Customizing USB OTG (external) mouse & keyboard (FP1)

Hi,

I just purchased a USB OTG cable to connect a keyboard or a mouse to my Fairphone. I hoped I could have full control without using the touch screen (so I don’t have to switch between the device and the mouse/keyboard), but that’s not possible in all cases.
As for the mouse, I can’t find shortcuts to go to use the MENU, HOME and BACK buttons. Do they exist or can I modify the behavior of the middle and right mouse buttons? I did find that on some phones the right mouse button is interpreted as the BACK key, but on my Fairphone, all buttons have the same behavior.
As for the keyboard, I can’t find if there are shortcuts for going to the home screen, navigating through the home screens and showing the top bar menu. Do they exist or can I create them? And just for the fun of it: can I simulate clicks, gestures and tilting with the keyboard?

Another solution might be to purchase an USB OTG splitter, so I can connect multiple devices. But if that’s not necessary to fulfill my needs, I’d rather not :wink:

Any ideas?

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Very interesting. Up to now I had considered USB OTG just for reading USB memory sticks :slight_smile:
Can you tell me which language is your keyboard? (I mean, mine is not a standard qwerty, and I don’t know how it will be processed…)

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I guess you should just try then. I have a standard qwerty. It looks like I can setup the keyboard lay-out, but when clicking it, it shows no options. Would be fun to try Dvorak layout :wink:

That means the Fairphone support usb otg for usb sticks?

That means the Fairphone support usb otg for usb sticks?

Sure!

All you need is the small cable, and you basically can read any USB key.
When going to the system settings / storage you can see the “external USB” mounting (indeed it “automounts”, you can check this in the top bar), then just use your file explorer of choice (maybe some don’t check it, but most of them will show an “OTG” mountpoint)

Before removing the USB key you should get back to the syst settings and request unmounting (like on a PC or mac), otherwise (like for them) nothing crual will happen but the Fairphone will mention you it’s a bit pissed off “because you dismounted uncorrectly and some apps may die”

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you can hook up lots of USB device as long as they are low power/self powered, I’ve used USB sticks, mice, keyboards, USB hard drives, another phone connected as a usb device and most recently a PC ANT device to upload from my Garmin GPS watch. USB OTG really rocks.

If something doesn’t work in my experience it’s usually because of the power demands, the phone can’t supply much power to a peripheral.

Very cool, thank you!

By the way, as concerns USB keys the actual process, while efficient, involves many steps when one wants to actually copy a given file from a given USB key.

Would there be an app somewhere that would for instance be triggered by the OTG insertion and then present the key contents for selection and copy (say, to a default folder), in one single step?

TIA!

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not that I know of but ES File Exporer has a built in shortcut for usbotg to take you directly to the stick

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how about a western digital passport USB hard drive? it’s got a mini-USB socket, so to connect I’d have to find a mini-USB to mini-USB cable. Do you think it’s worth buying one or is it unlikely to work?

I really couldn’t say, a hard drive draws a lot of power having a motor, unless it had an external power supply my guess would be it wouldn’t work. An SSD would have more chance but you’d be wise to try it a shop. Note that you don’t buy a micro to micro USB cable, you need a USB OTG adaptor which plugs into the phone and terminates in a female USB plug so you just use normal USB cable.s

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OK, I see. I think I’ve got another way around it - I ordered one of the 1TB wireless WD passport drives. I assume that I’ll be able to connect over the lan - not sure how yet but it can’t be difficult. Thanks for the info re cables.

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