Switching to Beaglebone Board.

This is the last post to this blog. I've decided that the Beaglebone embedded Linux board will work better than the old Asus netbook as a host for the monitor, so I've started a new blog. All future work will be covered there.

Ideapad K1: Charging problem in Lenovo forums

I started a lenovo forum topic, "K1 will not charge", to discuss this issue with other Ideapad owners.

Beaglebone Linux Board-level computer

I've ordered a Beaglebone single-board computer for trial as a home monitor controller. It could replace both the Asus netbook and the Arduino sensor/actuator board. It has analog and digital I/O so I can connect my analog temperature sensors and digital AC power status input, runs Linux of various varieties and has network connectivity for development use, has a host USB port so it can connect to my GSM modem. Hopefully I can get a GSM modem driver for it, along with a TCL runtime.

The Beaglebone should allow a headless (no monitor or keyboard) setup, with the capability of running a web server to allow occasional interaction for updating the software and monitoring the operation of the unit.

I'll post my progress after I get the board and a chance to put it thru its paces.

Winter 1979 in Glyndon

Wow! I came across this slide today. We had a bad winter in 1979 in Glyndon, Maryland.

Lenovo Ideapad K1 Will not Charge

After some hours on charge February 22, the K1 battery indicator indicated it was discharging. The wall receptacle was supplying electricity, so it seems that the K1 charging system had failed somehow. The most obvious suspect was the wall wart (power unit.) Not having a schematic I could not measure the output of the non-standard plug that connected it to the K1. I called Lenovo and was told they would send out another power unit the next day, even though it might not be that unit (it could be the Ideapad itself.) They would charge me around $53 security deposit pending return of the failed unit. Now, the power unit is a standard 12V 1.5A wall wart, costing maybe $5.00 for a general purpose one, like the one shown here, with the non-standard Ideapad connector, so that would really be a rip-off if you had to buy one:

We spent the next week traveling, and when I returned home there was no power adapter. I checked their web site using the reference number they gave me, and it said that they were waiting for the returned unit(!) I called them and they then said they had not shipped yet, and would not do so until March 2. I requested a longer warranty to cover the time I could not use the unit. They were to reply later on this.

Anyway, I'll write up what happens when I get the unit. But I already know Lenovo spare parts prices are a rip off.

P.S. I tried charging the unit using the USB cable that came with the unit, plugged into a standard USB port, and it did not supply any charging current.

An admission

Readers may have wondered why this blog deviated from its stated goal of discussing the monitor. Well, we have been in New Hampshire, hiking, snowshoeing, etc. for a month, and the monitor quit working the second week, not to be heard from since. This also happened when we were away last summer, and it appeared that the RAM-based puppy linux system had run out of RAM, due to memory leaks or whatever. So, I added a way for the unit to report on memory usage. Here's the last report, tweeted:

"10:53:45 3721 57 (55-63) 49 (25-60) A/C Pwr on. Mem Total/Used: 505860/303508"

Obviously memory was not about to run out; there were only a little over 303 MB used out of over 505 MB total.

It is hard for me to get the person living in the house to remotely debug the thing, so I've let it go (partly since we have a house-sitter to report back.) I suspect a failure of the netbook, which is years old and decrepit. We will see after I get back home.

Rooting the Lenovo Ideapad K1

Part of the reason I bought this tablet, based on Linux Android, was to customize and explore it in ways other than those it was chiefly intended for. To do anything interesting with it though, you need 'root' (superuser) privileges, and the Android system it comes with gives you no way of doing this. I suppose that is to keep people from 'bricking' the unit, but it really gets in the way of experimenting.

Several blogs provide instructions for rooting the tablet, but most risk bricking the unit and I have not settled on a method yet. I need a better understanding of the way Linux has been adapted to the tablet, and what is in boot ROM before I try rooting this unit. More when I figure this out.

Your finger as a pointing device on a tablet

Another thing that makes the Lenovo Ideapad K1 tablet (and I think any other tablet based on the same touch screen technology) harder than a laptop for me to use is the way you need to use a thick finger to point to input fields, select words, etc. You can hook up a mouse I heard, but with your finger, you have to go thru lots of screen 'stretching' (on a multi-touch screen, a 2-finger exercise) to select small input fields, like dates.

I really need a mouse to do any fine-point selection. And, with my previous notes on the keyboard, you should also get a keyboard too if you want to do any real efficient content creation. And, to state the obvious, after adding a mouse and keyboard, you have a laptop, but with an ineffective, made for screen-interaction interface and operating system.

