science

GPE Palmtop Environment

GPE Palmtop Environment is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GPE Palmtop Environment rather than just read about it. In short: GPE (a recursive acronym for GPE Palmtop Environment) is a discontinued graphical user interface environment for handheld computers, such as palmtops and personal digital assistants (PDAs), running some Linux kernel-based operating system. GPE is a complete environment of software components and applications which makes it possible to use a Linux handheld for tasks such as personal information management (PIM), audi…

Key takeaways

GPE Palmtop Environment belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GPE Palmtop Environment to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GPE Palmtop Environment from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

GPE (a recursive acronym for GPE Palmtop Environment) is a discontinued graphical user interface environment for handheld computers, such as palmtops and personal digital assistants (PDAs), running some Linux kernel-based operating system. GPE is a complete environment of software components and applications which makes it possible to use a Linux handheld for tasks such as personal information management (PIM), audio playback, email, and web browsing. GPE is free and open-source software, subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) or the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

Supported devices GPE is bundled with embedded Linux distributions targeting the following platforms:

Sharp Zaurus Hewlett-Packard iPAQ Hewlett-Packard Jornada 72x Siemens SIMpad SL4 In addition, GPE maintainers and the open source community are developing ports for additional devices:

GamePark Holdings GP2x Nokia 770 Nokia N800 Palm TX Palm Treo 650 HTC Universal HTC Typhoon HTC Tornado HTC Wizard HTC Apache On February 5, 2007, The GPE project announced GPE Phone Edition, a new variant of GPE developed for mobile phones.

Software components

GPE does not have any of the GNOME Core Applications, but instead software was written from scratch, tailored to the embedded environment. GPE is based on GTK+, and because GTK+ did not gain support for Wayland until versions 3.10, GPE uses X11 as its windowing system, e.g. with the combination X.Org Server/Matchbox. The project provides an infrastructure for easy and powerful application development by providing core software such as shared libraries, database schemata, and building on available technology including SQLite, D-BUS, GStreamer and several of the more common standards defined by freedesktop.org. One of the major goals of the GPE project is to encourage people to work on free software for mobile devices and to experiment with writing a GUI for embedded devices. Some of the applications already developed for GPE include:

GPE-Contacts - A contacts manager GPE-Calendar - The calendar application GPE-Edit - A simple text editor GPE-Filemanager - A file manager with MIME type and remote access support GPE-Gallery - Small and easy to use image viewer GPE-Games - A small collection of tiny games GPE-Mini-Browser - A CSS and JavaScript compatible compact web browser GPE-Sketchbook - Create notes and sketches GPE-Soundbite - A voice memo tool GPE-ToDo - A task list manager GPE-Timesheet - Track time spend on tasks Starling - A GStreamer based audio player GPE's PIM applications (GPE-Contacts, GPE-Calendar, GPE-ToDo) can be synchronized with their desktop and web counterparts (such as Novell Evolution, Mozilla Sunbird and Google Calendar) through the use of GPE-Syncd and the OpenSync framework. GPE also contains a number of GUI utilities for configuring 802.11 Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, IrDA, Firewall, ALSA, Package Management, among others. A mobile push e-mail client based on the Tinymail framework is in development.

Linux distributions

GPE can be found as a primary environment in the following embedded Linux distributions:

OpenEmbedded (ex OpenZaurus) Ångström Familiar Linux Though it may not be as highly supported as the distributions listed above, GPE is also available through package management utilities in the following distributions:

Ubuntu Debian Internet Tablet OS

Controversy There are ongoing controversies surrounding the GPE project regarding a change of hosting service, ownership of an IRC channel, and a trademark dispute.

Web hosting Serious issues first began developing over a proposed change of hosting service. GPE had been hosted at Handhelds.org since April 2002. Some of GPE's developers suggested, and later followed through with, a move to Linuxtogo.org Archived 2006-08-28 at the Wayback Machine by October 2006. Handhelds.org responded by removing the user accounts of the departing developers, and any links or reference to the new GPE Linuxtogo.org location on the original GPE Handhelds.org site.

Trademark George France, has filed for trademark registration with the USPTO for GPE, in addition to OPIE and Ipkg as of March 6, 2007. On June 25, 2007, the USPTO declined to accept a screenshot of the Handhelds.org GPE website as proof of Handhelds.org's ownership, and in addition requested a better specimen for a “GPE product”. Handhelds.org, and OSI board member Russ Nelson, assert that the GPE project was given over to Handhelds.org for public development. The GPE developers working at Linuxtogo.org maintain that they represent the active GPE project, and Handhelds.org was only a hosting provider. Furthermore, they point out that the GPE project existed before it was hosted on Handhelds.org. The USPTO issued a final rejection regarding the GPE trademark on February 27, 2008. George France amended the application (removing references to GNU and Linux). The GPE trademark was officially published for opposition June 3, 2008. Despite George France's impending personal GPE trademark, the core GPE development team at Linuxtogo.org has abandoned much of the Handhelds.org GPE infrastructure. Linuxtogo.org developers have switched GPE to a new bootloader and replaced IPKG with OPKG, and made major changes to the GPE gui applications. The Trademark of GPE was registered to George France on Aug 19, 2008 by the USPTO.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GPE Palmtop Environment

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GPE Palmtop Environment claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GPE Palmtop Environment before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GPE Palmtop Environment ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GPE Palmtop Environment

In research: GPE Palmtop Environment appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GPE Palmtop Environment in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GPE Palmtop Environment is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Desktop environments based on GTK, Embedded Linux, Graphical user interfaces, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GPE Palmtop Environment outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GPE Palmtop Environment in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GPE Palmtop Environment means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GPE Palmtop Environment out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GPE Palmtop Environment in simple terms?

Why does GPE Palmtop Environment matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GPE Palmtop Environment?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GPE Palmtop Environment.