SGS4 Linux, and Firefox

[A1Str8]

I have two questions - help me out tech-savvy folks, would you?

First whenever i connect my SGS4 to my laptop the Windows recognizes it, but Linux doesnt.

Its weird, coz Android is Linux based still, if i want to be able to use it with the computer, i am forced to use Windows.

Its not good because i dont like Windows, i use it when i really need to, and that happens when Linux doesnt want to display certain porn sites properly.

Of course my Windows is original, as no counterfeit is available in this country.

Any ideas related to the solution are .

Secondly, The Ffox on my SGS4 doesnt display thai characters. I only see squares..nice ones tho but i would like to have them replaced with thai characters

if possible.

Thank you for your help

[lomatopo]

Assume you need Samsung-compatible USB drivers for Linux.

Maybe you need some language add-on for Android FF? https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/collections/andj_c/se/

Maybe check droidsans?

[thaimite]

There are no Samsung drivers / add-ons for Linux required.\

You do not state what version or kernel of Linux you are using.

In the past 2 years or so, Samsung (and other) mobile phones have changed from connecting to a PC using the USB Disk Drive protocol, to using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol. introduced by Microsoft. (Does that answer your question )

Linux kernel support for MTP has been poor but is slowly improving, but is still by no means perfect. For example if you are using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS MTP support is probably not installed as default.

As of Ubuntu 13.04 with the latest kernel updates, when I attach my SGS 3, the phone opens up a window and I can browse both the phone and the memory card. From there I can view and copy files in either direction. However I cannot open files that are on the phone / memory card (e.g. Photos) via the PC without first copying them to the PC.

Personally at this time I find using a Wi-Fi connection with an app such as Air-Droid or Kies Air installed on the phone much easier and better to manage files between the phone and the PC.

The only time I connect my phone by USB to the PC so I can work on it is when I need to use that Awful Kies programme, which fortunately is now very rarely since most updates are OTA (Over The Air).

Note I cannot get Kies to run under Ubuntu using either Wine or Virtual box / VMWare and it is the sole reason I have a dual boot system.

As for the problem with Firefox, I have never experienced that on a recent phone. It has all the hall marks of the Thai font not being installed / supported, but whether that is a phone or a Firefox issue I am not sure. Have you tired another browser? I strongly recommend Dolphin Browser. Although I am a firefox user on the desktop, on the phone I believe Dolphin is far superior.

Hope this helps

Edited August 21, 2013 by thaimite

[A1Str8]

There are no Samsung drivers / add-ons for Linux required.\

You do not state what version or kernel of Linux you are using.

In the past 2 years or so, Samsung (and other) mobile phones have changed from connecting to a PC using the USB Disk Drive protocol, to using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol. introduced by Microsoft. (Does that answer your question )

Linux kernel support for MTP has been poor but is slowly improving, but is still by no means perfect. For example if you are using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS MTP support is probably not installed as default.

As of Ubuntu 13.04 with the latest kernel updates, when I attach my SGS 3, the phone opens up a window and I can browse both the phone and the memory card. From there I can view and copy files in either direction. However I cannot open files that are on the phone / memory card (e.g. Photos) via the PC without first copying them to the PC.

Personally at this time I find using a Wi-Fi connection with an app such as Air-Droid or Kies Air installed on the phone much easier and better to manage files between the phone and the PC.

The only time I connect my phone by USB to the PC so I can work on it is when I need to use that Awful Kies programme, which fortunately is now very rarely since most updates are OTA (Over The Air).

Note I cannot get Kies to run under Ubuntu using either Wine or Virtual box / VMWare and it is the sole reason I have a dual boot system.

As for the problem with Firefox, I have never experienced that on a recent phone. It has all the hall marks of the Thai font not being installed / supported, but whether that is a phone or a Firefox issue I am not sure. Have you tired another browser? I strongly recommend Dolphin Browser. Although I am a firefox user on the desktop, on the phone I believe Dolphin is far superior.

Hope this helps

Thank you for your answer, very helpful indeed. it did give me some clues about the problem.

I use Linux mint 14 and I am about to upgrade it as a newer version of this distro just got released.

I have never experienced the lack of displaying thai characters with any other browser, its a strange issue.

Nice day

[thaimite]

I have just tried my SGS 3 on a friends fresh install of Linux mint 15, and no joy.

A search on Google for Linux Mint and MTP brings up a lot of links, and this one is from one of my favourite sites.

I hope it solves your problem. As for my own installation I have installed and uninstalled so many test items it is now time for a fresh install so just because it works for me does not mean it works out of the box, but I understand it should.

Edit extra link added

If it does not work for you out of the box here is another possible solution

Edited August 21, 2013 by thaimite

[A1Str8]

I have just tried my SGS 3 on a friends fresh install of Linux mint 15, and no joy.

A search on Google for Linux Mint and MTP brings up a lot of links, and this one is from one of my favourite sites.

I hope it solves your problem.  As for my own installation I have installed and uninstalled so many test items it is now time for a fresh install so just because it works for me does not mean it works out of the box, but I understand it should.

 

Edit extra link added

If it does not work for you out of the box here is another possible solution

 

I opened a root console, followed the instructions given in the articles you linked..and the magic happened right after. Now it works!

Thanks!

Thaimite for president

Sent from one of my devices using the internet

[thaimite]

I am glad it worked.

However Please do not propose me as president. If I had that job, I would have to charge you a lot of money for making it worse

Thanks for the kind words anyway.