[kaspar]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

@kaspar
Thank you for working on this! I am trying out the 0.2 alpha from yesterday.

I am not yet able to test it with a Bluetooth keyboard (having install issues with keyboard HID), but at least I can give you feedback on everything else.

1) Folder names for copying AbiWord can be simplified. It is not a standard, but typical practice for KUAL extensions to have a structure like this:

abiword_version/
    abidocs/
    abidocs_folder/
    extensions/
        abiword/
    kindle_abiword/

This way a user can simply copy the contents of the folder "abiword_version" to USB root, and extensions folders will merge, while the other ones just copy.

2) Most of the menu items work and show up. Some of the don't (all items in Help)
3) Some windows show up scaled well (Tools - word count, Table - Insert), but some of them are too small, content doesn't fit, and there are tiny scrollbars (Tools - Set language, Tools - Plugins). I thought GTK 3 has a standard way to scale and fit the content?
4) Overall the icons look nice in the ribbon, but I feel like they are quite small, for example the rightmost icon in the ribbon. Is there a way to make the UI scalable?
5) How to "right click" on the document? Maybe the pen's button can be used somehow?
6) I found a way to see tooltips of some icons. I put the pen down in the gray area of the ribbon and drag it to an icon and release - it show a tooltip.

I will get back to you once I have my BT keyboard setup!
Looks gorgeous, I am excited to continue testing.

Thank you!

Hi Mergen, thanks for testing!

1. I agree I can do a little better with the deploy packages. I'll work on that. Though the merge folder command always kind of worries me even though I know it works in practice.
2. Yeah, I haven't touched anything in the Help menu yet. I would like to remove some unnecessary things, but I definitely plan to get the About Abiword dialog to work.
3. The Kindles actually ship with an even older GTK version, GTK 2.x (I don't have the exact version in front of me right now), which is why I had to pick such an old version of Abiword to port. I believe I can fix the scroll bars being so tiny. I have been writing a lot with this port and in my usage, spell check definitely could benefit from a dialog size fix. Other dialogs will benefit as well. Those will be finishing touches.
4. I'm not sure about the icon size. I haven't looked into it at all. I must say I've gotten used to the size and kind of appreciate that they stay out of the way. I'm able to tap the center text to start a document, and then left ruled after the title no problem. For things like bold, italics, underline, I use the CTRL+ B, I, and U commands. When you get keyboard support, you will see that the interface gets larger in landscape mode.
5. That's a good question, and something I should look into. I have one keyboard that has that function baked in, and the right click dialog does work.
6. Interesting find. I'll test that. I only get the pen out to scroll through the spell check list at the moment.

I was supposed to post a new version (newer than Alpha 0.2) this weekend, but I went down a rabbit hole of getting USB keyboard support to work. I had to study the USB port controller MAX20342 data sheet, which I understand is on all USB C Kindles now. Anyway, I had to do a lot of complicated tricks:

1. Clear LPUFP (Low-Power bypass) & Force MAX20342 into Source Mode.
2. Wait for FSM to lock into Source Mode.
3. Close the MAX20342 OVP Switch manually.
4. Enable the Texas Instruments BQ25611D 5V Boost Converter.
5. Force the MediaTek SoC into Host Mode.

It took about seven hours, because while all of the addresses are in the datasheet, some like under USER_USBC are extremely vague. I had to pull the GPL source for the Scribe too.

The result is, the USB C port on the Scribe will provide 5v of power and allow data (keyboard, etc) even without an OTG cable. My plan is to integrate it into Abiword, but not until I make sure that it is safe. I think it's safe, but this week I really need to test it. I think this is completely uncharted territory. Right now it's two scripts. One is to turn the mode on, and the other turns it off. I was thinking of putting it into the launch script (optional), and the File, Quit code. I spent all that time because I want the writing experience to be extremely stable and reliable. What's more reliable than a USB keyboard? I've already tested it with traditional USB A wired keyboards using a USB A female to USB C male adapter, and wireless dongles (I've tested Logitech and Lenovo so far).

This will probably open the door for all sorts of applications I haven't thought about yet. At first I didn't think it would even be possible to get the 5v output. My first working concept needed an externally powered OTG cable but I thought that was too much of a compromise. I already did that with the Pomera DM250 running Debian.