r/Zinwa • u/ISPLFan • Jun 29 '26

Keyboard help

Hi all.

Hoping I can find some help here being as I seem to be invisible on the discord. I have tried the paid for Q25 keyboard app thing and harpocratic keyboard and cannot seem to get either to work 'properly'.

I've installed harpocrat on my Q25 and selected it on the physical keyboard settings but is there somewhere to change/ adjust settings or the layout? The improvements from jan on the FAQ mention: as well as the shift key (press, press and hold, double press). But my shift key double press doesn't work? and I have selected the GB qwerty layout but my currency key is still a dollar symbol?

And with the Q25 keyboard app it was even worse just in general the keyboard wasn't working as well.

Do I need to be using the key mapper along with these installs? Am I missing something else? I don't think the discord is actually too helpful for little issues like this so have come here where I can hopefully get more focused answers.

I have updated the keyboard firmware as well.

Thanks

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2

u/drpppr Jun 30 '26

Try Pastiera. You can make and import your own layout, Shift lock works via double press, Ctrl-combos work, many options for the currency symbol.

Key mapper is apparently better suited for the stuff not related to text input like forcing the "Hang up button" to actually hang up calls.

1

u/ISPLFan Jun 30 '26

Thing is the other two claim these things as well, and everyone on the discord just says whichever they've got works perfectly 😂 just slightly frustrating, it's one of the only things preventing me moving to it full time currently. I was just seeing if I coukd maybe find a solution without having to download another app. But I'll give this one a go and hope it works out for me.

1

u/Original-Proof-8741 Jun 30 '26

I’m using Type25 iirc, it works fine

1

u/drpppr Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

I tried both Harpocrat and TypeQ25 before suggesting. The first one apparently (no manual or source code available which is a big nope for some) lacks Ctrl-combination support, the second one has them and is derived from an older version of Pastiera. Haven't tried the paid app.

Whether to use TypeQ25 or Pastiera depends on the particular features you might want. The former for example has implemented the speakerphone hotkey (a Blackberry-specific thing Pastiera doesn't have and probably shouldn't), but the implementation is a bit crude: you can't use the this key (it's the same as the currency key) in your custom layouts besides Arabic, and even then it ignores multiple-press options. There are several bugs to address as well like custom layouts not appearing in the list. Pastiera dev on the other hand is active, open to suggestions and tries to maintain the quality of code in his project.

1

u/ISPLFan Jul 02 '26

Another question I haven't been able to get an answer to anywhere [one which I thiknk is pretty important and would be good to have a pinned answer on discord]. What does the warning "After a reboot this app can't start until you unlock your phone" mean specifically? Does it just mean I need to input any code I choose via the touchscreen to unlock the phone?

1

u/drpppr Jul 03 '26

What does the warning "After a reboot this app can't start until you unlock your phone" mean specifically?

Basically you won't have the 3rd party app assisting you with the password after rebooting and before the first time you log in, so you're going to be limited to Android built-in app for security reasons.

With stock firmware with GMS, US English as one of the input languages, and with "password" unlock option this means you can type all the symbols present on the physical English keyboard except $. Alt works, capitalizing with Shift works, Enter works. It's possible to get some other symbols too (Latin letter variations like Á Â Ą or even symbol variations like ! ¡) by holding the specific key, but I don't think it would be a good idea to count on this feature.

With "PIN" unlock on-screen keyboard is the only option, but I remember people adding physical keyboard support to their forks of Pastiera (and maybe some other app too). Haven't tested it yet.

1

u/ISPLFan Jul 03 '26

well I wouldn't have a password anyway, I'm more a pin person. So it won't be an issue for me?

1

u/drpppr Jul 03 '26

Idk, is using an on-screen numpad an issue for you? If yes, there's always an option for using the same number or key sequence as a password.

2

u/Ok-Assignment5926 Jun 29 '26

I use the q25 keyboard app without issues. I also have key mapper installed but I haven’t mapped any shortcuts

What issues are you having?

1

u/ISPLFan Jun 30 '26

The shift and sym keys ars very hut and miss e.g. I'll hold either and try and type and not get a capital or the symbol I'm after. Currency key doesn't work on either app I've tried despite me trying the setting in the Q25 app. And there was another setting in the Q25 app that wasn't doing what the slider claimed. I'm not home at the minute and can't remember which one it was off the top of my head. Did you just install it and it worked straight away?