PRO1, LineageOS 16.0 Official Builds: Discussion

[Hook 3,020]

38 minutes ago, daniel.schaaaf said:

@tdm Would you be interested in enabling write access to the external SD-card? Apparently this can be done easily by editing PublicVolume.cpp: https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/gr8ubl/how_about_patching_in_sdcard_write_access/

There are quite a few apps for power-users that would benefit greatly from write access.

I'm confused.  I have write access to my SD card,  I must not be understanding correctly.  If I create a file in any program (for me mostly textmaker and QuickEdit) I can easily navigate to the sd card and save. 

[tdm 2,322]

3 hours ago, Hook said:

I'm confused.  I have write access to my SD card,  I must not be understanding correctly.  If I create a file in any program (for me mostly textmaker and QuickEdit) I can easily navigate to the sd card and save. 

Yeah this. @daniel.schaaaf
what write access are you not getting?

 

As for modifying vold, if there is a compelling reason, I can submit a change to lineage and try to get it in. Otherwise it would be local builds only.

 

[DieBruine 397]

@tdm

My son hasn't had any keyboard issues since flashing modified boot. Opposed to having issues everyday almost every minute. Yesterday he told me his rear camera doesn't work anymore and that the Pro1 has been suffering from reboots. So later on today I will probably flash both phones to stock (daughter already on it).

I hope Wheeljack and I have convinced you to assume the problem has got to do something with the keyboard driver...

I can't get them to hand over their Pro1 to me while mine is still in for repair. So, for now, I cannot continue help/investigation until mine returns...

Edited October 3, 2020 by DieBruine

[raymo 177]

I'am aware to make a try with modiefed boot for three or four days, and then, reflashing original boot (according my LOS version). If I understand, this will make no change in data and apk installed on my phone ?
I prefer a confirmation before as I must use my phone next four days for working use...and I never make that 🙂

[tdm 2,322]

1 hour ago, raymo said:

I'am aware to make a try with modiefed boot for three or four days, and then, reflashing original boot (according my LOS version). If I understand, this will make no change in data and apk installed on my phone ?
I prefer a confirmation before as I must use my phone next four days for working use...and I never make that 🙂

Correct.

[raymo 177]

Ok I tried, but all letters are...quirky. That means w make q, e make w, r make e etc...:)
A bit tricky to try in real conditions, with whatsapp or so...first row with 12345....works perfect.
But I wanted to try in real use, that's here (in heavy use) I see weird things...

[VaZso 1,998]

1 hour ago, raymo said:

Ok I tried, but all letters are...quirky. That means w make q, e make w, r make e etc...:)
A bit tricky to try in real conditions, with whatsapp or so...first row with 12345....works perfect.
But I wanted to try in real use, that's here (in heavy use) I see weird things...

That is because of physical difference between QWERTY and QWERTZ layouts, so this has messed up your layout.

Anyway, there is a layout setting in Lineage OS, try to switch it to the other option.
I think it will be good or even worse depending on these layouts.

[tdm 2,322]

5 hours ago, raymo said:

Ok I tried, but all letters are...quirky. That means w make q, e make w, r make e etc...:)
A bit tricky to try in real conditions, with whatsapp or so...first row with 12345....works perfect.
But I wanted to try in real use, that's here (in heavy use) I see weird things...

The layout setting may not be working. I'll try to look at that tomorrow.

[daniel.schaaaf 177]

On 10/3/2020 at 3:17 AM, Hook said:

I'm confused.  I have write access to my SD card,  I must not be understanding correctly...

 

On 10/3/2020 at 6:57 AM, tdm said:

what write access are you not getting?

As for modifying vold, if there is a compelling reason, I can submit a change to lineage and try to get it in. Otherwise it would be local builds only.

Sorry for the late reply. Many apps do use the Android way to gain write access to a certain folder on the external SD-card through the documents UI. But there are still some apps that have their own file browser or where you type in a specific path. These apps get write access denied by Android. ScummVM is one of those apps, if you want to see for yourselves.

My reasoning for having direct write access to the external SD-card is that apps that have not been updated to the newest Android API, and that might never get an update because they have been abandoned, will never be able to write to the external SD-card.

