OESF Portables Forum
Model Specific Forums => Cosmo Communicator => Cosmo Communicator - Android => Topic started by: drhood on November 23, 2019, 08:49:37 pm
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Received Cosmo Communicator (US/non-Verizon) two days ago. Moved from previous phone to Cosmo today. Noticed a few odd behaviors. Don't know if they are already reported or fixable via a software update.
A. A couple of times, the display (front) panel did not replace 'Planet Computer' with date/time after closing the device. The large inside screen was responsive and appeared to work normally. Restarting the device restored the front panel display to normal behavior. This occurred a couple of times after using the device open for at least 10 minutes and the keyboard for various things (including accessing the Settings). I will be monitoring to see if it occurs again and more specifically the circumstance it occurs.
B. Pressing the Alt + Tab causes the red LED appear to signal all caps is engaged, but this key combination does not disable all caps. Pressing Fn + Tab keys enables and disables all caps. Unclear why Alt + Tab has this effect. It also seems redundant with Fn + Tab.
Note: Per the Cosmo quick guide, the red LED is for all caps or low battery. The B issue occurs regardless of battery.
C. The Cosmo was shipped with a near full battery charge, which is great! The battery drained to 15% with frequent use over the course of the day. It wasn't until the end of the day when I noticed that the keyboard LED's were on the lowest setting. I wondered if the unit was shipped with the keyboard LED light on. Recommend new Cosmo users check that their keyboard LED's are not on when they first receive it by repeatedly pressing the Fn + Shift + B keys. I will be monitoring the battery usage over the next several days.
D. Airmail appears to authenticate email account info in plain text, which Google blocked due to the reduced security. Google did not notify me and the Airmail error message was not very informative. Took me a bit to figure out that I had to go into Google security and make a change for Google to trust the Airmail app (last item in the Google security page, something about insecure app). The inability for Airmail to connect to gmail straightaway may confuse some Cosmo users who wish to use the Airmail app.
I look forward to getting to know the Cosmo over the next months.
Modified by adding note to B clarifying the multiple functionality of the red LED light.
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Display (front) panel has and then loses ability to pause/play media file using a non-Standard media app. I use Antennae Pod to listen to podcasts. When I listen with this App and close the Cosmo, the name of the Antennae Pod app appears on the Display (front) panel with functional pause/play and previous/next track buttons on the front panel display. The Display (front) panel dims and then turn off while the podcast is playing. If I press the top button to turn on the front display panel and the audio of the podcast is still playing, the Antenna Pod 'mini' app is gone (ii.e., must open the Cosmo to pause the audio). It would be nice if the any media app could remain on the front panel display because it is more convenient to pause/play from the front panel compared to opening the Cosmo.
Still enjoying discovering the usefulness of the Cosmo!
Modified to clarify that the issue includes when the audio is playing.
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The keyboard short cut Fn + Alt does not make the Planet app launch bar appear after customizing the launch bar using the Planet App Bar app. It seems as if the Planet app launch bar (a daemon that needs to run in the background?) needs to restart after customizing it (i.e., re-ordering the launch bar apps, removing/adding launch bar app); however, it is unknown how to restart just the Planet launch bar (daemon?). A complete restart of the Android will return functionality of the Planet launch bar. Usability will be better for users if the Fn + Alt short cut will continue to work after customizing the Planet launch bar via the Planet App Bar app.
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Here are some of the issues I've noticed:
1) Fn+A to open app list, then Tab to scroll thru open apps. The first Tab after Fn+A enables Caps (red light) as if I did Fn+Tab, even though the Tab comes after Fn+A. Then subsequent Tabs do what they should - cycle thru the apps.
2) Once in awhile the device will lock (as in go back to the lock screen, not lock up as in freeze/crash). Unlock with fingerprint, then I'm back where I was.
This happens even though no input - didn't push any key, didn't touch screen. For example, while I was reading a book.
3) A lot of apps don't handle landscape well. It is necessary to Fn+Shift+R. Example: first time I ran Weather Underground.
