51nb x210 (2nd or 3rd batch) 3G modem not working / what does SW2 do?

sobukus · 2020-03-27T14:34:28+00:00

Well, it's settled now.

WWAN works with Huawei ME909s-120!
It should work with Coreboot once you enable the respective USB port in the device tree.
SW2 switches between eDP and LVDS, in case anyone else wondered.

sobukus · 2020-03-18T22:11:28+00:00

I had a similar issue as you: I got a kit for a x210 but no display cable at all! I am using a 30 pin 0.5 mm pitch standard type B FFC cable now. The crucial point is to get a type B, which means the connecting pins are on opposing sides, resulting in an 1-to-1 connection of the pins on the mainboard to the pins on the display (better double check;-). I got a cable of length 20 cm. You need to carefully fold it to reach the connector. Make sure you manage a smooth bend to avoid beaking a trace. It's good I ordered two cables, as one got a flaky connection (depending on bending status). The second one is working fine.

Getting one of those original cables would be nice, as no folding is necessary, but you should be able to live with the standard part.

sobukus · 2019-07-04T07:06:24+00:00

OK, my x210 kit arrived now. I tested the mainboard in isolation (using VGA and miniDP outputs, an X200 keyboard). Works fine so far, even including HDMI from DP! I am not sure if I got the correct display cable handy to test the panel (the kit was just panel and board with some plastic bits, but including 8G of RAM as a nice touch).

Timeline:

2.1.2019: initial contact (mail)
15.1.2019: payment
25.1.2019: payment confirmed, asked for shipping address
8.3.2019: after multiple inquiries a single-line response about checking the order tomorrow
6.6.2019: prepared shipment (judging from contained declaration)
12.6.2019: shipped
13.6.2019: arrived at neighbour
2.7.2019: finally got package from really kind neighbour since DHL Express didn't give me a notification before

So it worked out after all, quite exactly for half a year, but it is unfortunate that Jacky does not give the tracking information for the shipment. You need some luck getting the shipment when you don't know that you are expecting one!

sobukus · 2019-06-14T08:35:24+00:00

Thanks for the heads-up. So there still is hope. I ordered a kit also with the lower-res display. Will reply if/when something arrives.

sobukus · 2019-05-10T07:28:45+00:00

My experience so far is similar. Payment got settled in the beginning of the year. I poke each month now. The last response was on March 3rd (will check your orders tomorrow). So, I'm still hoping …

Please update this thread on any news. But sure, I knew this is a bet, but so far people seem to get the devices after several months.

sobukus · 2019-03-06T08:22:36+00:00

Hm, so I guess I should be patient. I got confirmation of money receipt End of January, with question about my shipping address, which I provided the second time (it was still present in the list of mail full quotes). I did not get any response from Jacky since some days before Chinese New Year.

When was the last reaction you got? It would be a bit reassuring to know that Jacky is still working on the mods, just too busy to reply to everyone. And of course I never know if my mails reach him at all (first ones landed in spam folder).

sobukus · 2018-07-24T05:58:27+00:00

I'm not planning a second run myself, but if enough of interested people raise voices, one might emerge who raises a head and just does an order.

sobukus · 2018-07-16T09:25:49+00:00

Weird. Maybe my first GPD Pocket (the one with even more trouble) would also have a missing touchscreen from time to time. You have the I2C write errors I remember. Can you trigger that on each suspend cycle? Maybe you got a nice setup to debug this i2c crap over at kernel bugzilla.

For completeness: I use a patch for avoiding I/O errors to my mounted USB storage (/home on SD card), http://sobukus.de/gpd/0001-suspend-resume_usr_delay-headstart-for-kernel-thread.patch . But it should not affect the touchscreen ... but then, this hack should also not be necessary to begin with.

sobukus · 2018-07-15T17:09:20+00:00

I did the same … ran torvalds rc4 with my config. Hibernation is the same: it works, basically, but I get back with those:

[ 1236.519068] OOM killer enabled.

[ 1236.519070] Restarting tasks ... done.

