Special key issues on the HTC Desire Z

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Try to type lots of useful things on a Desire Z

What version of the product are you using (you can see this by using Menu
-> About in the Host List)?

Menu -> About doesn't exist.
Manage Apps says 1.7.1

What type of system are you trying to connect to?

FreeBSD 8.1, OSX 10.6, etc.

Please provide any additional information below.

The HTC Desire Z (same hardware as the T-Mobile G2 but running Sense rather 
than core Android) has various special key problems with ConnectBot. The 
hardware keyboard and ConnectBot was one of the main reasons I bought it over 
the work-supplied Nexus One.

The SYM key to bring up the option set of typing []{}|, etc, doesn't work in 
ConnectBot (it sends a character to the far end, nothing I've seen before). 
None of the other mentioned shift-alt combinations do either (the DZ doesn't 
have an Alt key, it has a FN key).

There are no angle brackets anywhere, it's impossible to generate <> or ^.

The Tab key on the DZ does not generate a Tab on the far end, it appears to 
generate a down arrow escape combination (^[[B).

If you use the Directory shortcuts option it works but the state of the 
shift/FN keys is still cycled through once->on->off in the menubar. This can be 
confusing.

There are various unused key combinations that could be used to make this more 
usuable, shift-@, shift-?, shift-, and shift-. currently only generate the 
unshifted characters. There is a hardware search (magnifying glass) button and 
menu button.

Scroll as control and camera button as escape work fine on the Desire Z.

Any chance this could be made usable for this hardware?
Ta,
P.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by p...@google.com on 29 Nov 2010 at 4:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Irssi connectbot (the fork for mostly irssi irc use) has added support for some 
of the most used key combinations alt- , ctrl-a-d, < > keys and | as a long 
press menu, you should try that one out. Also scandinavian uppecase only has a 
fix for Z on that build, I could say that he could ad the Brackets also to that 
build. and the ^ symbol

Original comment by jonne.ba...@gmail.com on 4 Dec 2010 at 12:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Trying to get into settings with irssi connectbot with a session open just 
crashed it.
Long press menu on the Z does nothing, even after checking it's enabled in the 
settings.

I don't see any docs for what the support for those key combinations is, trying 
obvious things on the Z doesn't do anything differently than normal connectbot.
It has no Alt key, it has Shift, FN and SYM and those behave the same as they 
do in base connectbot.

Not really seeing any benefit, am I missing something?

Original comment by pir on 4 Dec 2010 at 4:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ah, _screen_ long press not long press on the menu button...

Yeah, if that menu had [ ] { } also on it then it would be far more useful.
More useful still would be having it configurable and as a grid layout rather 
than a scrollable list (you can hit lower things faster than scrolling).

Ta,
P.

Original comment by pir on 4 Dec 2010 at 4:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The brackets will be added to the ICB build, on the next release, it also adds 
force screen size, which is missing from the basic ConnectBot

But still this issue should be combined to the 390 issue thread which is about 
Z problems.

Original comment by jonne.ba...@gmail.com on 6 Dec 2010 at 2:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Shift & TAB work now in Irssi Connectbot, and the <,>,{,},[,],| are now in the 
longpress screen menu.

FN works also normally. Iiro uusitalo and villae are working for a fix for the 
Sym button, which should be there in a short while.

Original comment by jonne.ba...@gmail.com on 7 Dec 2010 at 9:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

There are unused keys on the Z (or Vision).  Why not map them to important 
things like | ?
For example, the "search" (magnifying glass) key next to the Right Alt is a 
good candidate for the pipe char.  The "com/www" button should certainly be 
remapped to something useful.  Same thing with the three "programmable keys" in 
the bottom row.

Another thing that would really enhance the experience on these phones is a 
partial on-screen keyboard that provides the missing upper row of the keyboard 
at the bottom of the screen.  These phones currently require using Alt in order 
to enter digits, which is often a pain.  Having the digits row at the bottom of 
the screen would be a blessing.

