Linux Solutions

The article will provide a user with information and guidance on LOCbook accounting software.
Let’s have a brief look at its history. The development began in 2005 and it was originally used as an in-house accounting program by a Shell Oil jobber. It was developed as a low-cos alternative software.

LOCbook is a Linux based suite of accounting applications. It is distributed as free software. The requirements for LOC are:
• IBM Informix 4GL and SE
• or IDS database.
This software is available freely for accounting for the petroleum marketers.

Modules of LOCbook
There are a number of modules for LOC. These are provided below:
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Retail Sales (Includes pricebook for POS barcode scanning)
• Fuel Management
• Sales
• Inventory
• General Ledger
• Tax Control
• Fuel Dispatch
• Payroll

If a user has read this article then he/she would have learnt about LOCbook software.

The article will provide a user with information on Maemo features.

Updating
Maemo devices can be updated using a simple flashing method with a computer over USB.
Since Diablo (Maemo 4.1), Maemo supports “Seamless Software Update” (SSU), which allows incremental operating system upgrades “over the air” using apt without the need for a full flash with every update.

Security
Maemo’s security concentrates on preventing remote attack. In particular, it warns that Maemo makes use of a root account, but has a trivial default password.
Maemo provides a numeric access code as a way to lock the device’s controls and display independently of the root password; this has been done in order to help prevent unauthorised access.

Software
Maemo comes with a number of built-in applications, but additional applications can be installed from a number of sources, including various official and community software repositories and deb files through either the built-in package manager “Application manager” or apt and dpkg. Bundled applications include the Mozilla-based MicroB browser, Macromedia Flash, Gizmo5, and Skype.

Software development
Software can be developed in C using the Maemo SDK, in Java which is supported by the Jalimo JVM, in Python, in Ruby, and Mono. The Maemo SDK is based around the Debian-oriented Scratchbox Cross Compilation Toolkit, which provides a sandbox environment in which development may take place. Scratchbox uses Qemu to emulate an ARM processor or sbrsh to remotely execute instructions. Scratchbox-compatible rootstraps are available for both x86 and ARM, so the majority of development and debugging takes place on x86, with final packaging being for ARM. The programming languages Python, C and C++ are also supported.

Hardware
The Maemo operating system is designed for Nokia Internet Tablets, which feature very similar specifications to Nokia’s high-end N-series and E-series cellphones, with TI OMAP ARM SoCs, large screens, and expandable internal storage. Although the highly optimized, hardware-specific nature of Maemo means running all of it on non-Internet Tablet hardware would be very difficult, most of the important non-proprietary parts of the OS and some of the available 3rd party applications are actively being packaged for Debian and are available for use on other distributions, which will open up a large range of other hardware options. Nokia runs the Maemo operating system on the Nokia N900.

If a user has read this article then he/she learnt about Maemo’s features.

The article will provide a user with information and guidance on Maemo.

Please note that Maemo is a software platform developed by Nokia for smartphones and Internet tablets. It is based on the Debian Linux distribution. The platform comprises the Maemo operating system and the Maemo SDK. Maemo is mostly based on open source code, and has been developed by Maemo Devices within Nokia in collaboration with many open source projects such as the Linux kernel, Debian, and GNOME. Maemo is based on Debian GNU/Linux and draws much of its GUI, frameworks, and libraries from the GNOME project. It uses the Matchbox window manager, and the GTK-based Hildon as its GUI and application framework.

The UI in Maemo 4 is similar to many handheld interfaces, and features a home screen, which acts as a central point from which all applications and settings are accessed. The home screen is divided into areas for launching applications, a menu bar, and a large customisable area that can display information such as an RSS reader, Internet radio player, and Google search box.

The Home Screen is divided into the following areas:- Vertically down the left hand side of the screen is the Taskbar, with applets for the web browser, communications, and application menu by default, but these can be modified using third party plugins (to provide a favorites menu, or a command menu, for example).
- Horizontally across the top left half is the Menubar, which shows the application name and window title and gives access to the application’s menu (which contains the typical, File, Edit, View, Tools, etc., menus and submenus)
- Horizontally across the top right half is the Statusbar, containing icons such as battery life, wireless connection, volume, Bluetooth, and brightness by default, but these can be expanded using third party plugins in the same manner as the Taskbar.
The remaining large part of the display contains Home applets. This can display data as well as being a shortcut to applications. These include an RSS reader, Internet radio player, Google search box and contact list by default, but can also be expanded with third party plugins. The interface uses either the touch screen, or a directional pad and select button, with separate back, menu, and home buttons. It is capable of two modes of text input: handwriting recognition, and two different sizes of onscreen keyboard, as well as hardware keyboard input with the N810.

The UI in Maemo 5 provides four fully customizable Home screens, called Panorama Desktop. Switching from one desktop to the others is done by sliding one’s finger horizontally on the background. The dashboard is accessed via the upper left icon and shows all the running applications, in a manner similar to the Exposé feature in Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. The application launcher, where all the installed applications can be launched, can be accessed as well from the dashboard by tapping the same area again in the upper left corner of the screen which invokes the dashboard. If no task or application is running in the background, tapping the top left icon skips the dashboard and directly displays the application launcher.

If a user has followed this information and guidance as provided in this guide then he/she would have learnt about Maemo.