4) Little plastic pieces on the edge of the hinge start to come off. They're small and finicky. I'm thinking of fixing them in place with a tiny bit of resin epoxy applied with a needle point.
5) Cover Display is a bit of a power drain. However, the thing has a big battery so I've just left CoDi on anyways. It lasts a day even if I do, and I've been using it a lot each day 'cos it's new and I'm playing with it lots.
6) Sometimes an app (or CoDi) starts using lots of power. The front screen warms up. Not sure if this is because the issue is with CoDi or if the main processor happens to be around there. The battery graph shows more power being used (steeper slope down) when this happens. Changing apps (not even closing, just changing focused app) seems to resolve it.
7) I had major problems getting my smartwatch (Samsung Gear S2) to pair and stay connected. Solved with the help of folks in this forum (there's a thread about it). TL;DR is completely disable DuraSpeed and also turn off Battery Optimization for the related apps as well as the Bluetooth app (see thread for details).
8) Built-in camera app is terrible. Very basic controls, really bad JPEG compression. On the plus side the camera is actually quite good if you use e.g. OpenCamera. Only issue there is that RAW doesn't seem to work but 90%+ JPEG quality gives good results. I came from a Samsung S8+ and that phone (indeed, most devices) apply color-popping filters when they take pics, so if you want your pics to come out like other devices, you'll have to do the same. OpenCamera works really well on the Cosmo though.
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8) Built-in camera app is terrible. Very basic controls, really bad JPEG compression. On the plus side the camera is actually quite good if you use e.g. OpenCamera. Only issue there is that RAW doesn't seem to work but 90%+ JPEG quality gives good results. I came from a Samsung S8+ and that phone (indeed, most devices) apply color-popping filters when they take pics, so if you want your pics to come out like other devices, you'll have to do the same. OpenCamera works really well on the Cosmo though.
Totally agree. I made OpenCamera my default camera. It works much better. It is somewhat fiddly if you want anything but the defaults, but takes good photos, and has lots of options once you enable API2. I prefer the more natural photos - it is easier to work with the original rather than a "popped" image.
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8) Built-in camera app is terrible. Very basic controls, really bad JPEG compression. On the plus side the camera is actually quite good if you use e.g. OpenCamera. Only issue there is that RAW doesn't seem to work but 90%+ JPEG quality gives good results. I came from a Samsung S8+ and that phone (indeed, most devices) apply color-popping filters when they take pics, so if you want your pics to come out like other devices, you'll have to do the same. OpenCamera works really well on the Cosmo though.
Totally agree. I made OpenCamera my default camera. It works much better. It is somewhat fiddly if you want anything but the defaults, but takes good photos, and has lots of options once you enable API2. I prefer the more natural photos - it is easier to work with the original rather than a "popped" image.
Great posts NorMonkey and vader! I will have to try OpenCamera. Will have to add it to the 'Cosmo Community Recommended Android 9 Apps' list, if it gets created.
Cheers!
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In call dialer not working for me, just had to call vodafone about my broadband and couldn't navigate through the automated system!
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The cover display only lists contacts up to (and including) and names starting with `R` when searching by first letter. Tried restarting the unit and restarting the cover display. I Android and display updates took like silk when updated them.
The Android part (contacts application) is very finicky and only finds certain names based (ready for this?)... Based on capitalization. For example, if you if I search for `war` it pulls up a contact with the the last name of Ward. Capital W and all. If I search with an upper case W, it pulls up the aforementioned name as well as The War Department (wife). If typing `war` in the search bar, it turns up Ward and the corporate attorney`s contact that has "Warren" in the address. "War" brings up all three contacts with the letters "War" in the contact info/name. Same with other names in the contacts. I tried this experiment on my Note 9 and the results returned as expected on that device, showing all of the names containing the searched for letter and letter strings.
Battery life seems OK on this unit. I started using it 40 minutes ago on full brightness (screen and keyboard) and its down to 93 percent from 100 percent. It's not Note 9 life, but I can live with it for now, since the device is usually plugged in when I'm not actively using it.
