I’m pleased to report that since the release of version 0.8 of Lightning, and the corresponding update of the Google Data Provider add-on everything seems to be working well. I can now update calendar data in both directions.

This, in combination with GooSync, which syncs the Google Calendar to my mobile phone (a Nokia N95), means all my calendars are now easy to keep in sync.

For work I use a Blackberry 8300, and I’m pleased to say there’s an official Google application to sync the calendar.

Phew! Synchronising calendars has been a surprisingly difficult problem to solve, but thankfully we seem to have licked that particular problem now

SnackAmp sits on my Linux-based server box. It has a remote control feature (details here) which accepts control strings from a TCP socket. I wrote a Python script which runs on the phone to open a Wi-Fi connection to my music server and send simple commands to control it.

I was pleasantly surprised at just how easy all this turned out to be

First, I installed Python. This is available from the Nokia Opensource site. The N95 uses the 3rd edition of the S60 operating system, so I downloaded these files:

• PythonForS60_1_4_1_3rdEd.SIS
• PythonScriptShell_1_4_1_3rdEd.sis

Then I wrote a small Python script to open a TCP socket on the music server and send the appropriate text strings to control the music player.

The script (see below) first defines some handy functions. send_command actually sends the specified command to the music player. play, pause, stop, next and prev call the send_command function with the appropriate command text.

The main section of the script first checks if there are any command line parameters. If there are, it tries to immediately send the appropriate command and then exits.

If not, it discovers which operating system it is running on, and uses that information to execute one of two sections. The S60 section uses a standard Nokia list GUI widget to enable the user to select a command. The script sends the command and exits. Note that the Nokia GUI requires you to specify all strings as Unicode. Python does this by prefixing each string with ‘u’ – for example, u’Pause’.

The Linux section uses the standard Python Tkinter GUI library to generate a small X-windows based window with push buttons to select commands. This part of the script uses a loop to allow multiple commands to be sent. The window is active until you select the Quit option.

Here is the script:

#!/usr/bin/python
import socket
import sys
import string

def send_command(command):
        # opens a socket to snackAmp, sends the appropriate command and
        # closes the socket.

        # create a socket
        s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)

        # connect to server
        host = '192.168.1.20' # server address - bletchley is 192.168.1.20
        port = 8775 # server port
        s.connect((host, port))

        s.send(command) # send command

        # close the connection
        s.close()

def prev():
        print 'previous...'
        send_command('xmms_remote_playlist_prev')

def pause():
        print 'pause...'
        send_command('xmms_remote_pause')

def play():
        print 'play...'
        send_command('xmms_remote_play')

def stop():
        print 'stop...'
        send_command('xmms_remote_stop')

def next():
        print 'next...'
        send_command('xmms_remote_playlist_next')

args = sys.argv[1:]     # don't keep the program name
if len(args) > 0:
        for a in args:
                found = 0
                a = string.lower(a)
                if a == 'pause':
                        found = 1
                        pause()
                if a == 'prev':
                        found = 1
                        prev()
                if a == 'play':
                        found = 1
                        play()
                if a == 'stop':
                        found = 1
                        stop()
                if a == 'next':
                        found = 1
                        next()
                if found == 0:
                        print "Command not recognised. Currently implemented are pause, prev, play, stop, next."
else:
        if sys.platform == 'symbian_s60':
                # we are running on a Nokia phone
                import appuifw  # access to the user interface framework
                menu = [u'Pause', u'Prev', u'Next', u'Play', u'Stop']
                index = appuifw.selection_list(choices=menu, search_field=0)

                if index == 0:
                        pause()

                if index == 1:
                        prev()

                if index == 2:
                        next()

                if index == 3:
                        play()

                if index == 4:
                        stop()
        else:
                # we are running on a standard computer (i.e. not a phone)
                from Tkinter import *

                class Application(Frame):
                        def __init__(self, master=None):
                                Frame.__init__(self, master)
                                self.grid()
                                self.createWidgets()

                        def createWidgets(self):
                                self.pauseButton = Button (self, text="Pause", underline = 0, command=pause)
                                self.pauseButton.grid(row=0, column=0, columnspan=4, sticky=E+W)
                                self.prevButton = Button (self, text="Prev", underline = 1, command=prev)
                                self.prevButton.grid(row=1, column=0)
                                self.playButton = Button (self, text="Go", underline = 0, command=play)
                                self.playButton.grid(row=1, column=1)
                                self.stopButton = Button (self, text="Stop", underline = 0, command=stop)
                                self.stopButton.grid(row=1, column=2)
                                self.nextButton = Button (self, text="Next", underline = 0, command=next)
                                self.nextButton.grid(row=1, column=3)
                                self.quitButton = Button (self, text="Quit", underline = 0, command=self.quit)
                                self.quitButton.grid(row=2, column=0, columnspan=4, sticky=E+W)

                app = Application()
                app.master.title("snackAmp Control")
                app.mainloop()

You’ll need to create the script in your favourite text editor on your PC and then transfer it to the phone. I used a USB cable to connect the phone to the PC and selected the mass storage option on the phone. Once the file is transferred, you’ll need to disconnect the USB cable so the phone can access the memory card again.

In theory you can use Bluetooth to transfer the script, but I’ve seen reports that it doesn’t work with S60 3rd edition. I don’t have Bluetooth on my Linux server, so I can’t tell you

In use, start Python on the phone, then run a script. Select the script name and the command list appears. Choose a command. The ‘Select access point’ screen appears and I choose my Wi-Fi router connection. Then magic happens and the music obeys my commands

Right now this new service is limited to certain Nokia phone models, and you’ll probably need a Windows machine and a cable to connect your phone to the PC. Having said that, for certain models you can browse to the Nokia website with the phone and upgrade the firmware directly over the air. Now that’s slick

Here’s the link to the Nokia site:

http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,1522,,00.html?orig=/softwareupdate

I’m very pleased to say that I upgraded my 6680 last night with no fuss or trauma. The most difficult thing was synchronising my contact data with MS Outlook. This was just a precautionary measure – I’d backed up the phone memory to the memory card already.

It seems that when you synchronise your Nokia with Outlook using the Nokia PC Suite any plus signs (‘+’) present in your phone numbers are silently removed So now instead of lots of phone number beginning ‘+44…’ I have lots of numbers beginning ’44…’ which of course doesn’t make sense to the phone at all. Why is this so difficult?