Messages

1

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Re: Cosmo lower half teardown procedure

« on: December 09, 2020, 12:13:33 am »

dTal, I am also having some keyboard problems.

How did you get Planet to send you a new keyboard?

Thanks!

2

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Sharp corners when Cosmo is open

« on: December 25, 2019, 06:48:56 pm »

Also, I wish it were smaller.  The longest dimension is quite long for me; if it were shorter it would be easier to hold and type (or thumb-type).   I'd take a smaller screen to get that (ducks, runs....)

<Bumps into shuntcap... again> I hear you. I'm still using my LG D520 (Optimus F3Q) qwerty slider. I have seven qwerty sliders from the 2011-2012 era. They're all much smaller than the Cosmo, Gemini, or Pro1.  I backed the Cosmo... it sits unopened.  I backed the Gemini... it sits in a window working as a backup LTE gateway (with flawless uptime, by the way). The Gemini was quite large but nice on a table, though the lack of a backlit keyboard was a big issue for me. That said, the Cosmo and Gemini have a huge advantage over other phones (including the Pro1 probably) in that they will not accidentally turn from accidental button presses while in your pocket or when you pull them out.

I can actually thumb-type on the Gemini (and on the Cosmo I would assume), but the lack of sticky keys makes shifting just about impossible if the device isn't on a table.  Let me clarify that: Android needs sticky modifier keys (Shift, Alt, Fn, Ctrl) that are designed to stick once when pressed, not the "sticky" repeating keys related to quality control errors on the Cosmo!

I completely agree.  I was also using an FQ3 for many years (and a Droid3 before that).  Trouble is, the phone functions of the F3Q weren't working so well, some apps stopped working (probably a library upgrade not compatible with the now-very-old Android version, but that's just a guess.  Then, a few weeks before my Cosmo arrived, my F3Q failed completely -- endless rebooting but never actually finishing the boot process and becoming usable.  (Fortunately, this happened a few hours after I ran a backup!)

If I could have had the outer physical features of the F3Q and the inner workings of the Cosmo, that would be great.

3

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Hardware layout: battery, main screen hardware

« on: December 21, 2019, 10:49:41 pm »

https://www.amazon.com/Charmast-Smallest-Po...e/dp/B07L931FCY

That claimes "MTK PE"... no idea what version. no idea if this is a reputible brand. ijust got one. it seems nice so far and chargest the cosmo quickly. i dont think i have to tools to get the data you need though.

EDIT: Reading the manual, "Type-C and USB outputs are compatible with ...MTK PE 1.1/2.0..." and a whole lot of others. it does charge the cosmo up pretty fast... but I dont really hve anything to copare it to other than the stock charger.

Thanks!  

Maybe I could combine that with a QC or PD car charger and "make" a PE car charger.  ;-)

4

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Sharp corners when Cosmo is open

« on: December 21, 2019, 10:02:19 pm »

I got the Cosmo mainly for the keyboard, but I think I'd have preferred a slider approach.  <Ducks, runs....>

<Bumps into shuntcap> ... Check out the F(x)tec Pro1 at https://www.fxtec.com/.  That has a slider keyboard with a great deal more keys than the Gemini/Cosmo, but doesn't look quite as comfortable for touch typing on a table surface.  Think of an oversized QWERTY Motorola Droid or LG slider phone with a tilting display.  F(x)tec has had a number of production and shipping setbacks, but it looks like they're finally making progress in shipping devices.

I saw that back when I was deciding whether or not to buy (er, "back") the Cosmo.  It seemed to be farther from release and way more expensive at the time.

My real issue is not clamshell vs. slider as such, it's just when and where I can type.  The Cosmo is a bit difficult to handle when I don't have a surface to put it on.  It's hard to hold it and type on it at the same time.

Also, I wish it were smaller.  The longest dimension is quite long for me; if it were shorter it would be easier to hold and type (or thumb-type).   I'd take a smaller screen to get that (ducks, runs....)

5

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / What type of (car) charger should I buy?

« on: December 16, 2019, 08:11:50 pm »

I don't see any chargers for sale advertising compatibility with Pump Express. They are all either QC or USB-PD. Are either or both of these compatible with Pump Express? Do I just have to match volts and amps? How do I know if the Cosmo can negotiate the volts and amps it wants with the charger?

So my question is, ewhat type of charger should I buy (yes, I can use the stock charger, but I also want a car charger, and probably a multiport-charger....)? This is my first device with USB>2 charging, so I haven't had to learn about this yet, and what I read is confusing.

