SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Thanks to TheKit, Piggz and MisterMagister, we have a working SFOS port for the F(x)tec Pro¹. This thread is to talk about this, issues we may still encounter, improvements, and workarounds.

I am happy to leave the first post to any of the three porters if they want to, but in the mean time I am opening it to avoid cluttering the main F(x)tec thread, since it mostly focuses on hardware, Android and production status.


# Resources:
OS flashing sorcery
- TWRP instructions for SFOS flashing, backup, restoration, and factory reset, more comprehensive than the two guides below
- SFOS flashing base guide
- Factory reset base guide (restores stock Android)

Information, tweaks, issues, progress, social
- Wiki on TJC
- SFOS on Pro¹ Github repository and issue tracker
- SFOS community port build images for the Pro¹
- Updated links and announcements by TheKit (this very thread, post #3 below)
- F(x)tec Discord server (with a SFOS channel)
- F(x)tec forum

Recommended software
- harbour-containers (LXC within SFOS, see it in action on the Pro¹)
- SFOS Ubu chroot (Ubuntu chroot within SFOS, see it in action on the Pro¹)

Donate to the porters
- https://paypal.me/rthekit
- https://paypal.me/piggz
- https://paypal.me/MisterMagister

# SFOS + HWKB porn:
https://user-images.githubuserconten...46233e8808.gif

Alright, all other images have disappeared. I'll need to re-upload them or make new ones at a later point. Please bear with me.
https://reho.st/medium/self/7860a076...15a254bd49.jpg
https://reho.st/medium/self/51aefac8...008700909c.jpg
https://reho.st/medium/self/fe506689...8dd63df048.jpg
https://reho.st/medium/self/558df13e...c4ae4903b0.jpg
https://reho.st/medium/self/e04bbeee...bac86fc1cb.jpg

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

# Testing is the new stable
There are two types of images on the port git repository: one has "-testing" appended to its name, the other has no suffix. Don't get fooled, the images with no suffix are actually the development images, which can break for all sort of reasons depending on what the porters are working on. The "-testing" images really are what you're looking for, unless you know what you're doing. This is indicated in the flashing how-to.

However, if you got it wrong initially and flashed a development image, you do not need to flash again. Here is how to switch your device to testing.

# Current status
Not working
- Double tap to wake (not specific to SFOS)
- FM radio
- Double (fake bokeh) back camera
- RTC alarms (wake from alarm)
- USB mtp mode
- HDMI out (a SFOS limitation, not related to the port, but this has been done in the past so there is hope if someone understands it)
*crickets*

Working
- Audio (stereo speaker, headphones, jack)
- Bluetooth with all protocols supported
- Main camera 4000×3000
- Front camera
- Display
- Fingerprint reader
- GPS
- GSM (voice, sms, mms, data 2G, 3G, 4G)
- Hardware keyboard layout configurable via xkb
- Hardware keyboard backlight
- Wake-up screen with Esc key or when opening keyboard
- Lock orientation when keyboard open (with the Taskswitcher app)
- Hotspot
- RGB LED
- NFC
- Sensors (ALS, PS, accel., gyro, magne.)
- Touch
- USB (all modes but mtp: dev, charge)
- USB OTG
- Volume keys
- Two-stage camera key (focus, shutter, app-shortcut)
- Vibration
- WiFi 2.4GHz + 5GHz
- Device encryption on LVM partition (if using the right SFOS image)

Updated 2020-08-18. Thanks Mosen for the initial list!

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

*reserved post for updated links and announcements*

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

*German QWERTZ adaption with updated progress*

Current status:
20191226, 14:30 utc
- Yellow Arrow modifier now works thanks to TheKits kernel magic implemented when updating to 3.2.1.20.
- added ~ to +* key on 3rd level, ~ is available twice now due to F(x) printing ~ onto Ü key but me expecting it like on my laptop layout on +*.
- If you look for _, it is on 2nd level (shift modifier) on the minus key. For the logic i applied when assigning keys to 2nd or 3rd level, see this post.

previous:
Beta from 20191222-13:55 utc
- All Keys but yellow modifier identified and assigned.
Change requests welcome!

