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+--- Thread: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? (/showthread.php?tid=19316)
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So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Peter Gamma - 06-29-2024
I invested a lot of time in reviewing the Pinphone to edit text and compared it to other devices which are on the market for this purpose:
https://petergamma.org/selected-office-applications-for-the-pinehone-android-phones-raspberry-pi-zero-2-w/
But now that I found that it is device which is suitable for this purpose, the Pinephone keyboard has been pulled from the Pine 64 store. The only keyboard I know which has been confirmed to work by wibble is the 10 year oldGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard for BlackBerry and Other PDA/Handhelds:
https://www.amazon.ca/Igo-Stowaway-Ultra-Slim-Bluetooth-Keyboard/dp/B0002OKCXE
But who wants to fold up the keyboard every time he writes a text? It sould in principle be possible to solder a keyboard to the POGO pins of the Pinephone. But small wired keyboards are very difficult to find. And the developers of the Pinephone Keyboard have already solved this problem.
And now it is not avaible again. What a pity.
All my hard work for the Pinephone in vain, such as install LibreOffice and reviewing it on my site for mobile office:
https://petergamma.org/category/mobile-office/
Since editing text on the Pinephone without a handy keyboard does not make any sense for me personally. So which keyboard you suggest to use?
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Zebulon Walton - 06-29-2024
I have used the "Fosmon" mini-bluetooth keyboard with the Pinephone running Mobian. It incorporates a touchpad and appears to work well, but given the small size it's not something I'd want to use for typing lengthy documents.
https://www.fosmon.com/portable-lightweight-mini-wireless-bluetooth-keyboard-controller-qwerty-keypad
I hadn't used the keyboard in quite a while but I just connected it and it still works.
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Peter Gamma - 06-29-2024
I had exactly this keyboard for many years on my Android phone and I was completely happy with it. It had another label but it looks completely identical.
But then I connected exactly this keyboard to my Pinephone with postmarketOS. Or was it Ubuntu Touch? Unfortunatly I do not remember. But I have posted here in the forum.
I tried also a Bluetooth mouse which disconnected as well and was not usable with the Pinephone.
Is there a Bluetooth peripheral expert who knows what might be the issue?
I had previously such issues with old devices. But I do not remember which these exactly where. Wibble tested the iGo Stowaway keyboard for 30 min. It worked. But it only disconnected when he did not use it for a while. And then it woke up again. There most be something special about this iGo keyboard.
So do I have to test all the Bluetooth keyboards with all the Pinephone distros to find a solution? Or is there some deeper knowledge from an expert?
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Zebulon Walton - 06-29-2024
I haven't tried the keyboard with any other distros, not sure why it didn't work for you. (I'm far from a bluetooth expert.) I really didn't have to do anything special to get it working with Mobian. The keyboard and touchpad immediately just worked right out of the box.
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Peter Gamma - 06-29-2024
What do you mean precisely by "worked out of the box"? Did you get a stable connection without that the keyboard disconnected for a longer period of time? Such a long time that you could work with?
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Trbl - 06-29-2024
What happened to the official keyboard? I was just going to order it and couldn't find it. Anyone selling theirs?
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Peter Gamma - 06-29-2024
The Pinephone Keyboard has been pulled from the market and I don't know anyone who still sells it. I can't even find one on eBay.
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Trbl - 06-29-2024
Yeah, me neither. I've been looking for one on various local and global 2nd hand stores and couldn't find one either.
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Peter Gamma - 06-29-2024
- The only keyboard which I know which currently are available for the Pinephone are:
- The 10 year iGo Stowaway Bluetooth tested by wibble for 30 min.
- available on eBay used for 45 USD & 30 USD shipping
- a wireless k eyboard & 2.4G usb dongle:
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=19317
- this should work with the Pinephone but it was not not yet confirmed by someone.
- It was confirmed by one user to work with the Orange Pi 5.
- It is available on Amazon for 34 USD:
https://www.amazon.com/Rii-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Smartphones-Mac-Black/dp/B07T13GLY3
- I personally would test and choose the second one, if you want a keyboard which does not to be folded up everytime you used it.
- I currently own a Pinephone keybaord, but when it breaks I have to choose one of these two options as well.
RE: So which keyboard you suggest for the Pinephone? - Zebulon Walton - 06-29-2024
(06-29-2024, 08:52 AM)Peter Gamma Wrote: What do you mean precisely by "worked out of the box"? Did you get a stable connection without that the keyboard disconnected for a longer period of time? Such a long time that you could work with?
I would use it for maybe 20-30 minutes at a time, primarily to bring up a terminal and use ssh. I never attempted to work on anything like large documents. I found the Pinephone screen a bit too limited, battery life too short, and the bluetooth keyboard too small so I started using a compact laptop on the road instead.