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Run with MeeGo

Issue 203

From Issue #203
March 2011

Apr 30, 2011  By Ibrahim Haddad
 in
What's new in 1.1?
MeeGo v1.1 Netbook User Experience

The MeeGo v1.1 Netbook UX provides a complete set of core applications and offers a visually rich Netbook user experience that is optimized for power and performance, all built on the latest open-source technologies. Some of the key features include:

  • Integrated touch support.

  • Easy-to-use applications.

  • Instant access to the core applications from the MeeGo home screen (aka Myzone).

  • Aggregation of social-networking content, which allows you to view your social-networking activities on one screen as they occur, easily interact with friends and update your status and site information.

  • For a fast and rich Internet experience, the MeeGo Netbook UX integrates Google Chrome or, if you prefer, a fully open-source browser solution. Google Chromium also is provided.

MeeGo on Netbooks

Experiencing MeeGo on Netbooks is very accessible given their popularity and availability. All you need is a Netbook with an Intel Atom or Intel Core 2 CPU, a USB drive (stick) for saving the MeeGo image and booting with it, and the MeeGo image. Step-by-step instructions are available from meego.com/devices/netbook. Instructions are available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X users, so you have no excuse not to take it for a test-drive.

Figure 3. The Devices screen with three connected USB devices, including an Olympus camera showing as a 1GB filesystem, an HP USB device used to copy the screenshots and the USB device that holds the MeeGo Netbook image used to install MeeGo 1.1.

Figure 4. The Zones screen showing three different active zones or work areas.

Figure 5. The Settings screen where users can configure various aspects of their MeeGo Netbook setup.

Figure 6. A user-modified home screen of the WeTab with some direct shortcuts to the author's most-used applications. The WeTab used the MeeGo Netbook stack as a base for development purposes.

Figure 7. The Web browser on the WeTab with the MeeGo home page and the virtual touchscreen keyboard. Four different virtual work areas are on the right, and basic browser menu items are on the left.

Figure 8. The WeTab Setting showcasing the browser settings.

MeeGo v1.1 IVI UX

In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems are devices that deliver navigation, entertainment and networked computing services in vehicles, such as cars, trucks, planes, boats and buses.

Automotive manufacturers in particular are increasingly viewing IVI systems as key differentiators in their products. Drivers and passengers are coming to expect the same type of innovations they see in other devices, such as mobile computers and handsets, in their vehicles. As vehicles become connected to the Internet, the demand for Internet-based entertainment applications and services increases, and MeeGo strives to accelerate the pace of innovation in IVI. The MeeGo IVI software platform is designed to enable rich Internet and multimedia consumer experiences for vehicles. Table 2 provides a quick overview of the key features available in the MeeGo 1.1 IVI release.

Table 2. MeeGo IVI v1.1 Key Feature List

Key FeatureDescription
Sample IVI home screen and taskbarThe taskbar is designed with Automotive Center Console HMI requirements in mind.
Text-to-speech (TTS)TTS is supported using Festival Speech Synthesis and is enabled by default in the ivihome menu navigation.
Speech recognitionInitial speech recognition has been added to ivihome using the integrated PocketSphinx 0.6.1 package. It's a lightweight, cross-platform engine that's built using the latest Sphinx speech recognition toolkit. PocketSphinx provides a GStreamer plugin, allowing the application to create a pipeline to parse the human voice, based on words defined in the dictionary. Voice commands for ivihome have been predefined for navigating the scroll menus.
MeeGo Touch Framework (MTF)The MTF integration features sample applications, which include, but are not limited to, the following: video player, song player, photo viewer, hands-free dialer and settings management.
Open-source automotive projectsSeveral packages from open-source automotive projects are available from the repository for audio management, resource management, persistent storage management, CE device management and system health.

Figure 9. The MeeGo IVI home screen with the taskbar as it appears on the left side of the screen. The taskbar, with some easy customizations, can be moved to the right side of the screen to optimize access for the driver or passenger, as desired. It can be controlled by a Contour ShuttleXpress scroll wheel, touchscreen or mouse, and it's designed to reflect the scroll-wheel usage, with the ability to spin through the menu options and make selections or go back, by pressing two buttons or tapping the touchscreen (photo credit: meego.com).

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