Getting started with PyGos and Pylife

[Keptenkurk]

@robert-hh It is my feeling that the company never recovered from CTO Daniel Campora changing jobs in august 2018 .

[robert-hh]

@Keptenkurk It seems that they lost their software mastermind. Daniel made the MicroPython port first for Wipy1 and then for the development boards of PyCom. There are still excellent people at PyCom, but it looks like there is no one keeping a consistent direction. And the people turnover seems pretty fast. Especially the poor people being responsible for customer service and the forum. Not good for building up knowledge.

[livius]

@robert-hh said in Getting started with PyGos and Pylife:

Not good for building up knowledge.

Yes, and not good for building a trust which is probably even more important.

[Vincèn PUJOL]

Well here and I suggest at everyone that is able to do it to contact its bank to decline the credit card operation as Pycom is not answering here neither at emails adressed at support, their website is seriously broken which is not really a good sign also.... and quite bored of these companies that don't give a shit about customers and their products (when you are payed by investors instead of being on real market with competitors it doesn't help for sure to do good products and PyCom is a great example of it from what I have seen and read around...

[Brian Wyld]

@robert-hh
Received my cradle, and summoned up the energy to plug it in...

Screen shows the charging graphics (big battery symbol with 1 bar flashing), but doesn't yet do anything else (no tap response, hasn't made it above 1 bar so far).

At 115200 baud I get a REPL prompt (after hitting return a few times).
I reboot with machine.reset() and checked the wifi setup:

>>> machine.reset()
machine.reset()
Pylife start
4 Set interrupt: Double Tap,
b'\x124\xc0\xde\x1a\xb5\x124\xc0\xde\x1a\xb5\xca\x1a\x11\x0f'
RTC: (1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 8, 765473, None)
Coex register schm btdm cb faild
BLE name: PyGo 11006
Pycom MicroPython 1.20.4.r4 [v1.11-258cda230] on 2022-06-13; PyGo1 with ESP32
Pybytes Version: 1.6.1
Pymesh Version: 1.4.0
Type "help()" for more information.
>>> import pycom;pycom.wifi_ssid_sta();pycom.wifi_pwd_sta();pycom.wifi_ssid_ap();pycom.wifi_pwd_ap();pycom.wifi_on_boot();pycom.wifi_mode_on_boot()
import pycom;pycom.wifi_ssid_sta();pycom.wifi_pwd_sta();pycom.wifi_ssid_ap();pycom.wifi_pwd_ap();pycom.wifi_on_boot();pycom.wifi_mode_on_boot()
'PyCom_AP_Firmware_Update'
'www.pycom.io'
False
1

I set the wifi ap to come on at boot in STA and AP mode, and rebooted

>>> import pycom;import network;pycom.wifi_on_boot(True);pycom.wifi_mode_on_boot(network.WLAN.STA_AP)
>>> import machine;machine.reset()

Now the AP is visible from my PC, I can connect to it, and ftp to 192.168.4.1 as usual (micro/python login).

Via the ftp I can upload a new main.py:

# main.py -- put your code here!
print("Hello this is my pygo")

and when I reset it gets run as expected

Pylife start
4 Set interrupt: Double Tap,
b'\x124\xc0\xde\x1a\xb5\x124\xc0\xde\x1a\xb5\xca\x1a\x11\x0f'
RTC: (1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 8, 765473, None)
Coex register schm btdm cb faild
BLE name: PyGo 11006
Hello this is my pygo
Pycom MicroPython 1.20.4.r4 [v1.11-258cda230] on 2022-06-13; PyGo1 with ESP32
Pybytes Version: 1.6.1
Pymesh Version: 1.4.0
Type "help()" for more information.
>>> 

So far so vanilla pycom...

Should be ok to run whatever you want then from the main.py; but would need some info on the libs/pinouts to drive the screen/accelero and other specific hw, and probably on what happens with the power management thing - I saw a log about 'low power, sleeping for 30s' and also a 'Switching off GPS power!'...

I note its starting with pybytes enabled, so I guess next step could be to register/activate it in pybytes as per the usual pybytes instructions...

[Brian Wyld]

@Brian-Wyld
More testing :
after an overnigth charge in the cradle, it shows 3 bars (out of 4 possible?). Warm to the touch but not hot like the inductive charging.

Telnet access to REPL is maintained after removal from the cradle, but after a certain time (5 mins?) it seems to go to sleep (as no external power input I suppose)

>>>
>>> 79547 Set interrupt: Double Tap,
Connection closed by foreign host.