Small video of a test type in notes app.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Temporary and partly broken workaround for us-intl on the qwerty version: https://github.com/sailfish-on-fxtec...ment-568145159

Based on my non-official layout for computer keyboard (vanilla us-intl + a few extra characters on unused levels):

https://reho.st/0x0.st/zGrn.png

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

SFOS has some shortcuts for hardware keyboards that work here:

In Ubu chroot, all usual key combinations work.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Hey @mosen, GREAT!
Thanx for your work. I've reflashed my Pro1. SIM is back, now I'm installing stuff and setting up accounts. First test of your Keymap file works good. Will have to test further on. But I think you should already make a pull request. It will help others using their qwertz keyboard.
Improvements can be done later on. I think there is anyway work to do, when the yellow keys can be used.

Hohoh that all feels like a christmas present. I think I will switch tomorrow after work my main device. THANK YOU ALL! :D

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

@mosen underscore desn't work for me. Instead of _ I get ─

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Unfortunately, I don't have the rights to do this. I don't have moderator rights in that sub

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Oh, didn't know. Not a big deal, we have reposted the most important I think. Thanks anyway.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

BAD News!
SIM is gone again!
I think it has to do with the fact that I deactivated SIM Slot 2 in Settings. But I'm not sure. Doesn't look like I am able to switch tomorrow. :mad:

Does anybody know where the config file for SIM Cards is?

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Is it possible that your SIM card or your SIM holder are damaged? I think the SIM settings are greyed out when no SIM is detected. Do you have a way to try another SIM maybe?

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Video playback issue (also posted on TJC):

Most native applications fail to decode any video or stream on my device. I initially thought it was due to the port, but Fellfrosch and Mosen do not have the same issue despite running the same version of the port. I got this issue right after flashing the OS, before doing any tweaks, so I don't know what makes the difference between me and them.

Microtube will crash softly and return to the search results. Twitchtube just never ends buffering, and Twitter videos do not start. Local files fail in Media player as well as in Pico Player. LLSVideoplayer says the following:

"Could not configure supporting library. The video cannot be played due to a problem allocating resources."

Music works.

The only applications that can play local videos so far are Kodi and Sailfish browser (Youtube), however Sailfish browser still fails to play Twitter videos. If I install Ubu chroot and try to play videos in the Ubu Chromium browser from both Youtube and Twitter sources, everything works just fine.

I checked Gstreamer1.0 and confirm it is installed. Could anyone help me by telling me where to start for troubleshooting?

Some output from command line:

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

I don't think the SIM holder is damaged. I had no problems with Android. SIM worked at the beginning. After fiddling around it stopped working. Same after the reflash. It worked for a few hours and at some time I recognized that it is gone. I have two SIMs both work without problems in my XperiaX. But they don't work anymore in the Pro1 it doesn't matter on which place I insert it. I'm almost sure, that this is software related. If you want to try it yourself, please disable tray two and restart the device.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Did that directly after flashing 3 days ago and my SIM1 is stable.
But i never had a 2nd sim in SIM2 during sfos period, always the sd-card from flashing.
Only tested DualSim shortly on Android.
Maybe try reflash and do like i did, disable slot 2 from start. I did only for cosmetic reasons so the empty icon disapears from status bar. But maybe it is even a workaround for general SIM2 problem on sfos you discovered just now?
My install is quite fleshed out already and i do not want to reflash and setup again just to try :/

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Grrrrrrr....
Reflashed an SIM Card is here again. So it's definitely a Software problem.
I will leave my hands from the SIM setting and will install all the stuff I already had installed - always having an eye on my SIM!

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

I felt like watching an action movie or following a commando squad preparing to a mission while I read the beginning posts for this thread. Nice.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Not sure if related, but I have had quite a lot sim card problems with Pro1 @Android. It prompts pin code too often. People said I should try with another sim card, so I ordered new one today. But I'd say it's possible there is some typical fault related to sim cards, too.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

I mentioned the SIM holder too because the SIM card could just work very well in another phone, but be badly inserted in the Pro¹ (if the holder is twisted or something). However, if the SIM immediately shows up every time you flash, then I don't know. I have no second SIM at the moment in my Pro¹ because I use a SD, but I disabled SIM2 in the settings and rebooted, and no issue so far.

