Messages

361

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / Weak Wifi/Bluetooth

« on: June 14, 2018, 05:29:51 pm »

Are all problematic devices from the second batch?

Well, I'm typing this on a first batch unit. Sending music to a cheap BT speaker two rooms away, with both the inbetween doors closed, works fine for me. The WiFi router is about seven meters away, in the next room, behind a drywall. Running a WiFi analyser on the Gemini gives me about the same dBm reading as I get from my Samsung Galaxy Note 8. 4G reception also seems to hover around the same dBm value for both devices. At these frequencies, moving either device just a few inches, may cause significant changes though, so it's a bit hard to say for sure.

362

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / The eSIM feature is exclusive to the x27 variant of the Gemini and it's a design/compatibility choice.

« on: June 14, 2018, 04:35:08 pm »

Well... mea culpa!
After ranting above about not being told, today, among some random papers, I found a letter that came with my Gemini, clearly stating that in order to not cause further delays, my Gemini (presumably the entire first batch) was made without e-SIM support. And yes, I've read it before. How close I was to send an angry email, and appear as a complete idiot.
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When I read about the issue above, I first got the impression PC decided to not support e-SIM on specifically the X25 Geminis, but as PC supposedly didn't even know X25 units were made, how could they then tell the factory to make them differently? They didn't. It rather seems they told the factory to leave the e-SIM out of first batch because of other issues. That the same batch also is the one in which the factory used the wrong SoC seems to be an unrelated coincidence.

363

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Hub quiescent load

« on: June 12, 2018, 05:45:21 pm »

So I was wondering if the Planet Computers hub has a lower or similar quiescent load and if power gets through to the Gemini?

Sorry for being late to the party, and you seem to have gotten your answer already. FWIW, when putting my USB-C power meter between the Gemini and the Planet Computers hub (with nothing connected to it), the power drawn fluctuates between 50 and 200mA, seemingly averaging at 120mA. I get the same numbers when the Gemini screen is off. While power plugged into the USB-C port on the hub doesn't pass through to the Gemini, it does power the hub itself.

I repeated the test by RJL, except I plugged power into my hub. After one hour in flight mode (screen off), the Gemini battery level had dropped from 80 to 78%. For a single hour, that's a bit much in flight mode, so it seems the Gemini itself uses a tad more power with the hub connected, even when the Gemini doesn't have to power the hub. Since the Gemini can't receive power from the hub, it would reasonably have to use its battery to power its own USB interface, so it makes sense.

Taken together, this would suggest the power drawn by your hub might be a bit less than those 9% per hour, as some of the power is used by the Gemini to (be ready to) talk to the hub. It should also suggest you are less likely to see any real difference by using a different hub.

364

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / The eSIM feature is exclusive to the x27 variant of the Gemini and it's a design/compatibility choice.

« on: May 25, 2018, 08:08:21 pm »

I seem to recall them saying something like "We haven't been able to implement eSim on the first units (don't think there was any mention of X25, think it was before they were aware of that) YET, and chose to ship them now rather than wait until we got it solved". So the "the X25 CAN'T get eSim" is only mentioned in passing later. And if it is true it should be a reason for Planet to get new units from the manufacturer (and not just an apology...), and thus getting replacement units to the backers as well, at least in my opinion (not that it would carry to much weight, as it is only my opinion...).

That would seem reasonable, though I'd prefer repair over replacement, as tossing an otherwise working (I hope) device would be rather wasteful. What really distresses me, is that I had to learn about this from a forum. Why did they not tell the truth openly?

To the best of my knowledge, eSIM support has always been in the published target specification, first with the X25, then with the X27, and now in the final specification on the web site. Planet Computers told me my X25 4G Gemini would perform as well as the X27, but not, as far as I know, that it would have a broken eSIM. If true, Planet Computers has knowingly, without my consent, sent me a defective unit, and  may have explanations to do, motherboards to fix and a reputation to repair.

365

Gemini PDA - Android / PgUp / PgDn (Page Up / Page Down) not working?

« on: May 24, 2018, 09:09:26 pm »

In my preferred Android text editor Jota+ from Aquamarine Networks, Fn+arrows doesn't work, but Alt+arrows does. By default I think Jota+ uses PgUp and PgDn to change tabs. I've set mine to be PgUp and PgDn.

366

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Teardown?

« on: May 24, 2018, 08:31:26 pm »

While this isn't a proper teardown, here are a few pictures from inside the covers and keyboard.

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Since Varti kindly increased the upload quota, these are now in the best quality I can currently create.
I reshot three of them, covering some numbers with paper, so I didn't have to edit and recompress.
Other than removing GPS data, these are straight from the camera.
I know they're a bit blurry on one side. That seems to be an issue with the camera.
Not sure why a few appears upside down. Perhaps IP.Board doesn't parse all the headers?
Feel free to use them for whatever legal pupose you can think of.

