New application's coming: Samsung Tools!

[voria]

Several days ago I started a new project, called 'samsung-tools', which is intended to replace the samsung-scripts.
The project is registered on launchpad, and it's located here:

https://launchpad.net/samsung-tools

Here's the project's description:

'Samsung Tools' is the successor of 'Samsung Scripts' provided by the 'Linux On My Samsung' project. It uses D-Bus functionalities for providing a system service dedicated to the control of the various devices on Samsung netbooks (bluetooth, wireless, webcam, backlight, cpu fan) and per-user session service(s) dedicated to the control of the user-related aspects (hotkeys, notifications, etc). Scripts/GUIs will be provided to allow the control of both services.

It's written entirely in python, and it's covered by GPLv3 license.

'Samsung Tools' is structured into levels:

• Level 1: the system service.
  It runs with elevated privileges, it takes care of the physical control of the system's devices.
• Level 2: the session service.
  It runs with user privileges, it "talks" with the system service and it takes care of managing user's aspects (like showing bubble notifications, managing hotkeys, and so on). There can be more than one session service running at the same time (one for every logged user), all of them talking with the running system service.
• Level 3: end-user scripts/GUIs.
  They are used directly by the user, they "talk" with the user's session service.
  They can be anything coming in your mind: command line scripts, GUIs, applets, and so on.

Just to make an example: if at some point we change the way the bluetooth toggling is managed by the system service, the session service (and end-user scripts/GUIs, of course) will continue to work without problems.

At the moment, the system service is fairly complete, it already manages bluetooth, webcam, wireless, backlight, cpu fan (cpu fan control needs the 'easy-slow-down-manager' package installed to work, it can be installed like any other package from my repository).
The work on session service proceeds good too: notifications already work, but it lacks hotkeys support yet.
Yesterday I worked on an end-user command line script, so that the basic functionalities can be already used.
The script is practically complete, and it's already usable.

If anyone wants to try it, follow these simple instructions:

• If you are using 'samsung-scripts', uninstall it:

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  sudo apt-get purge samsung-scripts

• Install 'easy-slow-down-manager' and 'xbindkeys':

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  sudo apt-get install easy-slow-down-manager xbindkeys

• On kubuntu, install 'python-gtk2' (ubuntu already has it installed):

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  sudo apt-get install python-gtk2

• Get the latest code with the command:

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  bzr checkout lp:samsung-tools

• Move to the new directory 'samsung-tools', and install with the command:

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  sudo make install

• To uninstall, use the command:

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  sudo make uninstall

Once installed, open a terminal and use the command:

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samsung-tools --help

to get further instructions on how to use the script.
Keep in mind that the code base is under heavy development, it changes fast and new features are added every day.

For any bug report/question, you can use the project's page on Launchpad.
Let me know your thoughts!

[voria]

Some news on project status.

All of the functions are in place and perfectly working on ubuntu (kubuntu support is planned but not available yet).

The system service has now support for restoring devices' last status on boot/resume/thaw.
The session service has now support for hotkeys.

There are several configuration files available:
- /etc/samsung-tools/system.conf
Configuration of the system service.
- /etc/samsung-tools/session.conf
Configuration of the session service.
- /<userhome>/.samsung-tools/session.conf
Configuration of the session service.
If this file exists, it's used in place of '/etc/samsung-tools/session.conf'.

The next thing to do now is to develop a GUI, in order to allow a friendly configuration of both system/session services.
Then, I'll start to work on a gnome applet.

[voria]

First screenshot of the configuration dialog.

[thunder71]

coooooooooool!

[voria]

Call for a volunteer:
I need an icon for the project, but my skills with gimp and similar programs are very low... Anyone?

[Popo01]

Thanks for your new project voRia, it works well.
I was wondering if you can add the temperature of the processor when one press the Fn-F8 key (like before with the samsung-script). It would be nice.
Thank you in advance.

[FabriceV]

Hello,

Concerning icon...

www.openclipart.org have an icon category.
http://www.openclipart.org/tags/icon?page=0

You can use netbook or tool icon or completely original one.
e.g. http://www.openclipart.org/detail/28950

Or, there are these ones, with an elementary look and feel and CC licence.
http://glyphish.com/
http://www.androidicons.com/

[voria]

@Popo01: Sure, it's on the TODO list.
@FabriceV: Thanks, I'll check those links. Anyway, if any volunteer wants to design a personalized icon for 'Samsung Tools', it would be better.