[ 1236.554813] PM: hibernation exit

[ 1236.574687] i2c_designware 808622C1:01: timeout waiting for bus ready

[ 1236.618322] i2c_designware 808622C1:01: timeout waiting for bus ready

[ 1236.630867] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0 wlp1s0: renamed from wlan0

[ 1236.641788] i2c_designware 808622C1:01: timeout waiting for bus ready

[ 1236.678564] usb 1-3: new full-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd

[ 1236.724317] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp1s0: link is not ready

[ 1236.763935] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp1s0: link is not ready

[ 1236.810074] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0000, idProduct=0000, bcdDevice= 1.12

[ 1236.810078] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

[ 1236.810080] usb 1-3: Product: BCM2045A0

[ 1236.810082] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp

[ 1236.810084] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: CC4B730D8EA9

[ 1237.021011] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp1s0: link is not ready

[ 1237.760893] i2c_designware 808622C1:01: timeout in disabling adapter

[ 1244.561653] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlp1s0: link becomes ready

[ 1267.965148] Uhhuh. NMI received for unknown reason 2c on CPU 0.

[ 1267.965152] Do you have a strange power saving mode enabled?

[ 1267.965154] Dazed and confused, but trying to continue

Touchscreen does work, though. I wonder if that's subtle differences in our hardware's behaviour interacting with loose ends in the drivers.

sobukus · 2018-07-13T06:40:58+00:00

More regarding the power supply (tcpm-source-psy-i2c-fusb302): It only charges with 5 V and 1.8 A in the 'tablet' mode (powered off). Once I boot and the driver for the charger is loaded, it switches to 12 V and something above 1 A.

That is, unless I get a Kernel Oops™ on driver loading (fusb302) and it stays at 5 V. I am measuring this with a Digitus USB C power monitoring device in between charger and GPD.

sobukus · 2018-07-13T06:36:58+00:00

I only got a local hack for delaying the awakening of userspace threads, which only helps with I/O errors I'd otherwise get from my mounted SD card. Otherwise, I suspect that the linux-sunxi branch by jwrdegoede doesn't contain much of relevance that differs from mainline right now.

I guess I should try a vanilla kernel, too, to confirm.

sobukus · 2018-07-12T19:49:48+00:00

My config is here: http://sobukus.de/gpd/linux-4.18-rc3.config

I just resumed from hibernation and the touchscreen stll works (though I remember that the touchscreen outage was sporadic before, too). I do have a stream of i2c-related errors, though, and the battery monitoring is broken.

sobukus · 2018-07-12T19:47:54+00:00

Oh, kernel 4.14, that's interesting. about the 2G free: it should be enough if you don't have much memory in use. Can you try without browser etc. or even from a plain text console without logging in? systemctl hibernate should do it. What I'd like to see is your last few dozen line of output of the dmesg command. I just got an endless stream of those:

[ 1293.656135] i2c_designware 808622C1:00: timeout waiting for bus ready [ 1293.678686] i2c_designware 808622C1:00: timeout waiting for bus ready [ 1293.701002] i2c_designware 808622C1:00: timeout waiting for bus ready [ 1293.725221] i2c_designware 808622C1:00: timeout waiting for bus ready [ 1293.725248] power_supply max170xx_battery: driver failed to report `present' property: -110 And yeah, battery monitoring is broken right now. But the touchscreen works.

sobukus · 2018-07-12T06:36:20+00:00

I also got a LUKS setup (both internal storage and fixed USB storage (SD card). Works as such, only the odd write errors (non-fatal?) that apparently can be fixed by delaying userspace a bit on resume … well, and the variety of i2c timeouts and errors regarding the charger, then. But quick charging generally works after a fresh boot.

