Messages

1

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Making Linux more mobile friendly

« on: May 30, 2023, 04:45:20 am »

Hello,

  I've been playing out a bit with the Gemian, and it's default desktop environment (which is Plasma&KDE).

  I have to say that the experience, is, frankly quite crappy. I use Plasma on my laptop and desktop and it is great with larger screen, but not really geared for mobile and touchscreen.

  Any suggestion on a more mobile-friendly (meaning: Small touchscreen, no mouse) desktop environment? I guess I could just use Fluxbox if all else fails, but right now trying to select the undersizes icons is intolerable.

  (Frankly, I'm now trying to figure out something usable to do with the Cosmo. With Astro in hand, it's kind of redundant. Because the HDMI out is crap (fixed resolution), it's not easy to use this as a living room PC either...)

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Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Re: New Cosmo Keyboard Issues

« on: May 27, 2023, 07:28:25 am »

Any idea's why I might not be able to get into recovery mode? Holding volume up takes me to safe mode instead. In android the button on the fingerprint sensor is volume down not up which might explain why it's going to safe mode.

Well, try pushing the rocker the other way?-) You aware that there are two buttons on that?

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 26, 2023, 09:41:03 am »

I just got another reply from Planet. They have, thus far, seen about four or five Astros with V07-related screen issues, one of which is to arrive at their office tomorrow (Saturday). That might help them decide the best course of action.

If nothing else, this is rather encouraging, meaning that they actually *can* be responsive when they want.

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 25, 2023, 12:58:02 pm »

When I, erroneously, held power + volume down (which the Wiki says should be "Fastboot") I didn't even get a picture on the external screen, but I may have fumbled somehow, so maybe I should try that again. I have not yet tried safe mode.

In fastboot mode the only input is minimal interface via USB port, because you are essentially in pre-bootloader stage, that basically allows you to recover a completely bricked device (if you have suitable image).

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 25, 2023, 07:58:05 am »

It is quite possible I did something wrong. As I recall, I slid off of the volume down button a few seconds after the Astro powered on, so maybe I should try again and hold volume down pressed for longer? Is volume down + power on even the correct sequence to get to the recovery mode on an Astro? I basically just noticed I didn't get any HDMI on the first attempt, forced a reboot and e-mailed Planet.

The correct way to get to recovery is to power on while holding volume UP. Not down.

(Then, when the "No command" shows up, press and hold power, and again tap volume up to get to the menu).

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 25, 2023, 07:24:20 am »

The scary bit is that the HDMI doesn't seem to kick in until Android is actually booting, so it seems I can't see things like the recovery menu. Would anything I do disable HDMI out, I could be kind of hosed.

That's...interesting. I would have thought that the first splash screens (Planet / Android, AstroSlide, and then finally the palette-scrolling "android") would be visible and then it would go black.

Some critical initialization portion is then missing from the bootloader.

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 24, 2023, 03:19:49 pm »

Well, I'm in trouble... after installing the update, I tapped on reboot in the updater. The screen turned off, the LED next to Q came on in blue for a couple of seconds, but the screen never turned on again. I waited a while but nothing happened. I held down Esc for ten or so seconds, which seems to force a reboot, since the vibrator buzzes briefly and LED next to Q comes on in blue for a couple of seconds again, but the screen doesn't turn on.

This kind of resembles the issue I had, although it only triggered after I tried to lock the phone after first reboot. I just held the power button for like half a minute and it resolved itself. But since this is clearly something different the only thing that comes to mind would be to go to attempt to factory reset via fastboot and/or recovery...

Or maybe ask for help from Planet...

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 24, 2023, 02:10:33 am »

Camera *much* better, added notes and tests to the camera thread, https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=36888.msg299352#msg299352

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Astro Slide - Hardware / Re: Astro camera, weird artifacts when looking more closely

« on: May 24, 2023, 01:53:33 am »

Someone mentioned on IGG that "camera is much better" after firmware update.

With just a quick look, those weird squiggles I've pointed out in earlier messages appear to be gone.

With a slightly longer look, I'm noticing the following:

- It *looks* like they have made some changes in the lowpass filter for JPGs. It appears to be more aggressive than before. To test this, I took a picture of my bookshelf from a distance. The book titles with larger fonts are legible, but smaller fonts are just blended in with the background.
=> Artifacts do get removed, but so do very small details
- RAW output seems to work much better. In previous version I got the "whiteout" effect. This time, the DNG opens up in RawTherapee without anything weird.
- Taking both RAW (DNG) and jpeg at the same time works now!

