Posts: 5
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2023
Reputation:
0
Hi, I'm hoping someone can steer me in the direction of a foot pedal style page turning device for my ONN 11.6" pro tablet, which has an Andriod OS. I'd like to use the turner to turn pages while I'm using Mobilsheets. I currently have a Donner foot pedal, which I had been using successfully (via Bluetooth) with my (old) iPad, but when I try to link the Donner with the ONN tablet, the tablet seems to refuse to recognize the Donner as an available Bluetooth device. So, I'm surmising that the Donner does not work with my particular device, maybe it wont work with Android devices in general.
Does anyone have any advice on a specific, Bluetooth, foot pedal that turns pages for Mobilsheets on an Android device? I've done Google/Youtube searches and thus far I can't find any forums that discuss this particular use case. So, any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Posts: 898
Threads: 84
Joined: Feb 2017
Reputation:
27
05-05-2023, 03:11 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-05-2023, 03:27 AM by Geoff Bacon.)
It could be that the pedal is using an old version of Bluetooth - I know my tablet will only support BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy?) so it won't see the much cheaper "old" BT devices. A couple of years ago I was looking at trying to adapt a mouse but gave up in the end because the BLE versions were £30+ (probably cheaper now)
I suggest you try to get your Donner pedal to work with your device outside of MobileSheets e.g. to turn pages in a pdf viewer
Should you get it working then it should be possible to use in MS.
I googled an ONN tablet, possibly not the model you have, and it said it used BT 4.0. Suggest you google your exact model of Donner pedal to see what that uses. If it is less then 4.0 then I believe it won't work.
Geoff
Samsung Galaxy Tab A6
Posts: 12,783
Threads: 297
Joined: Apr 2012
Reputation:
214
In general, any AirTurn or PageFlip bluetooth pedal should work with MobileSheets on an Android device ( https://zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/pedals/). So those would be my recommendations.
Mike
Posts: 5
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2023
Reputation:
0
(05-05-2023, 03:11 AM)Geoff Bacon Wrote: It could be that the pedal is using an old version of Bluetooth - I know my tablet will only support BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy?) so it won't see the much cheaper "old" BT devices. A couple of years ago I was looking at trying to adapt a mouse but gave up in the end because the BLE versions were £30+ (probably cheaper now)
I suggest you try to get your Donner pedal to work with your device outside of MobileSheets e.g. to turn pages in a pdf viewer
Should you get it working then it should be possible to use in MS.
I googled an ONN tablet, possibly not the model you have, and it said it used BT 4.0. Suggest you google your exact model of Donner pedal to see what that uses. If it is less then 4.0 then I believe it won't work.
Geoff
Hi Geoff, thanks for taking an interest in my issue and providing your input. You made a good point in that I should try to get the Donner to work outside the MobilSheets app. In fact, I have tried that, and perhaps I should have mentioned that in my original note. As far as I can tell, the Mobilsheets app, itself, does not have a settings option that is used to link a foot pedal. Rather, to the best of my understanding the link between the foot pedal and the tablet has to first be accomplished through the general "Settings" option on the tablet. The problem is, using this approach, I cannot get the ONN tablet to recognize the Donner. It searches for available Bluetooth devices ("spins and spins"), but it never actually recognizes the Donner such that I can then tell it to establish the connection. (Just to be clear, I am sure that I have the Donner sending out a Bluetooth pairing signal while I try to get the ONN to find it.) So, the point is, I can't get the ONN device to link up with the Donner whether it would be for using Mobilsheets or some other app, such as a PDF reader, which clearly implies that it is first and foremost a ONN>Donner problem, and not necessarily a Donner>Mobilsheets problem.
Also, as you suggested, I looked at the paperwork I got with the Donner and I did online searches to see if I could find the version level of BT on the Donner. After multiple attempts I have not been able to find that particular specification, so I don't know if the Donner has less than 4.0 BT, and I currently don't know where I could get that information. Curiously, on Donner's own website it does say that the Donner foot pedal will work with Android devices, but I am mindful that I purchased my Donner in July 2021, and the ONN in January 2023, so that is a potential source of the problem.
