Connecting to the GPS via bluetooth | To get GPS positions one needs to connect to a GPS device. I have chosen to do this via bluetooth. | - | - | - | - |
| Connecting to the net | The phone needs to be connected to the net to send a request and download map data. | - | - | - | - |
| Receive information from mapservice and generate image | The imformation received from the mapservice needs to be parsed and used to generate an image of a map. | - | - | - | - |
| Sending MMS | The map will be sent as an MMS to other phones. | - | - | - | - |
Device and Softwarerequirements
The application will be developed for mobiles phones using the Series 60 platform. The mobile phone that will be used for development and testing is a Nokia 6680. The phone will need to access a GPS to get information about position, and access the internet to get mapdata.
References
Books
- Learning Python, Second Edition
- Programming Python, Second Edition
Articles
Webpages
- http://www.python.org/
- http://www.forum.nokia.com/
- http://www.s60.com/
- http://www.symbian.com/
Software
- S60 SDK for Symbian OS 2nd Ed. FP2
- Python for S60 2nd Ed. SIS
- Python for S60; 1.2 for 2nd Ed. FP2 SDK
January 25, 2006
Hello World!
Well, it was not that hard to make a simple hello world script. I just started a text editor and entered the following code:
# hello world script
from appuifw import *
note(u”Hello World!”, “info”)
I then saved the file as hello.py in the Python directory for the Emulator. On my laptop, the path to that directory is C:\Symbian\8.0a\S60_2nd_FP2\epoc32\release
\wins\udeb\z\system\APPS\python\. After I saved it there, I started the Emulator, started the python environment, and when I looked at the list of scripts, hello.py was there. When I started it, an Infobox with the text “Hello World!” appeared. The I right clicked the hello.py file, chose Sent To - Bluetooth - phonename, and installed it on the phone. The script worked like a charm there as well. :)
Next I will try and make a script that will connect to the internet and do some more neat stuff.
Installed the S60 Emulator and SDK’s
There! Just installed the S60 SDK for Symbian OS 2nd Ed. FP2, Python for S60 2nd Ed. SIS, and Python for S60; 1.2 for 2nd Ed. FP2 SDK. You will need an account on those pages to download.
First I installed the SDK for Symbian OS, and then unzipped the Python for S60 2nd ED. SIS.zip file. The zip file included a couple of .SIS files that you can send to the mobile phone to install python. Since I have bluetooth on my laptop, I simply enabled bluetooth on the Nika 6680, right-clicked the PythonForSeries60.SIS, chose Send To - Bluetooth - phonename. Next I had to accept the connection on the phone to start the transfer of the file. After the transfer complete, you will get a message that asks if you want to install Python for Series 60 on the phone. Choose Yes, and it will be install. After the installer completes a Python icon will appear in the menylist on the phone. Enter that to start the Python Environment from where you can run python scripts. There are a couple of scripts that followed along with the installer. Try them out to see how it works!
Now onto the Python for S60 SDK. I installed this using all the default choises in the installer. There are a couple of pdf files that comes with the SDK that is helpful to read: API Reference for Python, Getting started with Python and Programming with Python. These files contain some valueable information.
When I installed the SDK for Symbian OS, I also got the Release and Debug versions of the Emulator for S60. To use Python for S60 in the Emulator, simply fire up the Debug version, and you will find the same Python icon in the menu there, as on the phone.
Now I am off to make some “Hello World” applications and test them out on the Emulator and the phone!
January 19, 2006
Project Description - Draft
I have been thinking about a “where are you” application. Say a person that wants to know where you are sends you and sms. It would be neat to answer back with an MMS containing a map of your location along with some more information. There are probably lots of other neat things you could do with an application like this, but I have yet to decide on something.
January 18, 2006
Assignment 3
Find and report the links to Google Maps/Earth Mashups in the following categories:
(I wrote the list below when I was tired, so don’t take all of my choices seriously ;))
a. Most useful
b. Most impressive
c. Most original
d. Best commercial potential
e. Least useful
f. Most stupid
Who the hell is Tim Hibbard, and why do I want to know where he is?!
The links above where found on http://coolgooglemaps.blogspot.com/.
Assignment 2
a. Give a short overview of the development and deployment of mobile phones and mobile services. Have the mobile markets developed differently in different parts of the world? Use your preferred search engine to find appropriate online sources, and refer to these in the text.
First generation
In the 1980s the “cellular” phones began to appear. These phones used analog transmission, and they were larger than the phones we are used to today because they were designed to be fit in cars. The systems these phones used were later known as the first generation (1G) mobile phone technology.
Second Generation
In the 1990s, second generation (2G) mobile phone systems were introduced. The first european GSM network opened in 1991. When the 2G system was introduced, the smaller hand-held devices began to appear. These hand-held devices sported better battery technologies and systems that needed less power.
Third Generation
The third generation (3G) mobile phone technology came with services that provided the ability to transfer both voice data and non-voice data. Video telephony has often been refered to as a “killer application” when talking about 3G services. Japan was the first country to introduce 3G on a large scale, and is expected to fully complete the transfer from 2G to 3G in 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G
b. Give a short overview of how you think mobile phones and mobile services will develop in the next five years.
In recent years mobile phones have become more and more like a substitution for deksktop / laptop computers. I believe that in the future the mobile phone will make a regular computer obsolete as the mobile phones grow in both computing power and storage space. Mobile services will probably get more advanced as the phones will be able to handle much more data. Future technologies will replace 3G and faster transfers will open up for more video / audio services.
Assignment 1
a. Give a short description of an existing stationary context aware application.
Amazon.com is an example of a stationary context aware application. When you visit amazon.com it may list the items you looked at the last time you where there or suggest new items that you might like. The context will therefore change for different visitors. Amazon also sends out mail to its users with products it believes that the users would like.
Another example of a stationary context aware application is the software that runs the blinds on Høgskolen i Østfold. When it is too bright outside the blinds will close, and when it is dark they will open up again. These blinds also have a neat random feature that makes the blinds go up and down at random intervals.
b. Give a short description of an existing mobile context aware application.
A portable weather station is context aware. These units can for instance report temperature, wind and humidity of the surrounding area.
c. Give a short description of an imaginary mobile context aware “killer” application.
For me a mobile phone or some other gadget that could report the precence of nearby rocks or cliffs would be a killer application. I have rock climbing / bouldering as a hobby, so this would be very neat.
January 17, 2006
January 16, 2006
Just bought the Nokia
I went ahead and bought the Nokia 6680 phone. Still havent decided on a project though. Hopefully I will play around with the phone this evening.
