Welcome to those from the Indiegogo forum

[drpeter]

Hi all,

This is just a welcome to those transferring their posting from the Indiegogo forum.

Feel free to talk about anything you like regarding the forthcoming Cosmo Communicator  

[ArchiMark]

Thanks for the great idea, drpeter!

Look forward to some lively Cosmo discussion here....

Mark

[drpeter]

UK - are you with us?

[eicosateroid]

Ahoi,

It is great to see a emerging Cosmo Culture. I've been a quite follower for the whole campaign and now decided to also engage with this type of moderated community. I'm so thankful for all the effort and thought that has been put into from you guys. I'm a food technology and engineering Master's candidate and also work as faculty (part time). I think it will be great to have such a device when testing new bottling machinery or transportation processes and have all your software and access in your pocket.

I will do my best to play a small role in improving the device for the engineering field. Also if you have any questions regarding food technology and engineering just hit me.

Best,

eicosateroid

[maki.jouni]

Hi, I'll think this forum would be quite usefull when we receive our Cosmos. Forum like this is best place to share tweaks like removing google search bar from android, sharing info about usefull apps, etc...

Now we need just a bit of patience untill "GreenFlag" from development team for massproduction...

[Cyril]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for admitting me on this forum, I prefer to converse here than on a  comment page infested with persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder (or without life) repeating the same requests every two hours.

I'm honestly a late backer of the Cosmo campaign. I remember being interested about the Gemini a few years back, but I'm not fond of the idea of lunging around a device which is a little too specialized (lack of useful/practical phone feature). I would have had to keep in my bag my phone and possibly a laptop. With the Cosmo, I hope being able to ditch my Google phone and let my laptop to my girlfriend so she won't have to buy a new one.

I'm not a fan of all the choices made by Planet Computers, but I think they won cookies with trying (and succeeding) to build a multi-purpose mobile device quite open to other operating systems than Android. From my humble point of view, the keyboard is a must-have for a minimum of productivity.

It may sound strange for some people, but I plan for the Cosmo to lessen my bad habit of checking my smartphone every five minutes. From a Nexus 4, I will have to contend with a slightly heavier (139g vs 320g) and more cumbersome smartphone. Answering a message will force me to find time to access the keyboard and, when I find this time,  write meaningful sentences. In three words : disconnect a bit, without resorting to dumb feature phones.

If I wrote a bit much, sorry. Much of these questions are technical and are flying over the head of much people, yet I'm spending a few hundred euros on this device, so I have a few questions whose some answers may already be available laying around.

I have a few thoughts and questions on the Cosmo :

- the Mediatek P70 as CPU, not friendly with any on-the-shelf Linux distribution. Being an open-source advocate, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yet, I understand that not many chipset maker are willing to sell for such a small number of device. I can be wrong of course, but is this device future-proof ? In five years, will I be able to install a recent Linux kernel to be up-to-date in face of internet threats ? In the end, a smartphone is only a computer always connected on the internet.

- Front-panel : will the front panel be usable by Sailfish ? Will the API be open-sourced ? Keep the firmware closed-source, I don't mind, but open the API, please. The PC team is small and must be focused on providing the best Android experience because I think only a few bearded barbarians (like me) will use it with Linux or Sailfish. When they stabilise the API, I'm from those willing to take a peek on it, and maybe work on top of it.

- Sailfish OS : already available for Gemini, promised on the Cosmo. When Android apps will be installable on it, if ever ? With the interest of Russia on Sailfish OS and the Android problem of Huawei, I'm hoping this OS will receive more support and funds for updates. Is the Sailfish using the Android kernel already on the device or does it run without this crutch ?

- HDMI out : maybe too early to know, but the Gemini is using a special adapter cable from Planet Computers, I hope it will no be the case here. Any information ?

Thank you OESF members and, again, thank you to Planet Computers team for their hard work and the ideas they pursue.

Cyril

[vader]

- the Mediatek P70 as CPU, not friendly with any on-the-shelf Linux distribution. Being an open-source advocate, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yet, I understand that not many chipset maker are willing to sell for such a small number of device. I can be wrong of course, but is this device future-proof ? In five years, will I be able to install a recent Linux kernel to be up-to-date in face of internet threats ? In the end, a smartphone is only a computer always connected on the internet.

The Gemini uses either an X25 (my version) or X27 from mediatek. With libhybris you can use android drivers to run hardware - not ideal but works. I seem to remember (but could be wrong) that the gemian project has kernel source which has a few extra things compiled in.

- Front-panel : will the front panel be usable by Sailfish ? Will the API be open-sourced ? Keep the firmware closed-source, I don't mind, but open the API, please. The PC team is small and must be focused on providing the best Android experience because I think only a few bearded barbarians (like me) will use it with Linux or Sailfish. When they stabilise the API, I'm from those willing to take a peek on it, and maybe work on top of it.

That is the idea. I am sure they are working with Jolla to get it working on the cosmo. They have mentioned that it will be usable from all platforms.

- Sailfish OS : already available for Gemini, promised on the Cosmo. When Android apps will be installable on it, if ever ? With the interest of Russia on Sailfish OS and the Android problem of Huawei, I'm hoping this OS will receive more support and funds for updates. Is the Sailfish using the Android kernel already on the device or does it run without this crutch ?