I actually plan to add an inexpensive bluetooth mouse and keyboard when I can afford it and report my findings. I did try a roll-up keyboard, but the user interface was horrid.

Anyway, with all these limitations, tablets are not replacements for laptops, for me anyway. Why are they so popular? They are good for content viewing, and maybe as special devices like cash registers like I saw yesterday in a bakery(sort of) and portable data collection, but not so good for many essential traditional laptop (and desktop) uses.

More on Lenovo Ideapad K1

Just a note here. I'm typing this using my IBM T42 "workhorse" laptop I've had for years and upgraded successfully several times.

The IdeaPad keyboard functionality seems the most pressing issue right now. Today I could not subscribe to the New York Times using the Ideapad because the webpage entry for credit card expiration date month would not accept keyboard input using the IME. Using the Android keyboard input method resulted in a rejection by the Times site, even though it looked like the month was enters OK.

I've updated to Android 3.2.1, and there seem to be no newer upgrades when I let the Ideapad search for them. It says the Ideapad is up to date.

This reinforces my thinking that this device is great for data and information consumption but not for actually creating stuff, although it does a fair job of creating email. Note that the email client that came with it does not allow searches of past emails like the gmail client does, and to a limited extent the K9 mail program does. Why did they hamstring the non-gmail email reader? I can only guess it was to promote Google, and that is a big mistake since they will loose customers to Apple's iPad.

Anyway, Android tablets have a ways to go before they will be as smooth as the iPad.

Short review of ideapad

After using this tablet for a week, here are some obervations:

I just observed strange keyboard behaviors as I started this blog entry. The enter key greys out using the IME keyboard. I am now using the Android keyboard to finish this entry.

Also the keyboard disappears when the Android enter key is hit.

Ahah! Editing blog in html brings back the enter key.

This tablet seems excellent for consuming material,but entering other than email,such as google docs is painful. The tablet mode only allows you to enter data in spreadsheets, but not formulas. The web gdocs interface seems better, but still has restrictions.

Email searching in other than the gmail reader is not available. You must use the web email interface to your email provider.

I have not been able to get spelling correction as I type working.



I got printing to work but it is painful, and maybe expensive if you must buy the app that comes with the tablet. A caveat: my wireless printer is on a separate router then my internet router, and that makes it harder.

I use gnucash on my windows and Linux laptops, and it is not available for Android.

I use Password Gorilla for password management on the laptop in both Windows and Linux, and it is not available for Android.

I don't have the patience for continuing this entry using the tablet,so I'll quit now. More later hopefully.

Got an Ideapad for $279.00

Title says it all. Except, I bought it at Staples, North Conway, New Hampshire.

This is discussed in more detail in subsequent postings to this blog.

Back in operation

I'm now in New Hampshire and looking at the twitter feed from the monitor, reconstituted on the new, clean Linux build. Cleaner environment, code, the works. I'm finding a slight memory leak, using the new total/free memory statistics. Follow @zouckhome to see what's going on.

Back to Text Messaging: new 'clean' puppy linux build

I found that the broadband wireless I mentioned in a previous post was not available in area: we are in a rural area shadowed by some hills, and the web site said we would not get a signal here. So, back to text messaging.

I decided to rebuild puppy linux for the Asus eeePC, and document what I did as precisely as possible so it would be repeatable.

Here's whats in the new build, burned to 4 GB USB flash memory stick ($6.99 at Staples):

Puppy Linux 4.3.1 iso file

Pet packages applied:

tcl-8.5.6
tk-8.5.6
tkcon-2.4
tcllib-1.11-i486
bwidget-1.3.1
modem_fix_pack_to_431-6

Development environment, in case needed (contains gcc, ld, CVS, etc.):

devx_431.sfs

For revision control, use RCS  versus CVS, siunce the later is too demanding regarding use as root, ownership, etc. Download rcs-5.8.tar.gz file, unzip it, run configure, make, make install to build and install. devx_431.sfs must be installed to do this:

rcs-5.8.tar.gz



Approximate steps to build:

• Download pup-431.iso, and place on bootable USB stick using Universal-USB-Installer-1.8.7.4 I downloaded for this purpose.
• Copy other pet packages from list above to USB drive with puppy linux
• Boot Asus eeePC with USB.
• Apply each pet package, place devx_431.sfs in /mnt/home directory and add to list of .sfs directories that will be mounted at boot time using setup.
• Reboot 

Various pet packages are here, and here