Google removed direct access due to privacy reasons and to reduce clutter. Apps should only be allowed to write to their own private space. And accessing the SD-card through the API, instead of accessing it directly, is the only way to have some kind of access control on a FAT32 formatted device.

What I find odd here is that apps still have unrestricted access to the internal/emulated SD-card. Maybe Google will change this in the future too. Right now, I see it as just another way to slowly kill external SD-cards and charge people a premium for internal memory in Pixel devices.

When it comes to privacy, any updated app is likely missing code to access the external SD-card directly, since this code is obsolete with Android 9+. Even with a modified vold, we would benefit from Google's privacy approach with newer apps. On the other side, we could still use old apps or some power tools (non-root) with the external SD-card. In other words, we could enjoy the best of two worlds. Weirdos like me would not have to fight the (Android) system to get their phones to do what they want it to do 😁

[EskeRahn 5,460]

(lineage-16.0-20201005-nightly-pro1-signed.zip installed smoothly using sideload, with and without addonsu)

[Gigadoc2 54]

22 hours ago, daniel.schaaaf said:

Sorry for the late reply. Many apps do use the Android way to gain write access to a certain folder on the external SD-card through the documents UI. But there are still some apps that have their own file browser or where you type in a specific path. These apps get write access denied by Android. ScummVM is one of those apps, if you want to see for yourselves.

My reasoning for having direct write access to the external SD-card is that apps that have not been updated to the newest Android API, and that might never get an update because they have been abandoned, will never be able to write to the external SD-card.

I don't think the official LineageOS would ever merge such a change, as the restrictions (you mention it yourself) are put in place there for a reason: Apart from no permissions on FAT32 or exFAT, saving onto a FAT-formatted SD is also unencrypted, while saving to the internal storage by default is encrypted.

Someone could make a downstream fork of LineageOS for the pro1, but I doubt that @tdm (or anyone else) could get such a change upstream. You could make direct SD access a manually grantable permission, but LineageOS will most likely not accept that either, see the eternal debate about signature spoofing.

22 hours ago, daniel.schaaaf said:

What I find odd here is that apps still have unrestricted access to the internal/emulated SD-card. Maybe Google will change this in the future too. Right now, I see it as just another way to slowly kill external SD-cards and charge people a premium for internal memory in Pixel devices.

While I don't like Google either, I doubt that this is the reason. The internal storage, while still sort of permission-less, it at least encrypted. Android does give you way to save to the SD card, by "adopting" it as permanent storage, in which case you also get your permissions and encryption for files on the SD.

Also, I kind of get why Google would want to get rid of SD cards, they are really unreliable. The cheap ones are slow, which will make the Phone itself appear slow, and even the expensive ones die very quickly (and without warning). I am just glad that the Pro1 gives us at least 128GB internal storage, not just 32GB like my previous phones^^

22 hours ago, daniel.schaaaf said:

When it comes to privacy, any updated app is likely missing code to access the external SD-card directly, since this code is obsolete with Android 9+. Even with a modified vold, we would benefit from Google's privacy approach with newer apps. On the other side, we could still use old apps or some power tools (non-root) with the external SD-card. In other words, we could enjoy the best of two worlds. Weirdos like me would not have to fight the (Android) system to get their phones to do what they want it to do 😁

Would the aforementioned adopted storage work for you? I don't expect you'll swap out the SD very often, so having it cryptographically tied to the phone is hopefully not a problem?

I admit, I haven't tried adoptable storage with the Pro1, as the second SIM card blocks the SD slot…

[tdm 2,322]

@daniel.schaaaf the response that @Gigadoc2 has above is spot on.  I would only add that instead of requesting changes in the OS to accommodate older apps, it is much better to use updated apps.  Unmaintained apps can be a security risk.  I know that is not always desirable or even possible, but it will surely be the official position of both Lineage and Google for this issue.

 

[tdm 2,322]

@DieBruine @raymo and everyone else with keyboard issues... here is an updated boot image.  This has all Lineage keyboard code except for the aw9523 key handler.  I also fixed the FN key handling.  The QWERTZ setting (and everything else) should work now.

 

If this still works properly for you, I will start modifying the aw9523 key handler code to see where the Lineage driver is broken.

