Mobian and Keyboard

[tim.senecal]

Would anyone be kind enough to let me know what version of Mobian i need to make the keyboard work?  i have done an update and an upgrade, but the keyboard is still just a hockey puck.

[TheHans255]

I'm having the same problem. I just got my keyboard today, and I know I've connected it properly because it's providing power to the phone. However, on both Mobian Bullseye and Bookworm, none of the keys work, and the device does not appear in /dev/input. Is there a kernel module/package we should ensure we have?

[bcnaz]

Mine worked on the first try.

However I have heard mention that there are discussions elsewhere on the forum about using thin shims to make a better connection to the POGO pins.

Any recent Mobian release would work, there is no 'magic' edition.

[tim.senecal]

I'm having the same problem. I just got my keyboard today, and I know I've connected it properly because it's providing power to the phone. However, on both Mobian Bullseye and Bookworm, none of the keys work, and the device does not appear in /dev/input. Is there a kernel module/package we should ensure we have?

How can you tell that the keyboard is providing power to the phone?  my keyboard appears to be completely dead.   the user manual is completely useless in this regard.  it explains everything except what a working keyboard should display or not display.  there is no troubleshooting section, etc.

[TheHans255]

Mine worked on the first try.

However I have heard mention that there are discussions elsewhere on the forum about using thin shims to make a better connection to the POGO pins.

Any recent Mobian release would work, there is no 'magic' edition.

Interesting, thank you. Do you know where these shims would go? I'd imagine that wedging something between the phone and the back of the case would make it worse, but maybe there's a specific placement that helps?

On a different line of questioning, is there a test I can do with a multimeter to make sure the keyboard is working, independent of the Pinephone?

[TheHans255]

How can you tell that the keyboard is providing power to the phone?  my keyboard appears to be completely dead.   the user manual is completely useless in this regard.  it explains everything except what a working keyboard should display or not display.  there is no troubleshooting section, etc.

As long as the keyboard has had a few minutes to charge (and the battery is on - press the button on the side), plugging the Pinephone in should turn it on. Mine didn't do that the first time I tried, but did the second time.

[mattpenn]

Actually you do need to make sure your Mobian is updated to Bookworm. While the nightly images are all Bookworm now (I think) the installer (needed for disk encryption) results in Bullseye. You can switch to Bookworm as described here:
https://blog.mobian-project.org/posts/20...-bookworm/

I'm surprised the installer hasn't been switched yet. I'm also surprised anyone would opt for an image based install when there is a working installer for enabling encryption.

[bcnaz]

I may move to encryption when I finally flash to the eMMC, meanwhile I am running from sd cards & testing the systems for now.

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How can you tell that the keyboard is providing power to the phone?  my keyboard appears to be completely dead.   the user manual is completely useless in this regard.  it explains everything except what a working keyboard should display or not display.  there is no troubleshooting section, etc.

As long as the keyboard has had a few minutes to charge (and the battery is on - press the button on the side), plugging the Pinephone in should turn it on. Mine didn't do that the first time I tried, but did the second time.

Yes, it turns on when you plug it in,  -

It also starts the phone when you un-plug the charger.

[TheHans255]

Actually you do need to make sure your Mobian is updated to Bookworm. While the nightly images are all Bookworm now (I think) the installer (needed for disk encryption) results in Bullseye. You can switch to Bookworm as described here:
https://blog.mobian-project.org/posts/20...-bookworm/

I'm surprised the installer hasn't been switched yet. I'm also surprised anyone would opt for an image based install when there is a working installer for enabling encryption.

Just came back here to post that! I had tried upgrading to Mobian but didn't properly run the `apt dist-upgrade` command (I had run `apt-get dist-upgrade`, which doesn't quite work), and when I did that and restarted, my keyboard is now working nicely! Plus, the Accessibility tab finally appeared in Settings and I can turn off the on screen keyboard now.

[tim.senecal]

Alright,

i actually own two pinephone convergence models, one that has mobian on it...  and another that had postmarket os on it.  it now has the nightly build of mobian on it, and on that phone, the keyboard works well.  i won't say perfectly, because i need to fix the mapping on several of the keys, it looks like the "alt" versions of the keys have a few mis-configured keys (i can't get a pipe character for example)... but i am just happy that i have a keyboard that isn't a hockey puck.  I think the next step will be to do the "sudo apt dist-upgrade" on my first phone.

thanks to all that replied.