My main "isolated" issue is the video thing posted above. :<

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Don't have Pro¹ but same problem was with Jolla¹ - Hope not hardware thing...

edit... oh, even with stock Android...
--

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

I flashed again! It's NOT the SIM Card setting. I think there is an app or a patch which breaks it. I will leave it now for a while with no apps installed and do some reboots. ANd watch.

The SIM Card by the way is only getting lost after reboots. Not while Sailfish is running.

@mosen and @Kabouik can you make a list what apps and what patches you have installed. That would help me to find the culprit.

I'm quite sure there is no hardware problem! EVERY time I flash SIM is recognized again without any problems! I never ad problems on Android and at the beginning with not much installed.

You know, that I didn't waited to long with flashing, so the device had no problems with the SIM Card under Sailfish for quite a long time. It always started, when I started to install a lot of stuff.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

@Fellfrosch, could you please install https://openrepos.net/content/slava/ofono-logger and send the logs (first review and edit in case there is sensitive data like numbers there) if the SIM is gone again? It should at least give some hints what to look at.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Ha! Now I finally lost my SIM card support too. :< Not particularly excited about reflashing after all the stuff I had already tweaked. :<

The SIM was still recognized, but I couldn't dial any number (an issue I reported on Github then closed because it was gone after a reboot). Therefore, I tried to reboot again, and this time there is no SIM slot listed in Setting > SIM cards.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

I just get "Connected to ofono." in the logs, nothing else.

When I try to dial a number from terminal, I get this:

Not very informative.

(I got the command line from TJC.)

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

In patch manager 3
- vibrate when call answer
- Launcher combined
- disble volume warning
- Show total partition size

Else
- Advanced camera
- AIDA64
- Battery Buddy
- Battery Log
- Compass
- Depecher
- Filecat
- fotokopierer
- gPodder
- GPSInfo
- InfraView
- Jolla Together
- Laufhelden
- LLs video
- µtube
- NFC log
- Nightly Clock
- OBDFish
- Personal Ringtone
- Photofunia
- pico player
- Piepmatz
- Puremaps
- Quasar Mx lite
- Quickddit
- QR clip
- Recorder
- Sailbook
- SailDBMeter
- Sailfish Connect
- Sail Soma
- Screen Message
- Situation & started by sturman
- Storeman
- ToeTerm
- Ytplayer
- Zaster Banker

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

There is a "jolla-settings-networking-multisim" in the repository package that I tried reinstalling using "devel-su zypper in --force jolla-settings-networking-multisim", but no change.

I did the same with "jolla-settings-networking".

Both reinstallations gave some warnings:

Can these NOKEY issues be related to our issue?

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

No, that's something with package signing, totally unrelated to telephony stack.

Could you please fetch the following (better after fresh boot):

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Sending you all that on Discord TheKit.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

It seems we tracked down what happened. SailfishOS devel repository version on OBS got bumped to 3.2.1.20, so nemo:devel:hw:fxtec:t5 got rebuilt against the latest and in this state doing zypper update broke ofono RIL binder transport due to RIL binder plugin and ofono version mismatch.

The easiest fix without reflashing seems to be updating to 3.2.1.20:

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

I'm doing it right now and will report in a few minutes if it worked for me.

Fellfrosh, did you explicitly use zypper up before getting your issue, when installing applications from Openrepos, or just Storeman?

[Edit] SIM card is back. We need more cookies for TheKit.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Beware that double tap to wake is out after the update, due to F(x)tec having disabled it:

https://community.fxtec.com/topic/25...#comment-35187

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Cookies (or beverages for slightly easier coding) incoming <3

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Update of the us-intl layout to use Yellow arrow modifiers for level 3 characters instead of Alt.