 

Boot image: http://files.nwwn.com/android/pro1/boot-stock-kbd-2.img

Code: https://github.com/tdm/android_kernel_fxtec_msm8998/tree/lineage-16.0-kbdtest

 

[marmistrz 93]

tdm, could we possibly have both drivers in the lineage kernel and be able to choose between them without rebuilding the kernel (possibly requiring root)? I'm thinking about a way to adapt the keyboard layout to fit the Polish language and I'll almost certainly will need to somehow remap some fn+something combo. Probably I'd want to use fn+a as altgr+a but keep fn+l as it is.

There might be other languages for which a dead fn key causes trouble.

[tdm 2,322]

17 minutes ago, marmistrz said:

tdm, could we possibly have both drivers in the lineage kernel and be able to choose between them without rebuilding the kernel (possibly requiring root)? I'm thinking about a way to adapt the keyboard layout to fit the Polish language and I'll almost certainly will need to somehow remap some fn+something combo. Probably I'd want to use fn+a as altgr+a but keep fn+l as it is.

There might be other languages for which a dead fn key causes trouble.

 

No, it is not feasible to keep both drivers in the kernel.

 

My feeling has always been that the FN key should be used for the keys marked with yellow symbols.  But I do understand that there are only two keyboards available and this leaves many languages without proper support.  So I can look into making the FN key "un-dead".  That is:

 

Send FN key press and release as any other key.

 

When FN key is pressed and a key is pressed that has a yellow marking, send the following two events: (1) release KEY_FN, (2) press the yellow marked key.

 

When FN key is pressed and a key is released that has a yellow marking, send the following two events: (1) release the yellow marked key, (2) press KEY_FN.

 

This should result in the FN key behaving normally for the unmarked keys, and sending the yellow marked key for marked keys.  The only quirk is that you would get a lot of synthesized FN release/press pairs.  Of course, there is still no way to press eg. FN+P or FN+L on QWERTY devices.  But there is really no reasonable way to fix that.

 

[raymo 177]

@tdmDone, I give it a try and I tell you what.
This is writed using boot-stock-kbd-2.img with QWERTZ layout
Thanks !

[VaZso 1,998]

1 hour ago, tdm said:

My feeling has always been that the FN key should be used for the keys marked with yellow symbols.  But I do understand that there are only two keyboards available and this leaves many languages without proper support.  So I can look into making the FN key "un-dead".  That is:

Send FN key press and release as any other key.

When FN key is pressed and a key is pressed that has a yellow marking, send the following two events: (1) release KEY_FN, (2) press the yellow marked key.

When FN key is pressed and a key is released that has a yellow marking, send the following two events: (1) release the yellow marked key, (2) press KEY_FN.

Sorry if I did not understand you correctly (I am a bit tired) and I am currently using stock Android, but do I understand well you are going to hard-wire FN (alias yellow arrow) + yellow-signed keys as "yellow" keystrokes?

I use the QWERTZ layout because it can be easily translated to international layout and I use the yellow arrow to reach my local special characters. Some of them are located at a position where also yellow signs exist on Pro1's keyboard.

Does it mean I will not be able to do the same thing (remap) on Lineage OS or this behaviour can be switched off or is it modifiable or I simply misunderstood it?

[jamescarruthers 37]

2 hours ago, tdm said:

@DieBruine @raymo and everyone else with keyboard issues... here is an updated boot image.  This has all Lineage keyboard code except for the aw9523 key handler.  I also fixed the FN key handling.  The QWERTZ setting (and everything else) should work now.

 

If this still works properly for you, I will start modifying the aw9523 key handler code to see where the Lineage driver is broken.

 

Boot image: http://files.nwwn.com/android/pro1/boot-stock-kbd-2.img

Code: https://github.com/tdm/android_kernel_fxtec_msm8998/tree/lineage-16.0-kbdtest

 

My keyboard is pretty unreliable and I don't really know anything about how to load the above. I could learn, like I did to load Lineage OS in the furst place. If I wait, will this fix eventually find its way the weekly updates?

[tdm 2,322]

19 minutes ago, VaZso said:

Sorry if I did not understand you correctly (I am a bit tired) and I am currently using stock Android, but do I understand well you are going to hard-wire FN (alias yellow arrow) + yellow-signed keys as "yellow" keystrokes?

I use the QWERTZ layout because it can be easily translated to international layout and I use the yellow arrow to reach my local special characters. Some of them are located at a position where also yellow signs exist on Pro1's keyboard.

