Topics

1

Astro Slide - Android / Rotate Tip

« on: June 17, 2022, 06:26:35 am »

For those who prefer to have the keyboard on the right when the phone is open and rotating, rather than the default (left), then I would recommend Ultimate Rotation Control from the Google Play App Store.

As an aside I could not get Rotation Control Pro to work in this way.

2

Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Good tech teview of the Cosmo in Russian (translated)

« on: April 14, 2021, 07:59:12 am »

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=https://habr.com/ru/post/549500/&prev=search&pto=aue

3

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Setting up Pidgin with Skype and Slack on the Cosmo

« on: March 24, 2021, 02:13:33 pm »

Pidgin is installable for ARM64 on the Cosmo but to make it useful you need to add a couple of Plugin's.

Assuming you have installed Pidgin lets first setup Slack:

sudo apt install git ;Install git if it is not installed
sudo apt install make ;Installs make if not installed
sudo apt install libpurple-dev ;required lib for the plugin

next clone the open source plug-in locally

git clone https://github.com/dylex/slack-libpurple.git

cd slack-libpurple
sudo make install

Now lets do the same for the Skype plugin

First lets ensure the pre-req. libs are installed

sudo apt-get install libjson-glib-dev
sudo apt-get install cmake gcc

now lets clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/EionRobb/skype4pidgin.git

and then

cd skype4pidgin/skypeweb
make
sudo make install

Now Skype is also completed.

If Pidgin was running when you did these installs you will need to close it and relaunch to see the plugins.

4

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Running AppImage on Gemian

« on: March 23, 2021, 11:19:51 am »

Some Linux Apps are in AppImage format and available in ARM64 format - Simplenote is a good example of this.

You may find the App image may not run and exit with a FUSE error but you can modify the desktop shortcut such as:

./simplenote.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

and this will resolve the issue

5

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Enabling DropBox for Gemian

« on: March 23, 2021, 05:53:31 am »

Getting DropBox to work for Gemian is a pain as there is not an arm version and even if you choose to compile the install yourself from the DropBox site the helper agent it then wants to install is not binary compatible.

The workaround is to use the excellent Maestral:

https://github.com/SamSchott/maestral

It requires Python3 and pip to be pre-installed. You can check this:

which python3

and if not installed

sudo apt install python3

and then

sudo apt install python3-pip

Then to install Maestral:

python3 -m pip install --upgrade maestral

There is a GUI option but the pyQT5 libs  are outdated and therefore it wont' satisfy the dependancies and install, however you can simply work with the command line version which works fine (see the site link above for how that works).

You can choose to have maestral start each time you start Gemian or just start it when you wish from the command line with 'maestral start' and check status with 'maestral status'

The config file lives at /home/cosmo/.config/maestral/maestral.ini

6

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Establishing a VPN from the Cosmo using .ovpn files

« on: March 22, 2021, 01:23:56 pm »

It took a me a little while to figure out how to add a .ovpn connection to the Cosmo and get it working so documenting here for anyone else who has that issue:

Open a Terminal and:

sudo apt install network-manager-openvpn-gnome openvpn-systemd-resolved

Next import your .ovpn

sudo nmcli connection import type openvpn file /path/to/your.ovpn

You can go and edit your network connection and you will see the newly added VPN

To activate the VPN from the command line:

nmcli connection up <the VPN you just imported>

To de-activate the VPN:

nmcli connection down <the VPN you just imported>

You can use this also for VPN's like NordVPN:

To obtain the .ovpn config's for Nord:

sudo wget https://downloads.nordcdn.com/configs/archives/servers/ovpn.zip

sudo unzip ovpn.zip (assuming you have unzip installed otherwise sudo apt install unzip)

Now you want to find the most appropriate VPN that Nord recommends for your location in the country that you wish. to do this you can launch the below webpage from Nord:

https://nordvpn.com/servers/tools/

and choose the country and it will recommend the best server based on the path from your location.

Once you have the country you can find its entry in that zip file you just created ie.

ls -a | grep ch247.nordvpn.com [that is an example based on switzerland]

Now you have the entry, enter similar commands as we did above ie:

sudo nmcli connection import type openvpn file /path/to/your.Nord.ovpn [for Nord unless you have a specific reason use the TCP directory from that zip when choosing .ovpn entries]

Visit the connection tab, find the newly created VPN entry and enter your name and password

Next back to the command line and:

nmcli connection up <the Nord VPN entry you just imported>

7

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Annoying KDEWallet message on WiFi connect

« on: March 20, 2021, 10:12:52 am »

On every login the KDEWallet pops up an authentication before WiFi can connect.

To stop this simply right click on the WiFi connection and choose to edit network connections. Click the security tab and choose to store passwords for all users (unencrypted). This will subsequently prevent this occurring.

8

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / VSCode install

« on: March 20, 2021, 10:07:01 am »

VSCode installs and works nicely on the Cosmo:

curl -L https://aka.ms/linux-arm64-deb > code_arm64.deb
sudo apt install ./code_arm64.deb

9

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Simulating Function Keys <F10 F11 etc>

« on: March 16, 2021, 06:37:49 am »

The Cosmo does not have the traditional Function Keys found on a laptop but there is an easy way to simulate them:

- Install Autokey from the software manger
- Choose to add a new phrase, call it the name of the of the function key you wish to simulate
- In the Phrase contents add the Function Key you wish to be pressed, for example <f11> for F11
- Choose a hotkey to set ie. something like Cntrl-Shift-0

Now go into preferences and click the box for Autokey to auto-start

This is useful for going into full screen mode on browsers etc when they do not work with Cntrl-Shift-F

10

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Firefox ESR Scrolling / Zoom

« on: March 15, 2021, 03:08:41 pm »

I like Firefox but I noticed that scroll and zoom was not working by default when installed.

To fix this:

sudo pico /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop

Change Exec= from:

Exec=firefox %u

to:

Exec=env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 firefox %u

Exit and save

Scrolling and two finger zoom in firefox will then work.

11

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Relative mouse / touchscreen issue

« on: March 06, 2021, 12:40:13 pm »

I decided to try out the relative mouse use as outlined at:

https://github.com/m600x/cosmo-rightclick

For me it did not work, but when I removed the package I am now left work the touch screen control no longer working.

Any thoughts as to how to get this back?

12

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Remote Mouse and Keyboard

« on: March 02, 2021, 12:36:47 pm »

For those who work at their PC whilst also working with the Cosmo and Linux you will find Barrier extremely useful:

sudo apt-get install barrier

it is based on Synergy and I find it works really well whether I am working on OSX or Windows.

13

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Right Mouse Click

« on: March 02, 2021, 12:33:44 pm »

I could not find this in the forum, but there is a decent solution to right mouse click (long press touch) at:

https://github.com/PeterCxy/evdev-right-click-emulation

If you compile the App using the instruction therein you can then add the resultant file to the Application startup and right mouse click is working and available each time you launch.

14

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / DPI / Scaling / Resolution of Third party Apps

« on: March 02, 2021, 09:41:19 am »

I've installed Linux Gebian on the Cosmo and have everything setup nicely.

When installing third party Apps, such as Firefox, they are not honouring the  Font and sizing settings and appear incredibly small, too small to actually use.

Increasing the font size seems only to increase the font size on the OS and Apps that are pre-installed.

Is there a solution to this ?