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.