I run sailfish and it is running a kernel based on the current android kernel. Uname gives:

Linux Sailfish 3.18.41 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jun 15 13:46:00

although I never reflashed with the new android, just updated sailfish. The latest image may have an updated (slightly) kernel.

As far as USB/HDMI goes, nobody really knows yet. At the least, it will support the current adapter, but hopefully generic HDMI adapters. One improvement over the gemini is that you can charge from either side - I believe that both sides are now fully functional. The gemini had the left port as a fully functional port (ie. you could use a hub), and the right could take a single device, or the HDMI adapter. You could only charge from the left side.

Hope this helps
PS. My Gemini is now approaching 17 months old with zero issues - the cosmo should be awesome.

[MonkeyControl]

I prefer to converse here than on a comment page infested with persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder (or without life) repeating the same requests every two hours.

ROFL etc
Welcome aboard.  
MC

[Cyril]

Each time Android is updated, I think the frozen Mediatek kernel (containing the proprietary blobs) must be patched / hacked with backported code from recent kernels. Stability is not guaranteed any longer. You can say Linux kernel's GPL v2 license gives no warranty,  you get my meaning  
The preferred kernel of Android 9 is 4.9, hopefully the Mediatek is delivering a kernel not too far from this version for the Cosmo's P70.

Is Gemian a separate project from the Planet Computer's Debian image, or are they the same ? I'm digging for information on installing phone capabilities on Linux, on KDE would be my preference. The moment I get the Cosmo in my hands, I'll try to write a script to streamline the phone set-up on a Cosmo, if not already done. A new Cosmo user would be depressed at the idea to have to set up by himself the (limited) phone side on Linux, and would switch back quickly to the easiest : Android.

[ArchiMark]

[SNIP....]

Is Gemian a separate project from the Planet Computer's Debian image, or are they the same ? I'm digging for information on installing phone capabilities on Linux, on KDE would be my preference. The moment I get the Cosmo in my hands, I'll try to write a script to streamline the phone set-up on a Cosmo, if not already done. A new Cosmo user would be depressed at the idea to have to set up by himself the (limited) phone side on Linux, and would switch back quickly to the easiest : Android.

Gemian is the Debian image for the Gemini....headed up by Adam Boardman, who posts in the Gemini - Linux forum section....

There is a Gemian set of webpages on the image, with lots of good info....also, there are a few 'keyboard apps' that have been made for us to try too. Similar to the old Psion apps for calendar, database, etc.

Check it out.....

Mark

[James Shields]

Thanks for letting me in!

Looking forward to taking part in discussion. Hoping Cosmo lives up to expectations.

I almost miss Plantar, though. Only almost. :-)

[drpeter]

Thanks for letting me in!

Looking forward to taking part in discussion. Hoping Cosmo lives up to expectations.

I almost miss Plantar, though. Only almost. :-)

You always have the option of silently dipping into the Indiegogo forum to see what he's been up to when separation anxiety strikes :-)

[drpeter]

The moment I get the Cosmo in my hands, I'll try to write a script to streamline the phone set-up on a Cosmo, if not already done. A new Cosmo user would be depressed at the idea to have to set up by himself the (limited) phone side on Linux, and would switch back quickly to the easiest : Android.

It would be great to have at least basic phone functionality set up on Linux- I'm presently anticipating having to stay on Android most of the time and reboot into Linux for short spells for some productivity work, at the cost of being incommunicado for a while...

Is the Linux experience on Gemini currently like that, or has it improved?

[vader]

It would be great to have at least basic phone functionality set up on Linux- I'm presently anticipating having to stay on Android most of the time and reboot into Linux for short spells for some productivity work, at the cost of being incommunicado for a while...

Is the Linux experience on Gemini currently like that, or has it improved?

Sailfish is a full linux distro with a phone GUI. You have complete access to the system through shell. The only real difference is that sailfish uses Wayland rather than X11, so a lot of apps won't compile. Anything that uses Qt or SDL work fine - I have compiled up dosbox, ffmpeg (for ffplay), qemu and a few extra utilities - on the gemini - and they work fine. I have a full dev environment and use it at work for quick tests (iperf, ssh, ping, wifi etc). It might not be a true mini laptop style experience, however it is full blown linux.

[drpeter]

It would be great to have at least basic phone functionality set up on Linux- I'm presently anticipating having to stay on Android most of the time and reboot into Linux for short spells for some productivity work, at the cost of being incommunicado for a while...

Is the Linux experience on Gemini currently like that, or has it improved?

Sailfish is a full linux distro with a phone GUI. You have complete access to the system through shell. The only real difference is that sailfish uses Wayland rather than X11, so a lot of apps won't compile. Anything that uses Qt or SDL work fine - I have compiled up dosbox, ffmpeg (for ffplay), qemu and a few extra utilities - on the gemini - and they work fine. I have a full dev environment and use it at work for quick tests (iperf, ssh, ping, wifi etc). It might not be a true mini laptop style experience, however it is full blown linux.

Thanks, I'll definitely give Sailfish a spin when I get my hands on this beauty.