Re: anyone has tried fnop?

2012-03-15 Thread Alex Samorukov

On 03/12/2012 08:14 PM, Kosa wrote:

A just found this site and wondered if anyone has tried this OS?
http://phones.fnop.net/



 Pricing: Starts at 400EUR, depending on features and NOT including 
the hardware (phone).


And no link to SVN. And remote destuction... I think it is designed 
for trashcan only.



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Status of the GTA04 Group Tour

2012-03-15 Thread Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller
Just two weeks left over to get subscribers, makes me think
that it is time to look at the order indicator.

We have achieved 41%.

This is a big step forward after the 25% during FOSDEM time
and shows that we have a growing support. Thanks to all
those who see a future for the GTA04!

On the other side it is not realistic to hope to reach the
100% goal by end of March.

Should we now - just as the GTA04 is gaining speed,
getting working distributions like QtMoko and SHR with
some remarkable features (e.g. 10-20 seconds boot time),
Replicant/Android just starting - so should we now cancel
the group tour if we don't reach the 100% goal?

I think: no.

This means, we will produce boards for all these preorders,
independently from the final outcome by end of March.

And it means that you can still subscribe.

It has only one major issue: the financial side.

The idea of the group tour was to raise the production
batch size into a range where component cost comes
down allowing the preorder price incl. early bird rebate
(449/474/499 EUR) to cover all known (and some unexpected)
cost.

But with the lower number of units, the component cost
raises by approx. 20%. So we have a funding gap of
approx. 100 EUR per board.

Golden Delicious Computers can compensate a little
but this is also getting to its limits.

Since I think it would be unfair to ask all subscribers
to pay more - and I am sure that not everyone could
afford that - a better approach is just to ask for (additional)
donations to fill that gap as good as possible.

So if you think the GTA04 project deserves to survive,
please make donations through:

http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%3ADonation

Any amount (in increments of 1 EUR) is welcome.

As a bonus we offer to the first one who donates:
1000 EUR:   the first GTA04A2 board (there exists only one)
800 EUR:the first GTA04A3 board (has a OMAP3530 processor, no UMTS but 
otherwise works fine)
500 EUR:a Letux 380 Linux Quadband smartphone sample with OMAP730 with 
integrated GSM/GPRS baseband (www.letux.org)
300 EUR:a Letux 400 MIPS based MiniPC (we still have some in stock 
collecting dust)

Sorry that we don't have a better solution than to start
fund-raising, but it is a way to continue and not throw away
what we already have achieved and disappoint those
who already decided they want to have a GTA04.

Nikolaus


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One GTA04A3 (Early Adopter) board for sale

2012-03-15 Thread Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller
Hi all,
we have one GTA04A3 board (Ser #0024) that we do not need
any more for further experiments.

It has two bugs - one is the well known power-down issue of the
UMTS module that has been fixed in the A4 boards. And, the
PCM voice interface appears to have a broken wire which can't
be repaired. I.e. there is no telephony function.

And optical, it does not look nice since it has been used in soldering
experiments.

But everything else (CPU, USB, WLAN, BT, UMTS data, GPS,
Sensors) has been tested to be ok.

Please send me offers by private mail.

Nikolaus


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Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller
During the Openmoko Stammtisch Munich yesterday, we
have once again discussed options to build a special GTA04 keyboard.

And now I think we have found a way to really square the
circle. The square being functionality and the circle being
cost.

The idea is to use:
* off-the shelf pushbutons (Panasonic has some nice and very
   flat SMD buttons readily available at DigiKey)
* a Shapeways made custom case
* a not very sophisticated PCB with the buttons, a Bluetooth
   HCI module [1], a small LiIon battery and a microcontroller scanning
   the keyboard and supporting USB charging

Now comes the key idea: having a shapeways printed case makes
it possible to think about a keyboard built into a replacement battery
cover. It makes it a little thicker than normal, but you can detach it
and use it as a keyboard.

A first cost estimate:
* buttons: 25 ct each i.e. 16 EUR @ 64 keys
* case: 20 EUR
* bluetooth module: 20 EUR
* PCB + MCU: 20 EUR
* Battery, production etc.