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Can confirm all of Sath's well-detailed points. In fact, I was just about to post here about the wackadoodle contact search when device is opened. I've seen this complaint in phones other than the Cosmo, so it strikes me as a purely Pie issue.
As for the contact scrolling in the cover display, I can't get close to the end of my 420 contacts and while I don't fail at the R's as Sath does, I have doubles, even quadruples of contacts (though not in Android Contacts proper). Luckily, the cover display properly presents the most-often-used phone numbers.
As for the recent update to the cover display, my first attempt failed, but my second took--anecdotally, I had wifi on, data off, and I kept hitting the shift key so the screen wouldn't blank, though I think the update already prevents that.
Battery life obviously not as good as the Gem's, but I've just received this machine so I don't have a scale yet. So far, I can get through the day, but must recharge at night.
i find the Gem's touch screen to be more accurate than the Cosmo's. For example, scrolling through emails or files in a file manager, the Cosmo scrolling randomly opens or starts those items. That does not happen in the Gem. This issue is with and without the stock screen protector. I have a third-party protector on the Gem and must brood if that would help Cosmo accuracy.
Jake
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D. Airmail appears to authenticate email account info in plain text, which Google blocked due to the reduced security. Google did not notify me and the Airmail error message was not very informative. Took me a bit to figure out that I had to go into Google security and make a change for Google to trust the Airmail app (last item in the Google security page, something about insecure app). The inability for Airmail to connect to gmail straightaway may confuse some Cosmo users who wish to use the Airmail app.
Seriously, plain text authentication?? I haven't used the Airmail app, but a quick glance through the settings doesn't reveal any security level options.
Does anyone else have a comment on this item? If that's really true, nobody should use the Airmail app, for anything. Ever.
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The Android part (contacts application) is very finicky and only finds certain names based (ready for this?)... Based on capitalization.
Can confirm all of Sath's well-detailed points. In fact, I was just about to post here about the wackadoodle contact search when device is opened. I've seen this complaint in phones other than the Cosmo, so it strikes me as a purely Pie issue.
Agreed this issue seems to be related to Pie, as my Google Pixel has been doing it since an update over 6 months ago, running stock Android. Even when capitalizing just like in my address book, it can be impossible to search for a specific contact. I usually just scroll all the way down and choose from the list, it's more predictable that way. Quite frustrating, though. :-\
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D. Airmail appears to authenticate email account info in plain text, which Google blocked due to the reduced security. Google did not notify me and the Airmail error message was not very informative. Took me a bit to figure out that I had to go into Google security and make a change for Google to trust the Airmail app (last item in the Google security page, something about insecure app). The inability for Airmail to connect to gmail straightaway may confuse some Cosmo users who wish to use the Airmail app.
Seriously, plain text authentication?? I haven't used the Airmail app, but a quick glance through the settings doesn't reveal any security level options.
Does anyone else have a comment on this item? If that's really true, nobody should use the Airmail app, for anything. Ever.
Airmail is nothing more than a Re-skinned version of K9 Maill. IIRC it K9 mail is open source but not sure. It is an old piece of software.
The Android part (contacts application) is very finicky and only finds certain names based (ready for this?)... Based on capitalization.
Can confirm all of Sath's well-detailed points. In fact, I was just about to post here about the wackadoodle contact search when device is opened. I've seen this complaint in phones other than the Cosmo, so it strikes me as a purely Pie issue.
Agreed this issue seems to be related to Pie, as my Google Pixel has been doing it since an update over 6 months ago, running stock Android. Even when capitalizing just like in my address book, it can be impossible to search for a specific contact. I usually just scroll all the way down and choose from the list, it's more predictable that way. Quite frustrating, though. :-
Fair enough. No experience with Pie. Thank you for clarifying it may be an Android 9 issue.
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My battery life has been very intermittent. Sometimes it'll last the day and a bit, others it'll drain by 60% within a few hours of not being used.
Also, I can't find a way to enable Android 9's gesture navigtion. For now I've turned the navigation bar off completelly and just do it via keyboard shortcuts.
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Also, I can't find a way to enable Android 9's gesture navigtion. For now I've turned the navigation bar off completelly and just do it via keyboard shortcuts.