Original comment by weiss.y...@gmail.com on 20 Jan 2011 at 9:46

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Agree with the above, not having a pipe symbol is a huge problem, having the 
search button echo a pipe would be really useful.  Also like the idea of the 
partial on screen keyboard.

Original comment by goatbad...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 12:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Desire Z users - you may wish to try Irssi Connectbot, a modified version which 
(on the Desire Z) fixes the TAB key and adds a SYM popup full of characters 
including pipe - just tap inside the terminal and then tap SYM. I wasted hours 
looking for this - hope it helps! May be worth trying for users of other 
handsets looking for the pipe, too.

Original comment by chrisbir...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 1:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

@chrisbir...: Unfortunately, it doesn't fix anything for me. In fact, it BREAKS 
the built-in functionality which brings a handy symbols selection by pressing 
SYM in any native text input field but not during an ongoing Connectbot / Irssi 
Connectbot session, where it generates only a useless empty rectangle instead 
(like the TAB does). It might be there are several Desire Z versions with 
slightly different keyboard layout. Mine has two FN keys, one Menu key, a 
Search key, SYM and two SHIFTs. No ALT. Please note the SYM works as intended 
in the (native) hostname entry field, etc. so be sure you try during an actual 
SSH session.

Original comment by Zbig.Trz...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 2:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I think I should clarify my last comment: the SYM key behaviour on my Desire Z 
is the same with Irssi- as it is with the standard Connectbot: just an empty 
rectangle.

Original comment by Zbig.Trz...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 2:06

[GoogleCodeExporter]

@Zbig.Trz... as you have a Desire Z, I don't know why it wouldn't work, so 
should clarify my own last comment... I was referring to the on-screen SYM 
"button" which appears for a couple of seconds when you tap inside a terminal 
session (in any black space). I still don't use the physical SYM key on the 
keyboard. Tapping on screen in a session brings up Ctrl, Esc and SYM buttons 
(although for me at least, using the trackpad button once works for Ctrl and 
twice sends Esc).

Original comment by chrisbir...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 2:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh, now I can see that... right, it works like you said. But still, it's not 
really that convenient, especially that after the firmware upgrade, the DZ's 
native SYM menu has been upgraded and is now complete with all the symbols 
needed. I'd rather like a native text input experience instead of workaround 
hacks involving touching the screen three times to get a pipe symbol on a 
hardware-keyboard equipped device... That would be a matter of just pressing 
the hardware SYM key and then touching the chosen on-screen symbol if the 
Connectbot didn't break the native text input SYM key behavior in the first 
place. But I'm not a dev and maybe it's just impossible to bring the native 
experience to non-native component - I don't know.

Original comment by Zbig.Trz...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 2:30

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I agree, it's a hack, not ideal... That said, I'm grateful to the authors of 
the Irssi version for providing a way to input symbols, and especially for 
fixing tab. Can't be easy to make a 3rd party app targeted at all Android 
handsets work with all handsets' native keys :)

Original comment by chrisbir...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2011 at 4:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Here is a desire specific patch. It maps some keys on the keyboard of the 
desire z. Tested on cyanogenmod 7.2 RC. It does not change anything on non HTC 
Vision devices.

The following key transition for the Desire Z are available.

 SYM/Search as "|" key
 FN + SYM/Search as "`" key
 SHIFT + SYM/Search as "'" key

As the :.1 and :.2 Keys only sends an up event, the char is committed on
key up instead of key down.

 :.1 Key as "<" Key
 FN + :.1 Key as "{" Key
 SHIFT + :.1 Key as "[" Key

 :.2 Key as ">" Key
 FN + :.2 Key as "}" Key
 SHIFT + :.2 Key as "]" Key

Original comment by Thomas.P...@googlemail.com on 28 Apr 2012 at 12:51

Attachments:

• 0001-Added-universal-hardware-keyboard-transition-and-a-i.patch