So it should be possible to build such a beast at less than 100 EUR
(where we are back at the financial issues we generally have).

And, it needs people working on it.

Tasks will be to choose a HCI capable bluetooth module
and a MCU, write software (firmware), work on the schematics
develop 3D data for a Shapeways case.

Who would be interested (and has time and skills to contribute) to join
a team that starts working on such a project?

Nikolaus

[1]: something like http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10823

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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Gennady Kupava
Hi, Nicolaus,

Actually detached keyboard is almost useless for phone. It is not
possible to use it any conditions expect then phone lays on some surface
and you not holding it.

This is because if you using one hand to hold phone, you have one one
hand free. Holding and using keyboard with one hand is not possible.

Before implementing such detached keyboard, buy bluetooth one in shop
and try it - you'll find it completely useless :)

So, keyboard on phone should be build-in and usable... and i don't know
how should look something better than keyboard on n900.

If gta04 have hw keyboard, i buy it immediately as a every-day phone.
Linux has excellent set of command-line tools and it's a crime not to
have a hw keyboard on linux device.

Gennady.


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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Martin Jansa
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 03:09:09PM +0400, Gennady Kupava wrote:
 Hi, Nicolaus,
 
 Actually detached keyboard is almost useless for phone. It is not
 possible to use it any conditions expect then phone lays on some surface
 and you not holding it.
 
 This is because if you using one hand to hold phone, you have one one
 hand free. Holding and using keyboard with one hand is not possible.
 
 Before implementing such detached keyboard, buy bluetooth one in shop
 and try it - you'll find it completely useless :)

I fully agree on this, I have bought smaller keyboard (with USB cable)
for freerunner and I don't use it very much, because as you said it's
not really usable e.g. while sitting in train and trying to balance
phone + keyboard on your lap. So in trains I'm using n900 only and
om-gta02 is sitting at home always connected to desktop (with real
keyboard).

 So, keyboard on phone should be build-in and usable... and i don't know
 how should look something better than keyboard on n900.

I don't have hands-on experience but keyboard on pictures of Motorola Droid 4
looks even better then n900 keyboard, mostly because of extra row.
 
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/10/motorola-droid-4-review/

 If gta04 have hw keyboard, i buy it immediately as a every-day phone.
 Linux has excellent set of command-line tools and it's a crime not to
 have a hw keyboard on linux device.

Agreed, that's why I also prefer more common layout with enough keys to
map also '/', '|' etc. somewhere close to fingers.

Cheers,

-- 
Martin 'JaMa' Jansa jabber: martin.ja...@gmail.com


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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller

Am 15.03.2012 um 12:09 schrieb Gennady Kupava:

 Hi, Nicolaus,
 
 Actually detached keyboard is almost useless for phone. It is not

Well, the idea is not a detached keyboard but a detachable (so that
it simplifies mechanical construction).

 possible to use it any conditions expect then phone lays on some surface
 and you not holding it.
 
 This is because if you using one hand to hold phone, you have one one
 hand free. Holding and using keyboard with one hand is not possible.

And why not add some hooks or joints so that you can clip together both
parts after detaching them?

 Before implementing such detached keyboard, buy bluetooth one in shop
 and try it - you'll find it completely useless :)

I have some and just don't like the feeling of the keys.

 So, keyboard on phone should be build-in and usable... and i don't know
 how should look something better than keyboard on n900.

Well, we can't build a n900 keyboard... But we can work on
something that comes closer than no keyboard at all.

 If gta04 have hw keyboard, i buy it immediately as a every-day phone.
 Linux has excellent set of command-line tools and it's a crime not to
 have a hw keyboard on linux device.

This are all good arguments to discuss with the team. Maybe someone
suddently has the inspiration.

Nikolaus


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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller

Am 15.03.2012 um 13:29 schrieb Martin Jansa:

 On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 03:09:09PM +0400, Gennady Kupava wrote:
 Hi, Nicolaus,
 
 Actually detached keyboard is almost useless for phone. It is not
 possible to use it any conditions expect then phone lays on some surface
 and you not holding it.
 
 This is because if you using one hand to hold phone, you have one one
 hand free. Holding and using keyboard with one hand is not possible.
 