Fairly certain Gesture Navigation was not baked into the Cosmo ROM.
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I made OpenCamera my default camera.
How do you make OpenCamera the default camera? I can choose to use OpenCamera from the desktop, but when I choose the camera from the cover display, I think I'm stuck with the Cosmo camera, right?
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Just discovered another odd behaviour.
My built-in Battery Monitor doesn't give app details (I have yet to try a dalvik cache wipe, since I haven't rooted yet and don't know the invocation for recovery mode if there is one)
so I installed the GSam battery monitor.
I have noticed that every once in awhile the front of the device gets really warm.
GSam says that "Phone Services" is the culprit. It keeps waking up for "*telephony-radio*"
I have also noticed that the device NEVER goes into deep sleep or whatever the low-idle state is.
Finally, I noticed that sometimes the Samsung Health app takes a lot of battery. Other times it is quiet. This doesn't seem to correspond to activity - at first I thought it might eat more when I'm walking but I have seen it do this when I'm just sitting on the couch too.
Does anyone have any thoughts about what's up with Phone Services? Anyone seen similar behaviour?
Even weirder: I have a Roku TV and there is a Roku app. Whenever I run it and then close the phone leaving it in the foreground / last thing that was on the screen, the phone gets warm. So, I figured that GSam would say it is Roku using power, right?
Nope, it's Phone Services. Weird. Somehow leaving the Roku app open causes Phone Services to use much power.
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Hello,
unfortunately I must confirm the battery life / power management issues.
In my case they appeared after the first firmware update.
Before the update I only had issues with
1) searching contacts produces too few or no results
2) finger print sensor totally unreliable, even with multiple fingers registered
3) display sometimes locks during use
The top of the device / cover display always feels warm and battery drains about 10% every hour.
Also the Battery saver button in the extended top menu (whats the professional term for this menu in Android?) is no longer functional.
Battery usage details per application no longer work.
Complete reset of the device seems to solve the issue for a few minutes .... after that the Battery Saver icon remains gray and the troubles start all over.
Anyone know how to downgrade? :-)
Regards,
DrW
Just discovered another odd behaviour.
My built-in Battery Monitor doesn't give app details (I have yet to try a dalvik cache wipe, since I haven't rooted yet and don't know the invocation for recovery mode if there is one)
so I installed the GSam battery monitor.
I have noticed that every once in awhile the front of the device gets really warm.
GSam says that "Phone Services" is the culprit. It keeps waking up for "*telephony-radio*"
I have also noticed that the device NEVER goes into deep sleep or whatever the low-idle state is.
Finally, I noticed that sometimes the Samsung Health app takes a lot of battery. Other times it is quiet. This doesn't seem to correspond to activity - at first I thought it might eat more when I'm walking but I have seen it do this when I'm just sitting on the couch too.
Does anyone have any thoughts about what's up with Phone Services? Anyone seen similar behaviour?
Even weirder: I have a Roku TV and there is a Roku app. Whenever I run it and then close the phone leaving it in the foreground / last thing that was on the screen, the phone gets warm. So, I figured that GSam would say it is Roku using power, right?
Nope, it's Phone Services. Weird. Somehow leaving the Roku app open causes Phone Services to use much power.
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2) finger print sensor totally unreliable, even with multiple fingers registered
On mine the fingerprint sensor works fairly well, although I did have to train the same finger twice. I wish we could configure the number of entrainments each finger gets.
Try training the same finger two (or even three, although I only needed two) times.
3) display sometimes locks during use
Mine does this too. Haven't found any info or fix for this.
Also the Battery saver button in the extended top menu (whats the professional term for this menu in Android?) is no longer functional.
I think you're talking about the Quick Settings pull-down menu.
Battery usage details per application no longer work.
I have never seen this work on this phone. I get the battery usage graph but I get "Battery usage data isn't available" for the per-application part. Always have. I read that clearing the dalvik cache from the recovery menu may solve this, but I don't know how to get to the recovery menu (haven't rooted, mine is stock).
However, the GSam Battery Monitor application is giving me useful information.
