Topics

1

Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Some notes and impressions

« on: November 06, 2021, 01:21:42 am »

Since October 2021, I am a (proud?) owner of a new Cosmo Communicator. SInce I had Gemini PDA for two years or so, these notes will be written with an implicit reference to the Gemini. This is going to be a random list of notes without any overall structure.

I specifically wanted a US keyboard layout - when the package came, I unwrapped it to reveal an US plug charger - well, I had not thought about this. But nevermind, I was not planning to use the original charger anyway… Then I turned my attention to the second box I received, almost as big as the one with Cosmo. And  in that box, carefully padded, completely unordered, was an EU  plug charger… kudos to the
Planet for their foresight.

Anyway, I am using (since the Gemini time) this beast:  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000298379442.html and it charges the Cosmo (and Gemini) maybe by ⅓ slower than the original one, but the Cosmo gets significantly less hot during the charging (random non-turbo old USB chargers charge it in many, many hours).

Ledison does not seem to work at all. I could see a use of flashing patterns on the CODI (without the CODI running) for some announcements, but  this is not something I cannot live without.
There seem to be no manual describing various LEDs on the CODI anyway.

CODI makes it OK (not great) to use the Cosmo as a phone in one-handed operation. However, there are other situations where you really need to use the *smart* phone aspects one handed - most prominent using GPS and a navigation software of your choice when going somewhere, but these days also buying public transport tickets (which you can do while walking to the bus stop, holding your average Android phone in one hand - but not with the Cosmo), showing QR codes everywhere (loyalty cards,boarding passes, COVID pass…) etc.

What I miss is a kind of VNC-like software running on the CODI, mirroring the main screen. Even if scaled or panning and in slow frame rate - for emergency or casual use, I can see it quite convenient. Failing that, is there a picture browser on the CODI? That would help at least with  the QR codes. However, I guess this is moot with the development of the Astro Slide (Planet should have opensourced the CODI software, really - after all, they are aiming a bit at the geek be and Linux community).

The keyboard, compared to my previous Gemini, feels a bit inferior - the keys have a little bit more “plastic” feel,  they are less “springy”, almost as if the membrane were a bit thinner. While on Gemini the keys produced a dull “thud”, on Cosmo they produce a plastic “click” which contributes to a slightly toyish and cheaper feel.
But the keyboard works well, only sometimes I see double “l” letter, and the “a” sometimes stays stuck after opening the lid. Both are infrequent enough not to bother me much so far. Obviously, the build  quality deteriorated - or I had an exceptionally high quality Gemini specimen?

After upgrading the firmware to v25, upgrading CODI took several tries, all on Airplane mode & Do not disturb - but finally it flashed the firmware OK.

Unfortunately, battery usage (Settings→Battery→⋮→Battery usage) says
“Battery usage data isn’t available” and I have no idea how to fix that. This means I do not see which applications drain the battery. I made sure
settings_battery_display_app_list (in Settings→System→Advanced→Developer options→Feature flags) is on, but it did not help.
GSam Battery Monitor seems to work, though.

With CODI enabled, if the COSMO is closed, CODI turns off its display in a minute or so of no activity. However, CODI kept turning itself on again every few minutes - the culprit was BatteryBot, obviously it was updating its notification every few minutes (apparently, when the battery level changed). Disabling notifications for BatteryBot solved the issue. Anyway, BatteryBot is somewhat unnecessary anymore, finally it is possible to turn on the percentage indicator without any helper apps.

As with the Gemini, the Navigation bar buttons are GIANT. There is now an option to hide the bar, but since the button *are* useful, I’d like to keep them. Setting Settings→System→Advanced→Developer options→Smallest width to some large number helps, but then the font inside Agenda gets comparably smaller. And if I set the size of the buttons to be comfortably small, the Agenda day numbers will be unreadable (in the Monthly view), and Control-arrows change the font size only in the left column…. sigh. In the end I settled down on 508 as a compromise.
Previously (on the Gemini) I used SecondScreen overscan to hide part of the buttons, but it has its own problems - like hiding the rightmost edge of fullscreen apps.