 Before implementing such detached keyboard, buy bluetooth one in shop
 and try it - you'll find it completely useless :)
 
 I fully agree on this, I have bought smaller keyboard (with USB cable)
 for freerunner and I don't use it very much, because as you said it's
 not really usable e.g. while sitting in train and trying to balance
 phone + keyboard on your lap. So in trains I'm using n900 only and
 om-gta02 is sitting at home always connected to desktop (with real
 keyboard).
 
 So, keyboard on phone should be build-in and usable... and i don't know
 how should look something better than keyboard on n900.
 
 I don't have hands-on experience but keyboard on pictures of Motorola Droid 4
 looks even better then n900 keyboard, mostly because of extra row.
 
 http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/10/motorola-droid-4-review/

Yes, but do you think it does help to dream about the best keyboards
made by (formerly?) big companies? They will most likely not do anything
for our GTA02/04.

So we have to roll up our own sleeves...

 If gta04 have hw keyboard, i buy it immediately as a every-day phone.
 Linux has excellent set of command-line tools and it's a crime not to
 have a hw keyboard on linux device.
 
 Agreed, that's why I also prefer more common layout with enough keys to
 map also '/', '|' etc. somewhere close to fingers.

That appears to be easily done when printing key caps at Shapeways and
making the keymap ourselves (open source).

Nikolaus


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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Gennady Kupava
On Thu, 2012-03-15 at 13:41 +0100, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:

 And why not add some hooks or joints so that you can clip together both
 parts after detaching them?

What would be ok for me!

But may be slider is not so complex? Put the battery and sim into lower
part, some rails and it is here. Of course i am completely not competent
in this kind of design. Hope it doesn't sound too stupid :)

Gennady


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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Gerald A
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 8:29 AM, Martin Jansa martin.ja...@gmail.comwrote:

 I fully agree on this, I have bought smaller keyboard (with USB cable)
 for freerunner and I don't use it very much, because as you said it's
 not really usable e.g. while sitting in train and trying to balance
 phone + keyboard on your lap. So in trains I'm using n900 only and
 om-gta02 is sitting at home always connected to desktop (with real
 keyboard).


On this, I respectfully disagree. When I had my Neo in full flight, I often
used a Bluetooth keyboard to do longer sessions. For short sessions, I'd
use the stylus and the tiny onscreen keyboard.

I actually tried a variety of Bluetooth keyboards, and yes, balancing them
can be a pain, especially in a moving platform like a train. I found a good
way to situate things, with my backpack as a support for the Neo, and thus
only having to hang onto the keyboard on a subway train, which has lots of
motion. Is it ideal? No. Would having a cradle or some sort of attachment
been better? Probably, but it wasn't useless.

I wrote e-mails, reports, and diary entries in this way, and I liked it a
lot -- as the onscreen keyboard is handy but not functional. Now, if the
keyboard was big enough for me to do work, but also portable, that would be
fantastic.

I saw a smaller Bluetooth keyboard yesterday ... which is about the size
of an average phone. The keys were way too small for fingers, so I'm
guessing it is aimed at the thumb market, which might be a fit for some
but wouldn't help me.

Thanks,
Gerald
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Re: Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Al Johnson
On Thursday 15 March 2012 12:57:23 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
 During the Openmoko Stammtisch Munich yesterday, we
 have once again discussed options to build a special GTA04 keyboard.
 
 And now I think we have found a way to really square the
 circle. The square being functionality and the circle being
 cost.
 
 The idea is to use:
 * off-the shelf pushbutons (Panasonic has some nice and very
flat SMD buttons readily available at DigiKey)
 * a Shapeways made custom case
 * a not very sophisticated PCB with the buttons, a Bluetooth
HCI module [1], a small LiIon battery and a microcontroller scanning
the keyboard and supporting USB charging
 
 Now comes the key idea: having a shapeways printed case makes
 it possible to think about a keyboard built into a replacement battery
 cover. It makes it a little thicker than normal, but you can detach it
 and use it as a keyboard.

I was with you up to the bluetooth + battery part. Why not use a slide out 
keyboard with a TCA8418 and wired i2c connection to the main board? The board 
should be cheaper and simpler, the plastics little different to a sliding 
bluetooth device, and there'd be no messing about remembering whether you'd 
charged the keyboard.