Thanks!

Since you already asked the same thing in another thread, I replied to that there: www.oesf.org/index.php?act=findpost&pid=293588. Basically, as Pump Express + is as common as hens teeth, and not compatible with either QC or USB-PD, any 5V ~2A USB charger of reasonable quality is the next best.

Thanks very much for the detailed answer at that link.  (I posted a new topic because I was afraid the question would be regarded as off-topic in that other thread.  If that was a breach of forum etiquette, I apologize.)

6

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Hardware layout: battery, main screen hardware

« on: December 16, 2019, 07:50:40 pm »

This is really a separate topic, but from the above I bet you know the answer:  What type of charger should I buy (yes, I can use the stock charger, but I also want a car charger, and probably a multiport-charger....)?  This is my first device with USB>2 charging, so I haven't had to learn about this yet, and what I read is confusing. I don't see any chargers for sale advertising compatibility with Pump Express.  They are all either QC or USB-PD.  Are either or both of these compatible with Pump Express?  Do I just have to match volts and amps?  How do I know if the Cosmo can negotiate the volts and amps it wants with the charger?
Thanks!

Summary: Any 5V ~2A USB charger from a reputable brand will be OK.

Details: For non-USB chargers, it's really important to match the voltage, polarity and connector, and to make sure the charger (and cable) can deliver enough current (enough Ampere). It's usually not a problem if the charger can supply more current, but there may be exceptions to that. Luckily, USB simplifies those things a bit, but adds other complexities...

Any USB charger for a car or mains power must support the original standard of 5V and 0.5A. That will work with any USB-charging smartphone, including the Cosmo, but a full charge would probably take a the whole night or more. For keeping a smartphone topped up, a basic 5V, 0.5A charger should be OK, as the phone draws very little current when its nearly fully charged.

The next step up for you, is any USB charger that can give ~2A (at 5V), because that's approximately as much current as a Gemini or Cosmo can draw, when the battery is close to empty. It's no problem if the charger can supply more current (say, 3A or 5A), as the phone will only draw as much current as it wants. It might be a good idea to check that the USB cable used can handle 2A. Otherwise it might cause a voltage drop, making the charging unnecessarily slow. Using a cable rated for more current, is totally fine, thought it might be a bit clumsier and more expensive, for, in this case, no real gain.

USB Fast Chargers that can supply more than 5V will always start at 5V and will only increase the voltage if the phone tells it to. Thus it's harmless to use a USB Fast charger supporting the wrong fast charging standard for you phone. The charger will just not understand what the phone says, and will stay at 5V.

While newer versions of fast charging standards, such as QC 4.0 (Quick Charge, created by Qualcomm - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Charge) and Pump Express 3.0/4.0 (created by MediaTek) are more or less compatible with USB-PD (USB Power Delivery, the "official" standard - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#PD), the Gemini and Cosmo uses Pump Express + (basically version 1.0), which is both old and uncommon, so unless you can find a car charger with support for Pump Express +, your next best option would be any 5V ~2A USB  Charger.  That's what I'm using most of the time, as it works decently with almost any phone or tablet charging via USB (laptops charging via USB, usually requires some version of USB-PD to get enough power to even begin charging).

While, at places like aliexpress, there is plenty of chargers being advertised as supporting Pump Express, BEWARE, as there's usually no certain way to tell safe, sane chargers apart from dangerous junk. Usually they doesn't specify which version of Pump Express they support, anyway, so chances are that, even if they're safe, they will be no better than a plain 5V ~2A USB charger. If, on the other hand, you can find a charger specifically supporting Pump Express + from a reputable brand, please post a link here on OESF. Best of luck.

Edit: Oh, and, if using a Pump Express + charger in the left-hand side port of a Cosmo or Gemini, it will ask for 9V at ~1.7 (when the battery is close to empty) and thus charges at around 9 x 1.7A = 15W. The Planet Computers chargers also supports, per the Pump Express + standard, 7V and 12V, but I've never seen my Gemini ask for it, and I don't think the Cosmo does either. I've heard that the right-hand port of a Cosmo only supports regular (5V) charging, and will, presumably not ask for more, regardless of charger. A Gemini won't changer at all from its right-hand port (but if I plug a charger in there, it still draws a few hundred mA, so it's doing something).

