Quickly getting up to date? + keymaps

[Sandra]

I’m out of the loop since about eight years or so. I just dusted off my old original Pandora . It still has the old Ångström OS and boots up just fine, and my external keyboard works fine (except wrong layout).

What's the quickest way, with least amount of effort on my part, that I can get it updated to the new OS? (In case there are security updates and such.) I don't need to keep any of the files that I have on it now.

I just want to use it as a typewriter replacement with my USB keyboard.

In that vein, how can I set it to dvorak? Normal US dvorak is fine. I'd like using the original Pandora keyboard when using Pandora's little keyboard, and the Dvorak when I'm typing on my big keyboard. I don't mind manually switching layouts everytime, it doesn't have to autodetect on plugging in my keyboard even though that would be nice.

BIG thanks.

 

[TrashyMG]

The current OS has an over the internet update system, likely yours doesn't have this how old it is.

To update I'd go here, download the newest firmware image here, instructions on installation are on top: https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pndfirmware/

Some things not mentioned here is it's prob best to unzip that installer on a fat32 formatted SD card, and some people have reported issues with the installer not working properly on cards larger than 32GB.

Hopefully someone else can chime in on setting a Dvorak layout, I'm not too familiar with doing so.

 

[Sandra]

Thank you, that was awesome! Worked really quickly & painlessly. Much appreciated.

Here’s hoping for some keyboard info soon.♥

 

[PokeParadox]

https://pandorawiki.org/Keyboard

DPAD is mapped to cursor keys.
PGUP and PGDN and down are mapped to the Y and X
Home and End mapped to A and B
CRTL is Start
Shift is Select
I forget what L and R are mapped to...

 

[Sandra]

I managed to switch the layouts but since the upgrade, my USB keyboard doesn't work on the Pandora any more. I wonder what could be wrong (what could've changed), I tested it just before I upgraded and it works fine at my desktop.

 

[Binky]

You might want to look out for the USB speed issue. Some HID devices use the slow datarates specified in the first version of the the USB standard. The big USB port on a pandora only supports the higher speed from the USB2.0 standard.

 

[Sandra]

That’s weird. I want to use this keyboard specifically because it's old and good with good switches.

But it worked in the old Zaxxon that wasn't Super Zaxxon, before I upgraded.

 

[matzesu]

According to the Old Firmware Version you had, it might be, that it was before they put lots of Batterie Safe Features in the Firmware,
One of them is, that the USB Host Port is deaktivatet by devault,
On the "Taskbar", there is an "Aktivate USB Host" or simular obtion, then the USB should work..
As long its not a too rare Keyboard, it should work..

 

[Sandra]

That did the trick! Much appreciated.

 

[levi]

https://pandorawiki.org/Keyboard

DPAD is mapped to cursor keys.
PGUP and PGDN and down are mapped to the Y and X
Home and End mapped to A and B
CRTL is Start
Shift is Select
I forget what L and R are mapped to...

L and R are shift and ctrl, respectively I think. They're well worth learning if you're writing prose or poetry on it, as being able to chord shift and a letter without changing your grip is very neat, and likewise in the terminal being able to chord crtl-w or ctrl-e without changing grip is very cool too.

That wiki page seems to give the command line tool to use all of the installed keymaps - I've not checked to see if the latest OS still has a Dvorak layout in it, but if it does that seems to be the tool to use. I do have sjaeshjag's keyboard layout tool installed on my Pandora (which should probably be linked when the wiki mentions it; it's here) but that doesn't list the dvorak layout. In a terminal 'setxkbmap --layout djorak' probably does what you want, and could be put in a script which lives on your desktop background for example, so you can just double click that when you plug in your external keyboard, and have another script there to set it back.

It's probably possible to script it so it happens when you plug in your keyboard and unplug it respectively, but I haven't dug much into how USB plug and unplug all happens. I know it's published messages in your dmesg, and you might be able to cron a job to grep the tail end of the dmesg to detect those events, but there might be a more proper way to do it.