2

Cosmo Communicator - CoDi / CODI battery life

« on: October 25, 2021, 06:48:58 am »

Since I have read a lot of negative views on CODI and its unusability, and since I am considering using Cosmo as my main phone, I decided to measure (unscientifically) the impact of several settings on battery life.

The software is already somewhat customized: the Cosmo is rooted, however I am booting a non-root partition. I installed KISS launcher, Opera, termux, F-Droid, set up airmail (without automatic synchronization), Greenify (in non root mode without ADB permissions). Ledison is disabled (does not seem to be working, anyway).

In Settings→Cosmo Settings I turned on “Switch OFF cover display on power down”, though the description is a bit confusing (does the “Power down” refer to powering off the Cosmo, or just putting it to sleep mode?).

In Setting→System Developer options→Background check I turned off F-Droid.
In Play Store, I turned off Autoupdate and everything begining with auto-*

I also disabled Wifi control for all the applications  in Settings→Apps & notifications→Special app access.

Standby Intelligent Power Saving has been on, bluetooth, NFC has been turned off. Greenify was used to kill all the background processes just before closing the lid.

Codi ON means the CODI has been turned on from the notification area; the display has been kept off (probably) all the time, there were no incoming calls nor SMS.

Cosmo has been fully charged and after 12 hours of rest (closed lid), I looked at the remaining battery pecentage.

• airplane mode (i.e. the red LED is on), codi off, everything else off: 95%
• airplane mode (i.e. the red LED is on), codi off, wifi ON, everything else off: 93%
• wifi ON, mobile network 4G ON, codi off: 94%
• airplane mode (i.e. the red LED is on), codi  ON, wifi off, everything else off: 78%

When the airplane mode is ON, a red LED on the CODI lights on, and I haven’t found a way to turn it off - I have a bad feeling it drains the battery a bit, though the numbers are close enough to the measuring error to be conclusive (compare 2 & 3 above).

The results when CODI is on frankly suck (I actually repeated it twice, to be sure) - instead of about 5%, it drained 22% of the battery in the same timespan. This suggests either some serious power saving issues, or the CODI CPU&chipset is more power hungry than expected or incapable of deep sleep. At this point, Planet would have done better if they connected the cover display as a secondary screen of the mail CPU, not a separate CPU & OS - but then again, it is probably not possible with the Mediatek (or other common) chipset. Perhaps a (scaled down with some circuitry?) copy of the main screen would have been doable - or perhaps not.

Anyway, this isprobably moot with the Astroslide.

3

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / Some notes about the GEMINI

« on: October 24, 2021, 09:25:25 am »

I started to write these notes when I received my Gemini PDA in 2019, then I kind of stopped. Recently (fall 2021) I unearthed the notes (even though unfinished) and I am posting them just for the sake of historical interest, to have them online and searchable - though I guess the notes about the keyboard are equally valid for Cosmo and Astroslide (I have a Cosmo now).

These are just some unorganized notes about Gemini PDA. It's not a review, just a collection of my impressions and misgivings.

I am reasonably satisfied with the device. though there are some unexpected gripes.

Hardware


Removing the cover to insert sim and microSD - seriously? Having to use a separate piece of metal to open the unit? Though I could probably use a flat screwdriver.

Keyboard is nice. Size of the keys is comparable to those of Asus Eee 701 fame, though the Gemini keys feel a bit more wobbly and less "springy" - it's not better, not worse, just different. It's not really quiet, though - at least compared with my old Sony VAIO P.

Open display has only one fixed position. This kind of sucks. I expected a notebook-like adjustable hinge. Failing that, I am sometimes missing the 90° position.

There are no raised bumps on the f and j keys, for tactile feedback.

