First impressions

[alon]

Hi,

I just got the TERES-I-A64 and am writing on it. It was a fun and sometimes scary exercise, and I wanted to say thank you very much for the product and also to report on some experiences I had:

During build:

1. I forgot to connect the keyboard ribbon at first, thinking there was an extra ribbon. Hope no one has this mistake (recommendation: add to manual a note about no spares? in the unlikely case someone else does the same mistake..)

2. Ribbons insertion depth and force - It was my first experience with such connectors, so I didn't know if I was applying enough force, or if they were inserted deep enough for adaquate contact. I strained at the manual pictures (which otherwise was very good!) to see exactly how much of the copper (in the copper on top ribbons) or the blue (in the other ribbons) should be visible. I would suggest adding a note about it, maybe more pictures.

3. Slack of ribbons - minor point: it wasn't clear how much slack was expected (the images do show some slack, but they are top pictures, you have to do with reflections and shadow hints)

4. Keyboard PCB5 right screw - after all the ribbons are connected to it and the left screw is attached, the board is at a slight angle. I could see from other forum posts I'm not the only one with that problem. I had to fold the KEYBOARD to TOUCH ribbon a bit to get the right hole to align, and it was the only screw that was a bit hard to insert at the last step (attaching the bottom cover with the 12 screws)

5. LCD ribbon - you do mention in the manual it is the hardest part, and I fully agree. But one part was connecting the ribbon to the LCD, i.e. the 30 pin connector ; I initially did not connect it all the way, and discovered this only after everything was fully assembled, I turned the power on, and the back light and LCD didn't show a thing.

6. Antenna cable wiring in LCD back plastic body - as opposed to the camera cable, which was very maellable and easy to guide, the antenna cable is more elastic, less plastic, and was the most frustrating part. I didn't have any problem with it other than the time it took to coax it so I could fit the LCD plastic frame (#007) on to it. (again, this is mentioned in the manual, but I wanted to add the point that the two cables behave completely differently, perhaps it is possible to find a less elastic version of the antenna cable, perhaps not).

After build:

1. Telegram - no telegram-desktop for ubuntu xenial arm64. But there is one for debian, so I ended up creating a docker image and a matching shell script. I want to share them with you, here they are in case it helps anyone:

Dockerfile:

Tag it as telegram:

Code Select Expand


docker build -t telegram .


Code Select Expand


# based on xorilog/telegram

FROM debian:unstable
RUN apt update
RUN apt upgrade -y
RUN apt install telegram-desktop -y


ENV QT_XKB_CONFIG_ROOT=/usr/share/X11/xkb

## Autorun Telegram
CMD ["/usr/bin/telegram-desktop"]


run_telegram-desktop

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#!/bin/bash
XSOCK=/tmp/.X11-unix
XAUTH=/tmp/.docker.xauth
xauth nlist $DISPLAY | sed -e 's/^..../ffff/' | xauth -f $XAUTH nmerge -
chmod 755 $XAUTH

# -it
docker run --rm --name telegram \
       -v $XSOCK:$XSOCK \
       -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
       -e XAUTHORITY=$XAUTH \
       -v $XAUTH:$XAUTH \
       --device /dev/snd \
       -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
       -v $HOME/.TelegramDesktop:/root/.local/share/TelegramDesktop/ \
       telegram



That's it, thanks for reading. I'm still looking for how the kernel is built and the boot process. Seems to take too long to boot after doing an apt update, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of that.

Alon

[starkwether]

Yes, I have to agree with:

I strained at the manual pictures (which otherwise was very good!) to see exactly how much of the copper (in the copper on top ribbons) or the blue (in the other ribbons) should be visible. I would suggest adding a note about it, maybe more pictures.

and

Keyboard PCB5 right screw - after all the ribbons are connected to it and the left screw is attached, the board is at a slight angle.

Those were the only hiccups I had personally. No issues with boot time, its always resonable for me?

[rhialto]

I agree with all your points.

Re 1: The instructions (version 1.4) on page 26 say "Next connect TERES-PCB5-KEYBOARD with TERES-PCB1-A64" but it doesn't mention with WHAT. Turns out it is the "spare" from 028-FPC-Pwr-Main but it would have been nice if the instructions said so.

Re 2: The images didn't help me there. I could not insert the cables as far as I though the images suggested. I hope I got it right.

Additionally, the image of the main board TERES-BCB1-A64 don't match the board I got. It turns out that I have Rev C and the pictures are Rev B. My version has the connectors to use in different places, and extra connectors with very similar sizes. Perhaps the text can be adjusted to warn for that. I understand that changing the majority of the images would be annoying (the board is visible in many of them).

My lid hinges are very tight, it takes a lot of force to move them. Is that supposed to be? I'm afraid that some plastic breaks if I'd use them when connecting the main plastic enclosure to the LCD enclosure.

When assembling the LCD screen, on page 28, the top image has the 026-LCD-cable connected, but the next image of the screen from the front has not. Also there is no text to say which side of the screen should be used when screwing it to the back plastic. If the image had the cable connected, at least, that might be more clear even without text.

The LCD also has protective plastic. A note when the latest moment is to remove it would be good. Probably just before trying, cursing and failing to attach the frame.

The text at the bottom of page 31 suggests that you can try to remove the frame if the wires don't fit. Don't believe that. For me the plastics came with broken snaps (they could be felt and heard to connect but they didn't stay in), and disconnecting the previous snaps broke those too.

That's how far I got. Continuing with a broken LCD frame is useless.