[Gta04-owner] GTA04A4 PCBs for "From Stock" units have arrived

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Hi Stefan,

> Hello together,
> 
> now this is getting serious for me. As I follow this list for a while I most probably know the current status of the GTA04. But     those that recently discovered the GTA04 to be reality might miss a recent status summary about what's definitive working up to now with currently available hardware and software.
> 
> Can somebody with hands on a working device just give a short summary about what's working? As far as I know this should be a success story. 

This is in constant flow and depends less on hardware but largely on software (kernel and distro) that are being developed/adapted.

Let's try being short.

Hardware: a long list of what is working and a short list where we don't know (which does not necessarily mean that it can not work):

   Working: SD card, RS232, GPS, antenna switch, buttons, display, backlight, indicator LEDs, WLAN, Bluetooth, UMTS data call, UMTS voice call, microphone, earpiece, hands-free speaker, vibracall motor, headset, TV-Out, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, charging, USB + some things I did forget

   Unknown/untested: FM radio/transmitter, camera, torch/flash, ambient light sensor, RFID-EEPROM, USB-OTG, Wakeup from incoming call
Mostly because we don't have drivers or did not yet find time to fix the kernel configs in the hw-validation kernel.

   What we don't know before the first devices are being tested, is about potential new bugs in the GTA04A4 PCB layout.

Software: Radek reported recently that QtMoko v37 almost completely works. And that after just approx. 4 weeks he owns a board. Kernel-3.2 is making rapid progress.

Summary: almost everything can work - if the software supports it completely.

> Or even better would be a sort of table on gta04.org front page showing what's working even in this
> early stage without having to read dozens of mails. I think this would help those still thinking about shelling out money to

Such a list would be fine, but things change (improve) faster than we can update. And, it is difficult to track a consistent status of the kernels and GUI projects combined with the hardware status.

> get one, but being frightened about getting another unusable piece of hardware by bugs like the annoyingly bad audio quality of GTA02 during voice call.

Well, there is also a difference between "working" and "well working". We don't know exactly how the WiFi/GPS/BT/UMTS sensitivity compares to other devices because we have a so low number of devices to test. And the same is for audio quality (which largely depends on what we expect - and everyone has different expectations).

> For me, for example there is one "key feature" missing to be proven functional: Suspend and wake from phone call. At least I never read about status of this. This would convince me to even buy one from stock. I hate waiting.

That is amongst the untested hardware features. The UMTS module provides such a control interrupt to the CPU. But setting it up correctly is non-trivial.

If you hate waiting, you could help to iron out the remaining issues (if you have experience in one of the areas and some spare time). The more individuals contribute small bits the faster the big picture becomes done.

> Just adding my mustard, like we say in Bavaria...

+ Weißwurst :)

Nikolaus