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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Martin Jansa
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 09:56:01AM -0400, Gerald A wrote:
 On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 8:29 AM, Martin Jansa martin.ja...@gmail.comwrote:
 
  I fully agree on this, I have bought smaller keyboard (with USB cable)
  for freerunner and I don't use it very much, because as you said it's
  not really usable e.g. while sitting in train and trying to balance
  phone + keyboard on your lap. So in trains I'm using n900 only and
  om-gta02 is sitting at home always connected to desktop (with real
  keyboard).
 
 
 On this, I respectfully disagree. When I had my Neo in full flight, I often
 used a Bluetooth keyboard to do longer sessions. For short sessions, I'd
 use the stylus and the tiny onscreen keyboard.
 
 I actually tried a variety of Bluetooth keyboards, and yes, balancing them
 can be a pain, especially in a moving platform like a train. I found a good
 way to situate things, with my backpack as a support for the Neo, and thus
 only having to hang onto the keyboard on a subway train, which has lots of
 motion. Is it ideal? No. Would having a cradle or some sort of attachment
 been better? Probably, but it wasn't useless.

Yes it's better than onscreen keyboard but being able to attach it to
phone is the important part at least for me. (I was carying that keyboard 
in original paper box and was using top cover to hold my freerunner - but 
that's still far from ideal).

Something like double battery cover with some rails for keyboard sliding 
out from it would be nice (still holding one piece of hw - even if it
makes whole phone extra 1cm thick). It doesn't need to be in main body 
and it would also add option to decide to go out with just classic cover 
and smaller case.

 I wrote e-mails, reports, and diary entries in this way, and I liked it a
 lot -- as the onscreen keyboard is handy but not functional. Now, if the
 keyboard was big enough for me to do work, but also portable, that would be
 fantastic.
 
 I saw a smaller Bluetooth keyboard yesterday ... which is about the size
 of an average phone. The keys were way too small for fingers, so I'm
 guessing it is aimed at the thumb market, which might be a fit for some
 but wouldn't help me.

Cheers,

-- 
Martin 'JaMa' Jansa jabber: martin.ja...@gmail.com


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Re: Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller

Am 15.03.2012 um 15:10 schrieb Al Johnson:

 On Thursday 15 March 2012 12:57:23 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
 During the Openmoko Stammtisch Munich yesterday, we
 have once again discussed options to build a special GTA04 keyboard.
 
 And now I think we have found a way to really square the
 circle. The square being functionality and the circle being
 cost.
 
 The idea is to use:
 * off-the shelf pushbutons (Panasonic has some nice and very
   flat SMD buttons readily available at DigiKey)
 * a Shapeways made custom case
 * a not very sophisticated PCB with the buttons, a Bluetooth
   HCI module [1], a small LiIon battery and a microcontroller scanning
   the keyboard and supporting USB charging
 
 Now comes the key idea: having a shapeways printed case makes
 it possible to think about a keyboard built into a replacement battery
 cover. It makes it a little thicker than normal, but you can detach it
 and use it as a keyboard.
 
 I was with you up to the bluetooth + battery part. Why not use a slide out 
 keyboard with a TCA8418 and wired i2c connection to the main board? The board 
 should be cheaper and simpler, the plastics little different to a sliding 
 bluetooth device, and there'd be no messing about remembering whether you'd 
 charged the keyboard.

Yes, there are contact points on the GTA04A4 board prepared for this.

My main concern are that cables may break too often and connecting
it to the main board plus getting it out of the device is a little fiddly.

But this could be a cheaper (and easier to develop) option than BT+Battery.
It just needs to place the TCA (plus some ESD-protection) on the board and
a set of buttons like these:

http://search.digikey.com/de/de/products/EVQ-P6DB35/P14165CT-ND/1966474

Nikolaus


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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Kai Lüke
Hey,
I would like to have it rather swinging out than sliding. Then you could
lock it at ca. 180° (with a bar or something) and by using the full back
area of the case, it would be big enough for a expanded layout.
As connector I would like USB more than bluetooth, but don't know how
thin a cable can be.
Regards,
Kai

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Re: Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Al Johnson
On Thursday 15 March 2012 15:30:34 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
 Am 15.03.2012 um 15:10 schrieb Al Johnson:
  On Thursday 15 March 2012 12:57:23 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
  During the Openmoko Stammtisch Munich yesterday, we
  have once again discussed options to build a special GTA04 keyboard.
  