Anyone know how to downgrade? :-)
Mine seems to have gotten a bit better after the firmware upgrade.
My main battery culprits are:
* Phone services
* Android System
* Samsung Health - I use it for step counting and health metrics from my smart watch. I didn't realize that the Cosmo has a step counter too. It does.
I've also noticed my phone never sleeps, it is always active.
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Hello all.
I neglected to install the update for the Cover Display after installing the OTA Update for Android.
After flashing the latest CODI firmware via the Cover Display assistant the battery issues are gone.
Flashing was not an easy task, though. I got repeated failures and only after resetting, stopping and restarting it finally worked. Apart from that it seems to have flashed twice. Once very slowly over many minutes and the second task within minutes.
Whatever. At least the battery issues are gone.
Regards,
DrW
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The adaptive display brightness regulation is using the rear camera instead of the front one, which often leads to a too dark display when the back of the Cosmo points to a dark area or I accidently put fingers over the camera.
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I get the caps lock thing myself with Alt+Tab.. annoying!
The rear camera is used for ambient light detection? That explains so much - I turned it off as it got so erratic!
Upgrading the CODI firmware is indeed a pain - you have to disable ANYTHING that might send a notification through to the display in normal circumstances, otherwise it'll upset the firmware transfer... and it takes 20-30 minutes to find out if it'll work.
The missing battery usage stats is a pain, though I'm using AccuBattery Pro at the moment which seems to be getting an idea of what's going on - that said, I suspect the Android side of things has no visibility on the power consumption of the cover processor.
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Oh.. and the search thing - I got that problem, contacted Planet.. The default language set by the Planet Keyboard app is wrong. It's like "English, USA (PC)" or similar. You need to select a "plain" English USA or whichever locale you prefer without the PC bit or otherwise NONE of Android's indexing functions will work. They may have fixed this in the latest firmware update, but if not, if you ever go into the Planet keyboard app to reselect your language, you need to go into the Android native language settings and fix it up again there afterwards.
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OK, I've a kept a running log of issues I've observed...
Some of these have been reported, some may have been
fixed with the last update and I need to re-test, but here
goes...
- Cosmo randomly thinks it's being charged when not connected to anything.
Only rebooting will correct the state.
- Occasionally the Cosmo seems to do some sort of reset, loosing recent calls,
activities, running apps are shutdown, etc.
- Cosmo frequently "locks" itself while it is open and in the middle of me doing something.
- Bluetooth on the Cosmo (like the Gemini) is still a mess:
- I try to stream media (ONLY) to my car stereo (Ford Sync)... It can require 5-10
connection attempts from the stereo. Most of the time, if I am quick enough in
telling the stereo to retry (after a fail), then it manages to get connected. Does
this indicate the Cosmo's bluetooth stack is just too slow?
- Turning on earpiece (for only calls/contacts) often kills separate playing media
connection
- Cosmo Keyboard backlight:
- The backlight should come on/off based on front ambient light levels
(if you step into total darkness, it's challenge to turn on the backlight).
- The backlight should turn off/on with screen sleep
(it now stays on when screen sleeps).
- Cosmo outside screen:
- The screen needs to have (at least an option for) a default non-interactive mode!
As it is, when you first close the Cosmo, the outside screen is active and
just putting it in your pocket often causes totally unintended calls, settings
changes, etc. It really sucks to find your phone spent the last few hours in
airplane mode or you answered a call (you didn't want) just pulling phone
from your pocket!
- The "non-interactive" mode should only become interactive on an explicit
(configurable?) action - silver button press, rocker press or screen double- or
triple-tap.
- Is it possible the outside screen remains active when you open it? Occasionally
it seems unintended actions when the Cosmo is opened. Naturally, one can't
see what's happening there when you open the Cosmo.
- The outside screen is frequently very slow to react, then it misinterprets swipes
as selections or just does not respond, etc
- Outside LEDs (on toggle switch) can stop showing - requiring a total restart
(just reseting the outside display fixed nothing)
- Enhancement - When flashlight is on, make silver button turn off the flashlight?