Works only with the kernel updated by TheKit on 2019/12/23. If you haven't updated the kernel, you cannot use the yellow arrow modifiers in SFOS yet.

Using yellow arrows instead of Alt makes key combinations much easier since this modifier is duplicated on the left and the right sides of the keyboard; also easier to combine with Shift for level 4. Note that it is recognized as R_ALT, and therefore works for Alt+Tab (if you have Taskswitcher from Openrepos installed) and is much easier to use than when using the real Alt key.

Unfortunately, R_ALT in Ubu chroot behaves the same way as L_ALT and therefore conflicts with OS-wide shortcuts (i.e., Yellow Arrow + F will unfold the "File" menu in any window instead of sending a level 3 character…), and therefore there is no way to use level 3 and level 4 characters. :/ This is a significant issue because Ubu chroot is not just some niche gadget to play with xfce4 on a phone, it also is a web browser than can be used as a regular SFOS application (with real benefits).

I wonder if any other keycode could be used for the yellow arrows to avoid this conflict? On my laptop, the Right Alt key does not cause such conflict, and gives the following in xev:

In Ubu chroot, xev sees yellow arrows as "Multi_key" and keycodes 64 and 108 for left and right. Changing the right yellow arrow to ISO_Level3_Shift using "xmodmap -e "keycode 108 = ISO_Level3_Shift"" did not change its behavior, it still behaves as regular Alt.

[Edit] A partial but not ideal workaround is to set a Compose key in Ubu XFCE4. It still won't allow typing ? or /, however.

In Ubu XFCE4, tap on Applications > Settings > Keyboard > Layout > Compose key. Select: "Right Alt".

After that, the yellow arrow can be used to compose special characters. It kinda works like a sticky key that turns the following key into a derivative special character, or a dead key prior to another key.

Examples:
Yellow arrow (release), o (release), o (release) = °
Yellow arrow (release), . (release), . (release) = …
Yellow arrow (release), a (release), a (release) = å
Yellow arrow (release), ` (release), e (release) = è.

In the latter case, if ` is already mapped as a dead key, there is no need for a compose key, but if it is a normal key, not using the compose key would just result in `e.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Ok, I will have a look this evening.
In my last attempt, i just installef Midnight Commander, Setup the keynap file and rebooted. After that the SIM was gone...

So I'm not sure, if it's caused by repository update. Anyway, I will test this evening, if an update brings back for me SIM again.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Hi guys !

@Kabouik I've seen you have a working Ubuntu chroot. Can you try to make one with Android (or maybe a LXC) ?

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

No way, I don't have any skills to do that. :< I just followed the instructions from elros34 in his Ubu chroot Github repository (see link in first post). I don't know if there is any working Android chroot for SFOS, but I guess we would have heard of it if that was the case.

Speaking of chroot, Ubu Chromium also works as a good file browser and media player (and works when minimized).

https://reho.st/self/8b6bd10671e6b04...155d050d1a.jpg

In my case, since I experience video playback issues in most native players except Kodi, that can be convenient. Full screen is broken, probably because of the 2:1 ratio, but it's not that small without full screen.

No hw decoding unfortunately.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Ok back on my Pro1:
I can confirm, it is enough to install Midnight Commander to kill the SIM Card detection.
I cab also confirm, that upgrading is bringing it to live again.

You all are talking about cookies for @TheKit. Have you found a donation button anywhere? I Haven't found one here nor on github!
Would also like to donate some drinks to the cookies.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

Is SD-Card working for you guys? If so, ext4 formated or what and how big? I can't see mine.

Re: SFOS on F(x)tec Pro¹: progress, issues, tricks, free chat
 

It seems that opening the keyboard now wakes up the screen (4.2.1.20, kernel from 20191223).

No, I do not see mine either (three distinct ext4 partitions, 128 GB total). I remember that SDs this size were an issue in Sailfish X too, maybe it is the same issue.

There is no common donation link for the three porters behind the port project unfortunately, but here is the link for TheKit. Would be cool to have those for Piggz and MisterMagister too.