More than once I wished for keyboard backlight. Unfortunately, the keys are compressed by the screen when closed, thus I am reluctant to use fluorescent paint on them.

For the same reason I am reluctant to make bumps at the f&j keys (glueing something or marking it with a hot soldering gun)

Software

I am disappointed with Linux support - I expected a fully working device, with X11. Proper open computer would allow us to compile the kernel easily, boot from SD, etc... Even with binary blobs it would be better than using libhybris and/or one fixed precompiled kernel version. At this point, Planet could have created a (perhaps bluetooth) keyboard only with a groove or cradle to put your 6" rooted Android phone into and it would be an even better and more usable combination than the Gemini is.

Currently, Planet seems to aim towards recreating Psion experience (see Airmail. Data, App bar), which is.... OK I guess, if you are a former Psion user. And it makes sense to run the software on top of Android, you get a well known almost mature OS with a ton of applications. However, it deviates from the original expectation of an open Linux machine.

Launcher

Built in launcher is OKish. But Nova launcher, once properly configured is much, much better. With Nova launcher. though, you do not need the App bar.

Both KISS launcher and TUI launcher are quite nice and well suited for Gemini, but they are not well integrated with the keyboard - e.g. you cannot use the keyboard to cycle through application matches in the TUI launcher (one would expect to use TAB for this...)

Keyboard input

The layout copies the old Psion one. It is reasonably OK if you type predominantly English texts, though the need to use Fn combination to type the apostrophe is less than optimal.

Unfortunately, you cannot easily change the  layout - though there are ways to modify the Gemini keyboard app, but this is tedious and requires some skills. Planet should have opensourced the keyboard application.

By holding a key. you can input several variants of the letter - e.g. holding s pops up a dialogue where you can select one of ßšşŝ. Nice touch having the ŝ, but OTOH long pressing h does not allow you to select ĥ. And there is no ś. You can choose the letters either by tapping it on the screen, or by typing the number displayed. So far so good, for an occasional character this is OK (but totally unsuitable for typing in your accented language).

However, this means long pressing d in vim cannot be used to quickly delete a whole region anymore. What's even worse, these long presses emit Shift, Left Arrow, the accented letter - which again, does not produce the desired effect in vim. Why not generate backspace+the accented letter?

And there is an inconsistency, e.g. š, ň, č is the second letter, but ž the first one, and there is no way to type ľ.
The order of diacritic marks should have been consistent, and a compose key would be preferable to a long press (why not reuse e.g. standalone press of right shift to be a compose? see xcape from the X11 world).

What Gemini desperately needs is an input method that would e.g. in German mode produce ä when the keys a e are entered within a (short) time span, ss would produce ß, etc. In e.g. Croatian mode, dj would produce đ, cj ć, cx č etc. In Danish mode, aa would produce å, ae would produce æ.

There are such applications for Android, but only for Korean Hangul, and of course not configurable ones. Almost all existing keyboard input methods are aimed towards touchscreens.

4

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Gemini keyboard self-destruction

« on: August 06, 2021, 06:45:05 am »

I have been quite a content (with some exceptions) owner of Gemini for about 2.5 years, but I am afraid this period is coming to an end.
Keys on my Gemini suddenly started to fall out. First, unexpectedly, the letter M (I lost the keycap first, but I found it). Small experimentation shows that just slight upward pressure with a fingernail is enough to pop other keys out. I am not aware of any (recent) mistreatment - the only unusual activity was that I cleaned the keyboard (only the surface of the keycaps, without dismantling them) with isopropylalcohol (and some of that got inside. Did that cause keyboard matrix swelling or keycaps shrinking? But the keyboard looks great, typing is still easy.

To make a point, I decided to write this message on the Gemini itself - first, G and H fell out, then B and the spacebar (this was still held in place by the metal clips). After a hiatus week or so, some keycaps fall out when opening the lid.