Thanks very much for the detailed response.  It's unfortunate, but I guess I'll still with my "old" USB2 5v/2.4A charger for now.  Thanks!

7

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / What type of (car) charger should I buy?

« on: December 15, 2019, 12:36:50 pm »

I don't see any chargers for sale advertising compatibility with Pump Express. They are all either QC or USB-PD. Are either or both of these compatible with Pump Express? Do I just have to match volts and amps? How do I know if the Cosmo can negotiate the volts and amps it wants with the charger?

So my question is, ewhat type of charger should I buy (yes, I can use the stock charger, but I also want a car charger, and probably a multiport-charger....)? This is my first device with USB>2 charging, so I haven't had to learn about this yet, and what I read is confusing.

Thanks!

8

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Hardware layout: battery, main screen hardware

« on: December 14, 2019, 09:24:36 pm »

While I haven't yet received my Cosmo, its battery also sits under the keyboard. Planet Computers has stated they're reusing the same size and type of battery for the Cosmo, and there's nowhere else it would fit. They also need to put as much of the weight in the bottom as possible. Further, when I charge my Gemini, the top, but, thus far, not the bottom, tends to get a bit warm, even though the Gemini battery clearly is below the keyboard.

As the Gemini and, I suspect, the Cosmo, uses Pump Express + (aka 1.0), a rather primitive fast charging solution, even by 2016 standards, it can only ask the charger for 5, 7, 9 or 12 volts, and I've never seen my Gemini ask for anything but 5 or 9. Feeding 9V to a single Li-Ion cell would cause fireworks, so a DC/DC converter, making clever use of tiny capacitors to "transform" direct current, converts the voltage into what the battery needs at the moment, which changes a bit, as the battery charges. That conversion is a bit lossy, so that chip, apparently in the lid, may get noticeably warm.

For reference, Pump Express 3.0 and 4.0 can set the wall wart voltage in about 0.02V increments and can even measure the cable used, so it can ask for exactly the correct voltage at any time. That requires a more costly voltage converter in the charger (and you still need one in the phone, for 5V only chargers), but when fast charging such a device, voltage conversion losses should mostly happen in the wall wart end, not in the device being charged.

Using the app AndroSensor (just what I had on my Gemini) the small oval, with two tiny lenses, acts as a combined light and proximity sensor. Shining a bright LED onto it registers high lux readings, while covering, even when reading 0 lux, causes the proximity value to drop from 1 to 0 (the only values it knows). My readings are a bit finicky, but that might depend on the age of the app. It says both sensors are from MTK, which should mean MediaTek, so it's likely a standard sensor in their reference designs. Whether the Cosmo actually uses it, is unknown to me. I do know that the auto brightness on my Gemini is too hit and miss to be useful for me. I might sit in a dark place, but the sensor may stare right into a small overhead LED light, and think full brightness is called for. Or, if the rear of my Gemini is facing the sun, but I have a dark corridor behind me, it may drop the brightness to nothing.

This is really a separate topic, but from the above I bet you know the answer:  What type of charger should I buy (yes, I can usehe stock charger, but I also want a car charger, and probably a multiport-charger....)?  This is my first device with USB>2 charging, so I haven't had to learn about this yet, and what I read is confusing.

I don't see any chargers for sale advertising compatibility with Pump Express.  They are all either QC or USB-PD.  Are either or both of these compatible with Pump Express?  Do I just have to match volts and amps?  How do I know if the Cosmo can negotiate the volts and amps it wants with the charger?

Thanks!

9

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Sharp corners when Cosmo is open

« on: December 11, 2019, 12:41:30 pm »

Mine's a marked improvement on the Gemini, which bit me on several occasions: getting the soft, fleshy parts of a finger trapped between the case and the cover when snapping the thing shut really *hurts*.

I've never had a Gemini.  With the Cosmo, the problem is mainly when I have to hold it in both hands because there's no place to put it down, or when I put it on a table with a tablecloth.

I got the Cosmo mainly for the keyboard, but I think I'd have preferred a slider approach.  <Ducks, runs....>

10

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Sharp corners when Cosmo is open

« on: December 11, 2019, 11:29:20 am »

Has anyone else noticed that the corners of the hinge are very sharp when the Cosmo is open?  I keep cutting my fingers on it, and it snags when it put it down on certain surfaces.

I've been thinking of filing the corners a bit to make them less sharp.  Does anyone have a better idea?