Does it mean I will not be able to do the same thing (remap) on Lineage OS or this behaviour can be switched off or is it modifiable or I simply misunderstood it?

 

No, the only change you will see is that FN key is exposed.

 

[tdm 2,322]

7 minutes ago, jamescarruthers said:

My keyboard is pretty unreliable and I don't really know anything about how to load the above. I could learn, like I did to load Lineage OS in the furst place. If I wait, will this fix eventually find its way the weekly updates?

 

First, backup your boot image.  If you are on official Lineage, this is the same file that is publish as the recovery.  So you can just use that as your backup.

 

Next, download my image and run something like this:
 

adb reboot bootloader

fastboot flash boot <image-name>

fastboot reboot

That's it!

 

[VaZso 1,998]

44 minutes ago, tdm said:

No, the only change you will see is that FN key is exposed.

Thanks. It seems I have mixed the example and its background event. 🙂
I didn't see the difference is the FN key press/release itself. 🙂

[raymo 177]

@tdm

Here my result for the test using boot-stock-kbd-2.img (QWERTZ layout)

- First Fn + Space make the screen on/off, and works perfect (it wasn't the case, sometime it has worked, and sometimes not)

- No more ghosts keys !!! Enjoy !

I notice this :

-Only few touch making choice menu appears when long press (a, e, c...but not x or q for example) Was it the case ? I don't remember, don't care, but I find this good.

-[ , . - ] make [ ; : _ ] with Fn or Shift (I don't remember if it was the case but it's also really good)

- I have activate and test F1 F2 F3....with Fn + 1, Fn + 2, Fn + 3...in AndrOpen Office, as far as I remember it has never worked (but I don't think  it's useful as I have no more symbol like !"§$%&/()=? ), it works 🙂

Thanks for the good work, I will wait your instructions for the next step.

[DieBruine 397]

@tdm
Fortunately I didn't revert my son's Pro1 back to stock. So I flashed the second boot.img hoping his camera would be fixed. But that didn't help. So I flashed the latest nightly both recovery and LoS. Camera still doesn't work. The rear camera times out on unknown error, black screen and then quits. One time it showed  cannot start media recorder while trying out video recording. I also installed Open Camera, that just shows a black screen. The front camera does work in both apps.
Anyway, I can't just reset the damned phone hoping his camera will work. Maybe tomorrow I will give it a try. As most people do, he needs his phone. But in case it doesn't work, I have to go through the whole back to stock process and back to LoS again. I will let you know how it played out.
And any suggestions in getting the camera to work again are welcome. I have cleared the apps. That's all I can do and think of. And the steps noted above.

Edit:
Just flashed my wife's phone. Camera still works 🙂 . Curious to find out if she will start using the keyboard more often now.

Edited October 6, 2020 by DieBruine

[tdm 2,322]

4 hours ago, DieBruine said:

@tdm
Fortunately I didn't revert my son's Pro1 back to stock. So I flashed the second boot.img hoping his camera would be fixed. But that didn't help. So I flashed the latest nightly both recovery and LoS. Camera still doesn't work. The rear camera times out on unknown error, black screen and then quits. One time it showed  cannot start media recorder while trying out video recording. I also installed Open Camera, that just shows a black screen. The front camera does work in both apps.
Anyway, I can't just reset the damned phone hoping his camera will work. Maybe tomorrow I will give it a try. As most people do, he needs his phone. But in case it doesn't work, I have to go through the whole back to stock process and back to LoS again. I will let you know how it played out.
And any suggestions in getting the camera to work again are welcome. I have cleared the apps. That's all I can do and think of. And the steps noted above.

Edit:
Just flashed my wife's phone. Camera still works 🙂 . Curious to find out if she will start using the keyboard more often now.

 

The rear camera issue sounds like a hardware problem.  If you get a dmesg from boot, we can look to see if the sensor is detected properly or not.  In any case, I suggest that you contact support.  They may or may not want you to go back to stock.

 

[DieBruine 397]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:35 PM, tdm said:

 

Nice!

 

Note that 17.1 will be relatively easy with 16.0 working.  It should be ready within a week or two.  Nolen and Ethan are making great progress.

 

Just curious... Any news on this front?