Author Topic: EEVBlog 121GW Discussion thread (Read 775800 times)

pppopol · « **Reply #1750 on:** March 08, 2020, 10:14:25 am »

Hi DavidWC,

I'm on Android 9, and GSM is a Samsung Galaxy S8 ( SM-G950F )

Regards

DavidWC · « **Reply #1751 on:** March 08, 2020, 11:30:31 am »

Quote from: pppopol on March 08, 2020, 10:14:25 am

Hi DavidWC,

I'm on Android 9, and GSM is a Samsung Galaxy S8 ( SM-G950F )

Ok,

If this is a crash caused by a bug (or mis-configuration) in Meteor, then if you have "Share usage & diagnostic data" (usually in Privacy Settings) turned on in your phone then I will eventually get a crash report from Google. This can take a few days, however, so in the meantime you can try:

1. Restart your phone by holding the power button and choosing either "Restart" or "Power Off" (and then power back on). After the phone restarts, try Meteor again and see if you get the same result. The idea here is to clear out state and any memory-exhaustion issues.

2. If that doesn't work, uninstall Meteor from your phone, either in Settings, Apps & Notifications, or by tapping and holding on the icon and choosing "Uninstall" (or drag to trashcan icon).

3. Restart your phone again, if you have the patience for it.

4. Check to see if the "Share usage & diagnostic data" is turned on in Settings. Also, while you're in Settings, check the Storage section to make sure your phone has at least a few MB free. Meteor doesn't use much space, but Android will kill new apps if it feels constrained.

5. Go to the Google Play Store and download and re-install Meteor again. Cross your fingers and try running the app again. If it crashes, then eventually I should get a crash report and be able to debug the problem.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems running the app. I'd be happy to continue trying to help you out, and I'd like to figure out what the problem is, but I don't want to pollute this message board with too much diagnostics. If you want to keep working on it, please send me an email at support@westerncomputational.com (or david@westerncomputational.com) and I'll try to think of something else to try.

DavidWC · « **Reply #1752 on:** March 09, 2020, 04:48:43 am »

So I had another Android Meteor tester report a strange launch issue, where upon first launch the app displayed a mostly-blank splash screen with a message like "Hello World" or "Welcome to Android". This is definitely not the intended behavior, and that screen (and text) don't appear anywhere in my code.

The only explanation I can think of for this bizarre behavior is that I was using "App Bundling" from the Google Play Store, where the app is actually not built until a user downloads it. Perhaps this process had a problem building in my desired splash screen and instead substituted a generic replacement?

Anyway, I've jettisoned the App Bundle idea and gone back to building and submitting a traditional APK to the Play Store. To pppopol and anybody else who experienced strange behavior on launch, please visit the Play Store and get the update (version 0.1.1) and try it out.

The intended behavior on launch should be a blue splash screen with the Meteor logo and text. Then, you should get a request to grant location permission for scanning for nearby 121GW meters. If granted, you should then see the device-scan screen, and if a meter is on and nearby (with BT on) you should see that meter listed. The whole sequence is demonstrated with screenshots below.

I apologize if you've had trouble trying out the app, but please report any issues - and send any suggestions - to support@westerncomputational.com. Thanks for trying this out, despite the teething pains ....

bateau020 · « **Reply #1753 on:** March 09, 2020, 04:09:18 pm »

Quote from: DavidWC on March 08, 2020, 01:29:52 am

If you have a relatively-recent Mac and can run Meteor on an iPhone, capturing the data in the app and then using AirDrop to send them to the Mac is only one extra step and relatively painless. That's how I do it now for my own data.

Understood. I just bit the bullet and whipped together a small command line MacOS app capable of logging the 121GW data (and nothing more). Translating the stream was the hardest, as the documentation is not really great. Might put that on github if people want to see it.

VK5RC · « **Reply #1754 on:** March 10, 2020, 11:38:43 am »

Works a treat for me! Samsung s9, android v 10. Quick Bluetooth recognition, connected reasonably well. I really appreciate your work, thanks. Rob

pppopol · « **Reply #1755 on:** March 11, 2020, 04:51:18 pm »

That's work for me too, on French Androïd and after technical support by David imself.

Thank-you for this apps David !

CkeKchy · « **Reply #1756 on:** March 17, 2020, 05:03:48 am »

Quote from: EEVblog on January 21, 2020, 04:19:38 am

Quote from: joeqsmith on January 21, 2020, 02:05:35 am
With David2 now out of the picture, I doubt you will see much effort being put into the application side.