No tapping sequence I can find to wake it up (or to do anything when its awake also).

It woke up again (AP reappears, can telnet) but no info as to why...

[andrethemac]

@arikb Same here. I backed for a Pygo1 and Pygo2. I got the devices. But without documentation there basicly useless. For example. Yes, you can send a message to the device but aside from the enveloppe symbol there is nothing to see. GPS never gets updated. devices reboots every couple of minutes. (all on the latest firmware).
So Pycom, please give us the documentation so we can start developping stuff with it.
The specs look great, please let this not gather dust.
Andre

[jcaron]

@andrethemac they have already stated there would be no developer documentation, despite the promises in the Kickstarter campaign. No word from them since…

[Vincèn PUJOL]

@jcaron said in Getting started with PyGos and Pylife:

@andrethemac they have already stated there would be no developer documentation, despite the promises in the Kickstarter campaign. No word from them since…

In that case I think only solution possible is Class Action against Pycom and maximum of publicity of their behaviour on blogs of people that have one no ?

[Axel Roest]

@robert-hh
Thank you very much!

115200 baud?

[robert-hh]

@Axel-Roest yes, 115200 baud, like the other development modules.

[andreas58]

I came back from vacation yesterday. I received a letter that a package has arrived from the UK. However, because I did not collect it within 7 days, it was returned to sender. The only thing I expect is the PyGo cradle, so it has been returned. How do I get a cradle now?

[exa]

@andreas58 Email pycom, it'll probably cost you a lot though because DHL is pricey and customs

[robert-hh]

@exa That depends on the value Pycom declares for the cradle. If it is less than 5,23€, or 0 if it is a delayed part of a previous delivery (like it can be seen here), then not taxes apply. Maybe Pycom manages meanwhile to ship from their dutch office to the EU.
Still the shipping costs apply.

[exa]

@robert-hh They charged me €10 for the cradle and €30 for shipping, I had to pay €25 for customs because they declared the value to be €40 so €65 in tota to charge a device that may never work

[robert-hh]

@exa That's exaggerate, especially since shipping was already include in the Kickstarter fee. I also do not know why PyCom do not use the Import One-Stop Shop of the EU for shipping into the EU. That would save costs and time for their customers.

[Stephen Glavin]

Has everyone who received an original batch ever received a cradle? I’ve sent multiple emails now to be told 1) that they’ve already been sent out (which I never received 2) subsequently ignored completely.

[Peter Bankuti]

@Stephen-Glavin
Negative, i think my bricks were delivered in the first week but never got any DHL notices since then. There were other people reporting even after pimping around with the cradle they could not get the devices working in any expected way. If that is true, the cradle does not make a difference. It also tells much there is no feedback in any form. Not even the lame excuses they always told us before the product launch. This can mean only 2 things:
A) there is no one at pycom who could come up with a working firmware and/or APP for this device
B) the device fails by design and they just do not care

[robert-hh]

@Peter-Bankuti I got a cradle with my second batch shipment and can confirm, that it does not get the device to any reasonable operation. The only thing I could do was updating the firmware. Then it could be detected by the PyLife app. And I can use it like a severely handicapped Wipy. Less fun than with a 3€ ESP32 device.
What I could see as well that PyGo firmware and PyLife app do not match.
Finally, I could use the cradle and REPL commands to bring a device into a deadlock state, where it just reboots over and over.
And yes, the device fails at least partially by design (e.g. wireless charging) and at the moment there is no feedback from Pycom about further plans with that device.

[Peter Bankuti]

Today i got my cradle. I am trying to be fair:

• it was easy to update the firmware on both my pygo1 and pygo2 device just as described in the documentation.
• After doing so reinstalled the Android app on my phone
• As i still did not remember my password i made the app send me a pw renewal link just as some weeks ago. The new password still populates both fields as you are typing, but this time the webform does update the password and a could finally login into my account
• Logging into my pylife portal via desktop is quite useless: i can only find my "groups" and that's it as nothing else has been implemented yet
• After the FW update i finally can connect my pygo to my phone using the app. This was not possible on the stock firmware.
• Inside the mobile app i can create groups, add persons to them, provision devices and add them to groups. Also the battery level of each pygo is reported back to the phone. But the goodness stops here. The map does not show the location of any of my devices, and it is also not possible to select the lora band. That returns an error. Have setup distance and alerts but can not attach those to any of the devices. And it is also not possible to wake up the devices by double tapping the display.

So all in all there is some advancement: now i have bluetooth connectable bricks.