Now, what can be done? Probably nothing. While typing is possible, it is no longer comfortable. Especially in these temperatures, the keycaps have the tendency to stick to slightly sweaty fingertips. I am afraid I will lose a keycap or two and that will be the end of it. I tried to pry open (with a screwdriver) the notch that holds the keycap, but the plastic seems to be too tough and I am afraid to break it
If the margins around the keyboards were wider, I might try to glue some webbing (bugscreen? piece of a curtain?). Or I might try to superglue the keycaps to the keyboard assembly. Purely as a temporary measure while I am waiting for the Astroslide (though I started to worry the keyboard is going to have similar problems - OTOH, I haven’t seen any report about anything similar).
 Or is it possible to get a replacement keyboard and keycaps? (not just the mat). I am not afraid of some disassembly, especially if otherwise the Gemini won’t be much usable anyway.

5

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Gemini random restarts - observation

« on: July 06, 2021, 12:43:23 am »

Hi all,
I am quite a satisfied owner of Gemini 4G for about 2.5 years (though I am afraid it is going to end soon, but that's anotther story). I've seen variously on different fora reports about random restart, and experienced some myself, and this is just for the resord - so that other people can perhaps find some relevant information here.

• By now, if the battery level reaches about 20% or so, it will suddenly drop to zero and the Gemini turns off. From this I assume the batter is operating at 80% of its original capacity. Recalibration does not help. This is expected and in fact the battery works better than I expected after this time. I still get many hours of power on time.
• I am 99% of the time on wifi, so I did not notice for some time, but if the gemini is on 3G/LTE (or even 2G), with "random light internet usage" it will restart perhaps once in two hours; heavy usage (such as zoom meeting via 3G/LTE) will restart it on average every hour or so
• Running on 3G/LTE and turning on wifi hotspot means a certain reboot every half an hour or so.

From the above I guess the Gemini is operating quite at the edge of battery power and stochastic spikes in CPU and radio usage sometimes push it over the edge.


Second, quite unrelated source of restarts is an USB hub plugged into the right side - only one of the devices connected to the hub worked (this is well known). But after some time, I rooted the device, and since then plugging in the hub means an immediate restart (I am not sure about the causality of the rooting, but correlation there seems to be). In fact, with the hub plugged in, Gemini won't even boot, stuck in an infinite restart loop after the Planet logo display. (I am still running Android 7, because based on what I've read, I have no need to uppgrade)

6

Gemini PDA - Android / Stray CAPSLOCK after Fn and TAB

« on: February 08, 2019, 05:32:03 am »

I observed strange behaviour with my Gemini: if I press Fn and then TAB (i.e. standalone Fn keypress and release followed by standalone TAB) toggles CAPSLOCK. This seems to be 100% reproducible. Since I am using TAB a lot, invariably from time to time I turn inadvertently CAPSLOCK on and that's quite annoying.

Anyone observed similar behaviour? I hope it was not intended by the designers. I am using latest firmware, Gemini US physical keyboard layout. I tried to use Button Remapped to disable CAPSLOCK, but although I can remap the key to a different event (and it is honoured by the system), in addition to this the CAPSLOCK is still turned on after Fn.

7

Gemini PDA - Hardware / HDMI resolution

« on: January 23, 2019, 10:07:28 am »

I am a (semiproud) new owner of the Gemini, and I am considering buying the Planet's HDMI adapter. However, I have a crucial question - what resolutions does the HDMI output support? Basically from the hardware point of view; by reading various discussion I am starting to suspect that this is fixed at the LCD resolution of 2160×1080. Since there are monitors (and especially projectors) that support only certain resolutions (or up to a certain resolution), is there a way of changing it? Has anyone here successfully connected Gemini HDMI in lower than native resolution mode? I am mostly interested in Android and Linux, but I am not sure if the current Debian supports HDMI at all.

Failing that, I would go rather for {chrome,mira}cast instead of the cable, but the same question remains, I am not sure if it is possible to change the resolution here.