367

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Some info about the HDMI output on the Gemini

« on: May 24, 2018, 07:08:52 pm »

I just cast to my PC. No cables required.

Indeed, though wireless casting typically it causes more lag than a HDMI cable.
In my experiments, HDMI gives me 100-120ms video lag and 150ms audio lag.
Miracast gives me about 380-400ms video lag and 300ms audio lag.
(Which means both are somewhat useless to me, but that's borderline OT.)

368

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Wireless LED

« on: May 23, 2018, 09:03:06 pm »

According to the quick start guide coming with Gemini, there is another LED on the top of device (right side). I never saw it turned on. Is it really there?

Since there are diffusers over the LED's, it would take quite some teardown to see the actual LED's. However, after popping off both the top metal covers and looking at the known LED locations, and then comparing to the right side of the device, I can say there appears to be a diffuser on the right hand side too. Whether there's an actual LED below, is another question, but it would seem strange to have a diffuser with no purpose.

I've attached an image with (what I think is) the LED diffusers marked in red.
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

369

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Fast charging support

« on: May 23, 2018, 08:16:32 pm »

But what happens if you plug the usb-c charger cable into the right-side socket?

In short:Not much.

Since I own a USB type C power meter, I plugged that into the right-side port, and then plugged a USB-C cable from the Gemini fast charger into that. As any USB fast charger, it started at 5V, and since the right side port didn't explicitly request higher voltage, it stayed at 5V. Actually the Gemini did draw some power, about 360mA, which did increase a bit when I caused some CPU load (installing updates), but it never went over 500mA. Apparently, the Gemini can draw some power from the right hand port, but it doesn't charge, and as doing this isn't endorsed by Planet Computers, I wouldn't recommend keeping it plugged in that way. Something that shouldn't could get hot in the wrong way inside, so I ended the experiment within a minute, and yes, the port was fine afterwards.

370

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Some info about the HDMI output on the Gemini

« on: May 23, 2018, 06:06:56 pm »

Hi,

I have the cable as part of the pack. But when I connect it to a hdmi cable and into a monitor I just get a blank screen on the d vice the configure hdmi is greyed out. Any ideas ?

Just to make sure, are you using the USB-C port on the right hand side (same side as Enter)? Only that port supports the HDMI adapter.
If screencast is enabled (Settings > Display > Cast > (three dots) >

• Enable wireless display), HDMI will turn off and vice versa.

I don't know if the sequence matters, but what I usually do, is to first plug the HDMI cable into the adaptor cable, then plug it into the Gemini. Then I go to Settings > Display > HDMI settings and turn on the toggle (far right end of the "HDMI" row). As soon as my (FHD) TV locks on to the signal, the video resolution option becomes available, but all I have even seen there is (o)Auto.

I do notice the Gemini sends out a 1080p signal at 60Hz. If possible, make sure you monitor is compatible with that. It probably is, but I have heard of some PAL TVs that only works with 50Hz. If you have access to some other device(s) that will accept an HDMI signal, even if it is the neighbours TV, it might be worth trying out, just to see if it works, in which case you'll at least know nothing is broken.

371

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / Keyboard Ordering Question

« on: May 23, 2018, 05:24:29 pm »

The way it worked during the crowdfunding phase, was that some time before production was to begin, everybody who had paid for a Gemini got an email with a link pointing them to a form (on smartsheet.com) where they were to specify the keyboard layout for their device.

I guess it was because the exact set of keyboard layouts in demand wasn't known when the campain launched, but it could also be related to some limitation in the Indiegogo platform itself.

When you get an answer from Planet Computers, please share what they said, as I am only able to tell how it used to work early on.

372

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / The eSIM feature is exclusive to the x27 variant of the Gemini and it's a design/compatibility choice.

« on: May 23, 2018, 02:08:41 pm »

Do we have a written source from Planet Computers confirming 100% this really means the x25 Geminis would not be able to support eSIM? From where does "The eSIM feature is exclusive to the x27 variant of the Gemini and it's a design/compatibility choice. -E" quote come (and who is "E")?

I find this a bit odd, since eSIM support, as I recall it, was advertised during the crowdfundig phase, long before the x27 upgrade was announced, and eSIM is still in the official specification. Their footnote about "working hard to achieve the above technical specifications" reasonably means they have work left to do, presumably on the software side, but with the prototyping phase ended, and the spec. still there, it does reasonably no longer leave any room for not delivering as specified.  

I have read the "Firmware" section of the Planet Computers support site, which confirms x25 and x27 4G Geminis do have different firmwares (which seems a tad strange, as the chips are supposedly identical, except for minor differences in a few peak clock rates). While it does say the x25 and x27 can be told apart by the presence or absence of a "SIM cards" menu, I don't see anything saying that means no eSIM for x25.

Do we have hard data on that anywhere?