I made a FOSS physical keyboard for my Fairphone 4

geteilt von: feddit.de/post/3048730

Github link: github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry

Here’s a video of it in action: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDb8_ld9gOQ

I’ve been using it for almost two years now, and I’m not going back.

It’s based on a spare Blackberry Q10 keyboard and a custom Arduino-compatible board that reads the keyboard matrix and outputs it as USB HID to the phone. From the viewpoint of the phone, it’s just a regular USB keyboard, so no special software is needed.

But I do use a custom virtual keyboard to have just two rows of symbols that are not natively on the keyboard, as I didn’t want to add another layer of rarely used symbols that I’d have to memorize.

https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/e5240b79-0f10-4dfd-9bd6-2833300f49fc.jpeg

(On the image you can see Ubuntu with XFCE4 running on it. I chose Ubuntu because it’s what was easiest to get running in a chroot jail on the phone. I’m using VNC to display the GUI. I even managed to get FEX (x86/x64 emulator) and Wine running, so it runs x86/x64 Linux and Windows apps.)

danielquinn,
@danielquinn@lemmy.ca avatar

I’m surprised that there isn’t already a simple thumb keyboard with a USB-C plug at the top that you can just buy on Amazon. I would think that what you’ve done here would be super helpful for lots of people.

magikmw,

I was looking for something like it for years. Or a HTC Desire Z style case with a slideout keyboard, even Bluetooth.

I miss texting in landscape.

JohnEdwa,
JohnEdwa avatar

Ah, the Desire Z was amazing. Used to play doom and pokemon in it as well, the keyboard worked great as a controller.

PixeIOrange, (edited )

I would love an foldable case with a keyboard on one side. Like a little Laptop. Would be so neat.

Edit, something like this:

iPhone_5_Keyboard_Case-e1403108526375

squaresinger,

The only thing on the market that kinda resembles this is the keyboard for the Pinephone. I’ve been considering hacking one of these and making them compatible with other phones.

Cupcake1972,

Or the Gemini PDA/Fxtec Pro1-X.

squaresinger,

These are not attachments, that’s why I didn’t reference them.

Cupcake1972,

Ah, valid point.

iHUNTcriminals,

Do you know if Linux is installable on any phone that can be unlocked? Last time I tried Linux on a phone was Ubuntu touch on a nexus 4.

squaresinger,

Kinda, yes and no, depinding on what you mean.

Native desktop Linux on bare metal, that’s not possible, afaik. At least I have never seen anyone do that, so I don’t think that’s possible. Only very specific phones that are designed for this (e.g. the Pinephone) can do this.

Specialized phone Linux distros like Ubuntu Touch or PostmarketOS can be installed on any phone that someone ported the OS to. This is by far not every phone, but there are some phones where that is possible.

Running a real desktop Linux in a chroot jail is something every rooted phone is able to do. Here, the phone’s regular Linux kernel is used to run the userland of the desktop Linux in a separated file system. From the user’s viewpoint this is real Linux, but the Kernel that is used is the Android kernel. Also, the whole Android userland is running at the same time. This means, you can e.g. see (and kill) Linux processes from Android and vice versa. You can access the UI of the chrooted Linux using either a VNC or an X11 app, and the CLI either over SSH or directly over a command from the Android CLI.

The last option is using e.g. Termux to run a desktop Linux in a proot jail. This works similar to chroot, but doesn’t require root. The downsides are that you don’t have root inside the desktop Linux and afaik it only works until Android 11. Otherwise you get similar results as with chroot, only slower and without requireing root.

I went with the chroot option, which works great. I even managed to get FEX (an x86/x64 emulator) to run, which, together with Wine even allows me to run Windows programs on my phone (slowly).

emr,
@emr@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Termux used to rock but nowdays installing stuff is very hit or miss.

socphoenix,

That looks absolutely perfect! Man I miss real keyboards on phones

iHUNTcriminals,

Yessss… Damn… With Linux on it too. I’d love that.

Tucumano88,
@Tucumano88@lemmy.zip avatar

Awesome!

MidwayTheMagnificent,

Love it. Miss my keyboard, badly. Was a die hard Crackberry user for many years.

I see a reference to adding a lightning connector. Is it that trivial to adapt?

squaresinger,

Funnily, yes it is. At least in theory, I haven’t tested it.

I am not using the USB connector directly, but instead I have a small USB OTG breakout board in between, which has USB C on one side and USB 2.0 OTG on the other side.

The same kind of board exists for Micro USB (which I tested on my last phone) and Lightning.

So all you need to do is swap the connector and that’s that. And of course adjust the case design files to fit an iPhone.

lemme_at_it,

XFCE on mobile + physical keyboard is the bees knees. May the kudos be with you.

RandomLegend,
@RandomLegend@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Amazing!

Gosh i really want physical Keyboards in Smartphones back…

squaresinger,

Yeah, me too. But since there’s nothing decent on the market, I had to make it myself.

DLSchichtl,

Long, long phoooone~

MrScottyTay,

Stay close to meeeee~

emr,
@emr@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

x86 apps? Awesome.

squaresinger,

It won’t run Crysis, but if performance is not a criterium, it does work.

bibibi,

nice clicky sound, appretiate it but agree other commnents, would be nice to have horizontal version

squaresinger,

Yeah, it would be nice. I would also prefer a horizontal version.

That’s sadly not really possible, though. The issue is that you need most of the weight in the keyboard part of a horizontal keyboard phone. If you look at any of these, they all have battery, mainboard, cameras and IO in the keyboard part of the phone, with only the screen being on the other part.

With a keyboard attachment, that’s not possible. You have all the weight up top. That means, you can never get the center of gravity in a comfortable position.

Believe me, I tried. I only had horizontal keyboard phones before, and the first 8 prototypes where some kind of side-sliding phone, and they all didn’t work out, because of the COG. Even if I added weights to the keyboard, that wasn’t enough. To balance the ~225g of that phone, I’d have to add >300g to the keyboard, and I really don’t want to carry a 0.5kg training weight in my pocket at all times.

So I gave up and stuck a Blackberry keyboard onto my phone :)

thepoaster,

Cool as hell I miss physical keyboards so much

DirkMcCallahan,

I’d buy it!

agent_flounder,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.one avatar

My first android phone was one with a physical slide out keyboard and damnit I really miss that. This is brilliant.

I wonder if I could load a newer OS on that old phone.

squaresinger,

Depending on the phone, there might be some custom ROM or something like PostmarketOS.

imaqtpie, (edited )
@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works avatar

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/MR6ZpIDRQh4d6oIYKf04gQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD05MDA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/insider_articles_922/8a4e5c453f8a980090de918f232ad3ab

Trust me, this is an exceptionally apt reference to BlackBerry (2023). Based on my lack of upvotes I assume not many people have seen it yet 😅

squaresinger,

Nah, haven’t seen it yet. Sorry…

imaqtpie,
@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works avatar

Without spoiling anything:

He portrays the founder of BlackBerry and is obsessed with having physical keyboards on phones

squaresinger,

Thanks!

FrankTheHealer,

I love the idea of my Fairphone running XFCE lol. Good job OP

Maajmaaj,

It’s a LongBerry

snor10,

Long phone is looooooooooong.

incogtino,

long loooong maaaaan

squaresinger,

Thanks, this is amazing^^

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