News about the project: I'm reorganizing all the code and rewriting parts of it.
At the moment the hotkeys are disabled (I'm searching for a better and more generic way to manage them, instead of using metacity/gconf), and the configuration GUI does not work because of it.

[thunder71]

If you give me some parameters of how big you want these icons, I try to do it in his spare time.
I'm just studying the manual gimp :-)
I do not promise anything, ok?
if you prefer I can create these icons, with the SVG format, because I'm 'studying also the manual inkscape ;-)

[FabriceV]

Just my opinion, but I am not convince that a personalized icon is necessary.
Finally whatever your netbook and the used utility (Jupiter, eeecontrol...), is it not better to have the same icon? So a generic icon can be justified too. It is a little bit the spirit of the MeMenu (first function, second name).

[tariqkhokhar]

Hi Voria,

Great work - can you confirm if the samsung-tools package is intended to replace all the functionality of samsung-scripts?

For example, I can use your new samsung-tools script to successfully turn on and off the backlight but I can't press Fn+UP or Fn+DOWN on my n220 to adjust the brightness.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

tk

[voria]

Some news about the project:

• everything is working as expected, all the functionalities are in place.
• actions' speed has been greatly improved (the system service scans for devices availability once only, when it's started).
• kubuntu is now perfectly supported, hotkeys and notifications included.
• Hotkeys are not managed through gconf values anymore. Now 'xbindkeys' is used, which is independent from the desktop environment used.
• Localization support is in place (for translation volunteers: more info on how to add translations soon).

If you give me some parameters of how big you want these icons, I try to do it in his spare time.

I just need an icon to be shown in the gnome/kde menu for the 'Samsung Tools Preferences' item. I don't know there are special "parameters" required.

Just my opinion, but I am not convince that a personalized icon is necessary.
Finally whatever your netbook and the used utility (Jupiter, eeecontrol...), is it not better to have the same icon? So a generic icon can be justified too. It is a little bit the spirit of the MeMenu (first function, second name).

Samsung Tools uses default system icons for everything.
As I said to thunder71, I just want to add a personalized icon to be shown in the menu for 'Samsung Tools Preferences'.

Great work - can you confirm if the samsung-tools package is intended to replace all the functionality of samsung-scripts?

Yes. In the next Ubuntu Lucid, the 'samsung-scripts' package will not be available anymore.

For example, I can use your new samsung-tools script to successfully turn on and off the backlight but I can't press Fn+UP or Fn+DOWN on my n220 to adjust the brightness.

Both 'samsung-scripts' and 'samsung-tools' do not handle nor modify the behaviour of the Fn-Up and Fn-Down keys, since they are already mapped by default, and theorically working.
The fact they don't work for you is related to the buggy BIOS shipped with Samsung netbooks.
I've uploaded new kernel, udev and samsung-backlight packages on the repository that fix the problem with your specific model. Please perform a full system upgrade to get them. If you don't have 'samsung-backlight' installed, install it. If after a reboot brightness keys don't work yet, add the 'acpi_backlight=vendor' option to your GRUB kernel command line.
If you have problems yet, please post them in the thread you started, since this is not the right place to discuss them.

[voria]

New screenshots.

[voria]

Translations support has finally been approved on Launchpad project's page.
Now it's all up to you volunteers, please translate!

For now I've added just 3 languages: italian, french and german. If anyone is interested in other languages, let me know and I will add them to the list.

It's really simple to work on translations. All you need to do is:
- Register on Launchpad if you don't have an account yet.
- Go on the Samsung Tools' page and click on 'Help translate' on the right side.
- Click on the language you want to translate.
- Translate!

If any question/problem, don't hesitate to post here!

PS: A little note: while translating, please respect the original sentences at the best you can (punctuations, white space, return character, tab character, etc).

[Julian2010]

So, a french translation is now available on Launchpad.
Sometimes, translation is perhaps not the best, as original sentences and/or expressions are shown out of context.
I will post you a PM about a few things for which I was in doubt when translating.