FYI, I did send Donner customer service a question about why I can't link the Donner to the Android tablet, but I've yet to hear back.
I also notice that in the Mobilsheets app (Settings>Touch & Pedal Settings) there is information indicating that the app connects to AirTurn pedals, such as the AirTurn PED, Digit III and BT200S models. It may be that these would work with my ONN (though the Digit III seems to be hand operated, which is not what I want), but the only way I would be able to know is to buy and then see if it works. That's why I thought I would post this inquiry to see if any of the Mobilsheets users, who use the app on an Android device (preferably a tablet), might be able to tell me for sure what device works for them.
Hope I didn't bore you with the long note, but I thought I'd give you the full picture of what I've experienced and found out so far. Thanks again for your willingness to help.
Posts: 5
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2023
Reputation:
0
(05-05-2023, 04:21 AM)Zubersoft Wrote: In general, any AirTurn or PageFlip bluetooth pedal should work with MobileSheets on an Android device (https://zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/pedals/). So those would be my recommendations.
Mike
Hey Mike, thanks for the input. As I mentioned in another note, I was hoping to get input from anyone who was actually, successfully using a pedal page turner for Mobilsheets on Android. Absent that, I guess I'll just have to buy one and see if it works. Your suggestion re AirTurn is consistent with what I've seen in the Settings section in the Mobilsheets app, so I'm optimistic AirTurn will work. Also, FYI for you and anyone else that may be interested in this same issue, I have found a Youtube video that provides a tutorial on connecting the AirTurn Pro to an Android device ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiENdhDZXl8), so that makes me hopeful too. I guess I'll buy one and give it a whirl. Thanks for commenting.
Posts: 18
Threads: 1
Joined: Nov 2018
Reputation:
0
I'm using a Donner Pedal with Mobilesheets on a Galaxy S7 Fe and a huawei tab.
So generally it's working (and many posts in this forum confirm that).
Perhaps you have to unpair the pedal on your ipad go get it into a working pairing mode for android... And as Geoff write, pairing has to be done outside mobilesheets
Michael
Posts: 5
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2023
Reputation:
0
(05-05-2023, 07:40 AM)Michael_G Wrote: I'm using a Donner Pedal with Mobilesheets on a Galaxy S7 Fe and a huawei tab.
So generally it's working (and many posts in this forum confirm that).
Perhaps you have to unpair the pedal on your ipad go get it into a working pairing mode for android... And as Geoff write, pairing has to be done outside mobilesheets
Michael
Thanks Michael . . . recommending the unpairing with my iPad was certainly a worthwhile suggestion, and I tried it. But, the ONN 11.6" pro tablet, still will not recognize the Donner as it cycles through searching for available BT devices. And, just to eliminate one other variable, I know the BT on the tablet works because I have successfully connected other BT devices to it. And yes, as I mentioned in one of my notes, I have been attempting the pairing in the general "Settings" option of the tablet, not through any menu option within the Mobilsheets program itself. Could just be something peculiar about this particular Android device???
Posts: 18
Threads: 1
Joined: Nov 2018
Reputation:
0
05-05-2023, 03:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-05-2023, 03:48 PM by Michael_G.)
The Pedal has a reset button next to the charging port. Did you try to reset?
Posts: 5
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2023
Reputation:
0
(05-05-2023, 03:47 PM)Michael_G Wrote: The Pedal has a reset button next to the charging port. Did you try to reset? Michael: I had not tried the reset button before your suggestion. But based on your suggestion, I did. AND IT WORKED!!!! I cannot thank you (and the others that commented) enough for helping me work this out. I truly did not want to have to buy and have yet another piece of gear that was merely a duplicate of a fully functional piece of gear that I already have. So you saved me from that, and I'm very grateful. For any others that might be following this tread because they've had a similar problem, I think that the combination of (1) decoupling the Donner from my iPad, and (2) activating the reset button on the Donner were what made it work. Thanks again for sticking with me on this and getting the Donner up and running. Much appreciated!
|