Messages

31

Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Best app for large volume formatted text entry?

« on: February 03, 2020, 01:14:34 am »

Upshot: full-featured vim editing environment with markdown-specific editing plugins and terminal multiplexer.

I also like writing in vim.  Have you found any solution for returning functionality to the ESC key, which is kind of important in vi?

I have not yet tried creating a whole new keyboard map (on my long list of things to test out on the Cosmo), but I am certainly willing to do that if it's known to work.

32

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Auto-rotate.

« on: February 02, 2020, 08:11:34 am »

Thank you very much. This seems helpful. Unfortunately it's not doing anything for me. It's working with the play button in Tasker. but not automatically.

In the Tasker main screen, are the appropriate profiles turning green when you rotate the Cosmo around?  One of them (and only one of them) should always be green, and which one will depend on the orientation.  If they're not turning green, then there's something wrong with Tasker detecting the orientation of the device.

33

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Auto-rotate.

« on: February 02, 2020, 04:49:14 am »

I can see how those Tasker screenshots might be a bit confusing for those who haven't used Tasker a lot.  Here's a step-by-step for installing waspi's rules:

Starting on the Tasker homescreen, with the PROFILES tab selected:

• Press "+" in lower right corner
• Select "State"
• Select "Sensor" > "Orientation" (or type "orie..." into filter field)
• Select "Is" > "Left Side"
• Press back arrow in upper left
• Press "+" next to "New Task"
• Enter name "SetOrientationPortraitReverse"
• Press "+" in lower right corner
• Select "Display" > "Force Rotation" (or type into filter field)
• Select "Mode" > "Portrait Reverse"
• Select "Alternative Method (Check Help)"
• Press back arrow in upper left
• Return to PROFILES tab

Now just repeat all these steps (with the obvious changes of course) for "Orientation Right Side" > "SetOrientationPortrait", and for "Not Orientation Left Side" + "Not Orientation Right Side" > "SetOrientationLandscape".  The last one is a little trickier, because first you have to select "Invert" when you create the profile (to get the "Not") and then after you have created the SetOrientationLandscape task, press and hold on "Not Orientation Left Side" (on the same line on the screen where it now says "SetOrientationLandscape", not the title line above that, and select "Add" to add the second second state, "Not Orientation Right Side" (again remember to select "Invert" here).

Tasker is a bit daunting when you first start to use it.  It kind of has to be, because it's incredibly powerful.  Given its broad range of abilities, the UI actually is very well designed, and once you get used to it, you'll find it quite easy to get it do the things you need.  It's just a bit scary at first.  When I write out all these steps, it sounds a lot more complex than it really is.  It's really pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it.

Hope this helps!

34

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Installing microG on stock Cosmo ROM

« on: January 31, 2020, 05:23:22 am »

I have successfully (so far at least) degoogled and gotten microG (open source Google Services replacement) working on the stock Cosmo ROM (V19).

Here is what I did:

• Root via Magisk (there's another thread about this)
• Install Titanium Backup Pro and use it to uninstall:
  • com.google.android.gms.policy_sidecap_aps, Drive, Google, Google Backup Transport, Google Contacts Sync, Google One Time Init, Google Partner Set Up, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, Google Play Store, Google Services Framework, Google Text-to-Speech Engine, Google Play Services
• Install EdXposed Magisk module (also requires Riru-Core module)
• Install microG Installer Revived Magisk module
• Install FakeGapps Xposed module to enable signature spoofing

That's it.  Seems to be working just fine so far, although I have not yet extensively tested.  YMMV, use at your own risk.  

Please note that it is not required to remove everything I listed above in order to get microG functional, and there are still some other bits of Google cruft I plan to expurgate in due time, but this is where I am right now.

Also note that this may interfere with OTA updates, or at the very least an OTA will reinstall the Google bits and may cause undesired results.  Again, use at your own risk.  

35

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Unofficial TWRP build

« on: January 30, 2020, 04:33:39 pm »

- when booting into normal Android, the recovery partition automatically gets replaced by stock recovery*

So, you must flash it and then boot straight into recovery without starting up normal Android.

Aha, thank you!  That is what is happening here.  I've been booting into Android and then using adb to get back to recovery, because of exactly what you mention, about it being tough to get the device to react to the buttons.  So I've been nuking my TWRP every time.  

*: The caveat is that if the boot partition has been modified in any way (e.g. replaced with a rooted version), this replacement will not occur. So, if you flash a rooted boot.img (which you can do using fastboot or Flashtool) then it will not replace your recovery at all.

After giving up on TWRP, I've gone ahead and manually upgraded to V19 with the Magisk'ed boot.img, so I have solved my own problem there without realising it.  Hadn't yet gone back to test TWRP again, but I imagine it will work okay now.

Thanks much for the tip.  On the Android platform, I've been exclusively a OnePlus user for a number of years now, and a Lineage user on that hardware for the last couple, so I'm sure there are a few gotchas here and there on the Planet setup.  I will eventually run into all of them.  

36

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Unofficial TWRP build

« on: January 30, 2020, 01:29:28 pm »

Brand new member with a brand new Cosmo.  

I am a bit confused here, because my efforts to get TWRP to boot on the Cosmo are unsuccessful.

I first attempted a "fastboot boot twrp.img" (because I generally avoid overwriting stock recovery unless I need to) and fastboot thinks everything went fine, but the Cosmo goes black screen, vibrates, pauses about three seconds, vibrates again, and then boots Android.

Okay, so I decided to use fastboot to flash the image and used "fastboot flash recovery twrp.img", and once again fastboot thinks everything worked fine, but now when I boot into recovery, I'm getting stock recovery.

So, last thing I knew to try, I flashed the recovery partition using SP Flash Tool, which again appears to have gone fine, and yet I am still getting stock recovery on the Cosmo.

Any hints what might be happening here?