Native Abiword 2.8.6 for the Kindle Scribe (and possibly other Kindles)

[kaspar]

Today I looked at the F12 key display refresh code (which was tricky to achieve) and successfully mapped the F9 key to rotate the interface using lipc-set-prop. Now portrait and landscape mode can be set on demand at any time while Abiword is running. I think landscape mode will work out better for smaller screened devices like the PW and the Oasis. That leaves the PDF export bug to tackle and then I'll release Alpha 0.3. I will try to provide a working Scriptlet with the next release. I was having trouble with it which I why I went back to KUAL launching for now.

[mergen3107]

lipc commands!!

I remember playing around with “lipc-probe -v” (or something similar to this, can double check later). It showed me a myriad of possibilities. A few of them where to go Home Screen, Library, or Notes tab directly on Scribe

(By the way, if anyone does this don’t upload anywhere- it has sensitive info like registration etc).

[mergen3107]

Plus usual stuff like control of lighting etc

[kaspar]

Yeah it can control a lot of things. I used:

system("c=$(lipc-get-prop com.lab126.winmgr orientationLock); if [ \"$c\" = \"U\" ]; then lipc-set-prop com.lab126.winmgr orientationLock L; else lipc-set-prop com.lab126.winmgr orientationLock U; fi");

For the Scribe, I wanted landscape mode to be so the magnetic portion for the pen is on the top when you physically place it on a desk. And the Scribe has some nice bezel space below the screen that way.

[kaspar]

A little update. I performed the Nosebleed jailbreak on my Oasis 10th gen tonight. Abiword is running great. I added F2 as a new function key to take screenshots, because I lost the ability to when I fixed the Shift + C, etc problem a while ago. New release this weekend. As I guessed, landscape mode is best on a smaller screen.

[Frogm4n]

Excellent progress! I'm looking forward to when you have it able to launch from a scriptlet, then I will test on 5.19.4.

[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!

[mergen3107]

Also I noticed that lists with a scrollbar are hard to scroll through, and they disappear as soon as they are touched. For example, "Page Width - Custom", or "Open File - Open file as type".

Also, I don't know if this is fixable, but second menu doesn't open after the first one. For example, I opened File dropdown menu, then tap Tools - the Tools menu's frame shows up for a second, but then both File and Tools menus disappear.

[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.

[mergen3107]

Wow, cool news!
USB wired keyboard on a Kindle!!

[mergen3107]

OK, I was able to connect my BT keyboard.

F12 for refresh works!

However, text refreshing at every single input is soooo distracting. Is there really no way to turn this off? I am perfectly fine with having to keep hitting F12 to refresh every now and then (a simulation of a type writer, if done at the end of each row).

Either Alt+letter works great for accessing ribbon menus. E.g., Alt+o to open "Format" menu. However, I noticed that once a window is open, this is no longer the case. For example, I cannot do Alt+c to Cancel, although the C letter is underlined, the same as for the menu names.

I also found a bug where the screen froze - I opened Edit - Preferences and hit the "Choose Screen Color" button. Interestingly, I was able to turn off the screen, but only this Preferences window stayed open I was also able to exit out of the window with Esc button on the keyboard.

Another thing I noticed is that it only shows the list of fonts from the system. Is it possible to add other font locations? For example, I have all my fonts in /mnt/us/fonts/ , used both by Kindle Native reader and KOReader.

Right-click can be replicated as either shift + F10, the same I occasionally use on Windows, yay!

I haven't tested all of them, but keyboard shortcuts work well!
Ctrl+
E - center text
R - right align text
L - left align text
J - justify text
B - bold input
I - italics
U - underlined

Other findings. For example, open a menu with Crtl+Shift+N (new document with a template). Here are two radio buttons. Arrows work - they switch between radio buttons. I hit Tab when at the first radio button - the focus goes into the list, OK. However, now arrows don't work anymore to go item by item. However, I can do Ctrl+arrows up/down to scroll the list

In most other menus Tab doesn't shift focus in the very beginning. For example, in Ctrl+D (font) and Ctrl+F,P (properties). However, once a field is chosen, Tab works to jump between other fields. So I tapped "Title:", and was able to jump to the next one "Subject:" no problem, as well as back with Shift+Tab.

