[maemo-users] GPE On Nokia N800 ITOS2007

[From: Jonathan Markevich]

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 1:09 AM, Mark Haury <wolfmane at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Peter Bart wrote:
>
> On Wed, 2008-04-23 at 10:13 -0600, Mark Haury wrote:
>
>
>  I have to say that the critical deal killer for me is that even though
> it may be possible to jump through a few hoops and *import* data into
> gpe, there doesn't seem to be any way to *export* it back out.
>
>
> ...

>  I would
> be a lot more willing to put more effort into getting my data into gpe
> if I was sure of a reasonably easy way of not only backing it up,
>
>
>  	There's a built in backup utility from Nokia that backs up the GPE
> directories. You can use rsync to "backup" your home directory to
> another drive, memory card, etc. Last but not least you can also simply
> copy the GPE directories to another location.
>
>
>  I completely screwed up my explanation on this one. What I meant was that
> I want to be able to specify the working directory and keep all my data in
> an easily found and copied directory on one of the SDHC cards, where it's
> completely safe from reflashes and easily copied and transported to other
> machines/drives.
>
...

	I don't need that kind of functionality the way you do. So far I I've
used load applet to take a screenshot of a specific entry and send that
off. For me, the less I move my data around, the more time I have to do
real work.


 For me, moving my data around *is* what I need to do. I use the data in
> different ways, with different apps, most of which don't understand vcf
> files but all of which do understand csv files.
>
>  For me, the ideal import/export method is csv files.
>
>
>
GPE at least uses sqlite, although just sqlite 2.1.  You should be able to
access/unload/load data from there using another tool - maybe even on your
desktop.

All apps should use sqlite on the device.  Always...

You can try datable (check garage.maemo.org) it's a nice start at making a
DB front end for maemo.  While you're at it, check out a MaemoPad+
database.  That's exactly what I'm talking about!

  When I bought the Nokia, I (quite reasonably) assumed that it would have a
> decent PIM. Much less powerful and much more inexpensive units have very
> capable PIMs (come on, even my 10-plus-year-old Visor and Psion have better
> PIMs!). There's really no excuse for Nokia not porting Kontacts or Evolution
> or some other full-featured Linux PIM. I probably would have got an eee PC
> instead if I had known: the form factor of the Nokia isn't been nearly as
> much of an advantage without that particular functionality.
>

Even those desktop PIMs are less capable than old Palm PIMs.  I mean look at
the grouping and filtering you can do with Datebk5, and how old is that?  If
any of these apps had icons on events I'd be dizzyingly happy.


> Nokia is a great device but it is limited when compared to my notebook.
> Each in it's place.
>
> (this reply is hitchhiking, sorry!)

Have you tried KDE on the Nokia?  With a keyboard and mouse attached?  It's
a tiny screen but there's no other reason why it can't be a little
notebook.  Closed minds and weak software are the only things really holding
it back.


> I don't use Evolution, Schedule world, or Google. I use Access and up until
> now my Visor. I've been trying for a long time to migrate my Access
> databases to OOo Base, but it can't import tables or csv files any more than
> gpe can, and when connecting to the original Access database can't deal with
> any of the other database objects at all. Its report formatting is also
> incredibly limited at this point. (In my opinion, Base is still alpha level
> software, utterly unlike the rest of the suite.)
>

Yeah you're better off working in MySQL, really.  But as long as you have
Access, look for a sqlite odbc driver.  I think you can even open sqlite
databases directly in Base.  You may be able to import and export on the
desktop.

You can import in Base from CSV by the way, it's just amazingly
counterintuitive (though it makes a certain functional sense).  Create and
register a DB first, then open the CSV file in Calc.  Click View - Data
sources.  Open the DB tree to view "Tables".  Now select and drag the data
and drop it on Tables.  Weird huh?

Maybe this is the way to get your GPE data working for you...


>
> If anybody can point me to a different cross-platform (mainly Windows and
> Linux, but Mac would be a plus) database that has most of the power and ease
> of Access (and the most important features are reliable import/export of csv
> and the ability to create report layouts from scratch), I would be
> *extremely* appreciative. I've tried to learn about SQL and frontends for
> it, but everything I can find basically assumes one already knows all about
> it and seem to be based on scripting, and I need to work from a GUI,
> including creating databases from scratch. The reason I need cross-platform
> and GUI is so I can share it with others in my organization who are not all
> that computer-literate and have different OS's than me.
>

Well you could try FileMaker, only not for Linux... File-based databases are
a little dead.  MS kinda locked the market, then pursued it as far as it can
go.

As for MySQL, you can do everything in their excellent GUI (or SQLYog), but
you have to commit to a server-based database.  My we're getting off topic
now, though aren't we...
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