Attaching two screenshots to illustrate really small details. These are just from my bookshelf (Alastair Reynolds: Poseidon's Children Trilogy, Finnish translation).

This is with a 400% zoom so you can clearly see individual pixels.

Shot settings were

Exposure time: 0.020 s  (1/50)
Aperture     : f/1.8
ISO equiv.   : 2361  <= Note the ISO level, there's lots of thermal noise going on here. This is on purpose, just to see how low-light conditions are handled.

Photo was taken maybe 4-5 meters away with 48 MP. JPEG quality was set at 98%.

Remember to click on the images so that forum shows them in original size!

First, the JPG:
 

Then the DNG:
 

Especially of note:
 - The JPG appears to be much less noisy (because of aggressive filtering). Look at the sleek blackness of each book cover.
 - The lowpass filter also eats through some details. Compare the smaller "O" in "Poseidonin lapset" of the middle book between RAW and JPG. The O in author's name ("Reynolds") is fine in JPG as well. However, in JPG, the D in Reynolds looks more like an O, while in the RAW it's clearer that it's a D.
 - The publisher's logo is reduced to a blob in both versions, although in the raw version you can (maybe) make out the word "Scifi" (publisher is 'Like Scifi').
 - Several horizontal lines (e.g. the letter I in center book's Alastair) show "checkered" pattern. In RAW, this is visible much more clearly and in more letters. In JPG the lowpass removes most of them. I would imagine this is due to the sensor's physical (Quad Bayer?) filter blocking individual pixels. The weird part is that the text is white, so it should come through regardless of individual pixel's filter.

Anyway, suddenly the camera is *much* more usable - and they are not even mentioning this in release notes!

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Astro Slide - Android / Re: Astro update to V07

« on: May 23, 2023, 12:44:57 pm »

Ok, bited the bullet... (Thanks to encouragement on #planet-devices)

Besides the stuff in release notes, I do notice that
 - One of the updaters (the google one) is gone
 - Security level is March 23
 - No resurgence of Deejay-Dota (never had it in the first place though)
 - Fingerprint sensor is still active all the time (so if you rest your hand on it, it will most likely not work for unlocking because you have spent your attempts)

I also got a scare. After updating, I just pressed the power button to lock the phone, like I usually do. Display turned off, as it should. Then I tried pushing the button...the display stayed black.

Eventually I got the device to reboot by holding down the power button a longer time, and I couldn't repeat the situation at least just yet. Maybe it was due to the Fingerprint sensor - perhaps I should scan my fingers again or something.

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Astro Slide - Android / Astro update to V07

« on: May 23, 2023, 09:19:25 am »

Ok... Planet updater is now saying that the promised FW update is there.

Has anyone dared to try it yet? Any hassles? Did they get rid of the other two updaters?

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Cosmo Communicator - Android / Re: Ringtone NOT working

« on: May 22, 2023, 12:36:33 pm »

Do other MP3's work?

Have you tried deleting the MP3, perhaps rebooting (to clear any caches) and then installing it again?

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Astro Slide - Hardware / Re: Astro camera, weird artifacts when looking more closely

« on: May 17, 2023, 08:24:27 am »

I don't have an Astro, and I'm done porting GCam (for the Cosmo or otherwise), period.  But I heard from some Pro1 X users that an existing GCam port works well on their devices, which also have 48MP sensors:

Google Camera Port Updates
BSG: MGC_8.4.600_A10_V13:
https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-bsg/f/dl92/

Maybe it'll work on the Astro.

Unfortunately, doesn't look like it. I tried https://1-dontsharethislink.celsoazevedo.com/file/filesc/MGC_8.4.600_A10_V13_ENG.apk and basically got a black screen out of it.

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Astro Slide - Hardware / Re: backspace key removes two characters

« on: April 15, 2023, 10:20:38 am »

One thing to check: Do the two character removals happen at once, or does first character get removed when you press the backspace *down* and then the second character gets removed when you lift your finger and the key comes up?

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Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Re: Wifi does not work on freshly installed Gemian

« on: April 02, 2023, 03:01:06 am »

Ok, started it again today and now wifi works. I have no idea why. At least I can now do apt upgrade.