That was never the plan. We got the app to a good refined working point and released it as fully open source software. If people want to improve upon it and add features they can, but we never had any plans to extend it ourselves beyond what it already is.

At https://sigrok.org/wiki/EEVBlog_121GW "The meter is announced as having "hackable firmware" but its source code is not available and probably never will. Alternative OpenSource firmware is possible but would have to start at square one. There are connector pads to program the MCU and the BLE module. "

Pardon, if I missed the source code availability, somewhere that my search failed to shows; I am certainly would be very appreciative if someone would kindly point me to the finding -- I wonder -Why the source code not available?

Brumby · « **Reply #1757 on:** March 17, 2020, 05:46:40 am »

This question has been asked several times - but it comes down to this: UEI have used some proprietary routines - "secret sauce" as Dave puts it.

I have no doubt these routines represent a significant investment and have proven to be of great competitive value. As such, it would be quite easy to understand why they might not prepared to make these available.

CDaniel · « **Reply #1758 on:** March 17, 2020, 01:09:11 pm »

So far I don't see that great value

, just sloppy coding with bugs after numerous updates that someone ( 1 guy ) could do it far better ... of course there is little incentive to waste time for this .
After all is just a microcontroller , not FPGA or something more complex .

ggchab · « **Reply #1759 on:** March 17, 2020, 01:28:15 pm »

Unfortunately, after so many releases, this is also my feeling: not very well written/tested firmware. How could you have no doubt that

Quote

these routines represent a significant investment and have proven to be of great competitive value

Did you have any chance to see the code or speak with some UEi developers ? It would be interesting to know

jancumps · « **Reply #1760 on:** March 17, 2020, 01:42:43 pm »

It may be the most engineer-tested firmware around. We're all on it and report any issue.
I think it's an interesting situation to be able to have a meter around where so many engineers have a poke at, comment on, critique on. It's all in the open (except the code

).

I enjoy using the meter. All the public scrutiny, reviews, videos make it the most alive piece of test equipment on the desk.
And the fact that all the shortcomings are out in the open. Almost like my own life

Brumby · « **Reply #1761 on:** March 18, 2020, 12:09:11 am »

Quote from: ggchab on March 17, 2020, 01:28:15 pm

Unfortunately, after so many releases, this is also my feeling: not very well written/tested firmware. How could you have no doubt that
Quote
these routines represent a significant investment and have proven to be of great competitive value
Did you have any chance to see the code or speak with some UEi developers ? It would be interesting to know

1. I am just passing on information that Dave has made public in the past
2. The routines I refer to are the sort of standard subroutines that UEI would have written long before the 121GW came across their desk and are completely separate to the specific code written for the 121GW hardware.
3. Why else would UEI want to keep their routines secret if they did not have competitive value?

(If you really want to program the 121GW from scratch, then you can simply put on your machine code hat and write the binary straight up, using one of the versions of FW already available as a guide. We've had a couple of people tweak things through editing a binary.)

CkeKchy · « **Reply #1762 on:** March 18, 2020, 05:52:20 pm »

Do we know who made and claimed this part of the DMM product making: "fully open source software" ? What sort of work ethic is it if no owners who supported the 121GW have NO access to the "fully open source software"?

darrellg · « **Reply #1763 on:** March 18, 2020, 06:03:05 pm »

Quote from: CkeKchy on March 18, 2020, 05:52:20 pm

Do we know who made and claimed this part of the DMM product making: "fully open source software" ? What sort of work ethic is it if no owners who supported the 121GW have NO access to the "fully open source software"?

If you look at the Kickstarter page (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eevblog/eevblog-121gw-multimeter/description), it doesn't say the meter software is open source. It says the application software is open source.

e0ne199 · « **Reply #1764 on:** March 18, 2020, 06:44:09 pm »

Quote from: jancumps on March 17, 2020, 01:42:43 pm

It may be the most engineer-tested firmware around. We're all on it and report any issue.
I think it's an interesting situation to be able to have a meter around where so many engineers have a poke at, comment on, critique on. It's all in the open (except the code ).

