New user experience and some questions

uConsole
1

Hi folks,

today my uConsole kit arrived and I must say I am impressed by the experienced quality, the packaging etc.

First problem was that half of the printed instruction manual is missing. So it goes from page 6 directly to page 15. Which I did not notice first, so that lead to some confusion.

Google for help, find the PDF, all good.

Then I found this little thingamajig in my set - where does that go? It’s about 2mm in size.

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OK. Now for some probably wrong expectations on my part. From the description I thought the device was compatible with a CM 3+ (which I have) and optionally a CM 4 (with the supplied adapter). Is that correct?

Because I have this CM 3+ with EMMC flashed with FreeBSD 14 and known to be good but inside the device it does not seem to do much.

Does it require special software to drive the screen? I expected to see a text console just like on any HDMI connected display? Wrong?

Suspecting that it needs special drivers I wanted to download the Clockwork OS but that is only available for the CM 4. So do I really need a CM 4 to use this?

I intended to use the device as a literal console and nothing else. Text screen without X11 (that’s why I thought the CM 3+ would be more than enough), minicom and a USB serial adapter.

To have a handheld serial terminal when standing in front of a rack of switches …

If a CM 3+ is fundamentally supported - what type of device is the WiFi card exactly? So I could try to preconfigure my FreeBSD installation and see if at least the WiFi etc. is working, ssh in, and look around which devices are detected.

Thanks in advance for any hints,
Patrick

2

That thingamajig is just a protector for the gpio connector for the pick and place machine. It’s not needed after factory assembly.

You do need drivers for the panel and PMU for any distro you want to run. Here is a distro with support for the CM3 in the uConsole. ArchLinux minimal image with RPi 6.6.y kernel for uConsole with CM3/CM4/CM4S
The WiFi for the CM3 will come from the Clockworkpi main board.
I plan on buying a CM3 Friday to add support to my kernel and images.

3 Likes
3

It’s alive!

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Thanks a lot! Now I just need to wait for the batteries to arrive.

3 Likes
4

please buy also a screen protector, point 9: GitHub - cjstoddard/Clockworkpi-uConsole: 10 things to do after you get your ClockworkPi uConsole

(there are also 3d printable front covers)

1 Like
5

OK, I decided to switch the CM 3+ with EMMC for an CM 4 and a separate SD card, installed the community image and everything works great.

Only the WiFi interface is not detected. Since there is WiFi on the system board which worked with the CM 3+ I ordered a CM 4 without builtin WiFi intending to use the one already present.

Mistake? How can I enable the device? Some overlay missing?

Thanks,
Patrick

6

The CM4/5s are not physically wired up to the main boards WiFi so it will not work. You will need to get a WiFi CM or use a WiFi USB adapter.

2 Likes
7

Alright - seller allowed me to return the module without WiFi. Today I got the replacement with WiFI on board.

I did move the antenna cable from the main board to the CM4. Yet, signal is way better with the builtin antenna than with the external one:

With dtparam=ant1:

root@raspberrypi:~# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"Khazad-dum"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.5 GHz  Access Point: D4:01:C3:C5:4E:27   
          Bit Rate=325 Mb/s   Tx-Power=31 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=50/70  Signal level=-60 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

With dtparam=ant2:

root@raspberrypi:~# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"Khazad-dum"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.5 GHz  Access Point: D4:01:C3:C5:4E:27   
          Bit Rate=13 Mb/s   Tx-Power=31 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=27/70  Signal level=-83 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Patrick

8

Do you have the stock antenna stuck to the uConsole chassis? If so the chassis is causing interference and needs to have a couple mm of space. That’s why a lot of people here have a external antenna.

9

Yep. Exactly like shown in the fine manual :wink:

10

They manual has that as a issue, if you unstick the antenna you’ll see a improvement.

11

Can confirm, although “unsticking” is easier said than done. Now I have a broken antenna and a case I need to clean with some adhesive remover :wink:

Adhesive antennas are cheap - when I get a new one would sticking it to the aluminum back of the case improve things?

Like one of these:

Thanks,
Patrick

12

No sticking it to metal is what causes the interference. Some thick double sided tape works good.

1 Like
13

the best way to solve signal issues is to connect real antenna like uConsole micro antenna 0.2 mount by m3x | Download free STL model | Printables.com

14

Thanks! I’ll think about it.

1 Like