I've had it!
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I feel your pain. The Omega2 user experience reminds me of my first days with the long gone Apple II, back in the early 80's (this can't be what Steve meant when he said ... "Apple II forever") or maybe using Dos 5.
Suggestions and remedies I see for these issues -
Omega users need a search for the Onion Community posts that has real selectivity, like the searches we use every day at www.google.com or www.ebay.com. Why is it that nearly everything I search for in the Community responds with 0 or ~50 or ~100 hits?
When First-timers have trouble connecting to their Wifi they need some visual road map say a flow chart, to trouble-shoot their problems and find the appropriate fixes.
First-timers need clear instructions to diagnose hardware set-up problems. Why can't you make a serial connection, why isn't your boot completing etc. Also, for avoiding user caused problems ie what not to do with the wires while the Omega is booting, how long the boot can actually take, what the amber Led is telling you about the boot , etc.
We need a back-up and restore process that will easily and reliably save the current Omega and restore the last known good system. This is insurance for a smooth recovery from the learner's missteps. Start with a manual process that is simple and quick enough to be used. Do back-ups to a folder on the local PC and/or the SD card. Save your progress and be more productive. Why can't something like this be scripted for most/ all set-ups or be neophyte-ready?
Omega users need clear instructions for recovering from any firmware corruption, tailored for the Omega2. We need a map that shows how to identify broken firmware states of the Omega2 - can the boot step that fails or the last executed step help identify what to fix? When so, provide the appropriate recipe to recover the firmware. Such as - when to recover using Fail-safe mode via 192.168.1.1/XX, when to recover via reloading the firmware with the ethernet adapter or a home-made variation, etc. As a last resort, is it ever possible to write a bare-bones Uboot over a corrupted Uboot then reload the firmware, is this it? Short of doing a Rom surgery, when is an Omega actually bricked for good?
Did I miss anything? Please speak-up if I missed a fix to these issues somewhere here in the Community.
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@Ken-Conrad
It is a bit disheartening for a newbie. Trying to understand this new platform and very little on it works, even some of the how-to's from the documentation. Considering it is in version2 already, I would have expected this to be a much smoother experience.- it is supposedly an IoT device but cant get to it via Safari on IOS (local network or cloud.onion)
- even from a desktop, cloud compile does not work at all, struck in queued (at least, for me it is)
- many of the included apps (as per the documentation) does not work e.g. Expled
- dev/mem enabled( I read this somewhere) but not working (that also screws with some of the gpio access)
- despite factory reset, manual installation etc. I still am not able to make the console/terminal or editor app load in my browser. (No biggie as I use ssh, but still)
- Very little documentation on how to get cross compilers setup. Seems to me that if you want anything that requires a bit of speed, scripting is just not going to do it. @José-Luis-Cánovas is doing an admirable job with his docker project but it would be good if this came from onion, a guide to cross compilation for osx,linux and windows platforms with decent libraries to access the platform hardware efficiently.
- How about a newbies guide to using cloud's device explorer
- what exactly is the hardware so some of the clever guys (and girls) out there can start producing quality libraries.
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@Jo-Kritzinger said in I've had it!:
a guide to cross compilation for osx,linux and windows platforms with decent libraries to access the platform hardware efficiently.
Sorry Jo, everything you cant expect from onion.io. We have to organize us also.
Problem about cross compilation is that you need an "case sensitive os". Osx and Windows are not. That's why it gets so complicated with subsystem etc.
This is definitely not onion.io 's problem.Btw. they made a nice tutorial for linux (where you could run in a virtualbox). Mistake was just that we never got all the config files. At least for OmegaONe.
@onion @administrators @Global-Moderators are there some news about it?
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@Luciano-S. Thanks for clearing that one up. Might be nice to have that lne printed in bold on the doc page as I, being a linux newbie, would never in a million years have figured that out. For someone new to Omega, Linux and cross compilers (and Docker images), there is a lot to become familiar with before anything starts to work and the required info is spread far and wide.
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Thanks People for supporting my quest. To Onion: Just make Omega2 work in the most basic way. And document and explain every step of the way. Yes, I do mean Plug -n- Play, at least right after the box is opened. Even the experts will say "Wow, this is really neat/cool !" And the newbies will be more confident to charge ahead and learn a lot more. Onion will be more respected and they should respect our contributions too. I'm sure they do now, but in a disconnected way it seems.
I've been participating in another Kickstarter program called Outernet. A global satellite information system for poor countries. Outernet has it's own set of very different problems, but still hardware and software. One difference: they are a very small outfit of very dedicated people. Improvements come quick and often because it's one goal centered. To get a no Internet group of people, Information. Not sure about Onion/Omega2. Just another CPU on a little board.
Don
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Just makes me wonder if there was a hardware issue to begin with.
I have 2 Omega 2+ that have been great, save for my total noob mistakes. I may be the newest to this maker culture, and I have been able to get mine up and running countless times on different networks.
It would be worth it to open tickets and see if there is a hardware issue. Or at least go through the Onion channels to get them looked at, rather than just community support.
Good luck with them, I do hope you get them working. I have had a lot of fun and have learned a lot in the time I have had with mine.
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@Don-DeGregori you'll be pleased to know that the Raspberry Pi Foundation have added WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1 to their Zero. It's their 5th birthday today and the headline price for the Zero W is $10.
Much more stock available this time around and I managed to pick up 3 quite easily from "different" suppliers.Great little product, plug and play with awesome support. Roll on the next 11 million out of the door.
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@Costas-Costas Just saw that as well. Wondered why it was left off to begin with...
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I guess it was left off to achieve the $5 price tag.
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@Costas-Costas
Didn't know there is a Pi Zero W till now! Thanks!FYI
I ordered the the Raspberry Pi Zero W yesterday to play around with while I wait for Omega2 to get it's many loose ends tied together. Adafruit had 57, now they have none! More on the way, I'm sure!
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@Don-DeGregori ...so uh, how much can I compensate you for the goods, time, and effort to use your Omega2 while I wait for my other Omega2s to arrive? I'd like a replacement sooner than later and making friends with you seems like a win-win situation as no one can reach back in time and rewind your frustration. You can at least get your money back and delight a 6 year old at the same time.
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@Brad-Chesney
Hey, I'm not frustrated. I'm just hoping Onion gets frustrated, so they might figure out, they are biting off more than they can chew. Different with The CHIP. They can't make the chips fast enough. Not so with with Arduino or Pi. Timing, Timing, Timing. Especially with the IDE. It gets better with every release. The Omega product should have been 90% done. Kickstarter gives them the horsepower to manufacture it. We, out there help them with updates to make it finally a great product. What a bargain! Not so right now. Maybe later alligator.
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@Brad-Buskey Right now, Your showweather program is the only project I have loaded. It sure works great! I don't know about you being a newie. Not in my book. Want to add GPS, but not until I get hotspot working. I thought I did, but soon as I shut off radio in radio in router, blank screen on display. Looks like Omega2 will only send data to wireless router. Tried many other fixes. No good. A reason I want hotspot mode is to demo the project at another location like a school. BTW the Moto-G hotspot mode works fine with my Android tablet. Can't find any reference to this subject in the Community. (Except yours) Probably not really mainstream. I guess I'll just wait.