I enjoy using the meter. All the public scrutiny, reviews, videos make it the most alive piece of test equipment on the desk.
And the fact that all the shortcomings are out in the open. Almost like my own life

and the slowest response for firmware fix available although the error is right before your eyes... you must make several people angry first in order to create the fix

anyway VA mode fix is still not available, i am still waiting for it

knapik · « **Reply #1765 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:22:13 am »

I had to use a microSD card, and well the only one around was in the 121GW

I'm trying to update the firmware, but the process doesn't work anymore. I believe that it may be a formatting issue, I've tried fat32 & exfat but still doesn't update. What exactly should I be formatting the microSD card to

beanflying · « **Reply #1766 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:24:49 am »

Quote from: knapik on March 26, 2020, 10:22:13 am

I had to use a microSD card, and well the only one around was in the 121GW
I'm trying to update the firmware, but the process doesn't work anymore. I believe that it may be a formatting issue, I've tried fat32 & exfat but still doesn't update. What exactly should I be formatting the microSD card to

What did you rename the firmware file to? https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/eevblog-121gw-multimeter-issues/msg2952134/#msg2952134

knapik · « **Reply #1767 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:32:30 am »

Quote from: beanflying on March 26, 2020, 10:24:49 am

What did you rename the firmware file to? https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/eevblog-121gw-multimeter-issues/msg2952134/#msg2952134

EEVBlog.bin. Trying to upgrade from 1.26 to 2.02, but it just gets stuck on the down screen and never moves from there.

beanflying · « **Reply #1768 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:35:19 am »

EEVblog.bin not EEVBlog.bin likely case will matter?

knapik · « **Reply #1769 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:45:55 am »

Quote from: beanflying on March 26, 2020, 10:35:19 am

EEVblog.bin not EEVBlog.bin likely case will matter?

Tried both, but same issue, so

EEVblog · « **Reply #1770 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:52:12 am »

Quote from: CkeKchy on March 18, 2020, 05:52:20 pm

Do we know who made and claimed this part of the DMM product making: "fully open source software" ? What sort of work ethic is it if no owners who supported the 121GW have NO access to the "fully open source software"?

There was never a claim that the source code is open source. I think many people have confused the meter firmware with the app software which is and has always been advertised as fully open source.
There was a hope way back at day 1 of development that the firmware could be open source, but that never eventuated and was never advertised.
Because I did not pay for the development of this meter or the firmware, I do not have a say in whether it is made open source or not, I do not own it.
I did however pay for the app development, so I own that, and that is why it's fully open source.

EEVblog · « **Reply #1771 on:** March 26, 2020, 10:53:05 am »

Quote from: knapik on March 26, 2020, 10:45:55 am

Quote from: beanflying on March 26, 2020, 10:35:19 am
EEVblog.bin not EEVBlog.bin likely case will matter?
Tried both, but same issue, so

Some people have reported firmware update issues if their batteries are low.

knapik · « **Reply #1772 on:** March 26, 2020, 11:08:04 am »

Quote from: EEVblog on March 26, 2020, 10:53:05 am

Some people have reported firmware update issues if their batteries are low.

Don't worry I got it now

it was most likely an issue because I had it named EEVBlog.bin, not EEVblog.bin & that the SD card was formatted as exfat rather than fat32.

swgertsch · « **Reply #1773 on:** April 16, 2020, 09:38:53 pm »

Regarding getting logged data off the internal MicroSD card... why not make it possible to do a File Transfer over BT? This should address users physical accessibility issues. Tried a BT file transfer from Windows 10 PC but the 121GW ignores the "Receive a File" request. Is it an issue the software stack to implement this feature is beyond the hardware's capability?

Recently I wanted to log temperature measurements every 5 seconds and thought I could easily do this with my Android phone using the 121GW app. While the app is capable of "Saving" data sent from the 121GW, there does not appear to be a way set/control the interval time (sampling rate). The interval time appears to be around 300ms which is about as fast the 121GW can log readings to the internal MicroSD card. I would have thought the interval time would be used to control the rate data is sent over BT to the app.

I also noticed the file formats for data saved from the app versus logged to the internal MicroSD card are quite different. The format used for the MicroSD card is more complete. The file formats should be consistent.

I guess I would like to see the app to be more of a remote control than a remote display for the device.

cowasaki · « **Reply #1774 on:** April 27, 2020, 09:47:11 pm »

I've tried searching but does the 121GW no longer come with a case? Just bought a new one from the official distributer over here and there wasn't one in the box, the meter was just wrapped in bubble wrap.......


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Author Topic: EEVBlog 121GW Discussion thread (Read 775800 times)

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