Planet Computers Astro Slide keyboard phone

Hardware Adaptation
#1

Is there anyone that knows if there is any Sailfish support for Planet Computers Astro Slide keyboard phone? This is the old Psion people that have built a landscape slider phone with a high-quality keyboard. With a 5G connection, it ought to be excellent for hacking Linux on the go. This was the main use-case for the legendary Nokia n900 (ancestor of Sailfish) and a market with zero competition right now.

However, to have a phone as your daily driver, it must have full Android support. As far as I know, only the Sony Xperias has full Android support. Is there any way to get the Android AppSupport for the Astro Slide?

#2

If it’s not here, https://shop.jolla.com/, then…no.

#3

I would avoid, their previous device cosmo sported sailfishos logo during kickstarter just like geminipda, while gemini got good support (officially supported by jolla though without alien dalvik) cosmo got abandoned with half-assed beta build forever stuck on 3.2.1 with ~33% features working (if it won’t go into bootloop after two boots), their support is abysmal and will tell you community has to bring sfos while refusing to share the aosp base for any porting, terrible company

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#4

I think there are some preview/ community builda for the Cosmo communicator so maybe something similar will appear anytime? You maybe better ask in the planet forums?
If you look for a reliable device supported by SfOS officially the Gemini PDA is a save bet.

#5

Doubtful as their only porter got hijacked by ubports and that half-assed beta is the last from planet/him, tried to get access to the codebase to tinker on my own, their porter says volla uses similar chipset so use that (spoiler it doesn’t work), planet says they cannot share, so all their customers expecting sfos got f*ckd

#6

I’m pretty sure people at TMO are discussing this device somewhere.

Here’s one thread.

#7

Waydroid meanwhile seems to work good on Sailfish ports.

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#8

I could go the Waydroid route, but then I might as well take the full FOSS route and go Ubuntu Touch. The reason to go Sailfish is to have a phone that is polished and nice with smooth integration between Linux and Android. I prefer FOSS but I am fine with some proprietary parts and happy to pay for them if they give me something valuable in return. In the case of Sailfish that value it is a strong Android integration that lets me use Android apps without thinking about it.

What would be required for Jolla to add the Astro Slide to their shop and give it full support?

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#10

We got the latest update from the Astro Slide Indiegogo campaign. Here they say:

Linux on Astro

There were also a few questions about the progress of Linux on Astro…

We will have a meeting with two members of the open source community tomorrow to discuss Linux on Astro and we will report on this at the next update.

Soon, we aim to upload the bootloader and kernel sources for Astro to a public server, to enable the development of the multi-boot option.

I am not sure what this means, nor am I sure what is needed to build a good integration. Do we need anything more than their bootloader and kernel? What would Jolla need to allow us to run Android AppSupport on the Astro Slide?

#11

Maybe someone can create a similar experience like AD for it in terms of system-integration of seperate App-Windows.

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#12

Small up, i just recieve my gemini astro slide 5g. I would like install sailfishos on it. Anyone know how do it?
Thank you very much

#13

I don’t know, and there isn’t any solution that works well yet, as far as I know, but I think you might find someone on the Discord that could help you? The Discord server is here: Astro Slide

By the way, how did you get a hold of your Astro Slide?

#14

Hi, thanks you very much for your Replay, i’m french, and ibbuy this phone in second hand market, i visit web site www.leboncion.fr and find on it. I think it’s not very good phone, Android is note update actualy 11. I think this phone is only good with linux. But i don’t find how install it in dual or single boot. And how savez actual système :confused: