How to contribute

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This page describes the different fields we are active in and where and how you can contribute and help us to make copyleft hardware a success. It is categorized by these areas, each section containing a table explaining the current efforts, a description and the person coordinating the effort.

Areas

Software

The following projects, issues and ideas related to the software part are currently (heavily) understaffed and need your help! For sure this list is not complete - feel free add your thoughts, ideas, (wanted) projects related to qi!

You're more than welcome to participate in every possible manner, e.g.:

- sending patches to the mailing list or - even better, to not lose track of them - via the issue tracker[1]
- becoming a maintainer/developer of a certain project and getting commit access
- finding and filing bugs bugs in the issue tracker[1]
- join the mailing list and/or IRC, help your mates with problems and note down ideas how to improve things

dedicated pieces of software

Name	category	Description	Toolkit	Language	Source	Owner	Status
Vido	Offline Wiki reader	OpenZim reader	gtk+	c++	Projects Page	Vegyraupe	discontinued (in image)
QVido	Offline Wiki reader	OpenZim reader	qt	c++	Projects Page	Vegyraupe	discontinued
Stardict	dictionary	StarDict adaptation	gtk+	c++	Source Patches	Xiangfu	in image
Gmenu2x	app launcher	Gmenu2x adaptation	SDL	c++	Project Page	Volunteers?	in image
TBD	app launcher	launcher based on the fluid-launcher qt4-demo: Video	Qt	c++	TBD	Volunteers?	idea
qi-bootloader	bootloader	very lightweight bootloader	-	c++	Wiki page	Volunteers?	idea
Iris	kernel/OS	capability-based microkernel	-	c++ with preprocessor	Projects page	Bas Wijnen	booting

other software projects which need your help

Uboot : porting over jz47xx-cdc-ethernet support to uboot

There is a working implementation of cdc-ethernet support in U-Boot[2] which is quite similar to the linux cdc-ethernet stack. cdc-ethernet support for the jz4740 is available and used within the linux kernel already, so it shouldn't be hard to port the cdc-ethernet driver over to uboot-cdc-ethernet. As well there is working code for a TCP-stack and webserver in uboot.

The idea:

Flashing your NanoNote via your WebBrowser while your NanoNote is in uboot, running a webserver on-top of a tcp-stack on-top of the cdc-ethernet stack.

Testing

Name	Description	Coordinator	Status
Software testplan	Create a testplan for the OpenWrt Images	Wolfgang Spraul	not started
Testing Software	Create testing software for the NanoNotes (and derivatives)	Wolfgang Spraul	not started

The 本NanoNote build system is very informal. The build is sometimes performed by different people, who have different testing procedures. There is no automated test environment. We need to document and formalize our build system, and in doing so also improve our testing procedures. Success here will be measured by the number of packages we have on the default image, as well as how many packages in our repository are not marked as broken.

Data Transfer

Name	Description	Coordinator	Status
Upgrade Software Image	Upgrading the software image should preserve the user's settings and data.	Alan Post	too difficult
Backup and Restore	We need a system to backup and restore a 本NanoNote.	Alan Post	not started
Synchronize Data	A user should have a mechanism for modifying a file/project on the 本NanoNote and a host computer an synchronize the changes.	Alan Post	not started

It is difficult to move data between the 本NanoNote and a host computer. It should be easier to update the software on the 本NanoNote, and sync (backup) data from the 本NanoNote. This is both a documentation and software problem.

Sync Data Suggestion: Someone could put together a combination of rsync, ssh, and cron. This would work for syncing the Ben Nanonote between MacOSX, Windows (using cygwin), and Linux. The article located http://lifehacker.com/196122/geek-to-live--mirror-files-across-systems-with-rsync could help along with this process

Hardware modding

Name	Description	Coordinator	Status
Ben+Arduino	This project is focused on connecting the Ben NanoNote to Arduino boards.	Tuxbrain	started

Other

[1] http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-nanonote/issues/
[2] http://git.denx.de/?p=u-boot/u-boot-usb.git