Xorg Tools - Power Tools for Power Users

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Revision as of 16:49, 8 February 2010 by Xorg (talk | contribs)
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Overview

Xorg Tools (aka xt) is a Linux script that sets up lower level Linux services or power user functions on webOS devices. Xorg Tools will approach functions that may not make it as a webOS app. Many xt functions are setups of optware services/commands or implementations of webos-internals.org pages that never made it to an app (credits are given).

Xorg Tools is intended for Power Users, those generally experienced with making lower level configurations to their phones and computers. If you can use vi editor, xt is for you. If you are comfortable with command lines, xt is probably for you. Using these tools may require some knowledge to setup connectivity with other systems. In some cases Linux/app-specific knowledge is needed for more detailed configuration, but in most cases xt will do the basic setup to get things working.

Xorg Tools runs from a terminal session (or Terminal app available in PreWare) as 'xt' command. As xt matures, it may run from Launcher (launching terminal app with xt menu). Xorg Tools can be used either in menu mode or with command arguments.

Initial Features

 1) Diagnostics - analyzes storage usage, seeks known problem areas of webOS devices.
 2) Scheduling - sets up Linux cron to allow scheduling apps or daily reboots.
 3) Performance - changing priority of key processes (more capabilities in future).
 4) mvapp - maintains relevant mvapp commands for recovery, continues support for linking email.
 5) optware - base optware setup with dropbear SSH (via webOS-internals boostrap)
 6) File Sharing - sets up samba filesharing, both in/outbound connections 
 7) MyTether 3D Fix - fixes issues with MyTether interfering with 3D games, SDL.
 8) PreWare Install - easily install/update PreWare from a Terminal session.
 9) Dropbox sync - sync your webos device to Dropbox filesharing service 
10) Backup Media Drive over WiFi - scheduled automatic backups of media to a PC.

Many more things are planned like aiding the install/setup of webos-internals pages like emulators, vnc, dynamic dns, network tunables, etc. If needed someday, a malware scanner also might be in xt's future. Taking requests for features/functions that likely would not make it as a webOS app. Am seeking other optware packages that could be useful under webOS - CUPS printing?

While many experienced with Linux can setup these by reading the webos-internals pages, the target for xt is to set this stuff up for you in one shot and make it more accessible.

Initial Release

A development version is now available. It will not be released on Homebrew installers for a while as this isn't intended for the masses yet. For now xt is for power users who can manage lower level changes..


Paste this in a Terminal session or in WebOS QI Linux Commandline...

wget -qO- http://tinyurl.com/xt-setup | /bin/sh

xt

Check for daily updates...

xt upd


Removing Xorg Tools

Be sure to remove any setup that xt creates, such as cron setup, samba services, etc. unless you know how to remove those manually.

For now xt itself needs to be removed manually from Terminal...
rm /usr/local/bin
cd /media/internal
rm -r xorgtools

Adding/Modifying Plugins

Scripters can add their own plugins to xorg tools menus or customize existing ones. Scripters should not customize plugins that are included with xt as the plugins will be overwritten with the next update. Best to copy the plugin and modify it. Existing plugins should also be used as template if you want to add your own plugin.

Example using Media backup plugin:

Xorg Tools plugin menu will automatically list all items that end in .mnu in the plugins folder.

cd /media/internal/xorgtools/plugins
ls
bck bck.mnu

(copy the menu script)
cp bck.mnu tst.mnu
vi tst.mnu
(edit the tag: line)
tag:f1:f2:f3
f1 - the title of the service that will appear in the plugin menu
f2 - the three letter selection code that will appear in plugin menu
f3 - the filename of menu script

cp -r bck tst
cd tst
(edit these scripts as you'd like, they can be named anything. edit tst.mnu above to launch each script per the menu selection items.)


Support/Discussion

See the PreCentral Thread for support, questions and discussion.

License

Xorg Tools follows the webos-internals MIT license model.

Developers are encouraged to use xt code or concepts in other projects, per the terms of the license. If a function of xt is eventually better maintained in another project, the xt feature will likely be redirected to that project and in some cases adopted back into xt.

Guides

This section points to additional guides to further configure any optware or other tools that is an xt function.

Feel free to add other guides, such as connection to Windows and Mac.

Media Backup over WiFi
Setup Instructions

Dropbox Syncing
Setup Instructions


Filesharing:
Samba Setup - from webos-internals
Official Samba Site - use for more detailed setup
Windows Mounting - how to setup a share mountpoint with Windows


Scheduling
Initial Cron Setup - from webos-internals
Cron Guide - a guide with more details