  And now I think we have found a way to really square the
  circle. The square being functionality and the circle being
  cost.
  
  The idea is to use:
  * off-the shelf pushbutons (Panasonic has some nice and very
  
flat SMD buttons readily available at DigiKey)
  
  * a Shapeways made custom case
  * a not very sophisticated PCB with the buttons, a Bluetooth
  
HCI module [1], a small LiIon battery and a microcontroller
scanning
the keyboard and supporting USB charging
  
  Now comes the key idea: having a shapeways printed case makes
  it possible to think about a keyboard built into a replacement battery
  cover. It makes it a little thicker than normal, but you can detach it
  and use it as a keyboard.
  
  I was with you up to the bluetooth + battery part. Why not use a slide
  out keyboard with a TCA8418 and wired i2c connection to the main board?
  The board should be cheaper and simpler, the plastics little different
  to a sliding bluetooth device, and there'd be no messing about
  remembering whether you'd charged the keyboard.
 
 Yes, there are contact points on the GTA04A4 board prepared for this.

Thanks to your fine documentation I could check that before I posted ;-) The 
power and unused i2c3 on the test pads looked good. Did I miss a better one? 
It looks like there's a reasonable bit of space above them in the case too.

 My main concern are that cables may break too often and connecting
 it to the main board plus getting it out of the device is a little fiddly.

I agree that's probably the trickiest bit. Any idea how sensitive the i2c is 
to the cable? Would a flexible headphone lead type work, or would it need 
flexi-pcb?

 But this could be a cheaper (and easier to develop) option than BT+Battery.
 It just needs to place the TCA (plus some ESD-protection) on the board and
 a set of buttons like these:
 
 http://search.digikey.com/de/de/products/EVQ-P6DB35/P14165CT-ND/1966474

With a thin cover of laser cut and etched stainless, or a plastic part to keep 
it all from shapeways? Either option would make changing the keymap relatively 
easy. 

Also I thought the TCA included ESD protection, although that was just from a 
quick glance at the datasheet.

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Perfect on screen keyboard?

2012-03-15 Thread Radek Polak
Hi,
while we are talking about hw keyboard, it would be also nice to discuss 
software keyboard. My impression is that nobody really tried to make a perfect 
keyboard.

So here is my idea:

the has standard qwery layout. The keys are twice as high as wide. Two keys 
are always grouped in one square - like in the picture:

+-+-+-+
| q w | e r | t y |
+-+-+-+

You can press the letter and it normally types it. But you can also press and 
hold the square and move left/right and it types the left or right letter in 
square. E.g.

press and hold qw sqare, move to left and release: it types q
press and hold qw sqare, move to righ and release: it types w

This has the advantage, that you are targeting twice as big square.

You can see it in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZAaSMYPcec

Maybe there could be 4 letters in square variant:

+-+-+
| q w | e r |
| a s | d f |
+-+-+

where you press the square and select letter by moving 
upright/upleft/downright/downleft.

Any other ideas for nice and usable keyboards?

Regards

Radek

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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Neil Jerram
Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller h...@goldelico.com writes:

 Now comes the key idea: having a shapeways printed case makes
 it possible to think about a keyboard built into a replacement battery
 cover. It makes it a little thicker than normal, but you can detach it
 and use it as a keyboard.

This sounds interesting.  I can imagine that my fingers might even get
used to using such a keyboard without detaching it from the back.