- When answering a call with the Cosmo is in "silver button answers in speaker phone"
mode, it interferes w/ bluetooth calls. You can hear the call ring in your earpiece,
but when the call connects, then it goes to speakerphone mode. It seems like
this functionality should not supercede bluetooth earpiece use.
- Could there be an option to just answer to speaker phone mode if keyboard is open
(& no bluetooth device takes precedence)?
- Why do I frequently see "89" appear in things that recieve text input when I reopen
my Cosmo? ....some sort of leftover debugging code?
- Need an option to simply set which is speaker/mic on exterior vs. the automatic
reorientation switching! ...or have an option not to switch orientation during a call.
It's awfully difficult to carry on a call while holding the phone working on something
- bend over and you essentially loose the call.
- Notes app:
- backup to a local file does not appear to work. You can select a path, then
no backup file is saved and all you can do is cancel out.
- you should be able to set the path where the notes are stored by default.
- The Agenda app:
- should have a setting whether it will involve google maps?
What if you do not want to be spied on??
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OK, I've a kept a running log of issues I've observed...
- Why do I frequently see "89" appear in things that recieve text input when I reopen
my Cosmo? ....some sort of leftover debugging code?
I observed something similar on the Gemini: I'd find a control sequence had been typed when the thing was closed.
Tracked it down to a physical problem. As the keys are proud of the base, they're all pressed down slightly when the lid is closed (hence the need for the very strong magnets to hold it together -- capable of wiping hotel room keycards in seconds), and if the OS doesn't notice quickly enough to turn the keyboard off, it'll sometimes enter spurious characters into the keyboard buffer.
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Oh.. and the search thing - I got that problem, contacted Planet.. The default language set by the Planet Keyboard app is wrong. It's like "English, USA (PC)" or similar. You need to select a "plain" English USA or whichever locale you prefer without the PC bit or otherwise NONE of Android's indexing functions will work. They may have fixed this in the latest firmware update, but if not, if you ever go into the Planet keyboard app to reselect your language, you need to go into the Android native language settings and fix it up again there afterwards.
This helped me a lot. I've been trying to get OK Google to work on my Cosmo for an entire afternoon, but the option to enable it was greyed out. Switching to English US without the PC, fixed that. And it fixed the case sensitive search in Contacts as well. Thanks!
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Thanks all for this thread, I hope Planet Computers will take the time to read it.
Mostly, I agree with PJS' observations (https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=35915&view=findpost&p=293794):- Notes App (pre-installed): Ctrl+left/right changes font size instead of wordwise cursor movement
- Cosmo keyboard: longpress character map should be customizable for more fluid umlaut typing (i.e. characters should be rearrangeable, and a default should be set)
- CODI: opening notifcation and then opening the device clamshell should also open corresponding app
- keyboard backlight should turn off when main display turns off (has been reported already)
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Some keyboard shortcuts on the Dvorak layout are off. For example, Shift+Fn+R should rotate the screen, but it's mapped to Shift+Fn+P instead. Likewise, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V are mapped to other keys as well (Ctrl+K and Ctrl+X resp.).
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Some keyboard shortcuts on the Dvorak layout are off. For example, Shift+Fn+R should rotate the screen, but it's mapped to Shift+Fn+P instead. Likewise, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V are mapped to other keys as well (Ctrl+K and Ctrl+X resp.).
Shortcuts in Vivaldi are messed up simarirly (i.e. Ctrl + T is mapped to Ctrl + Y instead).
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Where can I report bugs to Planet again?
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Where can I report bugs to Planet again?
http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/C...Troubleshooting (http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/Cosmo_Troubleshooting)
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Where can I report bugs to Planet again?
http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/C...Troubleshooting (http://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php/Cosmo_Troubleshooting)
Thanks!
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So this thread started back in november. I was looking through it, and it seems everything that was reported here still applies. None of the hopes for fixes in updates materialized yet (if you do not count half/full broken v.20, which is not even available any more). Instead, we get announcement of a new next gen product that makes the cosmo comm obsolete already. Feels kind of sad, isn't it?