On Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 08:40:28PM +0300, Felipe Contreras wrote:
I've used an N800, and I wasn't impressed; if anything, the fact that
I have to worry about manually killing off applications when memory
gets low, I actually thought it was incredibly sucky. It was a
miniature, badly done laptop.
Maybe the N900 is different, but the bigger question is what do you
mean by "multi-tasking"? Definitions are critical here, which is why
Paul was so careful in his definitions section of his document.
Do you mean:
* allowing multiple processes running at the same time?
* allowing some applications to be able to update mail, play audio,
upload location information so your friends know where you are?
* allowing arbitrary applications that users can interact with
simultaneously (which implies a window manager, the need to have
the concept of window focus for keyboard input), etc?
or something else?
If you are using a GUI framework which is optimized for a single-
application-focus-at-a-time UI that isn't GNOME or KDE, then that will
require the applications to be written. However, that's not because
of suspend-blockers.
If you assume a GUI framework which is flexible enough --- maybe Qt
falls into this category, maybe not --- for the rest of the
applications, they don't need to *know* about suspend blockers, and
they certainly do't have to be rewritten or modified specifically for
suspend blockers. So if your argument is that applications that don't
need bacground services (which you've admitted comprises majority of
applicatios) need to be modified or written specifically to support
suspend blockers, that's simply not true. They don't need to be
modified at all.
As far as whether they *should* require suspend blockers to be in the
kernel to get power usage that is suitable for cell phone batteries, I
would agree that in the ideal world, it would be nice if you could
have applications that make the correct performance/battery
utilization tradeoff for devices running on 800 mWh batteries, 94,000
mWh batteries, and while running on the AC mains. But I don't believe
that it's likely to be true, and if you want to try to beat up on
application writers one at a time to be power optimized --- as far as
I'm concerned, that's an argument *for* suspend blockers, since I'm
not big believer in plans that begin, "First, you command the tides of
the sea to go back", King Canute style. :-)
- Ted
--