11

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Rooting the Cosmo Communicator

« on: December 08, 2019, 09:29:44 pm »

We'll know when the Planet Computers solution of rooting is published.

Is that definitely ‘when’, rather than ‘if’?  Have they said anything on the issue?

(My Cosmo is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, but I won't be able to set it up and transfer everything from my Gemini without having rooted Android…  At first glance, the above posts looks pretty daunting; I'd be much happier if Planet provided downloadable firmware for the Cosmo, the way they did for the Gemini — after a lot of pain, I know how to use that!)

It's not as bad as it looks above. That was mostly just work when we were figuring out how to get root working. Right now the process is just to unlock the bootloader (which will wipe the device) & either backup & modify your own boot.img from the device, or use the already Magisk'ed one that ZimbiX has posted.

I'm waiting for those recovery images too. Hopefully will have some time this weekend to make a proper backup, so I have something to restore if I ended up doing harm to my device with root. That's part of the reason I haven't done anything crazy with root right now.

Hi owners, FYI Bootloader Unlock is in Developer Options.

Tap on Build Number in About Phone.

Also need to then boot to the bootloader & run `fastboot flashing unlock`. The button(s) in the fingerprint scanner worked as volume keys to confirm I wanted to unlock (& wipe the device in the process).

I'm having trouble getting this to work.  I did do the bootloader unlock procedure above.  When I boot to the bootloader and run `fastboot flashing unlock` it hangs with  `< waiting for any device >`.

Also, `fastboot devices` returns a blank line, and `adb devices` returns what appears to be a device identifer, followed by the word `unauthorized`.  

For what it's worth, when I boot into regular Android, `adb devices` returns the device code and the word `device` -- meaning the devices is apparently `authorized` after a normal boot, but not in bootloader.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

I had the same Problems, found the solution with some help.

You need to install Google USB Drivers.

If that doesent help, reboot to fastboot and go to your device manager.

Locate your cosmo (For me it said it cant find driver, and was just namend "Android")

Update the driver through the driver manager, and select the google ubs driver (download it manually if needed)

If it cant autodetect it, select it manually and choose "Bootloader Interface"

After thet you should be able to use fastboot command.

Kind Regards,
Ignatz

Ignatz,

Thanks for the ideas.  I tried to post a reply several days ago, but apparently it didn't get through.

I found what I thought were Google USB drivers here:  https://developer.android.com/studio/run/win-usb

And I tried to install them using the instructions here:  https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oe...nstallingDriver (for Win10).

The install utility always said that I already had "the most up to date drivers" installed, and when I told it to install anyway (even using the "Have disk" option to point it to the right place) kept insisting that there weren't any drivers there.

So, I am back where I started.

--Robert

12

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Rooting the Cosmo Communicator

« on: November 28, 2019, 10:19:36 am »

We'll know when the Planet Computers solution of rooting is published.

Is that definitely ‘when’, rather than ‘if’?  Have they said anything on the issue?

(My Cosmo is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, but I won't be able to set it up and transfer everything from my Gemini without having rooted Android…  At first glance, the above posts looks pretty daunting; I'd be much happier if Planet provided downloadable firmware for the Cosmo, the way they did for the Gemini — after a lot of pain, I know how to use that!)

It's not as bad as it looks above. That was mostly just work when we were figuring out how to get root working. Right now the process is just to unlock the bootloader (which will wipe the device) & either backup & modify your own boot.img from the device, or use the already Magisk'ed one that ZimbiX has posted.

I'm waiting for those recovery images too. Hopefully will have some time this weekend to make a proper backup, so I have something to restore if I ended up doing harm to my device with root. That's part of the reason I haven't done anything crazy with root right now.

Hi owners, FYI Bootloader Unlock is in Developer Options.

Tap on Build Number in About Phone.

Also need to then boot to the bootloader & run `fastboot flashing unlock`. The button(s) in the fingerprint scanner worked as volume keys to confirm I wanted to unlock (& wipe the device in the process).

I'm having trouble getting this to work.  I did do the bootloader unlock procedure above.  When I boot to the bootloader and run `fastboot flashing unlock` it hangs with  `< waiting for any device >`.

Also, `fastboot devices` returns a blank line, and `adb devices` returns what appears to be a device identifer, followed by the word `unauthorized`.  

For what it's worth, when I boot into regular Android, `adb devices` returns the device code and the word `device` -- meaning the devices is apparently `authorized` after a normal boot, but not in bootloader.

Any ideas?

Thanks!