In menus, when tapping the input field, like "Title:" in Properties, there is no blinking cursor to indicate that this field is selected. However, typing works fine.

Overall I am quite astounded by the fact that most of the PC-related key bindings work absolutely no problem on Kindle Scribe!!

(Also, not having a mouse on the Scribe brought back ancient memories from my childhood when my cousing and I broke the PS/2 mouse and had to navigate (and play games) without it for like a month. This is where 5-year old me learned about focus shift with Tab and Alt+letter keys in the first place fun times)

P.S. Is there a way to add another input language? I don't know if this is handled by Abiword, or should I go ask the BT HID passthrough app author. I will keep looking either way.

Thank you again for making true-format word processing possible on Kindles!!
This was my big gripe when I switched from my Onyx Boox to Kindle. There, because of Android, you can connect anything BT or evern OTG without any setup. Alas, Android eink screens have terrible screen refresh, so I had to switch devices.

[mergen3107]

Ah, also the built-in dictionary spell check works! Although the indication is quite small and thin, it is still noticeable. Moving with arrows to the misspelled word and doing Shift+F10 works, and shows all the possible substitutes! Great!

Same question though as for the input languages - is it possible to add other languages?

[mergen3107]

More observations.

Arrows to move between opened menus works OK!
Like, I opened the File menu with Alt+F and can move to the right.

With menus which start with a submenu already I need to keep hitting Right to go to next menu, similar to how it is done in Windows.

Esc button works really well to exit out of most of contextual menus and windows.

I am not able to select input field in Ctrl+F (find) and Ctrl+H (replace) menus. The focus stays in the documents text no matter what.

[kaspar]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

More observations.

Arrows to move between opened menus works OK!
Like, I opened the File menu with Alt+F and can move to the right.

With menus which start with a submenu already I need to keep hitting Right to go to next menu, similar to how it is done in Windows.

Esc button works really well to exit out of most of contextual menus and windows.

I am not able to select input field in Ctrl+F (find) and Ctrl+H (replace) menus. The focus stays in the documents text no matter what.

Hi Mergen,

Your posts are full of great observations and will be very helpful for refining the interface. Thank you!

I don't have time for a long reply right now, but you can try copying your fonts into kindle_abiword/share/fonts - but be aware, the first time you add new fonts it takes a little bit of time (perhaps 45 seconds to a minute) where it will look unresponsive on launch (might not even show the window launch yet) while it builds the new font cache. A lot of fonts may take longer, I'm not sure, but be patient while it does that. Once the new fonts are cached Abiword will launch quickly again.

I am currently testing making those sliders larger for the spell check dialog especially, but it's a universal GTK theme setting so it will affect multiple dialogs.

I will fix the tiny language select dialog soon. I did not remove any language support that comes with Abiword, so that will be interesting to explore.

For the way the fonts render as you type, this is something I can look into. I picture having a menu to select different modes, if that will be possible. Frankly, I'm used to it. It's actually the default behavior and I haven't touched it at all yet.

I'm preparing to deploy Alpha 1.0 with USB keyboard support (you will find it under the Help menu). And I got the About Abiword dialog to work. Also, I made sure that my keyboard implementation does not conflict with Kindle HID Passthrough being installed at the same time. It also doesn't use any of its files.

[kaspar]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

More observations.

Arrows to move between opened menus works OK!
Like, I opened the File menu with Alt+F and can move to the right.

With menus which start with a submenu already I need to keep hitting Right to go to next menu, similar to how it is done in Windows.

Esc button works really well to exit out of most of contextual menus and windows.

I am not able to select input field in Ctrl+F (find) and Ctrl+H (replace) menus. The focus stays in the documents text no matter what.

Also, you can use the touch screen! Have you tried? That's primarily how I navigate the menus, touch where I want the text cursor to be, etc.