  Neil

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Re: Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread Joerg Eesmann
Hi,
my idea would be a very stable leather case for the GTA4. I would attach
a bluetooth keyboard to the cover, that the keyboard opposes the screen,
if closed. The leather case should stable enough, that if it is open,
you hold it with both hands, and type with your thumbs, while looking on
your GTA4 in landscape mode. Kind of the same concept as the clamshell
Zauruses. The bluetooth conection has the advantage, that you can bend
it a thousand times, it will not break, like cables. But ... the
keyboard needs its own battery.
only an idea,
Joerg 

On Thu, 2012-03-15 at 15:30 +0100, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
 Am 15.03.2012 um 15:10 schrieb Al Johnson:
 
  On Thursday 15 March 2012 12:57:23 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
  During the Openmoko Stammtisch Munich yesterday, we
  have once again discussed options to build a special GTA04 keyboard.
  
  And now I think we have found a way to really square the
  circle. The square being functionality and the circle being
  cost.
  
  The idea is to use:
  * off-the shelf pushbutons (Panasonic has some nice and very
flat SMD buttons readily available at DigiKey)
  * a Shapeways made custom case
  * a not very sophisticated PCB with the buttons, a Bluetooth
HCI module [1], a small LiIon battery and a microcontroller scanning
the keyboard and supporting USB charging
  
  Now comes the key idea: having a shapeways printed case makes
  it possible to think about a keyboard built into a replacement battery
  cover. It makes it a little thicker than normal, but you can detach it
  and use it as a keyboard.
  
  I was with you up to the bluetooth + battery part. Why not use a slide out 
  keyboard with a TCA8418 and wired i2c connection to the main board? The 
  board 
  should be cheaper and simpler, the plastics little different to a sliding 
  bluetooth device, and there'd be no messing about remembering whether you'd 
  charged the keyboard.
 
 Yes, there are contact points on the GTA04A4 board prepared for this.
 
 My main concern are that cables may break too often and connecting
 it to the main board plus getting it out of the device is a little fiddly.
 
 But this could be a cheaper (and easier to develop) option than BT+Battery.
 It just needs to place the TCA (plus some ESD-protection) on the board and
 a set of buttons like these:
 
 http://search.digikey.com/de/de/products/EVQ-P6DB35/P14165CT-ND/1966474
 
 Nikolaus
 
 
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Re: Perfect on screen keyboard?

2012-03-15 Thread Georg Drees
Hello,

* On Mar 15, 2012 8:42 PM, Radek Polak pson...@seznam.cz wrote:
 while we are talking about hw keyboard, it would be also nice to discuss
 software keyboard.
 [...]
 Any other ideas for nice and usable keyboards?

I very much like the qwo keyboard:
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Qwo

It was a, maybe even *the*, major point SHR would score over QtMoko
for the FreeRunner, IMHO.

Kind regards,
Georg

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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread EdorFaus

On 03/15/2012 01:41 PM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:

Am 15.03.2012 um 12:09 schrieb Gennady Kupava:

This is because if you using one hand to hold phone, you have one one
hand free. Holding and using keyboard with one hand is not possible.


And why not add some hooks or joints so that you can clip together both
parts after detaching them?


Well, if we're detaching the keyboard from the back side and then 
clipping them back together for use anyway - is there a good reason we 
can't just clip it onto the side with the USB port, and use that port 
for power and keyboard data?


That way we wouldn't need bluetooth or a battery, nor have to connect 
new cables to the main board.


Additionally, it would make it easier for people who prefer a thinner 
phone and don't mind carrying extra devices, as they can use the 
standard back cover and still be able to connect this keyboard.


Also, if we use a standard USB keyboard module (I don't know if that's 
feasible), it could be tested and used with other PCs too...


Of course, it does have a downside - can't use the USB port while the 
keyboard is connected (unless it includes a hub and/or charger 
passthrough), and is arguably riskier wrt. destroying the USB port if 
you drop the phone with the keyboard connected...


--
Regards,
Frode Austvik

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Re: [Gta04-owner] Keyboard for GTA04

2012-03-15 Thread EdorFaus

On 03/16/2012 12:00 AM, EdorFaus wrote:

clip it onto the side with the USB port



use a standard USB keyboard module


Aw, man... I just got this odd image in my head of a full-size standard 
qwerty keyboard with an angled docking port on the top - kinda like the 
iPod docks in some stereo systems - meant for the GTA0x...


Not really practical for carrying around in any way, but at least you 
can avoid cables when using it at home... unless you want to charge it 
or connect it to the LAN or something at the same time of course. :P


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