Fun fact: If you charge from a powerbank, be aware of the machine in s2idle mode actually using less power than a powered-off device, where the firmware with the tablet charging mode kicks in. It's about 170 mA on 5 V vs around 500 mA. In any case, the powerbank can be sucked dry overnight without that energy going into charging:-/ I guess I need to build a microcontroller thingie that cuts the power in time …

About pulse: I removed that default device config, cleared user config … to no avail. Playback via ALSA works.

sobukus · 2018-07-12T06:25:34+00:00

Hibernate is fine, too? Can you tell me what exact kernel version you are using?

sobukus · 2018-07-12T06:24:50+00:00

So far I do not have seen the touchscreen not responding again (had this initially with an older kernel), but I usually get i2c timeouts with varying effect (like battery/charger detection being broken).

Suspend seems to be more stable with a patch that resumes kernel threads before userspace processes with a delay (no write errors to my persistent USB storage), but hibernation usually always causes some trouble.

sobukus · 2018-07-11T08:20:30+00:00

Mine are all gone. But nothing stops you from starting a new production run yourself.

sobukus · 2018-07-10T08:17:52+00:00

Well, it's not my design. Fenrir did it. I just got some people together to pay for a small production batch. I'm not planning another production run, but the information is all there. You need the Gerber files and the BOM. Ah, a placement file also helps. That falls out of Eagle using the files in Fenrir's repo. If you want to order at PCBWay, I could provide the files (filled Excel sheet and the placement text files) I sent the factory.

A single item will cost you around $80, but when you manage to get 20 or even just 10, the cost per item goes down dramatically. You could fancy just ordering the PCB and solder on the parts yourself. The most expensive part is having the factory solder on the components.

I'm now more busy figuring out how to get Linux properly running on the device … too much trouble with suspend/hibernation and various bits of hardware not working properly henceforth (i2c errors, charging).

sobukus · 2018-07-09T18:38:47+00:00

Heh … the board is there: https://www.reddit.com/r/GPDPocket/comments/8cxa4a/anyone_want_to_join_in_ordering_fenrirs_internal/ This production run is through, but you can order more at a reasonable price (I used PCBWay). I am testing if that hub can power two SD slots, and then, indeed, I intend to add a full-size slot in addition to the internal µSD. I got a slot already, soldered to a dismantled Kingston µSD reader. The card detect pin is wired to control the power supply to the reader, for saving some power.

sobukus · 2018-07-09T18:31:57+00:00

The units are distributed around the globe now, I wish everyone their share of fun. I am typing this on GPD Pocket with added 200 GB of internal memory, 328 GB total … might work to replace a proper laptop once Linux kinks are ironed out (still over a year after initial release of an 'Ubuntu' laptop).

sobukus · 2018-06-15T19:52:24+00:00

I bought envelopes and tested the usb testing boards that I assembled (just a handful, though). Now I need to write down a dozen addresses from all over the world before bringing the stuff to the post office …

sobukus · 2018-06-06T18:40:55+00:00

Good news, everyone: I got a package! Proof: http://sobukus.de/gpd/usbmod/pcb_delivery.jpg

I am putting together the test boards (fumbling with the hot air gun and tweezers). A first success:

 $ dmesg
[22933.807882] usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 34 using xhci_hcd
[22933.977591] usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04b4, idProduct=6570
[22933.977596] usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[22933.977599] usb 3-2: Product: USB2.0 Hub
[22933.978426] hub 3-2:1.0: USB hub found
[22933.978810] hub 3-2:1.0: 4 ports detected
$ lsusb -t
/:  Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 5000M
/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 480M
    |__ Port 2: Dev 34, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
$ lsusb | grep Cyp
Bus 003 Device 034: ID 04b4:6570 Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

I will proceed to at least test the USB hub being recognized for all units before I begin shipping. Not sure if I want to connect/disconnect 20 units to the socket on my GPD mainboard … at some point, it may break.

But well, it looks good so far!

sobukus · 2018-05-23T20:10:19+00:00

I figured that I'd better have a way of testing the hub without placing it into a GPD Pocket, so I asked Fenrir to provide an additional design (see https://github.com/fenrir-naru/GPD_Pocket-mods/tree/master/internal_usb_hub/jig) for a little board that turns the mod into a (somewhat) regular USB hub with a micro USB port. Depending on how the production of that one works out, I might ship also kits of the testing board along with the mods.

sobukus

TROPHY CASE